Full Show - 11/22/2025

Full show from the Donovan & Jorgenson Heating & Cooling Studio: Saturday, November 22nd, 2025

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Varsity Blitz high school sports show, presented
as always by your local Pick and Save and Metro
Market stores on Fox Sports ninety twenty and your iHeartRadio
app coming live as always from the Donovan and Jorgenson
Heating Cooling Studios. Any issues you have with your furnace,
your HVAC system, go to Donovan Jorgenson dot com. Big

(00:21):
fan of those guys over there, the largest employee owned
HVAC company in the state of Wisconsin. So football's done.
High school football is done. Next week we're going to
transition into basketball. But I gotta tell you, if you
didn't watch the games on Thursday and Friday, especially yesterday,

(00:42):
if there's a better reality TV show on anywhere on TV,
I'd like to see it, because two of those games
came right down to the wire and they were incredible finishes.
I didn't have a dog in the fight, and I
was sitting at the edge of my chair for those
games and it was incredible. Well, first segment, we're going
to talk to two players, one from Grafton, one from Arrowhead,

(01:04):
and we'll talk about winning state championships and what happened
at the end of some of these Games was just incredible.
The second and third segment of today's show, it's a
Coach's Wives show, and head coach from Union Grove, head
coach from Nicola, head coach from Homestead. I've got three
wives in studio with me. We're going to talk about
special place in Heaven for these girls. I can tell

(01:27):
you that for sure ten o'clock, our current electric Superhero
the Week will be in studio ten twenty. We've got
coaches from the aa YFL championship coaches the guys who
won the championship, their eighth grade coaches, coach from Sussex,
coach from Hartford, and a couple of coaches from the
Journey House will join us. So it's going to be

(01:47):
a really busy, busy quick show. I can tell you
that our first guest, and my goodness, Grafton wins the
state championship seventeen to fifteen. And I've been a fan
of this kid. He is as tough as they come.
Jack Nelson. I feel like he played football at Crafted
for like six years. I just feel like that, Brandy,

(02:09):
if you can move the microphone over by you, you
know this young man.

Speaker 2 (02:15):
I do, yes, A proud Grafton fan right here.

Speaker 3 (02:18):
Watched the game with my kindergarten class yesterday at Kennedy
and Grafton.

Speaker 2 (02:22):
We go cheering him on the whole time.

Speaker 3 (02:24):
Jack played as tough as always and it was just
a really great game to watch.

Speaker 1 (02:28):
He is. I watched him in person a couple of
years ago when they played Greendale and talking to their
head coach, he said, this is the kind of kid
that is exactly what I need. Pound the rock, right,
pound the rock. And Jack Nelson is tough. He doesn't
have that I'm the toughest guy in the field. Look

(02:48):
and then you watch him play and he is. My goodness,
what a great career Grafting. We're now joined by Jack
Nelson State champion. Jack Nelson, Hey, Jack, how you been man?
Did you get much sleeve last night?

Speaker 4 (03:05):
I'm a little bit.

Speaker 1 (03:07):
Man, Jack. I got to tell you, I am a
huge fan of your coach, right and and I just
like I think that that teams after a little bit,
they start to take on the personality of their coach,
and Jim Norri's tough guy. He's a tough, tough guy.
And Grafton has his reputation now of being a really

(03:27):
tough football team. And when when you got on varsity
and you were a big time players as sophomore, did
you understand that term pound the rock?

Speaker 4 (03:39):
At that point? I really didn't. But over this year,
I like established that and I finally understood understood the
meaning of it.

Speaker 1 (03:47):
Well, I think you understood it as a sophomore kid.
I'm just telling you because I watched you play. Look,
when you're asking a high school kid to go out
on the biggest stage in the state of Wisconsin to
kick a thirty five yard field goal to win state,
There's no chance I could do that. Jack. I'm especially
on the golf course. I'm extremely mentally weak. So I

(04:11):
just I just love the fact that this kid, he
didn't ay, it wasn't straight down the middle, but it
went through the goalpost. Can you talk about what you
were feeling prior to the snap of that field goal
to win it?

Speaker 4 (04:26):
Yeah, So when he kicked, like before he kicked it,
when we got in like the huddle and Norris was like,
he was like, do you guys want to go for it?
Or do you want to kick the field goal? And
he asked me, He's like, do you think do you
want the ball? Or do you want to kick it?
And I was like, I think we kick it. And
I have total faith in Grayson, and I told him,
I told Grace, and I looked in my eyes and

(04:47):
I said, I love you no matter what, and I
have my total faith and confidence in you. And then
sure enough he went out there and he drilled the kick,
and it was probably the best woman of my life.

