Tera Koupal was named girls’ basketball lower-level Region 5-8 Coach of the Year for the 20232024 season. When asked how she felt when she first heard that she won Coach of the Year, Tera said she was excited to be a part of adding some positive publicity for the Wagner Community. It is also a testament to her seventh and eighth grade girls’ basketball teams in how they carry themselves, how they represent Wagner and how they respect the game of basketball. Coach Koupal had a fun group of girls to work with this season and assistant coach, Courtney Mach has been a great addition to the middle school girls’ basketball program.

This is not the first season that Koupal has won this award; this is the eighth time she has received this award and been recognized by the state. Tera feels that is a huge honor to be awarded this honor because it is voted on by coaches across the state. For her to be respected by those she coaches against is a huge honor. She won this award in seasons 09/10, 12/13, 14/15, 17/18, 18/19, 20/21 and now 23/24.

Koupal has always had a love for the game. She played for Mount Vernon and had her stepdad as her head coach during her entire high school basketball career. She played pretty much every position on the team except for point guard. Both Tera’s junior and senior years of basketball, Mount Vernon made it to the Class B State Tournament. Not only did Tera play in high school, but she played basketball in college. She started playing at Morningside College on a full scholarship. Her freshmen year she tore her ACL, MCL, and PCL and decided to transfer to Northwestern College in Roseville, MN. She started for Northwestern for two years and then her final year she transferred to Dakota Wesleyan University (DWU). She started for DWU and her senior year they were National Runners Up.

Tera has a love and respect for the game and wants to instill that love and respect into the young girls in the Wagner community. Wagner has so much talent and for Tera it is fun to see these girls play a sport that they love, have fun and grow together as a family. Once her husband, Michael Koupal, took over the head coaching position for the high school girls’ basketball team it has just organically become a family. The teammates love each other, love the Koupal coaches’ little ones, and make the program what it is. It has been so rewarding to be a part of the Wagner basketball program. Coach Hewitt and Coach Mack just add to the greatness of Wagner basketball and make the season a lot of fun and something that Tera looks forward to.

Koupal started out as a volunteer coach under head coach, Neil Goter, and coach, Doni Bridge, in 2003-2004. She continued as the assistant coach until Coach Goter retired. She then continued her assistant coaching when her husband took over the head coaching position. When she became pregnant with their fourth child, she stepped down and became a volunteer coach. She has also been the seventh and eighth grade girls’ basketball coach since 2005. Tera has also helped with the sixth through eighth grade volleyball for several years, but no longer does.

When asked what motivates her to coach, Tera said that she loves working with her fellow coaches and it makes for such a great experience. It is fun and is easy to look forward to practice and competition each day. For Tera, watching the coaching staff commit to making each and every player better, making themselves better, and sacrificing so much for the youth of the Wagner community makes it all worth it. She truly enjoys being able to build relationships and bonds with her players and their families. The game itself is amazing, being a part of the competition draws her in and loving the girls like they are her own comes natural and easy. There is honestly nothing better than coaching.

Highlights of this season were watching her team overcome obstacles throughout the season, both self-inflicted and from the outside. Tera’s favorite part of the game as a coach is defense. She loves to play pressure defense, get up and trap opponents, and force turnovers. Defense is just a matter of wanting to work and work harder than the opponent. The goal of each season for the team is to make the state tournament, but also it is finding those stepping stones along the way to get set up for post season success. They had a young team this year after graduating three seniors. It was great to see the team come together this season and find out what each individual is good at and magnify it. The girls got comfortable in their roles as the year went on that is always great to see as a coach.

When it comes to Tera’s philosophy as a coach on building a successful team and program, she feels that it is important to have clear visions and goals for the team. The entire team needs to know what they are working for. Having effective communication is also very important along with building trust and unity amount the team from the top down. Individual development is important as well. Finding what each player is good at and magnifying those skills but also finding what each player needs to work on and developing those skills. That is something that needs to be done mostly in the off-season. Open gyms and team camps are very important. Lastly, having a positive culture and morale is what gets the team to the next level.

Tera will be coaching again next season. Tera tries to be involved in as much as possible to help the youth in the area thrive. She is a group leader at the Lighthouse Church, the FCA leader at school, Student Council Advisor, Activities Club Advisor and oversees the broadcasting class activities.

Tera is married to Michael Koupal. They have three daughters and three sons. Macy is a soon-to-be graduating senior, Ashlyn is a sophomore, Michael aka Cruise Koupal is an eighth grader, Riggs is a second grader, Dash is a kindergartener and Elsie is three years old. What little free-time she does have she spends running her kids around to their activities. Both Ashlyn and Cruise are on AAU basketball teams in Sioux Falls. So, she spends her weekends traveling to Sioux Falls or tournaments. This summer the family will be traveling to Texas, Kentucky, Ohio, Minnesota, Nebraska and several other states to compete. It will be a fun summer of traveling.

Congratulations Tera on being named Girls’ Lower-Level Region 5-8 Coach of the Year. It is a well-deserved honor! Thank you for all that you do for the youth of Wagner.