OT loss led Rund to coaching

By Brian Hansel (Contact) | The Daily Journal

Published Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Dave Rund made up his mind that he was going to be a coach when he was a junior in high school and his Ada basketball team was beaten in five overtimes in the regional tournament by Littlefork-Big Falls.

Having been so close to playing in the state tournament he decided to go down and see one.

"The atmosphere down there was incredible," said Rund. "That loss in the finals personally is what drove me to coach."

Nineteen years have passed since Rund officially joined the coaching ranks. He had some good teams in Pelican Rapids before he came down to take over the head coaching job in Fergus Falls 10 seasons ago. He never won a section title in Pelican but three years after he left his former assistant, Doug Bruggeman, led the Vikings to the state.

“One of the things that has always impressed me about Dave is his knowledge of the game and how well he can coach on the defensive end,” said Bruggeman, who coached with Rund for seven years. “He’s always had a great passion and intensity for the game and I think it shows in his players.”

Bruggeman was not always one of Rund’s fans. When he was a senior at Mahnomen it was a 30-footer by Rund that knocked the Indians out of the district playoffs.

Bruggeman was grateful to Rund years later when his Pelican Rapids girls found the skills to qualify for their first state trip.

“I think he established the program and when he left he left me with a great product,” said Bruggeman. “I think he took a lot of pride in the fact that these were some of the girls that he had helped develop.”

The night his Otters defeated Detroit Lakes for the section championship and Rund won the Section 8AAA Coach of the Year award he was crediting others.

"This team gets to go down and represent our community at the state tournament but Kristin Brause, Stacy Sellner, Nikki Brusven (who were all at last Thursday's section championship victory) were the kids that really started changing the attitude and changing this program around and making us competitive and making us a team that could challenge for a section title."

Winning the section title was a thrill for Rund and he believes it will provide the foundation that will take his program from being good to being great.

The adversity and the weekly challenges that this season has presented Rund has now paid off. He takes his hat off to his assistants, his players and his managers. No one gets to a girls' state basketball tournament on their own and Rund will always remember them.