By John RittenhouseThe winter sports season will bring two coaching changes at Luverne High School in 2003-04.A pair of Sioux Falls residents have accepted positions as head boys’ hockey and head wrestling coaches at LHS.Nick Nafziger has been selected to replace Lee Chaffee as the new head hockey coach. James Grinnell will take over the top spot of the wrestling program for Dave Duffy.Both Nafziger and Grinnell are newcomers to high school varsity sports.HockeyNafziger takes over a hockey program that compiled a 28-17-1 record during Chaffee’s two-year stint as the head coach.A native of Marshall, Nafziger considers himself a hockey fanatic who is excited about the prospect of coaching the sport in Luverne."I’m pretty anxious to get started," he said. "I’m a big hockey fan. I’m always watching hockey on television at home. This is my first coaching job, so it will be a learning experience, but I’m hoping that things will go well."Nafziger grew to love the sport of hockey during his high school years in Marshall.Marshall did not have a high school team when he graduated from the school in 1997, but the town did field a Junior Gold program that used to compete against Luverne and other area teams.Nafziger said his experience of playing hockey in the past should help him with his coaching duties in Luverne."I played mostly defense when I got older, but I played every position on the ice during my years in the (Marshall) program. I know what everyone’s jobs are, and I’ll be able to work with the kids at every position. I guess my biggest asset is my knowledge of the game," he said.Nafziger didn’t play hockey after his high school days in Marshall.He moved to Moorhead for a couple of years before relocating to Sioux Falls in 2000, where he earned a Criminal Justice Degree at Colorado Technical University.Nafziger graduated from CTU in June of 2002, and he currently works as a salesman for Best Buy in Sioux Falls.Nick’s wife, Lisa, whom he married in August, works at Southwestern Mental Health Center in Luverne.Nafziger did not have the opportunity to meet any of his players at the time this story was written, but he was looking forward to meeting them and working with them this season."It will be a lot of fun. We’ll have a team meeting sometime this week. I’ll get some information on them and we’ll go from there," he said."I’ll be a defensive-minded coach. I firmly believe that it all begins with defense. I think the offensive part of the game comes naturally to the kids, especially in the sport of hockey. What I’ll want the kids to do is to learn how to play defense first."WrestlingGrinnell is fired up about taking over the Luverne-Hills-Beaver Creek-Ellsworth wrestling program, too."I can’t wait to get started. I can’t even sleep at night because I’m very excited about this," he said.Grinnell will replace Duffy, who has held the head wrestling coaching position in Luverne for the past nine seasons. Duffy ended his tenure with a 50-119-2 record.Like Nafziger, Grinnell has no varsity coaching experience.Grinnell did coach co-ed and women’s softball teams in recent years, but this will be his first crack at coaching high school wrestling.The new L-H-BC-E coach does have a wrestling background.Growing up in New Town, N.D., Grinnell started participating in the school’s wrestling program when he was in the fourth grade.He earned a position on the school’s varsity wrestling team as a seventh-grader and was a contributing member of the program until he graduated in 1981.Grinnell said the highlight of his wrestling career was winning two AAU state championships in Minot, N.D.Grinnell’s travels landed him in Sioux Falls in 1994, where he has resided ever since.He went to school at Southeast Technical Institute before finishing his secondary education at the University of Sioux Falls, where he gained a bachelor’s degree in business management.Grinnell, who’s wife, Tammy, works at O’Ryan’s Food Systems in Sioux Falls, purchased the Citgo convenience store in Luverne last March.The new L-H-BC-E mentor knows what type of coaching style he plans to implement in the program."I’ll be a coach that stresses the fundamentals," Grinnell said. "I’ll be a hands-on type of coach who wrestles with the kids in practice. I’m a firm believer in the fundamentals, and I’ll be working that into my instruction."Look for preview stories on Grinnell’s and Nafziger’s teams in the special winter sports section in the Dec. 4 edition of the Star Herald.
