During the 1990-91 girls basketball season, this prep sports columnist was a young sports reporter for Insight News covering the Minneapolis City Conference.
While covering a North boys game, two girls approached and made me aware of the fact that I hadn’t been giving the girls the same coverage as the boys. Both indicated with passion that they played for Minneapolis North.
One player was more passionate than the other and posed a question: “When are you going to come watch us play?” she asked.
“Soon,” I replied. “By the way, what is your name?”
“Tara Starks.”
In case you’re wondering, yes, that Tara Starks! The same Tara Starks who today stands as one of the state’s top coaches for Hopkins High School.
A few weeks later, Minneapolis Patrick Henry was scheduled to play conference archrival North in a boys contest. During this time period, the girls’ varsity game was always played before the boys.
With the Henry-North boys game consistently packed with standing-room-only crowds, I decided to get there early, meaning the girls would be playing. Keep in mind that my conversation with Starks and her teammate weeks before was a distant memory.
That changed rather quickly as Starks, then a junior guard, scored 13 of her game-high 17 points leading North to a 65-55 victory, despite a 34-point effort by Henry sophomore and future University of Georgia Hall of Fame player Tracy Henderson.
Flash forward to 2020: After her success as an AAU coach for the Metro All Stars — where she coached former Hopkins and current UCONN great Paige Bueckers — and assistant coaching stops at Minneapolis North and Hopkins, Starks accepted the head coaching position at Hopkins.
What has she done since then? Starks has led the Royal to four consecutive Class 4A championship games with runner-up finishes in 2023 and 2024, and titles 2022 and 2025.
Hopkins’ most recent championship — won after defeating Maple Grove 81-67 — is special because they avenged two losses to arch rival Wayzata by defeating them in the Section 6 championship game to qualify for the state tournament.
In what has been accomplished during her first five years at Hopkins, Starks is well established as one of the state’s top coaches. I just wanted to make sure that people knew that she also had game.
Dr. Mitchell Palmer McDonald welcomes reader comments to mcdeezy05@gmail.com.