ALEXANDRIA — Jim Haskamp will play a different role at high school football games next fall — grandpa. 

The long-time Hanson High School football coach has resigned after 36 years as head coach of the Beavers. He’s still going to be around the sport, but just in a different setting. 

Haskamp’s grandson, Hayden Smithberg, will be a senior at Divide County High School in Crosby, North Dakota. Haskamp and his wife, Carol, intend on regularly making the nine-hour trek for Hayden’s senior season. 

“I don’t want to miss the opportunity to go watch him play and that’s been the sole reason,” Haskamp said about resigning. “There’s not any other reason. It’s not like I felt it was time. It’s just I didn't want to miss that opportunity of being able to go watch him play.” 

Haskamp and Carol mulled over coaching future prior to the 2023 season. After some discussions, he knew this past season was going to be his last. 

Haskamp submitted his resignation on Monday, Nov. 13, culminating an emotional few days for him and Carol. 

“It was a very emotional, hard week for both of us,” Haskamp said. “Because anytime you are in coaching — and you are married, and have a family — they are a big part of that. They have to ride the waves of everything, all the ups and downs. It was not an easy decision, but this window was going to close after next year and I did not want to have the regret of saying ‘I wish I would have gone and watched him play more.’ ”

Haskamp, 64, steps down after building the Beavers into a nine-man football powerhouse, but not before a few stops along the way. Haskamp graduated from Albion College in his home state of Michigan. 

He landed his first teaching position at Todd County, coaching junior high football and teaching math. It’s also where he met Carol, a Rochester, Minnesota, native who was teaching second grade at Todd County. 

“The Lord opened the door for me,” Haskamp said. “I tell people I walked through that door and that’s because of the opportunities and things that have happened since that time. That’s where I met my wife out in Todd County.” 

They later landed jobs at Sully Buttes in Onida, where Jim coached under Hanson High School graduate Chuck Benson. Shortly thereafter, Jim and Carol accepted positions at Hanson.

After a few seasons as assistant coach, Jim took over as head coach in 1988 and the couple raised their two daughters — Brittany and Rachel — in Alexandria. 

They toyed with the idea of moving further east, but felt comfortable in the small South Dakota town of roughly 600 people.  

“We were content here and we liked the community; the location and the people,” Haskamp said. “We’ve always felt that Hanson was a good place to raise our kids. As far as the school district, I have nothing but positive things to say about the school district and how I’ve been treated here. Everything about it has been nothing but positive for me. So I never really had a desire to leave.”

As a result, Haskamp helped turn Hanson into a nine-man football perennial contender. From 1988-2023, Haskamp coached 47 all-state players, guided the Beavers to four nine-man state championships and he finished with a 210-134 coaching record. 

The Beavers won their four state championships in a six-year span, winning their first in 2005 and three straight from 2008-10. 

Haskamp, a 2017 South Dakota Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame inductee, praised his players for all the wins and accomplishments. 

“As a coach, I’ve had success,” Haskamp said. “But I give the kids all the credit for that success. I may have played a small part in it, but any success that we have, I give the credit to the kids for the job that they’ve done. One of the hardest things in coaching is when you lose, I will blame myself for those. But I think for the success we’ve had, I give the credit to the kids. They’ve responded to the things we’ve done over the years.”

Haskamp, who will continue to teach physical education and referee basketball in the winter, is also grateful for his relationships with coaches, community members and administrators through the years. 

“I have been very, very, very fortunate and just for the support I have had from the community,” he said. “It’s very humbling the support I have felt and the love I felt from all those people. It’s been very, very humbling and that goes from administration, our staff, school board, faculty and community members and most of all the former players I have had. The players I have now and the former players I have had.”