TEUTOPOLIS — Coming off an excellent season that ended with a third-place finish at the state tournament, Teutopolis head coach Chet Reeder knew his team would be in for a different dynamic in what was his sixth year at the helm of the boys basketball program.
What the campaign ended with, though, was a similar result — the team creeping within one victory from a state tournament appearance.
“We talked with our team a lot. We had full belief that this team could make a run,” Reeder said. “We had 100 percent belief in that as a staff. We knew our path was going to be different. We knew we’d have more losses. You’re inexperienced; you’re going to have games where they come out and they don’t look right, so I think our guys were willing to take that honest feedback.
“They kept buying into that.”
Reeder, the 2023-2024 Daily News Boys Basketball Coach of the Year, won the award for a third straight season.
This was arguably his best coaching job, too. Reeder lost five impactful seniors a year before and still managed to help guide the team to its fourth sectional championship in five years.
Reeder credits all of it to the leadership his team has year in and year out.
“That’s a testament to our team, our captains to keep our guys on the right path even if things weren’t going the way they wanted them to go during the regular season,” Reeder said.
That leadership isn’t just on the court, either.
Reeder has surrounded himself with great assistant coaches, starting with longtime assistant Dave Pruemer and then to former players Chris and Luke Ungrund.
“Coach Pruemer was with me the whole time and I couldn’t ask for a better guy,” Reeder said. “He knows everybody in this community. He knows how to push buttons and get the most out of kids and he loves them.
“Then, the Ungrund brothers, Chris and Luke, have recently played and were very successful and played the point guard position; that’s a dream for me. They speak these guys’ language. They haven’t been out of it too long and they can relate.”
Former assistant coach Craig Toler left for a head coaching position at Sullivan last summer, leaving a spot that needed to be occupied.
That search was short, as Reeder filled Toler’s spot with baseball coach Justin Fleener.
“I was extremely lucky for him to want this position,” Reeder said. “He fit right in. He knows all the guys. He knows the culture. He understands what it takes. There was really no learning curve outside of his understanding of my terminology. He was great for me.”
Carr takes home Daily News Girls Basketball Coach of the Year
Craig Carr took over the Altamont girls basketball program with a wealth of talent and experience returning.
That ultimately led to the team advancing to the state tournament for the first time in school history.
“I knew it was possible with a player like Grace (Nelson) and kids from Altamont who know how to compete,” Carr said. “Coming into it, I knew the program had a solid foundation already, so I knew it was possible.”
Carr, the 2023-2024 Daily News Girls Basketball Coach of the Year, took over for Katie Lurkins, who decided to focus solely on her position as athletic director at the high school.
The former Newton athletic director and St. Anthony baseball coach fit in rather easily despite the inexperience from a basketball coaching perspective.
“I think that they realized that I wanted what was best for them,” Carr said. “I wanted them to have fun and be successful. It was easy to care a lot about this group of girls because they’re fantastic kids from great families.”
Carr said he brought a different voice and experience to the sideline.
The team listened, too, though Carr said there were only two portions of the year where he felt his team was playing its best.
“As the season went along, there were only two extended periods during which we played great — Christmas and in the postseason,” Carr said. “So, because of that, I was a little concerned because, defensively, we got over the hump about mid-January, but offensively, we weren’t executing well enough to go deep in the postseason.”
Altamont ended with 28 wins, thus eliminating all of Carr’s thoughts.
He was able to figure out the puzzle that he set out to piece together at the beginning of the season, too.