From West Central to the University of South Dakota, to the Skyforce and playing professionally, Josh Mueller was one of the most prolific high school basketball players in South Dakota history.
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Today's guest, one of the more exciting players and prolific scorers in South Dakota High School basketball. Had a great career in college and even played professionally overseas. Even played with the Sioux Falls Skyforce. There wasn't one spot on the floor he was not afraid to shoot from. He still has five scoring records in the boys class A basketball tournament and was even a Joe Robbie MVP when his team won the state football title.
Joining us from Denver, former West Central Trojan and University of South Dakota Coyote, Josh Mueller. Josh, welcome to In Play.
Appreciate it. It's good to hear your voice.
Well, there's so much to talk about because what you did in college and high school and professionally. But the first thing I remember, when I first saw you play basketball, I believe West Central was playing a district play-off game. It was at the University of Sioux Falls and I noticed this kid on the sideline with no hair on his head. Your dad, Kent, of course was the head basketball coach. And you appeared to have a lot of confidence at that time. I think you were a freshman at that time. Do you remember what was going on at that time?
Yeah, I can tell you I remember missing the free throw that allowed Tri-Valley to hit the game-winner in that district game. So that's what I remember from that.
Your dad was also the football coach at West Central, which of course won 10 football titles, mid-90s to 2007. It meant that you spent a lot of time with your dad in sports, football and basketball. What was that like?
Well, looking back at it at 39 years old, a lot different than at the moment. But that's just what we did. Two days for football, basketball before and after school. It wasn't like we were always playing those sports. We were playing on the dummies, making forts in the equipment shed, running around to different friends' houses in the community. So West Central in Hartford was very special and a good place to us.
On the basketball court, what was the biggest change that you saw between you and your dad when you were a freshman to when you were a senior? What was the biggest change you saw between you and your dad?
The biggest change is when he gave me a hug at the championship game in Rapid, when it was all said and done, and said, "You're Coach Boots' problem now." So no, early on, about my eighth grade year I can remember coming back from a tournament with the first team, I had Shad Carney, Joel Youngberg. Just a squad. Kyle Nelson for way back, in seventh and eighth grade when as typical as they are now. And I had a good tournament, good competition, just driving back he just said, "You looked pretty good. You're going to have a chance to play for me." I said, "All right, cool." And that turned into, "All right, I can be your dad or I can be your coach. I can't really do them both in this setting." I'm like, "I want you to coach me up."
And so it was four years of my mother being a mediator and us butting heads and when it was over, it was over. It was awesome and our relationship after that's been even more awesome.
Who helped develop your shot in high school?
Josh Mueller:
Just shooting. That's just what I did, was shoot. And obviously I had a lot of role models growing up because I was always in the gym with the older players, so the people I thought had the pretty shots, I tried to emulate that. And then it's just repetition, repetition, repetition.
What was one thing of your game that your dad maybe held you back on. And you said, you know what? You didn't like it at the time, but eventually maybe your dad was right on that?
I don't know. He didn't hold us back, that's the whole thing. And that's why I think people enjoyed playing for him. I will say, I can't think of him holding us back because every practice was so competitive and so fun that the games were the reward. So not going to hold you guys back, we've talked about what's working, what's not working. Go play the game, kind of deal. So he really didn't hold me back. I was a pretty emotional player and he had to navigate that, as to how that was affecting me positively or negatively, and how was it affecting the team. So I guess, I won't say he held me back at all, but he did have to have those conversations that were besides just dribbling, shooting and passing parts. And again, I think he navigated that pretty well and it all worked out in the end.
In basketball, you lead West Central to three straight Class A championship games, 1999 though. You're a sophomore. You lost to De Smet in the finals by eight points. Was that a Trojan team that you thought could win it all?
Yeah, we were right there. Obviously we had a really great regular season. Honestly, the sophomore year of high school, the senior year of USD and one year of professional, are the three greatest seasons. And that one didn't even end in the championship. And if you look back on it, it was Andy, Josh Phillips, Colin Buffy, Chris, Jordan Smithback Right? Those five seniors that just dominated the football, right?
