Sports

DCB, NCEC host first N.D. basketball coaches’ clinic

By Matthew Semisch

05/06/2014

Basketball coaching clinics are nothing new to Dakota College at Bottineau men’s hoops head coach Cory Fehringer.

Although he’s only 29, he’s already been to plenty of them, including during his time at his first coaching job as an assistant at Hastings College in Nebraska.

Since moving to North Dakota, though, he hadn’t seen any such things taking place in the Peace Garden State.

It didn’t happen when he was the top men’s basketball assistant coach at Dickinson State, and nor did it happen in his first year and change at DCB.

However, he recently changed all that.

Fehringer, DCB and the North Central Educational Cooperative joined forces to put on the first NCEC Coaching Clinic April 26 at the gymnasium inside DCB’s Thatcher Hall.

He and DCB women’s basketball head coach Wayne Johnson both took part in the clinic, as did several high school and college coaches from around the state.

DCB’s men’s basketball team played an integral part in the clinic, with the Lumberjacks running drills throughout the staggered four-hour clinic.

“I’ve never really seen anything like this pursued in the state of North Dakota,” Fehringer said, “And especially in this area as far as giving coaches options, tools and resources to evolve their game and evolve their coaching.

“For me, it’s been beneficial to be able to do this and have the coaches we’ve had come in, and for me to go to Nebraska and Colorado, where I’m from, to get input from coaches there, and I just want to give coaches in this area an opportunity to hear how our Lumberjack program is ran and how other schools’ basketball programs function.

“I think we as coaches are all just trying to have the best team we can possibly have, but it’s more than just Xs and Os. With this clinic, we’re able to help prepare coaches to be ready to be better.”

Fehringer, Johnson and the rest of the coaches in attendance at the clinic are planning to put on another one in the fall with NCAA, NAIA and junior college coaches from around the state coming to speak and take part.

As for what he hopes will come from these clinics, Fehringer said their holistic approach is designed to ultimately make basketball teams throughout the state better and more competitive.

“As far as a driving force for this clinic, it’s not a financial source and it’s not a source for getting exposure. All that we’re trying to do is to give people an opportunity to develop their coaching and to help them help develop their players.”