South Dakota coaches, AD set to be honored at national convention in Iowa
Apr. 28—CORALVILLE, Iowa. — Ten coaches and an athletic director from South Dakota are set to receive honors at the 2026 National High School Athletic Coaches Association Convention, which runs June 29 through July 1 at the Coralville Hotel and Conference Center.
Jason Olson, of Rapid City Stevens, and Jim Sorenson, of Beresford, are South Dakota's inductees into the NHSACA Hall of Fame, and the ceremony is scheduled for June 30. Additionally, eight coaches and an athletic director have been chosen as South Dakota's coach of the year finalists. Here are South Dakota's national coach of the year finalists: Raasch has been a boys basketball coach in South Dakota for 40 years, coaching 10 years apiece at Alpena and Webster, 16 at Langford and the past four in his hometown of Castlewood.
He has guided 13 teams to state Class B boys basketball tournaments, including the 2025 state championship. Raasch is the longest active-tenured boys basketball coach in the state and is third overall all-time in wins with a career record of 643-265. King has coached for 23 years, including Sioux Valley's competitive cheer squad the past 19 years.
During that time, the Cossacks have won every state Class A cheer championship in the sport's 19-year history as a sanctioned sport by the South Dakota High School Activities Association. The Webster native has spent the past 30 years coaching volleyball at Harrisburg, where her teams have produced a 561-74 record and seven state titles — one in Class A and six in AA. The Tigers won their fourth-straight state Class AA title last fall.
Even though Harrisburg's state-record 87-match winning streak ended with losses to nationally-ranked teams in a tournament in Las Vegas, the Tigers still haven't lost to a South Dakota foe since September of 2022. Thoreson has spent the past 31 years as an assistant coach for cross country and the past 23 years as an assistant track and field coach for both boys and girls at Brandon Valley. With his help, the Lynx have produced five state championship and 13 state runner-up teams across the two sports.