Bellew adjusts to Blackduck baseball after Bemidji State tenure

Blackduck baseball is getting a coach who spent 16 seasons building Bemidji State into a Division II program with a national profile, and the difference between those two worlds is now at the center of Bellew’s new job in Beltrami County.

Tim Bellew was hired by Blackduck School ISD #32 on Dec. 8, 2025, to lead the Blackduck High School baseball program for the 2025-26 season, with Dillon Lundin joining him as assistant coach. For Bellew, it marked a return to coaching after five years away from the dugout and a sharp shift from the scale of Bemidji State University baseball to Class A high school baseball in Blackduck.

The move carries weight because Bellew did not leave college baseball as a footnote. Bemidji State says he finished with 228 career wins, the second-most in program history, and his record included enough success to earn him the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Coach of the Year award in 2013. Kansas Wesleyan University’s hall of fame profile says Bellew also guided KWU to national championships in 1997 and 1999, adding another layer to the résumé he brought north with him.

What makes the Blackduck hire notable is not just Bellew’s past, but how that experience is being tested in a smaller setting. At Bemidji State, the job came with college-level structure, recruitment, and a broader support system. At Blackduck, Bellew is stepping into a tighter community setting where the margins are thinner, the roster is smaller, and the expectations are immediate because the program is visible in school halls, at the field, and across the town.

Bellew’s reach in Blackduck has already extended beyond the high school season. He is listed as manager of the Blackduck Post 372 Loons Division II American Legion team for 2026, tying him to the community’s summer baseball pipeline as well as the school program. That connection matters in a town like Blackduck, where the same coach can shape both the spring roster and the summer experience for local players.

His early results suggest he is already embedded in the program. A Blackduck school athlete-of-the-week post quoted Bellew after a 6-1 win over Nevis, describing him as the coach behind a game in which Blackduck gave up just one run. For local fans, that is the clearest sign of what the Bellew era may look like: a recognizable name with college pedigree, now judged by how well that background translates to Class A baseball in Blackduck.