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Interview with Roy-Winifred co-Head Coach Duane Bergum
CMF Interiews
Posted on Thursday, December 29, 2010 at 10:00 p.m.
Central Montana Forum is beginning a new segment where we will be interviewing different public
figures from central Montana to get their insights and expand our knowledge about the different
personalities in our communities.
For our inaugural interview, we have landed an exclusive with Duane Bergum, co-head coach of the
Roy-Winifred Outlaws.
CMF: Tell us about your coaching history and what brought you to Winifred and to your current
coaching position.
Bergum: Through high school and college, I was able to coach a few summer teams in the Big Sky
State Games, but my first real coaching job was in Baker. I was the assistant boys basketball coach
there, which meant coaching the C-squad and JV teams, and assisting for the varsity game. I was
also the 7th grade coach that year, which meant 3 practices a day on some days. After two years
there, I went to Winnett, where I was the assistant coach for two more years for the Winnett-Grass
Range Rams. Last year I was at Highwood where, again, I was assistant coach.
Shortly after the season ended last year, I became aware of the math opening in Winifred and applied
for that job without hesitation. Later I found out that the boys basketball coaching position was
open, so naturally I applied for the job.
CMF: What was your motivation for going into coaching?
Bergum: I love basketball
CMF: As many of our readers know, this is the first year of the Roy-Winifred coop for boys
basketball. This coop is somewhat unique among coops in that the distance between the two
schools is quite significant. Can you give us an idea of how this whole arrangement works out
logistically?
Bergum: Each week we alternate practice sites with the girls. The weeks when we practice in Roy,
we take off in the suburban after school and start practice around 4:15. We’re usually back to
Winifred around 7.
CMF: Coaching is a field that is renowned for putting in long hours, but the coop has to make that
even more extreme. How many hours a week would you say you spend on coaching-related matters?
Bergum: Probably 4 hours per day for practices in Roy, then around 8 hours for each of the two
games on the weekends. That puts me at about 32 hours per week not counting any time I spend
at home watching film or planning games/practices.
CMF: Many people may have done a double-take when they read your title in our opening blurb. Can
you explain to us how the "co-head coach" approach functions and how it differs from a more
traditional coaching arrangement?
Bergum: We pretty much share all the responsibilities of both head coach and assistant coach. We
alternate these roles during the games.
CMF: As anybody who has been in Roy's gym knows, it's amazingly small both in terms of the size
of playing surface as well as seating capacity. Does it present any advantages or disadvantages to
the Roy-Winifred team when half of your practices and more than half of your home games take
place in that venue?
Bergum: We haven’t seen much difference in our performance at home or on the road. The Roy
gym will typically cause our opponents to have a couple more turnovers than usual due to the unique
inbounding rules.
CMF: Looking forward to this season, who do you see as the teams that will be playing Saturday
night of 7-C districts, northern divisionals, and state?
Bergum: At this point, I have only seen a couple teams on our district.
CMF: We've heard stories that you were a hardcore fan of 7-C basketball dating back to first grade,
so you have a relatively long view of the sport in central Montana for a person your age. Through
your eyes, how much has the style of play or the culture of the sport changed in the area over those
years.
Bergum: Wow, that’s a tough one. I think that my perspective of the game has changed so much in
the last 20 years that I can’t really be a fair judge of what has changed in 7-C.
CMF: What coaches have influenced your coaching style the most?
Bergum: This might be a long list. To shorten things up a bit I think I’ll just group together all the
Winifred coaches and referees that I have played under and solicited huge amounts of advice from in
the past. Todd Foran, Dave Udelhoven, and my Dad would be the ones I should note from that
group. At Baker, I learned volumes from Jay Shumaker, the head basketball coach, as well as the
girls coaching staff. L.J. Olson at Winnett-Grass Range was a fantastic defensive coach, and I was
able to take a lot from that experience. We were also able to make the state tournament that year,
so that in itself is a great learning experience for a coach.
CMF: If you could be any inanimate object at a basketball game, what would you be, and why?
Bergum: The paint. This is where the games are won and lost.
CMF: In your view, in what ways does participation in sports benefit students?
Bergum: Participation in sports can improve self-confidence, maturity, leadership, among many other
things. But even more importantly, it helps to build a community. High school sports are the core of
entertainment in a small community, and keeping that alive plays an important role in keeping the
community alive. Athletics have brought a lot of pride to Winifred, and will continue to in the future.
CMF: Tell us about your Winifred-Roy team for this season. Which players are you expecting big
things from, and which players do you see growing into strong contributing roles on this team?
Bergum: We’ve got an extremely quick, athletic team with plenty of size to go with it. We play a few
young guys and a few with little to no varsity experience, so I expect to growth from them as the
season goes on.
