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Finkbeiner to head Gwinn boys hoops

GWINN – Jim Finkbeiner is excited about an opportunity he thought would never happen.

The Gwinn-area resident was officially hired Monday night at a special school board meeting as the new varsity boys basketball head coach at Gwinn High School. The announcement was made Tuesday night.

He succeeds Darren Sinnaeve, whose contract wasn’t renewed in June after 16 years as Modeltowners’ boys head coach and nearly three decades coaching in the community.

Finkbeiner, 50, is a Marquette city police officer who has been the Gwinn boys junior varsity coach the past four seasons. He also has about a decade of experience at various levels coaching boys basketball at Marquette Senior High School in the 1980s and ’90s.

During the fall, Finkbeiner is the Modeltowners’ cross country coach, a position he’s held now for four years.

“I feel fortunate that our police chief (in Marquette, Blake Rieboldt) encourages officers to go out and be involved in the community,” Finkbeiner said about juggling the jobs in Gwinn and Marquette.

And he also feels fortunate to get the Gwinn position now.

“The kids that are seniors this year I will have coached since they were in the fourth grade,” Finkbeiner said. “It’s almost a dream to follow these kids all the way through to their senior year.”

But he knows there’s a lot of work to do after the Modeltowners went 3-18 overall and 0-12 in the Mid-Peninsula Conference last season.

“We’ll be a little inexperienced and a little young, but they’re hard-working kids,” Finkbeiner said about the 2016-17 Modeltowners. “Darren brought several sophomores up last year, and that’ll definitely pay dividends down the line.

“Fundamentals and defense are the big things. If we can do those things well, we’ll be OK.”

Finkbeiner and two other candidates – Adam Ely and Kyle Aho – were interviewed by a Gwinn Area Community Schools’ committee in an open meeting on Aug. 17. Among those on the committee was GHS athletic director Rob Soyring.

“His knowledge of the game, current Gwinn coaching experiences as well as those previously through the (Marquette Area Public Schools) will allow him to transition comfortably toward this new opportunity,” Soyring said in his announcement of Finkbeiner’s hiring. “It should also be noted Mr. Finkbeiner’s communication skills, ability to inspire and his vision for the entire program will factor greatly in his future successes.”

In addition to Finkbeiner’s hiring, one of the other candidates, Aho, was hired as varsity boys assistant coach.

“It’s great to have Kyle Aho back with our program,” Finkbeiner said. “He was a great player here just a few years ago and he’s somebody who wants to come back to Gwinn.”

Aho is a 2010 graduate of Gwinn High School and led the Modeltowners to several M-PC and Class C district championships before playing basketball at Alma College.

Steve Brownlee can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 252. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.

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