Hunter Salathe named new Head Boy’s Basketball Coach

MInnewaska Area High School
Thursday, May 6, 2021
Press Release
Hunter Salathe Hired as New Head Boys’ Basketball Coach

Minnewaska Area High School is excited to announce the hiring of Hunter Salathe as the new Head Coach of the Minnewaska Boys’ Basketball program. In making this decision, Minnewaska Area Schools recently interviewed a number of highly qualified candidates through a vetting process that included members of the school administration, board of education, and community members.

A graduate of the University of Minnesota Morris, Hunter is currently a junior high mathematics instructor at the district’s Minnewaska Area Intermediate School and has been a junior high boys’ basketball coach for the past two years. He is also the assistant boys’ tennis coach, a new role he took on this spring.

Growing up in Perham, Minnesota, Hunter played basketball for the Yellow Jackets under one of the state’s winningest Class AA coaches in Dave Cressup. There he gained insight on how to grow a program and the best way to sustain its success. Additional coaching experiences at Morris High School, the AAU level, and working the past two school years in the K-6 youth, junior high, and varsity programs here at Minnewaska have provided him with a sense of how to communicate with players and push them to be the best they can be. He’s excited to take over the program and believes his experiences to date have prepared him to take the next step.

In talking about this new opportunity, Hunter stated, “I am an individual who pushes myself to be the best at everything I try to do. I will work tirelessly and put in the extra hours to make sure that our players are as prepared as they can be for every situation and will do the same for our programs at all levels. Coaching the game of basketball gives me the opportunity to model and instill values of positivity, enthusiasm, perseverance, accountability, respectfulness, competitiveness, honesty, and humbleness. These values are critical in helping young men develop positive and lasting relationships, build a team together, and strive for excellence on and off the court. By instilling these values, I believe it will help our players turn into great role models and learners in the future. I welcome the challenge that coaching brings in helping our student/athletes not only to learn the game, but to help guide them through the numerous life lessons that can be learned through participating. I look forward to continuing to build on the tradition of Minnewaska Laker Basketball!”