Two women with ties to the area and a long history of contributions to their respective sports were honored Saturday at the Minnesota State High School Coaches Association Awards Banquet at the Sheraton Minneapolis West in Minnetonka.
Erin Herman was inducted into the group’s Hall of Fame, while LeeAnn Steen was presented with a service award.
Herman has been the head girls basketball coach at Hill-Murray since 1989.
Steen was a gymnast at Jackson High School and later was an assistant coach for the Bluejays. She then served as head coach at Martin County West and later Martin County Area when MCW and Fairmont joined for a cooperatively sponsored program. LeeAnn is also a long-time judge.
Erin Herman
Erin Herman is a 1980 Sherburn High School graduate.
She was a six-year letter winner in basketball, all-conference four years, Most Valuable Player three years, and all-state twice. In tennis she was a three-year letter winner, three-year MVP, two-year all-conference honoree and a state tournament qualifier in 1979.
Herman was a two-sport athlete at the University of North Dakota, competing in tennis and softball. She won the North Central Conference singles title in 1982 and was doubles champion and a team champion in 1984.
Erin started her teaching and coaching career at Appleton and also coached volleyball and basketball at Hopkins High School before moving to Hill-Murray.
She has been named Section Coach of the Year 15 times and had nine teams win section titles and qualify for the state tournament. The Pioneers placed second in Class 3A in 2010 and 2011.
Herman has also been inducted into the Minnesota Girls Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame and the University of North Dakota Athletics Hall of Fame.
She is 14th on the all-time win list for Minnesota high school girls basketball coaches.
Here are the top 25 winningest coaches in Minnesota girls basketball. Listed are number of wins, name, school(s) and whether the coach is active or the final year they coached.
1039: Mike Dreier, New London-Spicer (active)
719: Myron Glass, Rochester Lourdes (2014)
689: Gary Lembcke, Norwood Young America (2023)
684: Ron Gunderson, New Prague (active)
676: Wendy Kohler, Alexandria (active)
674: Pat Bowlin, St. Bernard's, Winona Cotter (active)
657: Bill Gottenborg, Stephen, Hawley (active)
626: Randy Myhre, Barnum (2012)
619: John Noga, Akeley, Parkers Prairie (2022)
605: Dick Simpson, Barrett, Brandon, Brandon-Evansville (2017)
591: Jim Lien, Walker-Hackensack-Akeley (active)
589: Brad Atchison, Clara City, Midwest Minnesota, MACCRAY, Willmar (2012)
586: Brian Cosgriff, Hopkins, Minnetonka (active)
565: Erin Herman, Hill-Murray (active)
557: Jeff Buffetta, Mountain Iron-Buhl (active)
555: Carol Visness, HHSVK, Kittson Central (2004)
552: Rick Uttech, East Chain, Granada-Huntley-East Chain
548: Beth Clark, Hermantown (active)
547: Dan Woods, Holy Angels (active)
544: Willie Taylor, Mounds View, St. Paul Central, Stillwater (2021)
537: Mike Ciochetto, Chisholm (2010)
533: Dave Preller, Park, Woodbury (2011)
521: Faith Johnson Patterson, Minneapolis North, DeLaSalle, Eden Prairie, Visitation (active)
519: Les Knutson, Heron Lake, Heron Lake-Okabena, Heron Lake-Okabena-Lakefield, Southwest Star Concept (2010)
512: Tom Jensen, Eden Valley-Watkins (active)
LeeAnn Steen
LeeAnn (Dunlavey) Steen graduated from Jackson High School in 1981, where she was a varsity gymnast for the Bluejays for six years.
She received the Steve Kerzie Annual Award. The Minnesota State High School League established the award in 2006 to honor a Delegate Representative that most exemplifies Kerzie’s dedication to the MSHSL.
Shelly Hotzler of Jackson County Central was a previous winner of the award, earning the honor in 2019.
LeeAnn placed sixth in all around at the state meet in 1979.
She competed on three teams at the state meet. Jackson won back-to-back state titles in 1979 and 1980 and was the runner-up in 1981.
LeeAnn was an assistant coach at Jackson from 1984-1986, with the 1984 team winning the school’s third state title.
LeeAnn was head coach at Martin County West and Martin County Area from 1988-2019, with her husband, Brian, signed up for one year as an assistant coach and retired from coaching at the same time LeeAnn after serving in that role for 17 seasons.
The Mavericks qualified for state as a team from 2005-11, and then again in 2014. MCW placed seventh at the state meet from 2005-07, was fourth in 2008 and sixth in 2009.
After joining with Fairmont to form Martin County Area, the Magic were third at the state meet in 2010, fifth in 2011 and eighth in 2014.
Steen’s teams compiled an overall dual-meet record of 227-112, including a mark of 148-28 (an .841 winning percentage) from 2003-04 through 2018-19.
According to figures compiled by Charlie Sorrells of the Fairmont Sentinel, the Mavericks/Magic earned 48 individual qualifying spots in the state meet.
Of those, 16 came from LeeAnn and Brian’s daughters, Sabrina, Matraca and Rebecca.
LeeAnn is also a member of the Jackson Area Judges Association.
She has also been inducted into the Minnesota Gymnastics Coaches Association Hall of Fame. Former Jackson and JCC coach Daryl “Barney” Olson is also a member of that Hall of Fame.