Coaches Corner

Coach Sukalski will be entering his fourth season as head coach of the Bengals.  Despite a 21-51 record in his first three seasons, Sukalski believes the program has made great strides including a charged play-off run in 2008 which landed the Bengals in the Section 5AAA Championship, one game away from the State Tournament.       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 two 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 (3).

Coach Iverson is excited to be joining the Bengal Baseball staff this season. Iverson has coached baseball for 25 years, the past 15 as head baseball coach at Spring Lake Park High School. 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 (15), Brooke (11), Lily (6), and Jasmine (4).  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 Grabowska will be entering his seventh season with the Bengal baseball program and fourth as the head junior varsity coach.   Coach Grabowska believes that the JV team is comparable to the minor leagues; it is our job to get our players ready for the next level of play.             Coach Grabowska, a graduate of Thief River Falls High School, went to college at Northwestern College where he was a member of the football team who won a national championship his senior year.  Grabowska graduated with degrees in Elementary and Social Studies Education.  Coach Grabowska also recently received his master’s degree in education from St. Mary’s University.          Coach Grabowska teaches 6th grade math at Roosevelt Middle School and is also a part of the Blaine Sophomore Football coaching staff as the defensive coordinator.  He and his wife Tracy reside in Coon Rapids.

     

Coach Utes will be entering his fourth season working with the Bengals baseball program.  A graduate of Coon Rapids High School he went on to attend Concordia University in St. Paul.  After graduating he received his first teaching job in Las Vegas, NV.  Upon returning to Minnesota, Utes landed a job teaching in the Learning Alternatives Program at Westwood Middle School in Blaine.  He is now teaching 6th grade Science.       Coach Utes is currently the  head coach of the sophomore or B-Squad.  Coach played in the Coon Rapids program in high school and has a great knowledge of the game.  After the high school season is over, Coach Utes plays baseball throughout the summer on a men’s amateur team for the city of Champlin.  Coach Utes currently resides in Coon Rapids.

     

 

Coach Way will be entering his third season with the Bengals as a sophomore baseball coach.  Prior to this year Christian coached the D-Line for the Bengal football team and prior to 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 – 4) reside in Ham Lake.

 

      Coach Banse is in his third year with the Blaine baseball program. He has been with the 9A team the last two 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 Richards is entering his second year in the Bengal baseball program.  Besides coaching baseball at Blaine, Coach Richards is also the linebacker coach for the sophomore football team here at Blaine.  Mr. Richards is very excited to be working with this program, coaching staff, school, and this community. 

      Coach Richards graduated from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls and started teaching in El Paso, Texas, right out of college.  He taught Physical Education and Health and coached both football and basketball for 9 years before returning to Minnesota to work for the Anoka-Hennepin school district.  Currently, he is teaching Health and Outdoor Education at Andover High School.  Coach Richards has been a coach for many years coaching football, baseball, and basketball at many levels.  He is also very active in the community.  He lives in Blaine with his wife, Tracy and their four children;  Calyssa, 16, a junior at Blaine, Elizabeth, 13, a 8^th grader at Roosevelt, and Sam and Matt, 10,  his twin boys who are 5^th graders at Jefferson Elementary School. 

      Coach Christensen will be entering his 4th season as a volunteer on the Bengal baseball staff.  After taking off a year to spend with his young son he is excited to get back into the baseball “swing” of things!

      Coach Feigum will be entering his first season with the Bengals and will be working with the freshmen squads.  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 7-9^th 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 first year teacher at Blaine High School in the Business Education department.