So we've got a bunch of football players and they allowed a little sophomore the opportunity to show what I could do with the basketball skills. And, like I said, I look up to those guys for allowing that team to be. Those are five all-staters, played college sports, played high school. So I always look back on those memories with appreciation for those guys.
What kind of motivation did you have after that loss to De Smet?
It was like, "All right, we proved that we're pretty good." I personally proved that I could play, so now what's next is you've got to win one, type deal. I'm going to honor the senior class there and then I was able to play with the Schoolers on two great teams with amazing teammates that really stretched that level of competition outside of Class A South Dakota basketball. So it was just, all right, I want to go to play D1 college basketball at the highest level. That was the motivation at that time.
Well those next two years as a junior and a senior, you went to 49 and 1, and win back to back championships. Who was that lone loss to? What happened with that loss?
I like to say I don't remember but I do remember. It was against Lennox at their place and they have all... it's Lennox. When you think about them back, as South Dakota history goes, basketball. But just a bunch of solid basketball players, very good athletes, very successful in all the sports they did that year. They held the ball on us and they scored enough points and it was eye-opening. You ask me to think about back on my high school career, I'm thinking about that game before I think about many others.
In 2000 you win the state tournament, you beat Chamberlain by 62 to 44, and I believe that was at the Sioux Falls Arena. What stood out with that championship in 2000?
That we got it done. And again, we got it done because we had three seniors, I believe, that year. Ryan and Chad Riley, that played significant minutes but also were fine with playing what role they needed for us to be successful when you had, you know, myself and Jimmy Schultz and Ryan Alderson coming into our own again on the basketball thing. So it was just, it felt satisfying to do it. Everyone expected you to win it and to do it 25 and 0 was satisfying. But you still look back and think you could have maybe done it even better. But no, very satisfying and very proud of the older guys on that team and everybody else.
And as a senior, you just lit up the state that year. You averaged 36 points a game. You did something in the state tournament that nobody's been able to do since. You won that title easily as a senior, beating Newell 104 to 73. But in that tournament, Josh, here are the scoring records that you still hold. Most points in a three-tournament game, 147. Most points in a semi-final game with 60. Most points in a championship game with 55. Most three-pointers in a tournament with 18. Those records were set at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center. What was going on with you that weekend in Rapid City?
Sounds like a lot of shots. Sounds like a lot of fun to me too, actually. You've got to understand, I always appreciate it, and took many unseen hours to even have the faith from your coaches or your teammates to even have the ball in your hands that much, to do something like that. So again, it's very nice and it's an impressive record to hear it back, but there were so many unseen hours with friends on the court, by yourself on the court, that went into that. But the biggest thing is, people talk about that, they realize that with Brian Alderson on that team, who was an All Stater in football, All Stater in basketball, All-American in football.
You had Jeremy Schultz on that team, who ended up being an All-American I believe at Augustana baseball. He was also an All-Stater in football. And then we had Nathan Morken, we had Joel Wierkamp. Again, all conference football players that were cool with just playing the toughest defense you'd ever imagine and setting screens. So my part was the funnest, for sure. But we had a very, very good team as well. And one thing, after that Lennox loss, Kent decided all right we're pressing all game, every game, kind of deal. So we could just see how many possessions of fun we could have.
Before the state tournament during the regular season, nobody could stop you guys. How did you stay focused during that season your senior year?
Practice, and I wish that I could think of a better word than the arrogant attitude of our, "We've got to beat them. If we know we're going to beat them, how bad are we going to beat them? How much can we be out by half?" And as weird and that sounds, that's something we would maybe talk about with ourselves as a team, just the players. And then practices were just always competitive. We played a lot of seven and eight on five in practice. So if you're playing eight minute quarters, eight on five against other players, because Central had some success and they brought up some good players over the next couple of years. So playing eight on five in practice, it's always competitive because if we can beat these guys eight on five, then we should be pretty good going into a five on five game. And we didn't win all of those, and so when you lose that's what motivates you. So Kent found a way to motivate us every practice.
