Zach Ruebesam demonstrates a drill to his team at CSU-Pueblo. Ruebesam’s been a college basketball coach since 2016. (Courtesy photo)

By Gideon Aigner

The Surveyor

During his senior year at Berthoud High School in 2012, Zach Ruebesam turned down an offer to play football for Colorado State University at Pueblo. Now, all roads lead to the Steel City, with Ruebesam being hired as the head coach of the mens basketball team for the CSU-Pueblo Thunderwolves in April.

After standout careers in both basketball and football at Berthoud High, Ruebesam decided to attend the University of Colorado at Boulder, becoming a basketball manager under coach Tad Boyle.

“I kind of knew I wanted to coach, so I was connected with Todd Sandstedt,” Ruebesam said. “[Sandstedt] connected me with Coach Boyle up at CU, the only big school that I applied to. So, I went during my senior year, interviewed, and watched practice down at CU, and Coach Boyle gave me the opportunity to be a student manager.”

This role evolved quickly, with Boyle promoting Ruebesam to head student manager as a sophomore. After graduating from CU, Ruebesam became a graduate assistant coach at the University of Denver. After that, he followed his friend, current Metropolitan State University Coach Dan Ficke, to become an assistant coach at Division II Belmont Abbey College in North Carolina.

Ruebesam then returned to CU, eventually earning a role as an assistant coach under Boyle. During his time as an assistant coach for the Buffs, the team made it to the round of 32 of the NCAA tournament in 2024 and the inaugural College Basketball Crown in 2025. Now, for the first time, Ruebesam will be leading his own pack.

Zach Ruebesam served as the director of player development and later as an assistant coach for the mens basketball team at the University of Colorado at Boulder between 2021 and 2025. (Courtesy photo)

“Getting a job in college coaching is crazy,” Ruebesam said. “I don’t take it lightly, because for me to get this position, someone lost this position.”

Former CSU-Pueblo football head coach John Wristen notified Ruebesam of the opening in March, and Ruebesam quickly threw his name in the hat, one of over 100 applicants.

“They take 10 out of those 110 to do Zoom [interviews],” Ruebesam said. “During the Zoom process, [CU is] playing in this new College Basketball Crown in Vegas. I wanted to talk about my culture and how I wanted to play. Lo and behold, the first question—the Wi-Fi goes out—so I had to pivot. I had a backup plan with a hot spot, hopped right back on and had to go forward with that.”

Despite the minor setback, Ruebesam was confident in his abilities to secure the position. Not long after, CSU-Pueblo Athletic Director Dr. Paul Plinske called Ruebesam to officially offer him the job.

A weight was lifted off of Ruebesam’s shoulders, while another was quickly added.

“I got that call on a Saturday, and I was [in Pueblo] on Monday morning meeting with the team,” Ruebesam said. “So it was a fast, hyper speed sort of deal, but it’s fun … If I had to write a playbook about how I wanted to go, it went exactly how I imagined.”

If there’s one thing that helped Ruebesam in this process and that describes his coaching philosophy, it’s preparation and culture cultivation, a skill that Ruebesam learned at Berthoud High.

During Ruebesam’s sophomore year, the Spartans beat Sterling High School, the number one team in the state, which had the highest-ranked player in the state, Xavier Talton.

“We didn’t have an individual player that was better than Talton that year,” Ruebesam said. “But we had a group that was so connected and so focused on our game plan and what we had to do, that we were able to take down the best team in the state.”

Now that he has the reins of a program, Ruebesam wants to uplift the talent that he has seen in Colorado, both during his playing years at Berthoud High and while coaching across the country.

“13 of our 16 players [at CSU-Pueblo] are Colorado guys,” Ruebesam said. “We’re going to recruit this state, and we’re going to build Pack basketball through Colorado, because there’s good D2 basketball players here. What we’ve been preaching as we go through the recruiting process is that a lot of teams say they’re going to recruit Colorado … but the proof is in the pudding with us.”

And while Ruebesam has learned a lot from the college coaching ranks, he admits that he wouldn’t be the man he is today without having been a Spartan.

Ruebesam was a standout two-sport athlete in football and basketball for Berthoud High. (Courtesy photo)

“I’m not here in this seat without the coaches, my teammates and the people that I grew up with in Berthoud,” Ruebesam said. “That community means a lot to me. I’m proud to be someone that, when people ask, ‘Where are you from?’ I can say ‘Berthoud.’”