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Aug. 15—BEMIDJI — It all started on March 20.
Kristen McRae, the Bemidji High School activities director since 2022, sent the local media an email with a list of newsworthy updates. She noted that girls hockey head coach
Mike Johnson was retiring from coaching
and that girls basketball head coach
Darin Shultz was stepping down.
It's a rare email she has to send, but it's also not the first time. Typically, one or two coaches in a given school year change course, leaving vacancies open to the public.
However, her March 20 news dump was the thunder brewing in the distance of what she called "the perfect storm."
Two weeks later, she announced Rick Toward's resignation from coaching boys soccer to pursue a
teaching opportunity in Uruguay.
On May 4, head football coach
Bryan Stoffel resigned,
citing "personal attacks," an hour before Unified coordinator
Jackie Stoffel did the same.
At the beginning of July, volleyball head coach
Alicia Kriens' resignation became public.
One month later, boys swimming and diving head coach
Woody Leindecker also retired from coaching.
"I tend to internalize a lot of things. As this was all happening, I had a moment where I was like, 'Oh, my gosh. Is this because of me?'" McRae said. "But when you take a step back and look at the picture of what's going on and how unique this situation is, you know that it's not you. The coaches know that it's not you. The administration knows that. I don't think the general public knows, though. They read a headline and are quick to jump to conclusions, when the reality is that all of these decisions were made individually."
Of the six head coaching vacancies McRae was left with (Jackie Stoffel's position does not fall under the activities office), only one of them was due to conflict. The rest, despite how closely the resignations and retirements happened to each other, just happened to fall in the same five-month stretch.
Johnson became a grandfather just days before the Lumberjacks skated in the state tournament in St. Paul. Before his eighth season in 2025-26, he debated retiring to spend more time with family, a decision he ultimately finalized in March.
"I knew Mike Johnson's (decision) was coming down the pipe," McRae said. "He had expressed his intentions before, and he gave a lot of years. He's been so busy with work and traveling back and forth from Wisconsin. At some point, the older you get, the harder that gets. Having family far away like that really pulls at your heartstrings. The gift of time is something you can't get back, and he has that time now."
Schultz's decision is rooted in a family matter. He opted to keep the details of his resignation private.
"I was on the hiring committee when Darin applied (in 2022)," McRae said. "When he came in, his objective was to build a program and a culture. The first group of kids he came in with as a head coach were the last group of kids he coached. It was an emotional year for him and his family. When you're so far away from your family, it's hard."
Toward, who was on the boys soccer sidelines for 33 years, planned on coaching two more seasons with his longtime assistant Jeff Mitchell until his once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to move to South America was presented. He was Bemidji's longest-tenured head coach.
Leindecker, another three-decade coach, spent two months as the most seasoned coach at BHS before his retirement announcement. Similar to Johnson, he felt it was time to take a step back and focus more on his personal life.
"The days of having a lifer coach, they're not here anymore," McRae said. "When you look at the history of coaching in Bemidji, the coaches who built these dynasties started when they were a teacher in their 20s and coached until they retired at 60. Part of it is societal — people look for change."
Kriens had been the head coach of the BHS volleyball team since 2018 before she stepped down to spend more time with family.
Bryan Stoffel's resignation is the only one of the six that was due to an unfortunate conflict that's become more of a problem in youth sports nationally.
"The resignation of Jackie and Bryan Stoffel from their extracurricular duties has been widely covered," Bemidji Area Schools superintendent Jeremy Olson said in a May 8 release. "This has led to speculation that, in many cases, is inaccurate. The personal attacks that have been referenced are from a former student. This individual does not presently have any connection to Bemidji Area Schools. The district has worked with our legal counsel to provide guidance and support for the Stoffels as they respond to this situation."
Another problem that BHS faced was finding new coaches to step in.
"Replacing six head coaches is a lot in one year, and it's difficult to do in a community that doesn't get an influx of people moving in here," McRae said. "It's a very unique situation, and it's really sad. I love these coaches and worked with them for years. It's kind of like seeing your friends graduate when you're still in high school. I wish them all the best. People can be replaced, yes, but the connections and relationships they had with our student-athletes left a big impact."
Finding new coaches is becoming harder as well, especially in Bemidji. The BHS administration doesn't have the luxury of proximity that similarly sized schools have. According to the Minnesota State High School League's competitive placement data, BHS is the 50th largest school in the state, but is still two hours away from its first like-sized school in Brainerd.
"When you look at the schools we compete against, we're a big school in a smaller town, with no real easy roads to get to," McRae said. "It's a really unique situation, but to have the people in the community step up and give these kids quality coaching, hats off to them."
Of the six vacancies that were left after the 2025-26 season, all but boys swimming and diving have found a local replacement. McRae believes it's a testament to the strength of a community.
