Goodhue boys basketball coach named MBCA Coach of the Year
Mar. 30—GOODHUE — After guiding his team to a state runner-up finish on Saturday, Goodhue boys basketball head coach Matt Halverson has been named the Class 2A Coach of the Year by the Minnesota Basketball Coaches Association. The Wildcats, who were the No.
1 seed in their third straight and seventh overall state tournament appearance, fell to No. 3 Minnehaha Academy 81-69 in the Class 2A state championship game on Saturday at Williams Arena in Minneapolis. It was just their second loss of the season, finishing with a 31-2 overall record.
Goodhue appeared in its section title game the past five seasons under Halverson, four of those being in Section 1, Class 1A, before the Wildcats moved up to Section 1, Class 2A this school year. Halverson took over as the boys basketball head coach in 2013 and has led the Wildcats to the state tournament in 2016, 2017, 2024, 2025 and 2026. The Wildcats appeared in their first-ever state championship game in 2016, finishing as state runners-up in Class 1A.
Goodhue earned its first state berth in 2004 and the second in 2011, before Halverson was at the helm of the program. Halverson, a former Rushford-Peterson point guard, made two boys basketball state title games when he played for the Trojans, winning the Class 1A state championship in 2006. He coached the ninth-grade team at R-P in college and after that the ninth-grade and JV teams at Goodhue before becoming head coach.
As for the other Minnesota Boys Basketball Coaches of the Year, the MBCA selected Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton's Nick James in Class 1A, Northfield's Matt Christianson in Class 3A and Apple Valley's David Collier in Class 4A.