RCTC women's basketball has a new coach, but will wait one more year to play

Nov. 8—ROCHESTER — For the second straight year, Rochester Community and Technical College will not have a women's basketball season.That decision was made in late June. It came after former Lewiston-Altura High School girls basketball team coach Sam Barnes was hired on May 15. It was deemed one month later that there wasn't enough time to cobble together a team at that late date, with the vast majority of girls basketball players already having committed to colleges.Barnes, 26, wanted a season but certainly understood the reasoning behind waiting another year to put one together.Barnes is a former RCTC men's basketball player and also spent one year coaching under Yellowjackets men's coach Brian LaPlante during the 2019-20 season"I wish there was a season this year," said Barnes, a Stewartville native who spent the last three years as Lewiston-Altura's girls basketball coach, including last year directing the Cardinals to their first winning season in 24 years."It's never an easy decision to cancel a season, but with the lack of numbers coming in, it's what we had to do," Barnes said. "But for me, someone who loves the sport and coaching so much, it's tough."The Yellowjackets have had immense success recently in women's basketball under the direction of former coach Jason Bonde.Bonde's teams won the NJCAA Division III junior college national championship in 2023 and 2025. But after the 2025 season and being named National Coach of the Year, RCTC shockingly did not have enough players the following season to field a team.Bonde, who finished with a blistering five-year record of 112-17, announced on April 23 that he was leaving the RCTC women's coaching position and would become the head boys basketball coach at Lake City High School.At Lake City, Bonde replaces Greg Berge, who stepped down following last season after piling up a 392-146 record, including advancing to three state tournaments"Once I found out that Greg was leaving it really sparked an interest in me," said Bonde, who lives in Lake City. "It really made me think about what I was doing. The amount of time and effort in the college game is great. But once I talked to the (Lake City administration), I really decided that this was what I would love to do. The boys basketball tradition at Lake City has been great. There is a lot of talent in small towns like Lake City."Barnes feels like he is in a good spot coaching at RCTC after having both played and coached there.He said he learned a lot from LaPlante, who he's helping out as a men's basketball coaching assistant this season."I learned so much from being around a guy like that who for (30) years has been coaching at RCTC," Barnes said. "And having played at RCTC myself, I think I understand things from a player's perspective. It's a tough process, which is why I'm doing it."Barnes' non-basketball job is working as a special education para-professional in Stewartville.He says his primary desire as a coach is in affecting people's lives."I want them to have a good and safe college experience," he said. "My goal is to get our players where they want to go both in their careers and in basketball."Barnes intends to cast a large net in recruiting his players. But he says there are three main target areas for him: southeastern Minnesota, the Twin Cities and its suburbs, and western Wisconsin.Having coached at Lewiston-Altura for three years, he knows the kind of talent this area produces in girls basketball, and he is impressed."I spent the last three years coaching in the area, and seeing the competition that we played against both in Class 1A and 2A, I know that this area is a girls basketball hotbed," Barnes said."As for a style of play, I want to play fast," Barnes said. "I want us to play hard-nosed basketball as on-ball defenders, and I want us to fly up and down the court."Barnes is going to have to wait another year to begin implementing what he wants from this team.One of his main focuses will be trying to establish a winning culture.He wants his players to take the lead on that."A big thing going forward is I want to bring in people who want to establish the culture," Barnes said. "I want that as opposed to them stepping into a pre-determined culture. And I want to bring in players who love it here and love the game of basketball."