In an outdoorsy community such as this one, it’s no surprise that Hood River Valley High School has an embarrassment of riches when it comes to talented athletes, and the school has the hardware in its trophy case to prove it.
In the past couple years, nearly every sport has made it into the playoffs or has done well in state tournaments, including state championship wins for skiing, track and field, baseball, and soccer.
But one sport that has not seen much success in recent years despite a bevy of talent is both the boys and girls basketball programs. It’s a trend that has transcended changes in players, coaches, athletic directors, and OSAA reclassifications.
In the past four seasons, the girls program has won a total of 20 games — none of which were against league opponents. The last time the girls basketball team qualified for the state tournament was in 2010, where they lost in the opening round. Before that, it was 1999, and though the team made it to the tournament many times throughout the 80s and 90s under Coach Tom Greenough, the Eagles never finished higher than fourth.
Though the boys have won more games in recent years than the girls have, the boys have an even longer drought. The last time the boys went to the state tourney, Bill Clinton was halfway through his first term in office. HRV has made it into the bracket four times in the school’s history (although made more trips back when it was Hood River High School), including a three-year stretch from 1992-94 under Coach Terry Adolfson. Like the girls, the boys have never finished higher than fourth.
HRV teachers Christopher Dirks and Donnie Herneisen will now be taking over the programs as the head coaches for the boys varsity team and the girls varsity team, respectively, and will try their hand at improving the Eagles squads in anticipation of the 2016-17 season. Dirks takes over for Steve Noteboom, who served as the boys head coach for five seasons, while Herneisen takes over Scott Walker, who served as the girls head coach for three seasons. The two of them are already getting started, coaching summer basketball leagues, but took some time out to speak with the News.
Donnie Herneisen
Herneisen, 36, is a social studies teacher at the high school and lives in Hood River with his wife, Inga (also an educator, as well as an HRV alum, teaching third grade at May Street Elementary), and their two kids, Brynn (6) and Tieryn (3). He grew up in the small town of Mill City, located in the Santiam Forest between Salem and Bend. He attended Santiam High School, where he was a three-sport athlete (“There wasn’t much else to do and it was kind of the expectation that everyone was a three-sport athlete,” he explains), competing in cross country, basketball, and track and field.
Herneisen later attended Western Oregon University in Monmouth, where he majored in Political Science for his undergraduate degree, then continued there to get his Masters in Teaching. He also competed in track and field at WOU for four years.
Herneisen just wrapped up a historic season as head coach of the HRV track and field team, where last month the boys team won its first-ever state championship. He was the head coach for seven years, and has joked that he was “Elwaying it,” that is, going out on a high note like John Elway did, retiring after winning his second consecutive Super Bowl. He also notes that track took up a large amount of his time and coaching the two sports would have been impossible.
Though his ties to track and field run deep (he also coached track while he was a grad assistant at WOU), Herneisen says that basketball has always held a special place in his heart — a sport he started playing when he was in third grade.
“Basketball has always been my first love in sports — going way back to crying when the Blazers lost to the Pistons in the ’90 Finals, and it was where I first learned to connect the dots between hard work, commitment, and dedication to success,” he says. “After spending eight years as a JV/freshman coach in multiple programs under a number of different head coaches, I felt I was ready to take on that challenge.”
Herneisen has spent time coaching basketball in various capacities at HRV, but never as a varsity head coach. He served as a freshman girls coach under Walker and will now have the opportunity to coach those same girls, who are now heading into their senior year.
“There are some gritty athletes in that group of seniors, and they have done a great job in leading a talented group of younger players this summer,” he says. “I’m most excited about what this moment might mean for the players this year — beginning anew, starting traditions, and growing this program. I want girls 10 years from now to look back and point to 2016-17 and say that year — that was the year it all began.”
Herneisen does have a big task before him with the girls program, both on and off the court, but it’s one that he readily accepts.
“For a program that has been at the bottom of the league for a while, we have a lot of items to work on. Creating a basketball culture in Hood River, establishing a cohesive and program-wide basketball philosophy, and getting these girls to actually believe they can be successful are all at the top of the list,” he notes. “Like every successful program in Hood River — and everywhere else — a strong youth program is vital to any success we can ever hope to have. The phrase, ‘It takes a village,’ doesn’t only apply to education; it will take a village — or a whole valley — to get this program on its feet and hopefully, someday, playing on the court at Gill Coliseum (in the state tournament).”
Christopher Dirks
Dirks, 23, is a new face on the HRVHS staff and just finished up his first year in the district, working as a math and an alternative education teacher at the high school. However, he’s not new to the area, having grown up in Parkdale (he moved there in fifth grade, after living in Condon and Cleveland, Ohio) and attended Wy’east Middle School and HRVHS, where he graduated in 2011. He then attended Linfield College in McMinnville, where he received a Bachelors in Mathematics.
Like Herneisen, Dirks grew up playing basketball, and the love for the sport has stayed with him through his whole life. He started with Community Ed programs and continued playing in college. Dirks was a standout player at HRV and was lead scorer his senior year — the season before Noteboom took over coaching duties from Zach Pauls.
When he wasn’t at Linfield, Dirks would return home to help out the basketball program, mainly in the summers, and then after graduating college, served as the freshman coach this past season.
Dirks remembers all too well those difficult seasons during his playing career at HRV and looks forward to hopefully reinvigorating the boys program.
“Ever since I left this high school program as a player, I have wanted to learn everything I can to come back and make basketball a competitive high school sport in the Hood River Valley,” Dirks says. “Something I am really looking forward to is having the opportunity to turn things around, from energy and spirit to the win-loss columns. Coaching the freshmen team this year, and having good mentors, gave me a solid foundation for my coaching and for the program.”
Dirks is getting a head start on the winter season, working with players in the summer league and helping them identify their strengths.
“My goal for the first season, and even starting now in the offseason, is to have every student athlete know their role. Not everyone can be a scorer, and I think other aspects of the game can easily get lost in a program that has struggled for as long as this one has,” he explains. “We will need rebounders, defenders, passers, role players, and players who will support their teammates from the bench — all of which are key components to success. There is a solid foundation to build upon here and I’m excited to have the opportunity to take over this early in my career.”
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