The weather is here, wish you were great!

In 1960 the US Food and Drug Administration approved a drug named Enovid, the first oral contraceptive, or THE PILL as it was often called.

The US birthrates rapidly began to tumble thereafter.

By the time that the Baby Boom generation ended in 1964 class sizes in most US schools were shrinking dramatically. My classmates and I were one of the last really large groups to move through the Bloomington school system like a large rodent being swallowed by a snake.

I graduated in 1978 from Lincoln, one of the three high schools in town, with 608 of the best classmates a guy could ask for. Kennedy and Jefferson high schools graduated similar numbers that year too. 1,800 kids graduating in that one town, in one year, was pretty amazing.

Growing up in Bloomington Minnesota in the 1970’s was a wonderful experience. Having two cross-town rival schools was, as we found out later, kind of unusual, but for us it seemed normal since that was just the way it was.

I tried to make the best of it and actually made some pretty good friends from both of the other two schools. It helped that my part-time job bagging groceries was at a store located firmly in Jefferson territory and that a few Kennedy people worked there with a handful of us Lincoln Bears.

I fell in with a group of Jefferson kids that seemed like pretty regular folks except for the fact that they wore powder blue uniforms, stood for the Michigan fight song, and tried to learn in the anarchy that was their schools modular scheduling system. I skipped out of my school a few times and traveled across town to witness the Jefferson inmates running their asylum. NO THANKS!

There was one guy in that Jefferson group that I stayed in touch with far longer than the others.

He got involved with big time college athletics, like me.
He was a long-time assistant to his mentor, like me.
And, he was a bit of a wise-ass, like me.

Brian Dutcher graduated from Jefferson High School the same year I graduated from Lincoln. A long-time friend and classmate of mine recalls the time, back in the day that, “Dutch” approached a group of his classmates and said, to one of them,

“Hey I heard that everyone had a great time at your cabin last weekend. What happened? Didn’t you show?” Then the grin and irrepressible laugh.

Classic Dutch. Bump, set, spike. 

Dutch and I were undergrads together at the University of Minnesota. I was busy with my studies and working in the football equipment room. Dutch spent a lot of time at Williams Arena and the basketball office as his dad was the head coach of the Gopher men’s basketball team.

Despite running in different circles Dutch and I still did have a few adventures in college. We used to swap gear on occasion, and Dutch even taught me a big lesson on the changing economics of college athletics. You see, as Dutch explained it to me, his dad had 3 income streams.

His contract with the UofM to coach the basketball team,
the money he made from his summer youth basketball camps, and,
the money Nike paid him to endorse, and have his team wear, their shoes and apparel. 

Of those three the contract with the UofM brought in the least money, BUT, it made the other two possible.
Interesting. And quite lucrative.

Maybe I should have gone into coaching.
Dutch did. And he’s done well at it.

After getting his start as a graduate assistant coach at the University of Illinois, and then as an assistant coach at South Dakota State, Dutch returned to the Big Ten as an assistant and associate head coach at the University of Michigan.

My trips to Ann Arbor when Gopher football would take on the Wolverines at the Big House (Michigan Stadium) were typically highlighted by a few events. A chance to visit with my old friend and fellow equipment guy Bobby Bland. A Chicken Philly sandwich with chili cheese waffle fries (on full scholarship in exchange for a few Gopher t-shirts and ballcaps) from Mr. Spots for Friday lunch while setting up the visitors’ locker room. And of course, a gameday visit, and an awful lot of laughs, with Dutch on Saturday.

Not being a college basketball fan, I’ve always remembered Dutch for his sense of humor. Most remember him though for being the guy who assembled the Fab Five, Michigan’s heralded 1991 recruiting class, that many believe is the greatest class ever recruited in college basketball.

Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, Juwan Howard, Jimmy King, and Ray Jackson.
The black shoes, the Big Dance, and two National Championship games (as freshman and sophomores).

They were the big story in college basketball and college athletics overall.

Dutch was the most famous assistant coach in all the land.
No one imagined he’d hold that distinction for so long though.

In 1999 Dutch followed his head coach Steve Fisher to San Diego State where he became the Aztec’s head coach in waiting.
And waiting he did. For 18 years.

Steve Fisher finally retired after the 2016 season.
Dutch is now at the helm of San Diego State basketball.
He’s the guy in the corner office.
THE MAN.

I’m not sure what has happened to a lot of the other 1800 Bloomington high school grads from 1978. I just know that if I ever find myself in San Diego with a little time to spare you can bet that I’ll make my way to the Aztec hoops office to wish my old friend well, to compare notes on mutual friends, and most of all to share a few wise-ass remarks and an awful lot of laughs.