In that state tournament game your senior year, you score 32 in the first round of the tournament which is about four points below what you're averaging. But in the semis, you scored 60. Who was that against and was that one of those games were everything went in that you threw up?
That was Sioux Valley, and again you think about it, their record they maybe lost only a couple times that season and one or two of them were to us already. And we'd been battling that crew of kids for six, seven years, and they always played us tough. So that was a good semi-final match up. A lot of them went in, but definitely not all of them. I just probably shot a ton and enough went in. Again, we were playing so fast at that time and creating turnovers and just going to get extra possessions on the offensive rebound and loose balls and stuff like that. So to be able to score 60, or for us even to score 94, in a 32 minute high school game, you've got to think about how many possessions have to happen and you think about how many of those possessions were created by our team just being aggressive offense, rebound, things like that.
And then again, credit to my teammates. I was feeling pretty good that day. They kept letting me go and it worked out.
177 points scored in the championship game between you and Newell. You went at 104 to 73, and by far those points in a state championship game is still a record in Class A. If you blinked, you probably missed the first quarter of that game. It was moving so fast.
Oh yeah. At the end of the day, we played hard all the time, every game, but at the end of the day you can't take the human nature out of knowing that this is your last game together. You've been doing this since you were in third and fourth grade with the core amount of these people that put in so much time, and your relationships. So it was just a good combination of thing.
You were the Mr. Basketball player of the year that year. What did that mean to you?
I don't know. It's a great honor because there were a couple good players nominated with me, but when I look back on it, see Jack Greenway was nominated with me, I don't know how good our class might have been, to be honest. But, I'd played with all those guys during the summer and had been for years. I'd seen them at camps and stuff. So it was a good way to end it and you do look back on it, that was a pretty impressive class of basketball players.
You played so much basketball. We talked about playing with the Schoolers during the summer. You're playing basketball all the time. Was there every a time you had some burnout factor?
No. I truly loved it. I truly loved it. It even came to discipline from my mom when I was younger, it wasn't this or that, that they tried alternatives. It was like, "All right, well then you can't play ball today." I was like, "All right, I'll stop doing that." No, I really enjoyed it. I enjoyed competing and getting better and obviously I was pretty good at it, so there was a drive there with it. It wasn't always basketball. I grew up loving soccer. Soccer's still my favorite sport to watch. When I did [inaudible 00:14:59] playing junior high football up until eighth grade, I believe I played soccer instead. So I didn't get into football until later. Tried baseball, wasn't good. Tried track, wasn't good. Found a couple that I enjoyed doing and was good at, stuck with those.
You finish your high school basketball career with 2500 and 63 points. But Josh, you also are in rare company, not only winning a state basketball title but you were the Joe Robbie MVP for winning the state football title. You beat Belle Fourche that year. What did you do to win that MVP award?
Just took the hand off and ran straight. If you remember Yeah, and running 32 trap and things like that. I think we drew three passes, four passes that game, and luckily one of them was to me and I was able to just catch and run. So I loved football, I still love football. I loved hitting people. It was a nice way to get out the aggression when you were usually the person of people's aggression on the basketball court. And we were so good.
Did you ever consider not playing football to avoid injury so you could concentrate on basketball?
In hindsight, if you asked me now I would have said I should have, probably. Or it definitely would have... I don't know, I'd probably bring it up to my kid now, I don't know. But you can get injured in a lot of things. I got injured in basketball and I truly do not remember ever thinking it or it ever being brought up to me. I'm sure if I would have, that conversation would have been just fine to have with Coach Uttecht and my dad and my teammates. But no, it never crossed our mind.
After high school it's Vermilion in the University of South Dakota. How close were you to choosing another college?
