Ben Holen learning as he goes in new role as L/L-M head coach

Dec. 24—LAMOURE, N.D. — Last year, the LaMoure/Litchville-Marion Loboes girls' basketball team lost in the Region 3 championship game, and after the season Mitch Carlson retired after nine years at the helm. After the retirement of Carlson, the school turned to a familiar face to replace him in former assistant coach Ben Holen.

"I could always think back to being younger and wanting to coach baseball for sure," Holen said. "I've always been a little more interested in that as a sport. I could've never guessed that I'd be coaching basketball. I have siblings that were much more into basketball. I think it's the girls like the actual group that we have."

Holen said he knew that Carlson was retiring in March or April, and Carlson let him know so he could submit an application. Holen said the interview process took two to three weeks as he went through interviews with Lucas Isaacson, athletic director at LaMoure High School.

Holen is a sixth grade teacher at Wakefield Elementary School in LaMoure.

Holen spent the previous two seasons on Carlson's staff. Before joining Carlson's staff, he also worked under former Loboes boys basketball head coach Darren Thielges and worked under University of Jamestown baseball coach Tom Hager for two years.

"I've got a brother (Jake) who is very into basketball, he's got four sons and that's all they do. I've got a cousin (Jaime Adams) who is on the staff at NDSU (North Dakota State University), so all of those people have helped so much and I pick people's brains constantly," Holen said. "You learn to make contacts with some of the other coaches that you go against or other schools and I just try to ask questions. A lot of the difficulty especially with the first year is the unknown, you don't know what to expect, so I've tried to be proactive in trying to ask questions and ask the right questions."

Before working for Hager, Holen played for Hager for four years from 2009-13. Holen gave a tremendous amount of credit for his coaching ability to Hager and many other coaches he has had in his life. He said he has had the opportunity to learn from many good coaches. He also said the skills needed to be a good coach are very similar to those needed to be a good teacher.

"Oftentimes, teachers are coaches and vice versa, part of that is because the schedules align and part of it is just because it's the same thing," Holen said. "It's the same when I'm teaching math to my sixth grade kids and when I'm teaching a press break to my basketball girls. You're still trying to communicate and you're still trying to get them to understand something that they maybe don't at the time. The two of them go hand-in-hand, some days you think of yourself as a teacher, some days you think of yourself as a coach, some days you think of yourself as clueless. But, I enjoy both very thoroughly."

In addition to being named the head coach, Holen's life has dramatically changed in recent months as he also became a first-time father to a baby girl, Eleanor. Although Holen said it is the ultimate blessing, he admitted it takes a lot of work to stay organized.

"Yeah it's been tricky, you learn to function on a little bit less sleep, but time management, you really have to be disciplined in terms of how you spend your time," Holen said. "It's important when I go home at least for a good chunk of it, I'm able to turn my basketball brain off and be present with Josie and Eleanor and the same thing here, when I'm at practice or games, the girls on the team deserve my focus."

Holen said his biggest weakness as a coach is keeping track of all of the details that a head coach deals with. He also said one of the weaknesses he is working to overcome is teaching multiple different systems instead of working hard at one and making sure his team is really good at that one system. However, he gives credit to his assistant coach Andy DelaBarre for helping him get adjusted to the role.

This season, Holen and the Loboes are 2-3 but started the season 2-0. During the team's three-game losing streak, Holen said his team had less energy and was not ready to play like it did during the first two games. As the season continues, Holen said he wants his team to become mentally and physically tougher.

"The first game I was very pleased with the way we played, our effort level, and the style that we played," Holen said. "We made shots which always helps. We weren't necessarily a well-oiled machine offensively or defensively for that matter. But, we competed and we played really hard, we played with good energy and that was super encouraging. I thought in the Barnes County Tournament, we were a little more sluggish and I told them ... it was completely on me."

The Loboes are back in action at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 29, when they take on Ellendale.

Despite the importance of the break to let his team have time off to rest and recharge, Holen said he is ready to get back to work.