Because BHS had so much coaching longevity in some programs, some new coaches have patiently waited their turn to get in the mix at the prep level.
"I look at Chris Hennum as one of those coaches," McRae said of the
new girls hockey head coach.
"He has so much energy, enthusiasm and professionalism he's bringing to this group, and it's the same he brought when he coached younger girls in (Bemidji Youth Hockey)."
Kyle McMartin, the Bemidji Middle School principal, is
taking over the helm on the football field.
"Kyle McMartin loves coaching," McRae continued. "He wasn't able to coach because of work stuff, but can now work around it. It's almost like bringing a kid back into the game for him. He gets to do what he's always loved doing."
Mitchell isn't following Toward to Uruguay and
will coach with his son, Logan, and his dad, Barry.
"With Jeff Mitchell, it's really cool," McRae added. "To have
Jeff Mitchell, Logan Mitchell and Barry Mitchell all coach a high school soccer team,
I bet you can't find that anywhere else in the state. They love soccer, all of them, and they're great with kids.
Travis Peterson, a longtime fixture in the Bemidji hoops scene, is a varsity head coach again
for the first time since 2020
with the girls basketball program. Lee Anne De La Hunt is replacing Kriens with a
wealth of volleyball coaching experience.
"Travis Peterson, a Bemidji alum, has always given his time back to kids," McRae said. "He's coached girls, he's coached boys, he's coached at multiple levels. The comfort I have in that is in his experience, knowledge of the game and his passion for the sport.
"Lee Anne De La Hunt has such a colorful coaching past at all sorts of levels. She brings new and fresh ideas to the table for the girls. It's all really exciting."
McRae also understands that finding people who want to coach is an uphill battle, but it's also a problem shared throughout the state. The low coaching salaries are more of a cherry on top of the job rather than an actual incentive. The demand for coaches has also gone up.
"We offer pretty competitive salaries for coaching that line up with other schools our size around the state, but those numbers are sorted out during contract negotiations in line with the teachers' union," McRae said. "I can't set the number our coaches get paid. If I could, trust me, it'd be a different story. None of our coaches are doing it for the money. They do it for the love of the sport, to give back to the kids and people in the community.
"When you're a high school coach, it's not just three months out of the year. It's a full-time job, but you're only getting paid by the high school for three months of that. Everywhere around the state, ADs are looking for coaches. When I tell people we had five people apply for a coaching position, they're shocked because having more than one person apply is huge. It's not just Bemidji."
Continue reading...
Kristen McRae, the Bemidji High School activities director since 2022, sent the local media an email with a list of newsworthy updates. She noted that girls hockey head coach
Mike Johnson was retiring from coaching
and that girls basketball head coach
Darin Shultz was stepping down.
It's a rare email she has to send, but it's also not the first time. Typically, one or two coaches in a given school year change course, leaving vacancies open to the public.
However, her March 20 news dump was the thunder brewing in the distance of what she called "the perfect storm."
Two weeks later, she announced Rick Toward's resignation from coaching boys soccer to pursue a
teaching opportunity in Uruguay.
On May 4, head football coach
Bryan Stoffel resigned,
citing "personal attacks," an hour before Unified coordinator
Jackie Stoffel did the same.
At the beginning of July, volleyball head coach
Alicia Kriens' resignation became public.
One month later, boys swimming and diving head coach
Woody Leindecker also retired from coaching.
"I tend to internalize a lot of things. As this was all happening, I had a moment where I was like, 'Oh, my gosh. Is this because of me?'" McRae said. "But when you take a step back and look at the picture of what's going on and how unique this situation is, you know that it's not you. The coaches know that it's not you. The administration knows that. I don't think the general public knows, though. They read a headline and are quick to jump to conclusions, when the reality is that all of these decisions were made individually."
Of the six head coaching vacancies McRae was left with (Jackie Stoffel's position does not fall under the activities office), only one of them was due to conflict. The rest, despite how closely the resignations and retirements happened to each other, just happened to fall in the same five-month stretch.
Johnson became a grandfather just days before the Lumberjacks skated in the state tournament in St. Paul. Before his eighth season in 2025-26, he debated retiring to spend more time with family, a decision he ultimately finalized in March.
"I knew Mike Johnson's (decision) was coming down the pipe," McRae said. "He had expressed his intentions before, and he gave a lot of years. He's been so busy with work and traveling back and forth from Wisconsin. At some point, the older you get, the harder that gets. Having family far away like that really pulls at your heartstrings. The gift of time is something you can't get back, and he has that time now."
Schultz's decision is rooted in a family matter. He opted to keep the details of his resignation private.
"I was on the hiring committee when Darin applied (in 2022)," McRae said. "When he came in, his objective was to build a program and a culture. The first group of kids he came in with as a head coach were the last group of kids he coached. It was an emotional year for him and his family. When you're so far away from your family, it's hard."
