Burnell Glanzer gets win No. 600 of his coaching career

Burnell Glanzer was not concerned about getting his 600th career coaching victory.

But since it was in the works, he is glad it happened before postseason play began for his current team.

Glanzer led the Tripp-Delmont/Armour high school boys’ basketball team to a 75-35 win over Kimball on Thursday night at the Corn Palace. The win was Glanzer’s 600th of his career and came in the final game of the regular season for TDA.

“It didn’t affect me very much, but the kids were thinking about it,” Glanzer said. “They need to be thinking about other things, because districts are going to be a tough road to hoe. We have to be single-minded on that and not on some celebration.”

Tyler Payer, Jared Hermanek and Adam Fink made sure their coach’s first attempt at the milestone victory was his last.

The three combined to score the first 23 points of the game for TDA, which stormed out to a 20-point lead early in the second quarter before coasting to the win.

Payer finished with 17 points, while Hermanek and Fink each chipped in 16 for the Nighthawks (17-3). Cody Dozark had a team-leading 11 rebounds for TDA.

“We knew about it all year,” Payer said of his coach’s milestone win. “But we didn’t want to say anything to jinx it. We definitely wanted to get there for him.”

The 17 wins this season for TDA are just a fraction better than Glanzer’s average per season since he started coaching in Armour in 1975. His 600 wins over 36 years give him an average of 16.67 wins per season.

“He’s a master of communication,” longtime assistant coach Ron Weber said. “I’m just kind of along for the ride. I’ve had the best seat in the house for 27 years.

“He relates well with the kids and he gets the most out of each player — that’s the biggest asset he has.”

A number of Glanzer’s former players were in attendance and helped celebrate following the game, which included a Happy Birthday rendition by the student section to Glanzer prior to the start of the fourth quarter. Glanzer turned 58 on Thursday.

The game ended with TDA fans around the Palace holding up signs that read “600,” signifying Glanzer’s win, which he said would not have been possible without the help of his assistant coaches, like Weber.

“He helped a lot in getting our program to where it is,” Glanzer said. “Especially now, with my superintendent job, there’s times I have to miss practice and he runs practice just like I would. He knows what we do and how we want to do it.

“A couple years ago, when I broke my leg and was in the hospital with blood clots for five games, he coached and went 5 and 0 against pretty good teams. I joked that I should just stay there and not come back. They were doing such a good job.”

Glanzer, who coached Armour for years prior to its co-op with Tripp-Delmont, has a career record of 600 wins and 201 losses. That places him third on the all-time high school boys’ coaching wins list in South Dakota behind current Custer coach Larry Luitjens (708) and Mitchell’s Gary Munsen (645). Munsen won his 600th game as a coach at Mitchell earlier this season at the Corn Palace.

“Like any coach, he takes some getting used to at first,” Payer said of Glanzer. “But now, it’s second nature to have him teaching us every day and that’s what has made him so good for so long.”

Glanzer holds a career-winning percentage of 75 percent, which is higher than Luitjens’ (.717) or Munsen’s (.732). He has state championships in 1978, 1979 and 1997 and will be looking for his 13th trip to the state tournament when district play opens next week.

TDA took fourth at last year’s state tournament and is the second seed in District 12B behind Corsica/Stickney. The Nighthawks face third-seeded Dakota Christian in a district semifinal at 8:45 p.m. Monday at the Corn Palace.

Jesse Taylor scored 22 points and had 10 rebounds to lead Kimball (5-13). The Kiotes close out their regular season today at Colome.

TDA 20 44 57 75

K 2 18 30 35

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