Northern State Men's Basketball coach Don Meyer swerved across the center line and into the path of the truck just south of Aberdeen on Highway 20 near Chelsea.

Only Meyer suffered injuries, but five vehicles were involved. The crash happened as coach Meyer was on his way to meet his players for a yearly retreat. While the situation was scary for everyone involved the coaching staff at Northern say it taught them about what's important.

Randy Baruth, the assistant coach for Northern State men's basketball says coach Meyer has always cared about his players.

Baruth says, "When they were taking him to the hospital the first thing he said to me was get the players and go on our retreat."

Although Meyer is the second-most winningest coach in college basketball, Baruth says Meyer teaches them to keep basketball second to academics and life. Now Baruth looks at Meyer's accident as a lesson on those priorities.

Randy Baruth says, "This has been a hands on experience of what he preaches and tries to teach everyday to our players."

And while he says the situation was scary, he said the response couldn't have been better.

Randy Baruth says, "We've got great team leaders in our seniors and juniors and they were great on the scene when it happened. the people were great on the scene. aberdeen was great. mckennan's been outstanding for us."

But he said with all the swelling left over from Meyer's injuries, it's hard to know if it's just his leg that's hurt.

Randy Baruth says "It's like a big storm that goes through town. You don't really know everything until the dust kind of settles."

But even with the unknown, he's confident in Meyer's strength and his ability to bounce back as he did after heart surgery. He said they're excited about getting him back to Aberdeen and back to the players he's devoted to.

Randy Baruth says, "As soon as he's ready to roll full time he's going to be going, but I know he'll be there whether they got to carry him on that court of they have to push him around or whatever they've got to do."

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http://nsuwolvesathletics.com/news/2008/9/7/MBB_0907080928.aspx