John's Journal: Numbers? Records? Hopkins’ Novak Isn’t Very Interested

Ken Novak Jr. isn’t much for looking at the big picture. Ask the Hopkins High School boys basketball coach him how many state championships his teams have won and he would probably be able to tell you the answer (eight, which is one short of the boys state record held by former DeLaSalle coach Dave Thorson).

You can get deeper into the weeds of records and numbers and such, but those are things to which Novak pays little attention. It’s not very likely he is aware that he leads all Minnesota high school boys basketball coaches with 18 state tournament appearances, or that he’s had more seasons with at least 20 wins (28) than anyone else, or that a string of four seasons with 30 or more wins (2009-2012) is another career record for boys coaches.

The number – and the record – that is being mentioned more frequently this season involves career wins. When Hopkins handed defending Class 4A state champion and top-ranked Wayzata its first loss of the season on Tuesday night, it was the 955^th career victory for Novak.

The state record for victories by boys basketball coaches is 1,012 by Chisholm’s Bob McDonald, who retired in 2014 and passed away in 2020. No. 3 on the list is the late Bob Brink, who won 936 games at Rocori before retiring in 2012.

Going into Friday’s home game against St. Michael-Albertville, Novak needs to win 57 games to tie McDonald.

And you know what? Things like that mean nothing to Ken. He cares a lot more about teaching basketball to young players, preparing for a game and then doing it all over again as the season progresses.

“I've always said I'm just taking it one year at a time and we’ll see what takes place,” he said.

Coaches don’t often step down when the cupboard is stacked, and this year’s Royals team is young and successful. The starting lineup against Wayzata consisted of juniors Anthony Smith, J.J. Semanko and Davie Hart and sophomores Jayden Moore and Julius Ellis. That win gave them a record of 11-3.

Over the last five full seasons (disregarding the 2020-21 Covid-shortened season), Hopkins has an average record of 23-6. If a trend like that continues, Novak could reach McDonald’s win total in the neighborhood of three years from now. But again, he’s not interested in such things.

“I love practice,” he said. “Games I can give or take. You know, teaching is teaching. It's trying to get kids on the same page.”

This year’s team is well-rounded, with four players averaging double figures in scoring. Smith averages 21 points, Moore and Semanko 18 and Hart 13.

There are interesting ties between Novak and McDonald. Ken’s father and longtime assistant coach, Ken Novak Sr. (who passed away in 2021) went to school at Crosby-Ironton and St. Cloud State and was friends with Bob McDonald. Novak Sr. was the head coach at Hopkins when his son played and was on Ken Jr’s staff for three decades. Ken Novak Sr. was three years older than Bob McDonald.

More recently, Brock Tesdahl, grandson of Bob McDonald and another Crosby-Ironton grad, was an assistant coach on the Hopkins staff for five years.

“I think my dad would be excited about (the record),” Novak said. As for himself, he said, “You know, it's fine. Honestly, seriously, it just doesn't …”

His words trailed off, but completing the sentence with “it just doesn’t really matter” would be in synch with Novak’s attitude about records. He truly cares most about the next game, the next challenge, preparing his pupils.

At 67, he’s retired from teaching social studies and his focus through the year is on basketball. He and lifelong friend and assistant coach Phil Ward open the gym most mornings before the start of the school day to give players a chance to work on their games.

“We're both retired and we're here twice a day, every day,” Ward said. “We're here so kids can shoot. Kenny just never gets away from it and it's just part of who he is.”

Ward and Novak go way back. Novak graduated from Augsburg College in Minneapolis and was named head coach at Blaine in 1982. He was hired at Hopkins in 1990 and led the Royals to state championships in 2002, 2005, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2016 and 2019.

Ward, 65, who was the first assistant coach hired by Novak at Blaine, was the head coach at Wayzata for 17 years before stepping away in 2013.

“Kenny is a well-rounded person but he just sees the world around basketball,” Ward said. “We talk on the phone literally every day for an hour and a half, we’ve done that for 40 years, and it always comes back to basketball.

“He can get away from it for a little bit but it never goes away. He just never gets away from it and it's just part of who he is.”

--To see complete lists of Minnesota girls and boys basketball records, click here: https://mail.info-link.net/~mattnet/ 

--MSHSL senior content creator John Millea has been the leading voice of Minnesota high school activities for decades. Follow him on Twitter @MSHSLjohn and listen to "Preps Today with John Millea” wherever you get podcasts. Contact John at [email protected]