Coaches

Coach Tim Buettner is a co-founder of Nebraska D-League and Director of Skill Development. Coach Buettner has been involved in coaching for over 20 years. He found a passion for skill training around 2009.

A Certified Skills Trainer with Impact Basketball, Coach Buettner has been conducting individuals, small group workouts, and clinics for the past 10 years. The intensity and high energy that Coach Buettner brings to practices and workouts is unmatched.

Coach Mitchell Schultze is a co-founder of Nebraska D-League and Director of Basketball Operations. Coach Schultze has been in the coaching world since 2013. He played his college basketball for the Morningside University Mustangs, where he was a captain of the team for two years.

Being an Impact Certified Skills Trainer, Coach Schultze loves to instill leadership qualities into his players. Helping mold players into leaders and respectable young men & women is something he puts passion in.

Coach Tyler Craven has been on the Nebraska D-League staff for 5 years. He is currently our Fremont Director. Coach Craven was a football & basketball All-Stater at Ashland-Greenwood. He carried on his basketball abilities at Midland University for 4 years, where he was a two-year captain. Currently, he teaches and coaches at Ashland-Greenwood and has been a part of back to back C1 State Basketball titles.

"As a former coach's son, I grew up loving and studying the game of basketball. I have an immense passion for creating relationships with these young men & women that will last a lifetime."

Coach Denae Buss is a Co-Director and helped start the D-League Volleyball Program. Denae has been the head coach for Cedar Catholic since 2014, leading the program to a State Championship in 2022, as well as 5 other state appearances, two State Runner up titles and a 4th place finish. Previously, she also was an assistant coach for Stanton high school for 2 seasons after finishing her collegiate career.

Denae has also been actively involved in club volleyball for the past 5 years running and coaching her own club, Nebraska Edge, for 5-12 grades and with NE Power for One season.

Coach Tracy Kuester-Burtwistle is a Co-Director and helped start the Nebraska D-League Volleyball Program. Kuester-Burtwistle brings a plethora of coaching experience to the Nebraska D-League. She is currently an assistant with the Battle Creek HS volleyball program. Along with her five years prior at Stanton where she guided the Mustangs to the state tournament four times during her five-year tenure. At Stanton, Kuester-Burtwistle had a 143-31 coaching record, while capturing a state championship, a state runner-up finish and two third-place finishes. She was an executive committee member for the Stanton Youth Development Volleyball program and a volunteer youth coach for 16 years.

Tracy believes strong fundamentals are a key ingredient at an early age. She brings to Nebraska D-League Volleyball Program a proven track record in building a team culture, coaching sound fundamentals with her knowledge of the game as a Hall of Fame inductee in 2007, Kuester-Burtwistle played collegiately at Wayne State College. She was one of the team members of the 1991 WSC volleyball team who was inducted into the Wayne State College Athletic Hall of Fame. Coach Kuester-Burtwistle truly believes in preparing athletes to succeed as adults with the life lessons learned through the process playing on any team or individual sport.