Coaching staff
RJ Palmgren
head coach
After graduating from Pittsburg State, Coach Palmgren began his teaching career at Blue Valley West. In his second year, he took on a coaching role under Coach Rabbitt at Blue Valley Southwest. Since then, he has coached at every level, including seven seasons as the junior varsity and varsity assistant under Coach Dustin Leochner. During this time, he also led the Wolf Pup youth program that helped teach future Timberwolves the key concepts taught at the high school. With his help, the team reached the state tournament for the first time in school history in 2020. They followed that success by making it to the state tournament three out of four years (2020, 2022, 2023).
In the 2023-24 season, Coach Palmgren was named interim head coach. Under his leadership, the team achieved 14 victories, the second-most in school history, before narrowly falling to the eventual state runner-up, Piper, in the substate championship game. In the spring of 2024, Coach Palmgren was officially appointed as head coach.
Coach Palmgren is eager to build on the legacy left by late coach Dustin Leochner, while also developing his own culture to help SW compete at the local and state level.
He resides in Spring Hill with his wife, Courtney, and their one-year-old son, Luka.
ROMAN PEARSON
VARSITY ASSISTANT
Coach Pearson grew up in Wichita, Kansas, where he graduated from Bishop Carroll Catholic High School. He received his bachelor's degree in Sports Management from Wichita State University. His first coaching position was at St. Jude Catholic School in Wichita, where he discovered his passion for developing young athletes. While coaching at St. Jude for three years, Coach Pearson began coaching club basketball for several teams, including Kansas MTXE (for 7 years), Team Perry Ellis (for 2 years), and the Wichita Padres. Prior to coming to SW, he was an Assistant Boys Basketball Coach at Kapaun Mount Carmel Catholic High School in Wichita. During his time there, he led the sophomore and freshmen teams and assisted with the varsity team. While at Kapaun, he also helped lead the team to a Final Four appearance at the 2020 state tournament, which was ultimately canceled due to COVID-19.
At SW, Coach Pearson was the sophomore coach in his first season and has been the varsity assistant for the past two seasons. Coach Pearson helped the team get to the state tournament in 2022 and 2023.
Coach Pearson and his wife, Taylor, welcomed a baby boy, Bronx, to the family earlier this spring.
Deron toliver
Junior Varstiy
Coach Deron Toliver was born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri. He attended Lincoln College Preparatory Academy High School, where he was a member of the varsity basketball team since the end of his sophomore year. He was the captain his senior year, averaging 16 points per game and helping his team to win a district championship. After graduating from high school in 2012, Coach Toliver went on to study kinesiology at Avila University. He was a member of the basketball team there, but unfortunately dealt with many injuries that kept him sidelined for most of his career. He graduated from Avila in 2016 and started coaching basketball, using these experiences as motivators for the up and coming student athletes. Deron coaches youth basketball with a program called Kansas City Supreme, alongside former college teammates Keith Taylor, Josh Benford, Sedrick Johnson, and Jordan Davis.
After coaching the freshmen for two season, Coach Toliver took over the Junior Varsity team in 2022 and has compiled a
Deron is blessed to have a son, Adyn Toliver, who is 4 years old.
BEN HARMS
SOPHOMORE
Coach Ben Harms grew up in Overland Park, Kansas and went to school and played basketball here at Blue Valley Southwest. In Coach Palmgren’s first year coaching he was Ben’s sophomore team coach. In Ben’s four years at Southwest, he spent time between Freshman A, Sophomore, JV, and Varsity levels. After graduation he attended Kansas State University where he got his bachelor's degree in business management. Ben will be starting his first-year coaching as he is the sophomore coach and will be helping out at the Varsity level as well. Coach Harms stays busy with his full-time job in sales and enjoys going to the gym, hanging out with friends, and spending time with his family in his free time. Coach Harms looks forward to working with the coaching staff and players and to keeping the winning culture that has been built at Southwest.
JOSHUA KELLY
Freshman a
Coach Josh Kelly was born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee. He graduated from Memphis Central High School where he was a 4-year letterman. In his senior season he averaged 12 points and 5 assists per game. After high school he played two years at Southwest Tennessee Community College where in his sophomore year he averaged 10 points per game and 3 assists per game, leading him to receive a scholarship offer to attend Valley City State University in Valley City, North Dakota. He started as a point guard there for 2 years leading the team to 37-18 record over the course of 2 years. After receiving his bachelor’s degree, he transferred to Baker University for his final year of college basketball and to pursue a master’s degree. At Baker, he helped them to a 22-9 record, this season was the first 20-win season for any Baker men’s basketball team and NAIA national tournament appearance in over 20 years.
After his playing career, he joined the coaching staff as the Graduate Assistant Coach, where he served as the Junior Varsity head coach and Varsity assistant coach. As the head coach of the JV team, he led them to a record of 14-2. As an assistant coach he helped lead the team to a 23-10 record, a conference championship appearance, NAIA national tournament appearance, and the first national tournament win in Baker’s men’s basketball history.
Josh also coaches youth basketball for Mokan Elite. Coach Kelly currently works at Blue Valley Southwest as a paraprofessional where he works with kids with special needs, he also is the Shift Leader at Top Golf.
Parker Gates
Freshman B
Coach Gates grew up in Beloit, Kansas where he graduated from St. John’s High School. During his 4 years of high school basketball, they accomplished a 93-7 record, winning the state championship in 2014, a runner-up finish in 2015, and a 3rd place finish in 2016. While attending Fort Hays State, where he would graduate with a bachelor’s degree in business administration, he began his coaching career. Gates spent years at Thomas More Prep-Marian, coaching high school and junior high girls' basketball, as well as junior high track and field. In his final season, he helped guide the team to a 19-3 finish. He also coached 2 seasons of football at nearby Victoria High School. Spending most of his time as TE/LB coach, he aided in an 11-1 season in 2020. The past 3 years, Coach Gates has been the physical education teacher at Hamilton Schools, cooperating with Madison High School for their athletics programs. Coaching 3 seasons of football at Madison, he spent last year as the team’s offensive coordinator. Gates brings more than 10 seasons of coaching experience to this year’s team.