Speaker 1 (04:56):
Brandy, there's a leader. What he just said. As a
former basketball coach, like, I almost have tears in my
eyes from what he said to this young man. Prior
and when when coach Norris, when we would have him
on the show or I would talk to him off
the air, he would say, look, our team is full
of tough kids that that believe in in the system,

(05:19):
believe in our program. But Jack Nelson he's the He's
the leader in this team because he's tougher than anybody.
For him to go up to this kicker and say, hey, Matt,
I got a lot, I got a lot of trust
in you, and whatever happens, I still love you. I
you got to feel really good about that.

Speaker 3 (05:35):
It's hard to put one kid in that position because
obviously he made the game winning kick and that's a
great feeling. But if it hadn't gone in for some reason,
then he's going to hold that on his own shoulder
as hand. So to have the confidence of his players
backing him, saying, no matter what happens, you know, we're
a team is definitely showing a great leader.

Speaker 5 (05:56):
Jack.

Speaker 1 (05:57):
Absolutely, Hey, hey Jack, how much did did get the
status a softomore and not finishing the deal? Right? You
bring the silver ball home? Which is an incredible accomplishment,
but you feel like there's still something missing. How much
what happened as a sophomore did you carry with you
until that kick went through the goal posts?

Speaker 4 (06:18):
Yeah? Just bringing them the silver ball? I really like
wreck down like all our dreams and basically just like
all like our hopes about the whole entire season. We
were all disappointed about it and we wanted the gold one.
But then this year we said to ourselves, we were like,
we're gonna come out here and we're gonna win it
for the guys that didn't and everyone that helped us
build this path for greatness and it worked out in
our favor and all those guys that all the seniors

(06:41):
that graduated last year the year before, we all loved
them so much, and like Dell reached out to all
of us and they were at the game and we
talked to them all and they were all so excited
for us, like they were even crying just talking to
us and hugging us, which was very nice.

Speaker 1 (06:54):
You know, free free haircuts, free popcorn, you might get
a free sandwich every once in a while. And I
gotta tell you, hey, Tom Roy is a really good
friend of mine. Tom Roy went into the Athletic Hall
of Fame at Grafton. Tom is seventy to seventy three
years old. He was texting me and he lives in Indiana.

(07:16):
Texted me during the game, going, do you think we
got a shot? I think we gotta. I think we're
gonna win. I don't know, maybe Readsbercy to get this one.
So but understand Jack, what this team did for Grafton
High School and the alumni and the community. I mean,
I'm getting text messages in the middle of the game going,

(07:36):
do you think Grafton's got a chance to win? I'm like,
I'm sitting in my living room. I don't know. Give
the ball to Jack Nelson. They got a chance to win.
And this guy was like, after the game, he sent
me four different text messages of how proud he is
to be an alumni. And that's what you guys did.
And I want you to know it's much bigger than

(07:57):
what the guys in that locker room and the coach
that are in that locker room and the parents. It's
much bigger than that jacket. And once they put that
state championship ring on your finger, can't take it off.
You're a state champion for the rest of your life.
And congratulations on that. What's going on with you? Next year?

Speaker 4 (08:18):
Next year? So next year, I'll be a senior, And.

Speaker 1 (08:23):
I'm sorry, I just feel like you've been over there
for a while. You got another year left. And guess
who's not happy. The people in your conference not happy.
They were hoping you'd graduate a year early. I knew
you were a junior. I just kind of do you
have any idea what's going on with you after high school?
Have you been getting some offers yet?

Speaker 4 (08:44):
I've been getting some interest, but no offers yet. No
nothing off They're coming, but hopefully it'll all come off
in the off season. I'm trying to guy that it
works out.

Speaker 1 (08:53):
Are you a multi sport athlete.

Speaker 4 (08:56):
Yeah, I run track as well.

Speaker 1 (08:58):
Had a boy that a boy. Well get the young
man who's following you on the show right now, kid
from Arrowhead, big time track kid who took a kickoff
back right when Bathport thought the game was over and
they were gonna win it.

Speaker 4 (09:12):
No, Yeah, we would. We would talk at track meets together,
him and I would, And he actually went to Nike Nash.
So I give him total props.

Speaker 1 (09:19):
He's really fast, really fast, and if I was if
I think if Bayport had a chance to kick off again,
they'd make sure he didn't get his hands on the ball.
Jack Nelson, congratulations. I have to tell you that your
head coach is a big fan of yours. And he said, look,
the kid leads in the classroom, he leads in the
weight room, he leads on the field, and he's tougher

(09:41):
the most so state champion. Jack Nelson, Hey, it's too
early to say this, but you know, going back to
back is a very difficult thing. But I'd like to
see you guys go do that.

Speaker 4 (09:52):
Yeah, we can try, you know, off over for the best.

Speaker 1 (09:55):
Hey, you might want to give your body a couple
of weeks, but then get back in the weight room.