Toward, who was on the boys soccer sidelines for 33 years, planned on coaching two more seasons with his longtime assistant Jeff Mitchell until his once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to move to South America was presented. He was Bemidji's longest-tenured head coach.
Leindecker, another three-decade coach, spent two months as the most seasoned coach at BHS before his retirement announcement. Similar to Johnson, he felt it was time to take a step back and focus more on his personal life.
"The days of having a lifer coach, they're not here anymore," McRae said. "When you look at the history of coaching in Bemidji, the coaches who built these dynasties started when they were a teacher in their 20s and coached until they retired at 60. Part of it is societal — people look for change."
Kriens had been the head coach of the BHS volleyball team since 2018 before she stepped down to spend more time with family.
Bryan Stoffel's resignation is the only one of the six that was due to an unfortunate conflict that's become more of a problem in youth sports nationally.
"The resignation of Jackie and Bryan Stoffel from their extracurricular duties has been widely covered," Bemidji Area Schools superintendent Jeremy Olson said in a May 8 release. "This has led to speculation that, in many cases, is inaccurate. The personal attacks that have been referenced are from a former student. This individual does not presently have any connection to Bemidji Area Schools. The district has worked with our legal counsel to provide guidance and support for the Stoffels as they respond to this situation."
Another problem that BHS faced was finding new coaches to step in.
"Replacing six head coaches is a lot in one year, and it's difficult to do in a community that doesn't get an influx of people moving in here," McRae said. "It's a very unique situation, and it's really sad. I love these coaches and worked with them for years. It's kind of like seeing your friends graduate when you're still in high school. I wish them all the best. People can be replaced, yes, but the connections and relationships they had with our student-athletes left a big impact."
Finding new coaches is becoming harder as well, especially in Bemidji. The BHS administration doesn't have the luxury of proximity that similarly sized schools have. According to the Minnesota State High School League's competitive placement data, BHS is the 50th largest school in the state, but is still two hours away from its first like-sized school in Brainerd.
"When you look at the schools we compete against, we're a big school in a smaller town, with no real easy roads to get to," McRae said. "It's a really unique situation, but to have the people in the community step up and give these kids quality coaching, hats off to them."
Of the six vacancies that were left after the 2025-26 season, all but boys swimming and diving have found a local replacement. McRae believes it's a testament to the strength of a community.
Because BHS had so much coaching longevity in some programs, some new coaches have patiently waited their turn to get in the mix at the prep level.
"I look at Chris Hennum as one of those coaches," McRae said of the
new girls hockey head coach.
"He has so much energy, enthusiasm and professionalism he's bringing to this group, and it's the same he brought when he coached younger girls in (Bemidji Youth Hockey)."
Kyle McMartin, the Bemidji Middle School principal, is
taking over the helm on the football field.
"Kyle McMartin loves coaching," McRae continued. "He wasn't able to coach because of work stuff, but can now work around it. It's almost like bringing a kid back into the game for him. He gets to do what he's always loved doing."
Mitchell isn't following Toward to Uruguay and
will coach with his son, Logan, and his dad, Barry.
"With Jeff Mitchell, it's really cool," McRae added. "To have
Jeff Mitchell, Logan Mitchell and Barry Mitchell all coach a high school soccer team,
I bet you can't find that anywhere else in the state. They love soccer, all of them, and they're great with kids.
Travis Peterson, a longtime fixture in the Bemidji hoops scene, is a varsity head coach again
for the first time since 2020
with the girls basketball program. Lee Anne De La Hunt is replacing Kriens with a
wealth of volleyball coaching experience.
"Travis Peterson, a Bemidji alum, has always given his time back to kids," McRae said. "He's coached girls, he's coached boys, he's coached at multiple levels. The comfort I have in that is in his experience, knowledge of the game and his passion for the sport.
"Lee Anne De La Hunt has such a colorful coaching past at all sorts of levels. She brings new and fresh ideas to the table for the girls. It's all really exciting."
McRae also understands that finding people who want to coach is an uphill battle, but it's also a problem shared throughout the state. The low coaching salaries are more of a cherry on top of the job rather than an actual incentive. The demand for coaches has also gone up.
"We offer pretty competitive salaries for coaching that line up with other schools our size around the state, but those numbers are sorted out during contract negotiations in line with the teachers' union," McRae said. "I can't set the number our coaches get paid. If I could, trust me, it'd be a different story. None of our coaches are doing it for the money. They do it for the love of the sport, to give back to the kids and people in the community.
"When you're a high school coach, it's not just three months out of the year. It's a full-time job, but you're only getting paid by the high school for three months of that. Everywhere around the state, ADs are looking for coaches. When I tell people we had five people apply for a coaching position, they're shocked because having more than one person apply is huge. It's not just Bemidji."
Continue reading...
