Goldberg named DSU's interim women’s basketball coach
What a difference a week can make.
What a difference a week can make.
Andre Goldberg hadn’t heard that Guy Fridley had left Dickinson State when he was contacted about the open women’s basketball coach position the latter vacated.
So when DSU athletic director Roger Ternes called Goldberg on Tuesday to see if he was interested in becoming the Blue Hawks’ interim head coach, he was caught off guard.
“I didn’t know anything about it,” Goldberg said.
Four days later, Goldberg signed a contract to become the school’s interim women’s basketball head coach on Friday night — his first job as a head coach — filling the second position Fridley left vacant after he resigned from the university Monday to become the secondary principal and athletic director at South Heart High School.
Goldberg, 25, becomes the second young assistant coach mentored by Fridley to be named interim head coach at DSU in as many days. Kristen Fleury, 24, was named the Blue Hawks’ interim head softball coach on Thursday.
“There’s obviously going to be a few things I’m going to have to learn, but I’m confident in my ability as a coach and I’m confident in the girls I have this year,” Goldberg said.
The DSU women’s basketball team returns four players who started full-time last season as well as several players who spot started or played big minutes.
Goldberg was an assistant coach under Fridley last season and spent the past two seasons as the assistant men’s basketball coach under Ty Orton. He split time between the two teams during the 2008-09 season.
Goldberg said knowing the team and planning to stick with the system Fridley implemented during his three years as head coach made the decision to take the job easy.
“I guess I’d be more nervous if I didn’t know the team and I didn’t know the school and all the people that are around me,” Goldberg said. “Obviously I wouldn’t have taken the job if I wasn’t confident in my ability as coach.”
Fridley said what Goldberg lacks in experience, he makes up for in energy and enthusiasm.
“I think he certainly brought a sense of enthusiasm to the program,” Fridley said. “That’s one thing he brings to the table. Enthusiasm can override experience a lot of the time.”
Originally from Boulder, Colo., Goldberg is a graduate of Black Hills State, where he played basketball for two seasons after spending two seasons under Orton at McCook (Neb.) Community College.
He spent the spring and summer working as a camp director and a professional basketball trainer for the National Basketball Academy in Orlando, which is affiliated with the Orlando Magic, the National Basketball Association’s Eastern Conference champion.
Goldberg said he figured the next time he’d see a game in Scott Gymnasium, it’d be as a fan, not a coach.
“I never thought it’d be this quick, but I’m happy to be back,” said Goldberg, who added he’ll be driving from Orlando to Dickinson and plans to be back before the school year begins.
Tags: blue hawks, andre goldberg, sports, college
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