Speaker 4 (10:00):
Ah yeah, that's the plan.

Speaker 1 (10:02):
That is the plan. State champion Jack Nelson from Grafton,
thank you so much for a couple of minutes of
your time. Man.

Speaker 2 (10:11):
What a good kid, huh, Such a good kid.

Speaker 3 (10:13):
He actually works at the elementary school, comes in as
a student and works in one of the classes with
younger kids as well.

Speaker 2 (10:20):
So just a good kid all around for sure.

Speaker 1 (10:22):
Did you watch the air ahead game?

Speaker 6 (10:24):
We did?

Speaker 2 (10:25):
Yep.

Speaker 3 (10:25):
I watched as much of the as of the games
as I could, obviously having a teaching day in there
as well.

Speaker 2 (10:30):
But yeah, yeah, I do.

Speaker 1 (10:31):
So again, I don't have a dog in the fight,
but I wanted to know Saint Jose because I coached
against them in our conference. Wanted Grafton, wanted Arrowhead. And
when Bayport scored, I thought, oh, you got to be
kidding me.

Speaker 2 (10:45):
They were all they were just all great games yesterday.
It was fun to watch.

Speaker 1 (10:49):
They were great games. Ryan Hyman is joining us right now. Ryan,
how you doing Man? Did you get much sleep last night?

Speaker 4 (11:00):
Geez?

Speaker 7 (11:01):
I mean I was up pretty late, but I got
some good sleep.

Speaker 1 (11:03):
Got a point. Hey, so when that look when when
he kicked it, he wasn't trying to go deep. He
was trying to get it to bounce a little bit,
and the bounce that went over the guy's head that
came right to you. I thought, oh, man, Arrowhead cannot
have planned that better. And when there was a scene
and you were gone, tell me about the feeling of

(11:27):
getting through and running When when you got to about
the thirty it was over, and I saw you kind
of slowed down and the presence of mind to kind
of lift your hand and to the crowd when you
were about to ten. I was just hoping you'd run
through the tape, man, because I've seen too many times
guys dropping the ball on the one. Tell me the

(11:48):
feeling about getting to the end zone on that play.

Speaker 7 (11:52):
Yeah, I mean the night before actually, my coach sent
me a video of them kicking off that exact kickoff
where it bounced over the guy and then it went
to the back returner and he had like a decent
return and he goes, if you get this, sprint to
the left and just go up as soon as you
find a hole, And I mean, that's exactly what I did.
And then as soon as I saw the green grass,

(12:13):
I mean, I was It's just I was so happy
and then you know, emotions were high and kind of got.

Speaker 4 (12:21):
Carried away a little bit, and they.

Speaker 7 (12:22):
Were telling me that I could have got a flag
for like celebrating or whatever.

Speaker 4 (12:26):
And then you know, in the moment.

Speaker 7 (12:28):
I didn't really care, but you know, I was just
happy to get my hands on there.

Speaker 1 (12:33):
Hey, tell me about the feeling. Look, I coach Jorgensen
from Bayport had a decision to make right one second
ago on about the eleven yard line. But I couldn't
believe when I saw the field goal kicker walking away
from the huddle, and and and and they were going
to go for it, and they were gonna win or

(12:53):
lose on that one play. Look, for the rest of
his life, people are gonna say, man, you had a
lot of guts to do that. For me, personally, I
would have kicked the field goal and said I'll take
my chances in overtime. At this point, where were you?
Were you on the field for that last play?

Speaker 7 (13:11):
Yeah, I mean, honestly, I wanted them to go for it,
but in my opinion, I would have went for the
feeld goal.

Speaker 4 (13:17):
But I knew we could.

Speaker 7 (13:18):
Have trust our defense to get a stop there, because
I mean, we have so many great guys, and they're
so close on the defense to get a stop there,
And you know, I knew as soon as they came
on the field that there was no way our defense
was going to let them score.

Speaker 1 (13:32):
Man. What was the ride home? What was the locker
room like? After man? It just got to be memory
upon memory, right.

Speaker 7 (13:41):
Yeah, I mean me and Harper Hughes. We made a
lot of tiktoks, so go check those out. But you know,
we had a lot of fun. The bus ride was
really loud, and there's nothing but pure happiness.

Speaker 1 (13:53):
That's awesome. Hey, what's going on with you next year?
Where are you going?

Speaker 3 (13:59):
Is?

Speaker 7 (13:59):
I'm still on the I mean, I have a few
offers for tracking football, but I don't know. I've always
wanted to do both, but I kind of came to
the realization that I got to just choose one at
this point. So I don't know, I got to make
a decision.

