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Castlewood head coach Paul Raasch holds up the Class B State Boys Basketball Tournament championship trophy after his Warriors defeated Viborg-Hurley in the 2025 State B title game. Raasch will be inducted into the South Dakota High School Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Shrine and will be recognized during this year’s State B tournament. Aberdeen Insider photo by Robb Garofalo.
Paul Raasch, who has been stalking basketball and football sidelines for four decades, is being honored with one of the state’s top coaching feats.
The Castlewood head man will be inducted into the South Dakota Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Shrine this year.
Raasch, the longest-tenured head coach in the state’s boys high school basketball landscape, will be recognized for his achievements in both basketball and football.
He’s guided 13 teams to the Class B State Boys Basketball Tournament and Castlewood to the title last season in Aberdeen.
As head coach for Langford Area, he guided the Lions to State B runner-up finishes in 2008 and 2015. His career record as a basketball coach is 641-264.
Raasch
While coaching the Langford football team, he led the Lions to a Class 9B championship in 2015. They were runners-up in 2016. Raasch’s career record as a football coach is 85-49, and he’s one of four people in state history who have coached teams to high school basketball and football titles.
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Raasch will be recognized Saturday, March 21 during the State B in Aberdeen.
“Forty years, yeah, that’s a long time but I still love doing it,” Raasch said. “I’m a competitive person, and coaching just keeps me young, I guess. It’s really more about the kids and watching them develop their skills and learn how to become better teammates and learn how to win. Helping these kids get as far as they can and watching them learn has been the best part of coaching for me.”
Any retirement plans are fluid, which has been the case in recent history.
“I just keep evaluating year to year. I’m still enjoying it to keep doing it, and, honestly, I’m not sure what else I would do if I didn’t have coaching. It’s part of my make-up, but I’m sure when it’s time I’ll know,” he said.
Senftner will be honored with Wooden Award
A former colleague and friend of Raasch’s is also being recognized this weekend.
Senftner
Mark Senftner, a former coach at Sully Buttes, has been named a National High School Basketball Coaches Association Wooden Legacy Coaching Award winner.
The honor is given to once boys basketball and one girls basketball coach in each state every year. It recognizes long-term coaches who exemplify John Wooden’s ideals of excellence, longevity, character, service and mentorship both on and off the court. Wooden led UCLA to 10 NCAA championships.
Before arriving in Onida to coach girls basketball and football, Senftner made stops in Roscoe, Gregory and Timber Lake. He died from brain cancer in 2022.
“Mark was a very good friend of mine,” Raasch said. “We both shared a similar career, coaching in basketball and football. I had the utmost respect for him and how he went about coaching.”
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Raasch recalls the night he and his Langford basketball team lost in the State B championship game against Sully Buttes in the Barnett Center.
“I remember in 2015 when we played against them for the championship and they beat us,” Raasch said. “At 2 a.m., there was a knock at my hotel door and it was Mark. He visited me just to make sure I was OK. I miss him and his friendship.”
Others being inducted into the Hall of Shrine this year include:
- Richard Hansen and Dick Anderson. Together, they published preseason basketball outlook books for many years. They also ran a basketball camp. Hansen died in 2007.
- Jim Bridge, who is the state’s all-time winningest girls basketball coach with 636 career victories, most of them at Hanson. He coached his daughter Jenny, South Dakota’s 2003 Miss Basketball.
- Milton Sorenson, a longtime basketball official who scored 2,480 career points while playing at Wakonda High School. He died in 2013.
The other Wooden Legacy Coaching Award winner is Lynn Frederick, a longtime coach who spent much of his career at Brookings where he finished with 507 career wins coaching both boys and girls basketball. The Bobcats won the boys Class AA state championship in 1987.
Paul Raasch talks to his Castlewood team in a timeout during the 2025 Class B State Boys Basketball Tournament inside Wachs Arena. The Warriors are back at the State B this season, and Raasch will be honored during the tournament. Aberdeen Insider photo by Robb Garofalo.
Defense of Class B title begins against Aberdeen Christian
Raasch and his Warriors enter this year’s tournament as the No. 5 seed and will take on fourth-seeded Aberdeen Christian at 12:45 p.m. Thursday, March 19 in Wachs Arena.
“Aberdeen Christian is a good team who’s been there before, which is always helpful. They’re actually similar to us — they have size, experience, guys who can handle the ball — so we know we have to play our best,” Raasch said.
On paper, he said, it should be a great matchup. Raasch said every team in this year’s tournament has a chance to cut down the nets.
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“All of these teams are capable of putting three wins together,” he said. “No one is head and shoulders above anyone else, so if you don’t play your best, you’re not going to win.”
A year ago, Castlewood defeated Viborg-Hurley to claim the crown. This season, the Cougars are the top seed. But, Raasch knows the Warriors have a target on their back as defending champs.
“We had to learn how to manage that, and had to do it in a really tough region,” he said. “We were able to get by Wessington Springs in a heck of a basketball game to get to the SoDak 16. You know, like they say, survive and advance. I like how we got through (the season) and like how this group continues to compete at the highest level.”