That's old school NCC days and it was good basketball. And I had [inaudible 00:17:01] majors, I had some other things. I had preferred walk-ons and things like that. I'd said from early on I was going to commit early. I told all the coaches that, and at the end of the day if I wasn't going to, in my mind, a Power Five Conference for a Power Five team, I didn't see some of those other options as being better than the level of competition at that time in the NCC and USB. And the teammates that I knew I was going into and the system. At the end of the day I just trusted Coach Boots. He was the first one to offer me a college scholarship, so I'll never forget that.
And you played all 120 games for the Coyotes. Were you surprised that you got a chance to play as a freshman?
No. That's the whole goal, no matter where I went. Now again in hindsight, looking back on it, the game is so different. Everybody is so good that I am surprised now, like I said, retrospect, that I had the freshman year I did. I think we finished fifth in the league, so really how good of a year was it? And then you add in there, Matt Jones was a true freshman playing at SDSU. I believe we both got All-Conference, but he was freshman of the year in the league that year. You can say what if, but man that boy had some more basketball in him.
What was the state in the Newell rivalry like for you when you played?
Again, I'm an emotional player between the lines. Not as much outside of them. But I just fed off the beautiful, negative energy between the two groups and just really encompassed that, whether it's right or wrong, into that rivalry. You can say some games are bigger than others but I enjoyed those bigger games. I never beat them at and I'll think about that. No, they were good. It was good basketball. It was fun, it was real fun.
Josh, you received a reaction from opposing fans. It happened in high school and it continued through your college career. But how did you first react to some of those responses from opposing team fans in basketball?
No, that's a good question as far as how it manifested into what it became those later years in high school. I know I always paid with emotion, always dove on the floor. I remember crying in fifth or fourth grade because I lost the one on one competition. So I didn't like losing, do whatever I could to do it. And then as I got older and better, it was like I enjoyed it. I didn't think it took away from my game or my team. If it did, my coaches would let me know and we'd have to assess that. But the fact that I enjoyed it, fed off of it, it was fun for me. I didn't take too much personal. There was a couple things but the fact that it was fun, and I think back to how many hours I put in by myself because I loved the game and it was fun, to be able to be allowed to play that way and have some of the results that we did, I'm pretty fortunate to have coaches and teammates in those positions to allow me to do that.
Which visiting floor did you enjoy playing the most?
Anywhere with a good crowd. I don't know. Madison, my early years, my freshman, sophomore year, I got after it pretty good on Lennox. I think we brought out the best in everybody's opposing crowds, even into college. And college obviously he let me choose, it was State and then after State it was Augie, SDSU, and USD, just those rivalries. Because of the successfulness of the programs meeting, people had interest in it.
How about some of the guys you played against In high school? How many of those did you play against in college?
Jonesy sticks out the most. And then you can go right down the line from any of the players that were at Dakota State . I coached in the EPAC a couple years and how good a basketball that is. But Jonesy sticks out as my biggest in-state rival with basketball as far as that transition to college. And then you've got Austin Hansen, you have people that are younger or older than you that you've been following because of their successes before you.
After college at USD, you got a chance to play professionally, you had to go overseas. What were you thinking about at that point in time, whether to do it or not.
I was just looking at the dates for Oktoberfest, seeing if that worked in the game schedule. No, I actually was with the Skyforce before I went over to Germany. So after school I participated in some pre-draft stuff. It was very eye opening and a very great experience and I had a very good agent. And had the opportunity with the Skyforce that turned into a roster spot, which was my first experience at pro basketball, which was eye opening. On the team there, I think we had four, five guys get called up to the NBA within that few couple months I was with them. So that was just fun and it was such a different level of basketball. Kind of a different game, get the ball to a person at a certain spot with spacing, opposed to maybe more the free flowing game I was used to.
But it was awesome. I had so much fun and I'm so proud of my experience with the Skyforce.
The big difference though between being The Man at West Central, being the guy at USD, well that changed a little bit with the Skyforce. How did you react to that?
