Coaches Corner

Coach Sukalski will be entering his fifth season as head coach of the Bengals.  The baseball program has made great strides under Sukalski's direction including the first winning season (2009) in the last ten years.  The 2008 Bengals also finished the season strong finishing one game short of a State Tournament berth.      A Blue Earth native, Coach Sukalski earned his Education Degree in health, physical education and adapted physical education from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls in 2002 and his Master’s of Education from Hamline University in 2005.  While at UWRF, Sukalski was a member of the football and baseball teams, starting four seasons in the defensive backfield for the Falcon football team.      Coach Sukalski has been a head VFW and American Legion baseball coach in his hometown of Blue Earth.  More recently he has been an assistant coach at Maple Grove in 2002 and Spring Lake Park in 2003 and 2005.  In 2004 Sukalski coached the sophomore team at Blaine.  In 2006, Sukalski became the 5th head coach in Blaine High School history.  The past four summers, Coach Sukalski has helped guide the Blaine Mickey Mantle & VFW teams which are a 16 and under team through the  Blaine Area Traveling League.  The 2007 Mickey Mantle squad qualified for the state tournament.        Coach Sukalski teaches health at Blaine High School and also is the head sophomore football coach for the Bengals.  Tim resides in Blaine with his wife Allison and son James (4).

Coach Iverson will be entering his second season with the Bengals. Iverson has coached baseball for 26 years, 15 of those came as the head baseball coach at Spring Lake Park High School from 1994-2008. Under his direction the Panthers won their first ever North Suburban Conference Championship in 1995 and won a second championship in 2002. Iverson has coached in two Lions All Star games, has twice been named North Suburban Conference Coach of the Year, and accumulated 179 career wins.       A Spring Lake Park graduate Iverson earned his AA degree while attending Golden Valley Lutheran College where he also played baseball, earning MVP honors his sophomore year.   Iverson continued his education and college baseball career at the University of Minnesota earning his Education Degree in 1983 and a Masters Degree in Kinesiology in 2000.       Coach Iverson currently teaches Physical Education at Coon Rapids Middle School where he also coaches football and basketball. Dave resides in Blaine with his wife Lisa. He has two adult sons: Kyle (Bethel graduate in 2008) and Ryan (Attending Concordia College of St. Paul)

"Z" has been involved with the Bengal baseball program since 1986, when his son Brian was on the Sophomore team, and Coach Kutches was looking for someone to keep the scorebook.  When Brian went to JV/Varsity, Dad was promoted also, and took over the statistician responsibilities.  Eventually, he hung around so much that Coach Brunsberg allowed him to help out at practices.  Z also was on the Blaine Legion Baseball coaching staff from 1987-97.        Z has worked with every Head Baseball Coach in the history of Blaine Baseball, and is excited to see the direction the program is taking under Coach Sukalski.  Z also is involved with other sports at Blaine – statistician for Football, PA/Clock guy for Boys’and Girls’ Soccer, Official Scorer for Boys’ and Girls’ Basketball.  In real life, Bill is General Manager at a Minneapolis unit of Bemis Company, which is a worldwide manufacturer of packaging products.  He has two sons, Brad (BHS Class of ’87), and Brian (BHS Class of ’88), and a very understanding wife, Jackie, as well as four beautiful grandchildren, Brandon (16), Brooke (12), Lily (7), and Jasmine (5).  Brandon and Brooke live in Platte City, MO with Brian and his wife Tricia. Lily and Jasmine were born in China and were adopted by Brad and his wife Jessica

Coach Feigum will be entering his second season with the Bengals and will be working with the sophomore squad after coaching the freshman B team last season.  Eric grew up playing the game and graduated from Elk River High School.  He has umpired from the youth levels through high school baseball.  In the summers, Coach Feigum is a Tournament Director for Gopher State/USSSA/MYAS youth baseball.  Feigum have also spent time assisting with youth clinics and training umpires and coaching 7-9th grade basketball in Elk River.       Coach Feigum graduated with a Business and Marketing Education degree from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cites.   Eric is a teacher at Blaine High School in the Business Education department.

     

 

Coach Way will be entering his fourth season with the Bengals as a sophomore baseball coach.  Christian is also a sophomore football coach (defensive coordinator / defensive line).  Before coaching at Blaine High School coached baseball, softball, basketball and football at Central Jr. High in Forest Lake.       Coach Way, a graduate of Roseville High School, attended college at Concordia University, St. Paul where he played a year of Baseball and Football.  Christian graduated with degrees in Secondary Education and Mathematics.  Coach Way received his master’s degree in education from Hamline University.  He Teaches Algebra 2 and Geometry at Blaine High School.  Coach Way, Sarah (Wife) and twin daughters (Madison & Kaitlyn – 5) reside in Ham Lake.

      Coach Banse is in his fourth year with the Blaine baseball program. He has been with the 9A team the last three seasons.  Besides coaching baseball for Blaine he has also coached for both the Minneapolis United and St. Croix soccer clubs and has coached several youth basketball teams in Minneapolis.  Coach Banse grew up playing baseball in northern California, where he also coached youth baseball.

      Coach Banse graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1998, where he majored in journalism, and after following the rest of his family into the car business, he returned to the "U" to pursue his master’s degree in Communication Arts/Literature.  He currently teaches English at Blaine and is also an adviser for the Bengalore, the Blaine yearbook.  Adam lives in Fridley with his wife Jennilyn and their two dogs, Norman and Kido.

      Coach Christensen will be entering his fifth year as a volunteer on the Bengal baseball staff.  He graduated from Minnesota State University Moorhead in 2001, having majored in English education and minored in Spanish.  He received a master’s degree in education from Saint Mary’s University in 2007.

      Coach Christensen taught and coached at Red Wing for three years prior to coming to Blaine, where he spent two seasons as the sophomore coach and posted a 17-16 record with the Wingers.  Coach Christensen has also coached football at Blaine High and is an English teacher at the school.  He and his wife live in Champlin with their son John (3) and daughter Amelia(1).

      Coach "K" or Iverson was a part of the Spring Lake Park High School baseball staff for the last two years. Once as the 9^th grade coach and another as the coach of the Junior Varsity. Coach Iverson has been immersed within baseball programs ever since playing on the varsity team for Spring Lake Park in ’04. He also has been a part of coaching football and basketball at Coon Rapids Middle School.

      Coach Iverson was a graduate of Bethel University majoring in Social Studies education and History during the spring of ’08. He currently is a teacher for the Anoka-Hennepin school district and excited to be a part of the ’09 season here at Blaine.