ALHS finds new boys’ basketball head coach
Published 9:00 am Thursday, July 9, 2009
Energy and enthusiasm are two things the Albert Lea boys’ basketball program will need after two consecutive one-win seasons and ALHS pegged a young head coach to undertake the project of transforming the team into a contender Wednesday when it announced the hiring of Lucas Kreuscher as the head coach.
Kreuscher, a 25-year-old Lake Mills resident, accepted the boys’ basketball head coach position Wednesday and he inherits a program that has gone 2-51 in the past two seasons.
“I’ll definitely bring a lot of passion and enthusiasm,” Kreuscher said.
Kreuscher spent last season as the head boys’ basketball coach at Tri County, Thornburg, a Class A school in Iowa. Kreuscher had one senior on last year’s team and finished the season 3-18. He spent the four previous years as the girls’ varsity head coach at Ventura High School in Iowa.
“I think he’s just excited to get into the program,” said Albert Lea Activities Director Clay Anderson. “We really liked what he had to offer.”
Kreuscher is very much a student of the game and scribbles into a notepad when he watches basketball on television. He spends his days and evenings going over game tape when he’s not out watching a game during the season.
Kreuscher has followed the program for the last five years and he’s attended the Tiger Classic tournament in the past. He also watched the Rochester Mayo and Waseca games this season.
Kreuscher is familiar with the team’s struggles the past two seasons and said he will preach preparation and work ethic.
The rebuilding of the program begins at the youth level and Kreuscher will work to continue the progress being made at that level.
“It sounds like the youth program is on the way up and we’re going to continue to work with that and make sure we’re on the same page,” he said. “That is really going to be a big thing — to evaluate the youth program and see what has been working. From what I hear they just need to continue to put passion back in the program and give the guys some goals to reach and accomplish.”
Kreuscher described himself as an Xs and Os coach who enjoys watching players execute a play, move off the ball and make the extra pass.
Kreuscher plans to implement a motion offense where every players’ strength will be utilized, he said.
Kreuscher will encounter some stiff competition in the Big Nine Conference with Mankato West, a team that advanced to the 3A state championship last season, Owatonna, which advanced to the Section 1AAAA championship last season, and Winona, which won the Section 1AAAA championship last season. The Big Nine will be a definite rise in competition and talent for Kreuscher, but he doesn’t believe it to be a big obstacle.
“It’s a tremendous conference loaded with talent, but at the end of the day you still have to rebound and play defense,” he said. “We have to be fundamentally solid and not turn the ball over.”
Kreuscher graduated from Lake Mills in 2002 where he played varsity basketball for two seasons under head coach Kyle Menke.
Menke described Kreuscher as a down-to-earth person who is devoted to coaching.
“The biggest thing with him is I know he will be very dedicated to the program,” Menke said.
The position was going to be difficult to fill because there are no teaching openings in the district, but the position fit well for Kreuscher. He owns his own lawn care and landscaping business in Lake Mills so his winters are free to spend studying basketball and scouting.
The Tigers return a core of the team last season with just five seniors graduating. Albert Lea returns its leading scorer from last season in senior Colby Strilaeff along with a strong cast of juniors who logged significant minutes last season as sophomores.