Hunter Berg came to Williston State College as a jock on an athletic scholarship. He left as a man, he said in an interview laced with words of gratitude. Returning to the college as head coach of the Teton men’s basketball team in 2008, he now has the chance to mentor others.

“The initial reason I came to Williston was to play basketball for Coach Olson,” said Berg of Terry Olson, who now directs the Williston State College Foundation. “I wasn’t exactly aspiring to academic excellence.”

“But once I was here, I got taken care of by my instructors as well as lots of caring staff, like (former Director of Athletic and Enrollment Services) Phil Rabon.”

Like many students who enter college lacking academic or vocational focus, Hunter needed guidance, and he wonders if he would have fallen through the cracks at a larger school.

“Instead of being one of 250 students in an intro class, at Williston State all of my teachers knew me, and pointed me in a good direction. I followed that direction.”

Moreover, his team experience as a basketball player “was about way more than sports,” he said, grateful for Coach Olson’s mentorship.

Terry agrees. “The bond we all had superseded how many points anyone got,” he said. “We had deep relationships, even with players who never played in a game. All my players have seen me, and I’ve seen them, at our best and at our worst, whether there were tears or celebrating. We learned to deal with life together.”

Ultimately Hunter even became an academic tutor of other players, said teammate Brett Vibeto, now a surgeon at Mercy Medical Center. “When it was test time, he’d get the guys together to study.

That became the Williston way, said Vibeto. “When it came to academics, we would sink or swim together. There was an unwritten rule that we had to take care of business.”

Hunter pursued an Administration and Financial Management major without wasting a semester.

“My transfer from the two-year to the four-year college was a seamless one,” he said. “I went right into the business program at UND and graduated in two years.

That training will help him manage a sports program as the college’s athletic director and men’s Teton basketball coach. But more valuable yet was his off-the-court and out-of-classroom training as a mentor, he said.

“I want to be like coach,” said Hunter.