October 13, 2024
Jay Frydenlund, East Grand Forks, Minn., Wade Grinde, Spring Grove, Minn., and Neil Steffes, Fertile, Minn., were inducted into the Minnesota Basketball Coaches Association (MBCA) Hall of Fame. The three Mayville State graduates were among five individuals honored at a banquet held Oct. 26, 2024, at the Hyatt Regency Minneapolis.
A member of the Mayville State Athletic Coaches Hall of Fame, Jay Frydenlund is a graduate of Jamestown (N.D.) High School. He played four years of baseball and two years of golf at the college level, and he graduated from Mayville State in 1984.
Jay spent the first seven years of his 37-year coaching career as the head basketball coach at Leeds (N.D.) High School, where he led the Wildcats to three Class B state tournament appearances that included a runner-up finish.
In 1992, he accepted a teaching/coaching position at East Grand Forks (Minn.) Senior High, where he served as head boys basketball coach for the next 20 years. After three years off the bench, he returned to lead the Green Wave girls basketball program for five years before retiring after the 2020 season. Under Coach Frydenlund’s leadership, Green Wave cagers won four Northwest Conference championships and earned six runner-up finishes in Section 8 tournament play. Coach Frydenlund is a member of the 500 wins club with an overall 552-272 career mark.
Jay also served as a golf coach, earning Section Coach of the Year honors while leading the EGF boys golf squad to the state tournament and coaching an individual state golf champion.
Wade Grinde, Spring Grove, Minn., graduated from Plummer (Minn.) High School. He played basketball at the University of North Dakota and Northland Community College before completing his degree at Mayville State, where he earned All-American honors on the basketball court for the Comets, in 1994.
His coaching career began in 1994 with a one-year stint as an assistant at Spring Grove. Wade assumed the reins of the Lions boys basketball program in 1995 and led it for the next 29 years, retiring at the conclusion of the 2023-24 season.
Under his tutelage and leadership, the Spring Grove hoopsters won 18 conference titles and section championships with state tournament berths in 2019 and 2023, when his teams earned third-place honors.
He is a member of the 500 wins club with an overall record of 566-197, a 74.2% winning percentage that includes fourteen 20-plus win seasons. Coach Grinde has been recognized by his peers as Section 1A Coach of the Year five times and 2019 Minnesota State Class A Coach of the Year.
In addition to coaching basketball, Coach Grinde served as an assistant football coach. He is a lifetime member of the MSHSCA (Minnesota State High School Coaches Association) and participated as a coach in the MBCA All Star Series.
Neil Steffes, Fertile, Minn., is a graduate of Glyndon-Felton (Minn.) High School, where he participated in basketball and football for the Buffaloes. Following high school graduation, Neil played basketball for the Comets and earned his degree from Mayville State University in 1992.
He became the head boys basketball coach at Fertile-Beltrami in 1993, and the 2024-25 season is his 32nd at the held of the Falcons program. During his 31-year tenure at Fertile-Beltrami, the Falcons have won six conference titles, and section championships in 1995, 1996, 2001, and 2024. The 1996 squad finished runners-up to Minneapolis North in the Sweet 16 tournament format, and the 2024 squad earned a Class A State Tournament runners-up finish.
Neil is a member of the 500 wins club with an overall record of 626-313. Coach Steffes has been named Conference Coach of the Year six times and Section 8A Coach of the Year four times. He is a past-president (2021-22) of the MBCA and has and continues to serve as 8A representative on the MBCA Executive Board.
In addition to his leadership on the basketball court, Neil has also served as a football and track and field coach for 30-plus years. He is a recipient of the Minnesota Football Coaches Association Butch Nash Outstanding Assistant Award.
