There’s a familiar face leading the Dell Rapids High School boys basketball team. 

As a Quarrier, Ty Hoglund scored more than 1,000 career points, was a three-time all-stater, guided them to a state-tourney berth and was the 2016 South Dakota Mr. Basketball. 

He can now add another title to his Quarrier legacy — head boys basketball coach. 

“There was just a coaching opening in Dells and it’s something I am very passionate about,” said Hoglund, who was recently named the Quarriers’ head boys basketball coach. “I care a lot about Dell Rapids basketball and the community and South Dakota sports as a whole. So I thought it was a great opportunity for myself to get back involved with it.”

After starring at Dell Rapids, Hoglund was a four-time All-American at Dakota Wesleyan University and finished as the program’s third all-time leading scorer with 2,729 career points.

Hoglund, a business finance major at DWU, said coaching basketball was not necessarily in the plans. But the basketball void was apparent after graduating in 2020 and this new opportunity fills it.    

“The game of basketball has definitely played a huge part in my life,” Hoglund said. “So being away from it was definitely something different and I just thought I would get used to it as time went on, but the passion for the game is evidently never going to go away. This opportunity came up and I couldn’t pass it up. Basketball is in my blood and helping people and helping kids with the game of basketball is in my blood. So I just had to take advantage of it.”

While it’s his first head coaching opportunity, Hoglund has been exposed to a number of different basketball minds in his hoops journey.

Ty’s father, Mick, was a long-time high school basketball coach and he played for Jason Fersdahl at Dell Rapids. Matt Wilber, Hoglund’s college coach and a fellow Dell Rapids graduate, is third all-time in coaching wins at Dakota Wesleyan. Former DWU assistant, Jacob Brandl, is the head men's basketball coach at McCook Community College (Neb.). Hoglund also did some basketball workouts with trainer Shane Hennen in the summer of 2020.

Hoglund plans to take pieces from them all, establish his own coaching style and bring the same juice as when he played. 

“I am not looking to reinvent the wheel by any means,” Hoglund said. “Basketball is basketball. I am going to teach kids the way I was taught to play and that’s going to be with a lot of energy, a lot of emotion and with passion. If we do that with some good sportsmanship and some good talent, I think there could be some success along the way.”

In the immediate future, Hoglund has plans for team camps and summer league. He’s also going to promote and encourage his players to be active in other activities during the offseason.  

“I am always going to be a guy that’s an advocate for playing multiple sports,” Hoglund said. “So kids are going to be busy as heck with playing other things and I am all for that. But I will definitely give them some opportunities to improve their craft as well. We are going to lock some things down here in the next couple weeks and hopefully get rolling here come June.”