ABERDEEN — The Warriors are leading the Warriors.  

The Castlewood High School boys basketball coaching staff is made up of five former Warriors, including head coach Paul Raasch. 

“It’s pretty rare,” said Raasch, 1982 Castlewood High School graduate. “I think it’s a credit to our community. Castlewood loves basketball and all the guys have things invested and want to see things go well.”

The rest of the staff includes Castlewood graduates Jeff Sikkink (1978), Mike Thyen (‘90), Austin Tvedt (‘94) and Ryder Johnson (2020). 

Raasch, who was a longtime Langford Area coach, is in his first season coaching at his alma mater. Raasch is the state's winningest active boys basketball coach with 574 career wins. 

He guided Langford Area to eight Class B boys basketball tournaments from 2007-2018. 

Raasch also coached at Alpena and Webster before building Langford Area into a Class B powerhouse. Langford Area’s eight state tournament appearances included six berths from 2012-18 and a runner-up finish in 2015. 

In his first season back home, Raasch guided the Warriors to their second consecutive state tournament and 12th overall as a program. Raasch didn’t realize the Castlewood-heavy staff until midway through the season. 

“It’s just a neat thing and we are kind of proud of that on our staff that we have five guys that bleed blue,” Raasch said. 

The staff also covers a number of different generations. Raasch remembers watching Sikkink play in high school and Thyen watched Raasch play when he was younger. Johnson, meanwhile, played with some of the current Warriors. 

The coaches all complement each other and have built a strong bond in their first season as a staff. 

“We have four assistants and not many high schools have that,” Raasch said. “But I think that’s a good thing. You get different ideas and you have guys that love it for different reasons and it works out pretty good.” 

The foundation for the program was built by long-time coach Galen Swenson, who racked up 429 coaching wins in 28 seasons at Castlewood. 

“Galen Swenson had a great program in Castlewood,” Raasch said. “He brought them here several years. I could name hundreds of former Warriors and every small town is like that, but I think Castlewood is pretty special.” 

Another Castlewood graduate, Shane Warwick, was also in attendance on Friday supporting the Warriors.