Anderson takes helm as G-E-T prepares for life after Schmitz

For the last four years, you knew what you were going to get when you watched the Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau boys basketball team: a healthy dose of Cody Schmitz.

During a standout career with no equal in program history, Schmitz was a scoring machine who poured in 2,654 points — the fourth-most in Wisconsin high school boys basketball history and the most by any player in the state this century.

Losing an all-state player who provides such an extraordinary scoring punch like Schmitz is obviously going to always be a major deal. Schmitz’s departure combined with a coaching change will result in the Red Hawks looking quite a bit different this winter.

Ian Anderson steps into the big chair as G-E-T head coach for the 2024-25 season, succeeding Jared McCutchen in the role after the latter stepped down last April. McCutchen guided the Red Hawks to a 76-67 record and a pair of regional titles in his six years at the helm.

Anderson has past head coaching experience at the varsity level thanks to his time at the reins of the Litchfield girls basketball program in Minnesota, but this will be his first season as a varsity boys head coach after spending the past few seasons as an assistant under McCutchen.

“What I’ve kind of done is taken some of the best stuff from what Cutch did, take some of the stuff that I really like from what I did before and try to mesh them into what fits best for the personnel we have right now,” Anderson said. “It’s a lot different than the last three years because we obviously had an all-state level scorer the last three years. We don’t have that right now, so we’re trying to re-teach how we’re going to play offense and get a little more team defense buy-in and show that hey, we don’t have to score 80 points a game to win. We can hopefully lock some people down and win by scoring 50 points some nights.”

In addition to Schmitz, the Red Hawks also lost regular starter Braden Anibas and rotation players Taylor Haney and Carter Repaal to graduation.

However, G-E-T does bring back a decent amount of experience, including a pair of starting lineup staples in senior forward Brecken Ebersold and junior guard Mason Brone. Senior forward Jackson Burns and senior guard Kyle Seiling each were rotation regulars who saw time starting last year and figure to slot into the starting lineup this season.

Among the newer faces, Anderson points to junior forward Travis Theisen and senior guard Quinn O’Neill and senior center Robert Benrud as guys who are primed to take on significant responsibilities, though Anderson also noted that a lot is still up for grabs with 17 players practicing with the varsity team.

The Red Hawks need to forge a new identity for themselves and break in new players, but with Brone providing a steady veteran presence at point guard and a roster boasting plenty of size, Anderson is confident they have a group that can coalesce into a team still capable of competing toward the top of the Coulee and make some noise in the playoffs.

“We did lose a lot last year, but we were also very good at our younger levels,” Anderson said. “I’m hoping some of those guys can take that next step and show they can play on varsity.”