Yeah, but you learn. Not well at times, but I had some veteran guys who let me know what's going on, and was always excited about the possibility of Europe and knowing that a had a pretty good chance if things didn't work out, to where I got a better offer. So just trying to take it in stride but it was different. In my basketball career I've been the star, I've been the last person on the bench, I've been fired twice, and I've been traded. So you've got to learn to go through it all.
And again, you think about all that, and even being the star. I'm the one that missed the free-throws at the end of the game that lost, district games lost, district games loss, NCC conference games. So it's all part of the... I think failure is the greatest motivator.
You're playing in Germany. What was hat season like and how many games did you play? What was going on day-to-day?
It was amazing. It was college without classes (laughs). So you go work out you go watch some film, you get lunch or dinner depending on when your practice was and you practice and then you just play as they want, and I had such amazing teammates and people. I can be an introvert where I just like to be by myself and go to a random bar and have a beer by myself and just take in the nostalgia of just being over there. And then next thing you know, that turned into about eight years of it. We'd usually have one game a week, so you got a rest day in there and stuff or a travel day.
At one point in time, though, the career was coming to an end. When did you decide that maybe being a coach would be next in line?
Coach Murphy gave me a great opportunity and it was also very coincidental in the decision that there weren't many teams that were going to pay me money to play basketball anymore. So, I'll call the retirement.
What did your dad say when you said, "You know what? I'm going to be an assistance coach at Dakota Wesleyan."
It was cool. Like I said, after high school, pops... we talk a lot but it's not too much advice unless he thinks I need it or I ask for it. So he's like, "Cool, it's a great opportunity."Finishing up my masters. Obviously Coach Murphy, and so they were like, "It's going to be good to see you a little more." So they've always been supportive in pretty much anything me or my siblings have done.
Well, you have a family, you've got four kids. You have a couple of girls, a couple of boys. What is life like now for Josh Mueller?
Yeah, apologize if you've heard them in the background at all. I'm trying to hide in a closet upstairs. We're getting pelted with snow, otherwise I would have seen if they could go to a park or something. No man, it's crazy, it's insane. Sixth grader, fourth grader, then the two boys are three and two. I've got an amazing wife. It's just busy. You hear the old saying, when you get older you think back to all your parents did for you and are pretty blessed that I had good role models. But no, life is good. They're healthy, they're happy. I think they're happy anyway. So we're just having a blast, day by day.
Are you still working for the Denver Public Schools?
Yep, still work for DPS. I run the emotional and behavioral department out in [inaudible 00:25:52] region. So, interesting days sometimes. I've got good staff I work with. We've had some great successes out there with some students, so that's kind of, hold their hats on and get this through day to day. You have some tough moments and education has just been crazy the last couple years in general, across all sites. Not DPS, I would say the nation in general and not including my program. So I do enjoy my job. I think we do a very good job. Like I said, the days go by. We learn from them. And then I also own Ambush, apparel and Ambush basketball with Garrett Callahan from SDSU, of all places. So we do a lot of spirit-wear for the high schools, we do stuff for construction. And then we've got basketball going on all the time. So busy but a very blessed busy.
When did the specialty of what your doing now come into your mind, saying that's the kind of specialty teaching and programing that I want to be a part of?
I won't say when I was going through my masters, it was really thought of on this program I'm in. I did it because playing basketball, we'd have to go have opportunities and do some different things. And the Special Olympics was amazing and working with those kids brought out the best in me and sometimes that's when I felt the most innocently happy and in the moment. So I always knew I wanted to get into special education as that next path, and I came out to Denver with just a couple bags and said, "I think I'll live here for a while." And it turned into a first job, which was called the Effective Needs Position, which deals a little more with those social, emotional disorders and behaviors. A lot of trauma. And just fell in love with it. It's a lot of crap talking, day by day, between you and the students. Trying to come to an agreement on some motivation to do some things. But that's one thing I've always been pretty good at, is crap talking. And next thing you know, you've built some pretty authentic relationships with those students and their families, do some great things.