Discuss this article and read comments
CMF Interiews
Posted on Thursday, December 29, 2010 at 10:00 p.m.
Central Montana Forum is beginning a new segment where we will be interviewing different public
figures from central Montana to get their insights and expand our knowledge about the different
personalities in our communities.
For our inaugural interview, we have landed an exclusive with Duane Bergum, co-head coach of the
Roy-Winifred Outlaws.
CMF: Tell us about your coaching history and what brought you to Winifred and to your current
coaching position.
Bergum: Through high school and college, I was able to coach a few summer teams in the Big Sky
State Games, but my first real coaching job was in Baker. I was the assistant boys basketball coach
there, which meant coaching the C-squad and JV teams, and assisting for the varsity game. I was
also the 7th grade coach that year, which meant 3 practices a day on some days. After two years
there, I went to Winnett, where I was the assistant coach for two more years for the Winnett-Grass
Range Rams. Last year I was at Highwood where, again, I was assistant coach.
Shortly after the season ended last year, I became aware of the math opening in Winifred and applied
for that job without hesitation. Later I found out that the boys basketball coaching position was
open, so naturally I applied for the job.
CMF: What was your motivation for going into coaching?
Bergum: I love basketball
CMF: As many of our readers know, this is the first year of the Roy-Winifred coop for boys
basketball. This coop is somewhat unique among coops in that the distance between the two
schools is quite significant. Can you give us an idea of how this whole arrangement works out
logistically?
Bergum: Each week we alternate practice sites with the girls. The weeks when we practice in Roy,
we take off in the suburban after school and start practice around 4:15. We’re usually back to
Winifred around 7.
CMF: Coaching is a field that is renowned for putting in long hours, but the coop has to make that
even more extreme. How many hours a week would you say you spend on coaching-related matters?
Bergum: Probably 4 hours per day for practices in Roy, then around 8 hours for each of the two
games on the weekends. That puts me at about 32 hours per week not counting any time I spend
at home watching film or planning games/practices.
CMF: Many people may have done a double-take when they read your title in our opening blurb. Can
you explain to us how the "co-head coach" approach functions and how it differs from a more
traditional coaching arrangement?
Bergum: We pretty much share all the responsibilities of both head coach and assistant coach. We
alternate these roles during the games.
CMF: As anybody who has been in Roy's gym knows, it's amazingly small both in terms of the size
of playing surface as well as seating capacity. Does it present any advantages or disadvantages to
the Roy-Winifred team when half of your practices and more than half of your home games take
place in that venue?
Bergum: We haven’t seen much difference in our performance at home or on the road. The Roy
gym will typically cause our opponents to have a couple more turnovers than usual due to the unique
inbounding rules.
CMF: Looking forward to this season, who do you see as the teams that will be playing Saturday
night of 7-C districts, northern divisionals, and state?
Bergum: At this point, I have only seen a couple teams on our district.
CMF: We've heard stories that you were a hardcore fan of 7-C basketball dating back to first grade,
so you have a relatively long view of the sport in central Montana for a person your age. Through
your eyes, how much has the style of play or the culture of the sport changed in the area over those
years.
Bergum: Wow, that’s a tough one. I think that my perspective of the game has changed so much in
the last 20 years that I can’t really be a fair judge of what has changed in 7-C.
CMF: What coaches have influenced your coaching style the most?
Bergum: This might be a long list. To shorten things up a bit I think I’ll just group together all the
Winifred coaches and referees that I have played under and solicited huge amounts of advice from in
the past. Todd Foran, Dave Udelhoven, and my Dad would be the ones I should note from that
group. At Baker, I learned volumes from Jay Shumaker, the head basketball coach, as well as the
girls coaching staff. L.J. Olson at Winnett-Grass Range was a fantastic defensive coach, and I was
able to take a lot from that experience. We were also able to make the state tournament that year,
so that in itself is a great learning experience for a coach.
CMF: If you could be any inanimate object at a basketball game, what would you be, and why?
Bergum: The paint. This is where the games are won and lost.
CMF: In your view, in what ways does participation in sports benefit students?
Bergum: Participation in sports can improve self-confidence, maturity, leadership, among many other
things. But even more importantly, it helps to build a community. High school sports are the core of
entertainment in a small community, and keeping that alive plays an important role in keeping the
community alive. Athletics have brought a lot of pride to Winifred, and will continue to in the future.
CMF: Tell us about your Winifred-Roy team for this season. Which players are you expecting big
things from, and which players do you see growing into strong contributing roles on this team?
Bergum: We’ve got an extremely quick, athletic team with plenty of size to go with it. We play a few
young guys and a few with little to no varsity experience, so I expect to growth from them as the
season goes on.
Discuss this article and read comments