About Coach Gawreluk:
My name is Don Gawreluk (Like “Mauer” and “Luck” with a G on the front.) I live in Anoka, teach 6th grade at Anoka Middle School for the Arts and I am thrilled to be the new head baseball coach at my alma mater, Coon Rapids High School. My wife, Renee, and I have 3 kids and we live in Anoka. My coaching career started here at Coon Rapids HS, where we won the State Title in my first year. That was pretty amazing! I stayed with them one more year, moved over and spent 5 years coaching at Champlin Park and then joined Anoka’s high school staff coaching the JV and assisting with the varsity for 2 years in the late ‘90’s.
Andover High School hired me as their first head coach in 2001 and I stayed there for 15 years. We only played 9th and 10th graders on our squad for the first couple of years and we just wracked up a lot of losses! However, I was able to win some big games, including defeating Coon Rapids in our inaugural year to keep them from winning a Conference Title followed in year 2 by being the #16 seed in section playoffs and defeating the state’s #1 team in Stillwater. That win helped change the state’s playoff format from single elimination to double elimination. I helped 27 players play college baseball with 4 playing at the Division 1 level.
In 2018, I rejoined Anoka High School’s baseball program and started coaching the summer Legion team in 2019, where we made the State Legion Tournament in our first year finishing with a great record and a top 5 state finish. Overall, from coaching as a head high school coach, JV coach, Town Ball and Summer Legion coach, I have a 564-501 record overall and have assisted with 1 state championship, 7 Conference Championships and 3 Region Championships.
As a player, I graduated from Coon Rapids HS where I was an all-conference and all-region player who had to work through passing by 6 other third basemen to earn a starting role as a senior. We had lots of competition at CRHS with over 100 players coming out each year in grades 10-12. After graduation, I was able to play a few years at St. Cloud State, but needed to focus on my degree after I saw the “writing on the wall” so that I could graduate on time. My career continued, though, for 15 more years as a player/coach of the Coon Rapids Mavericks town ball team.
On the State Level, I am currently the State’s Assistant Executive Director of the Minnesota State HS Baseball Coaches Association, run the Twins Community Fund All Star Series for the top MN seniors, lead the state’s rankings of all 4 classes, help coordinate the Prep Championship Series at Target Field, host the MSHSBCA Dugout Chatter podcast, serve on the Awards Committee and am the secretary of the organization. I was also the president in 2015 – 2017. In 2021, I was named the Dick Siebert Award winner by the MSHSBCA for my dedication to the promotion of baseball in Minnesota. The National High School Baseball Coaches Association named me as one of the 2024 National Assistant Coaches of the Year as did the Minnesota State High School Baseball Coaches Association and the Minnesota State High School Coaches Association.
For the National High School Baseball Coaches Association, I’ve served on the Rules Committee. Now, I assist with the Baseball America National Rankings Committee where I rank Region 6 (ND, SD, Iowa, NE, KS, MN and MO) every other week and help with the nation’s Top 35 rankings.
I am proud to be back at Coon Rapids High School. I also enjoy serving the game that has given me so much in terms of opportunity and friendships. At Coon Rapids, we will work hard, demand a lot and care deeply about our players! Our core values are having a family atmosphere, a positive attitude and grit.