It is more just one on one instruction? Or is it more of class? What do you do every day?
No, it's a cross spectrum. So we've got some students in the program that utilize some of our rooms because they don't like the large classes. They work better independently, away from groups. They get better instruction. Depending on how the IEP is set-up obviously, so you've got all the IEP. And then I have some students that you won't even know are in our program that come in for check-ins that we make are that we're doing. Great checks in, talking with the families, making sure we're doing some things. So it's such a spectrum based program, that's why it's so challenging in a good way of, you never know what the days are going to be.
Any interest in being a high school basketball coach down the road?
Yeah. The biggest thing is just the time and the pay, to be honest. Especially with the way some things are going with new sports. I've had some opportunities but with my wife being pregnant, the babies, that amount of time away plus you add in a city commute of drive time, wasn't worth the squeeze at the time. But if the right opportunity comes up, and I'll keep exploring, I think I would love to do that. But I don't need to do that.
Your two kids, both girls, are 12 and 10. Maybe a high school girls' basketball is where you'd love to coach?
A thousand percent. I am coaching third and fourth grade [inaudible 00:29:31] basketball right now, so I love it. And the fourth grader, Piper, has really taken an interest in basketball so we watch a lot of the Coyote women and men's games on TV. She picks out her favorite players and we try to watch them all game to see if they're in a stance, how many high fives they give. So we go in the gym a lot lately. So that's been fun because she's wanted to do it. And so, you want to do it? Cool, I want to do it to. Let's go hang out.
Does she have dad's shot yet?
She's got dad's shooter volume, which is the start of it. Can't teach you how to shoot if you're not willing to shoot. So she's got that down, so now we have to make some progressions on those next steps.
You're in the Coyote Sports Hall of Fame. You were inducted what, six years ago. What did that mean when USD called you and say you're in the Hall of Fame?
USD was, like I said, that was such an awesome time in my life. The relationships with teammates, coaches, faculty, people in the town, other students. Man, it was awesome. So just to be honest with you, just to have a reason to go back and to give everybody else a reason to go back with our spouses and kids and all that. And just to have two days where you aren't going to get in trouble for reliving some old moments, was worth it in itself. Not to mention the honor of actually going into the hall of fame with all the people that had before and all the people that have it after. And, like I said, I'm very appreciative because the university means a lot to me.
All the basketball you played, even before high school, during high school, college, even the pros. That's been 20 years. What do you see today in kids playing high school basketball?
I think it's really good. I would say after I left high school, I was like, "Man, I would go back and dominate high school basketball again." But honestly, the last... how old am I now? 39, I'd say since about the last 10 years or so, it's probably because I paid more attention to it, I'm just impressed. I think it's really good basketball. And at the end of the day when you look at the USD women's program and the SDSC women's program, we're talking about two consistently in the mix, top 25 programs in the nation. And they're doing it with regional girl for the most part, South Dakota girls. Then you look at Auggie and USF and then you go down to Dakota Wesleyan and what [inaudible 00:32:05], especially the girls side, now that culture is amazing. I think it's very impressive basketball to follow and same with the boys.
Like I said, you look at the class. I check that little South Dakota scores app to see if they're playing and how fun that looks. I've just been very impressed with South Dakota high school basketball in the last 10 years.
One last thing regarding West Central High School, certainly the domination the had in football. All the mid-90s to the 2000s and then in high school basketball, you're there three straight years in a row. Life was going very well for West Central. The Trojan name is still pretty special to you, Josh?
Yeah. And again, the Trojan name, and what's cool now is those relationships of an Adam Dejong or Gary's family or Josh Phillips' family, were such great relationships when I was growing up. Now I have children coming up through that community and that school that are getting involved into athletics and other things. There's still some faculty there. I've got cousins that go there So again, it's still here. It's something I follow. They've allowed me to come in and do a camp every summer the last couple of years, so it's great to catch up with people. That's home. That's where I grew up.