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Passionate Ray Betton leads Shakopee revival with an approach that just keeps working

By DAVID LA VAQUE, Star Tribune, 08/29/21, 4:45PM CDT

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A coach with a history of success uses common principles but aims for an uncommon blend of patience, push and players.


Shakopee football coach Ray Betton led his team through practice Aug. 23, 2021, as the Sabers worked to continue the success that arrived after an 0-2 start last season. (Elizabeth Flores, Star Tribune)

Shakopee football coach Ray Betton huddled with his four captains at practice last week and made an important handoff.

Technique, effort, attitude and mental discipline, the four pillars crucial to Betton’s track record as a program builder throughout his 17 seasons, were now the captains’ to share.

Players who bought into Betton’s ideals through the years have enjoyed success. His 2007 Simley team won the program’s first conference title. In 2013, Betton brought Holy Angels to a runner-up finish at the Prep Bowl. His reputation followed him to Shakopee, a budding giant on the Class 6A scene. Results followed, too. The 2019 Sabers fell one victory shy of the state tournament semifinals. Last year’s team turned an 0-2 start into a solid 6-2 campaign.

For all his well-earned praise, Betton knows the players make the difference. Which is why he challenged Shakopee captains Jadon Hellerud, Martin Koivisto, Aaron Lee and Jade Trelstad.

“It’s your turn to lead,” said Betton, lowering his raspy voice for the first time all morning. “You guys are the ones on the field during the games. The coaches, we’re on the sidelines. It has to come from you.”

Each player understood. Each, in his application letter for captaincy, had included his view on which of Betton’s pillars he best personified.

Most every high school coach leads from guiding principles. Team mottos are printed on T-shirts and posters statewide, nowadays following a hashtag. Every program has something. Not every program has a Ray Betton, a players’ coach who remains as relevant at 52 as peers half his age.

“He’s probably the best coach I’ve ever had in any sport,” Trelstad said. “He gets you to another level of focus and makes you want to play for him.”

Shakopee kicks off its season Thursday evening at home against Anoka. The Tornadoes are in their third season of rebuilding under coach Bo Wasurick, who revived football programs in Texas and most recently at Jordan.

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Betton’s playbook for rehabilitating a program starts with patience and demanding more of players. The latter comes at a cost.

“I lose some kids at first,” said Betton, who did not name captains for his first three seasons. “When kids start to miss practices or come whenever they want, those are the kids you’ve got to X out. I’d rather have guys who are committed and dedicated.”

In 2015, Betton’s first season at Shakopee, he benched two starters for missing practices leading to the week of the first-round playoff game against Totino-Grace. A one-win Sabers team hung tough in a 27-20 loss.

“That was where things started shifting because we almost won that game,” Betton said. “We had the ball and had two chances at the end zone. The next year, the weight room turnout got a little better.”

Personnel challenges remained. Betton inherited a program without a traditional quarterback anywhere from the high school to the youth ranks. His predecessor, Jody Stone, ran a single-wing offense heavy on misdirection and running. Stone’s style worked; Shakopee won back-to-back Missota Conference championships in 2010 and 2011. Betton’s preferred formation, the spread triple option from the pistol or shotgun, needed time to implement.

“People were excited when I came here,” Betton said, “saying because I was a spread guy, ‘We’re going to throw the ball all around.’ ”

Betton paused. His chin dropped.

“But we couldn’t throw,” he said. “Not even a bubble screen.”

He enlisted former Simley assistant coach Rex King to develop the quarterbacks. King jumped at another chance to work with Betton. When King took the Simley job three years after Betton left, the four pillars were still painted on the locker room walls.

“If you have a problem with Ray, it’s you who has the problem,” King said. “His passion for leading young men is not fluff. It’s authentic. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to do what’s he done this long.”

Betton enters his seventh season at Shakopee with only one winning season as the Sabers coach thus far. His teams have improved, but few programs play a tougher annual schedule. A year ago, the Sabers opened with two losses, a close game with St. Michael-Albertville and a 52-0 blowout against Eden Prairie. The latter provided a turning point.

Quarterback David Bigaouette challenged the team after the loss.

“He said, ‘Get this out of your heads and we won’t lose another game,’ ” Betton said. “When guys can hold each other accountable, it should mean something a little different coming from your peers.”

Players responded. Former defensive line coach Kirby Dorothy told Betton how impressed he was watching the team at the next week’s practices.

“He said, ‘Nobody flinched. You guys went right back to work,’ ” Betton said. “Now, that might be that mental toughness right there.”

Ever evolving, Betton tweaked his fourth pillar before this season, changing mental toughness to mental discipline.

“I want my guys tough,” Betton said. “But sometimes we lack discipline. We’re not talking about character. I just mean missed assignments or jumping offside.”

Betton’s pillars are an acronym for “TEAM,” and players believe in their power. Hellerud, Koivisto, Lee and Trelstad shared their individual pillar philosophies with their peers in a common area outside Shakopee High School.

Speaking last, Koivisto reminded teammates to have their fun while also taking the captains’ words to heart. The pillars, after all, are no joke.

“Coach Betton always says that ‘These things that you’re learning through football can last you the rest of your life,’ ” Koivisto said, “ ‘if you take the lessons correctly.’ ”

Meet Ray Betton

Now: Shakopee football coach and district Learning, Teaching & Equity Team supervisor for Shakopee Public Schools.

As a coach: 25th season overall, 17 as a head coach. His stops: Simley (2005-08), East Ridge (2009), Holy Angels (2010-14), Shakopee (2015-present), 

As a player: Tucson (Arizona) High School, Arizona Western Junior College, Bemidji State.

Education: Sports management undergraduate degree from Bemidji State, master’s degree in special education from St. Thomas. 

Family: Wife Trish and children Gabby, 16, and Blake, 12.

“He’ll say, ‘Let’s have a great day of football,’ at 6:30 in the morning. He gets you hyped up even as you’re trying to wake up. His energy helps you and the team be better.”

— Martin Koivisto, senior co-captain

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