Both Hematites head coach Ryan Reichel and Miners mentor Mike O’Donnell were named Coach of the Year by the U.P. Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association at its annual basketball meeting held Monday at Northern Michigan University in Marquette.

Reichel’s was a simple, unanimous acclimation as no other candidate was put up in Division 4.

He earned an even loftier honor when he was named the Associated Press All-State Coach of the Year when those honors came out earlier this week.

But in Divisions 1-3, four candidates were offered as O’Donnell earned eight votes to six for Andy Cretens of Gladstone, two for Eric Shamion of West Iron County and none for Matt Richer of Bark River-Harris.

Despite the Hematites leading early 10-0, Ishpeming head coach Ryan Reichel looks concerned while giving the scoreboard a check after Jenna Maki's successful short jumper midway through the first quarter of a high school girls basketball game played against Negaunee at Lakeview Memorial Gymnasium in Negaunee on Jan. 12. (Photo courtesy Daryl T. Jarvinen)

Negaunee and Ishpeming were also unopposed for Team of the Year distinctions, the Miners in Divisions 1-2 and the Hematites in Division 4.

BR-H won a 13-3 vote vs. WIC for the Division 3 honor.

Both O’Donnell and Reichel led their teams to heights they’d never experienced before. Negaunee had never been to semifinals before, while Ishpeming had never gone beyond winning a regional, which happened in the program’s inaugural year exactly 50 years ago in 1974.

Everyone in the state got to see Reichel’s coaching philosophy with this season’s Ishpeming squad in the D-4 state championship game that was televised on Bally Sports Detroit on March 23.

The Hematites fell into an early 11-point hole but quickly dug themselves out of it with a full-court pressing defense that caused numerous turnovers and eventually a 73-54 win over Kingston.

Negaunee head coach Mike O'Donnell looks for clarification on a call in the second quarter during a high school girls basketball game played against Ishpeming at Lakeview Memorial Gymnasium in Negaunee on Jan. 12. (Photo courtesy Daryl T. Jarvinen)

The 19-point margin that game was the closest of any of Ishpeming’s seven contests in the tournament.

Despite a shrinking student base that has placed Ishpeming in Division 4, the only blemish on its 28-1 record was a late-season 65-56 home loss to next-door neighbor and Division 2-sized Negaunee.

Not quite a month earlier, the Hematites had gone into the Miners’ Lakeview Memorial Gymnasium and pulled off a 57-53 victory to extend what would turn into a 15-game winning streak to start the season.

Despite the success, Reichel has absolutely no plans to rest on any laurels he may find laying around the IHS gym.

“As a coach, I’m already thinking what I have to do for the summer,” Reichel said right after the state title was clinched.

Negaunee head coach Mike O’Donnell talks to his players during a timeout in the second quarter of a game played against Ishpeming at the Hematites’ gym on Feb. 9. (Photo courtesy Daryl T. Jarvinen)

O’Donnell has a somewhat similar story, except that a growing population at his school has pushed Negaunee into Division 2 with the likes of Escanaba, Sault Ste. Marie and Kingsford.

The Miners took care of business on the defensive front, too, only allowing more than 50 points four times all season — both times in the split vs. Ishpeming, in a midseason game to West Iron County and in the season-ending semifinal loss to eventual state champion Detroit Edison.

In its district championship game against Sault Ste. Marie, no Negaunee player scored in double figures and the team didn’t make it to 40 points. Yet the Miners prevailed pretty easily by 17 points, 38-21.

“We had a lot of young girls playing and a lot of young girls in the stands,” O’Donnell said in the aftermath of the loss to Edison, “and for them to see that this is possible and that we can compete at this level is only going to better our program for the future and down the road.”

Cases made for Cretens, Shamion and Richer mostly centered around the improvements their teams made and the unexpected success they tasted this soon.

Steve Brownlee can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 552. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.

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