Speaker 1 (14:14):
Quick here, No, it's not that quick. Hey, do be
a favor and say hi to Jason, Say hi to
your father for me. Jason, who I know. I bet
he didn't sleep much last night?

Speaker 4 (14:26):
Probably not.

Speaker 1 (14:27):
No, No, he's really proud of you, by the way,
He's really really proud of you. Ryan. Congratulations Ryan Hyman,
who took when it looked bleak for Arrowhead minute and
a half to go, Bayport scores to go up, and
he took. He took a kickoff back about eighty five yards,
almost untouched by the way, and when he kicked it

(14:49):
into gear. I know I wasn't catching him. I'll tell
you that I could. I wouldn't catch him with five
of my friends, for sure. Arrowhead State champion. And thank
you so much for a couple of minutes. Go take
a nap.

Speaker 4 (15:05):
Thank you got it.

Speaker 1 (15:06):
We're gonna get to a break. On this side of
the break, three wives are here, and I look forward
to having this conversation. Look, I have for years. My
wife would come to games and she would say, man,
you have no idea what some of these fans they're
saying about you. And when we would lose, she'd hear
about it, and when we would win, nobody would say
anything to her, and I thought, man, that's not right.

(15:28):
She's ever been a part of what we're doing in
this program as I am, and if they've got things
they want to say about me behind my back, they
you just come up to me. It's okay, but she
would that was hard for her. And we're going to
talk with three wives on the other side of the break,
and I'm looking forward to this the next couple of segments.
This is the Varsity Blitz High School Sports Show, presented

(15:50):
by your local Pick and Save and Metro Market stores
only a Fox Sports nine twenty and your iHeartRadio app.
Welcome back to the Varsity Blitz High School Sports Show,
entered by your local Pick and Save and Metro Market stores,
coming live from the Donovant Jorgans and Heating and Cooling Studios.
Any issues you have you want to stay warm this winter,

(16:10):
go to Donovan Jorgenson dot com. So over the years,
I've done shows like this and I just enjoy it
because you see what a program and a team is
like from a different side. Rights As a coach, I
would go home and complain about kids, complain about parents,
complain about administration to my wife, not to the you know,

(16:33):
I would. I would have issues at times and I
would say, you know, I can't get this kid to
work hard. The parents are asking me for more playing time.
We've got to change our practice schedule because of this,
and the administration's not happy with that, and she would
be the one that I would go and unload all
this time, and then she would have to come to
the game and have a smile and say hello to

(16:54):
people and people that she just heard about. And so
talking to wives understand that they are they are every
part of this program building and this team building, but
they don't get any of the credit, and they get
they hear all of it in the crowd. And so
to be able to talk to wives and say hey,
thank you for what you do is just so so

(17:16):
fun for me. Our first guest, and we have three
in studio with us. Jen Zortman, she is the wife
of Drake Zortman and the head coach at Homestead, Brandy Becker,
who is the head coach at Nikolay James's wife, And
Becky McClelland, who is the wife of Craig, the head
coach at Union Grove. I'm gonna start with you. We
know each other. I didn't know that we've been in

(17:38):
meetings together. How did I do in those meetings?

Speaker 8 (17:40):
You did wonderful?

Speaker 1 (17:41):
I did?

Speaker 2 (17:42):
Oh yeah, whatever would you expect?

Speaker 1 (17:44):
Any experience? Burlington is where we met an empty boyle.
I thank her for working with the McGivern agency for
the last three years and we're both big fans of her.

Speaker 9 (17:55):
Yeah, she's wonderful. Her energy behind everything is just it's contagious.

Speaker 1 (18:00):
I've got to have two cups of coffee on my
way down to Burlington to keep up with them. Key
and she may have not had a cup of coffee
and I'm still probably not. Yeah, so slow. Hey, Union
Grove had a great, great year. Craig was in in
studio a few weeks ago and when I said, hey,
I'm thinking about doing this wife show, he was like,
you should have. You should have my wife then she

(18:21):
would be great. Tell me when you guys, were you
a high school football fan before you guys started hanging
out and.

Speaker 8 (18:27):
Dayton and yeah, not so much.

Speaker 9 (18:29):
I mean, I of course love the NFL, Go Pack
go fans in here, but I.

Speaker 1 (18:36):
Yes, no, okay, okay, I stopped.

Speaker 8 (18:40):
Now I followed you know a little bit.

Speaker 9 (18:42):
You would hear just obviously still living in Union Grove,
how the team was doing. But you know, once Craig
and I started dating, it was a completely different world.

Speaker 1 (18:50):
And because it's his you know what, he has spent
a lot of time in this game, yes, and played
at a high level coach at a high level. Did
you where'd you go to high school to eat and growth?
You did?

Speaker 6 (19:01):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (19:01):
Wow, you get a bronco all the week I.

Speaker 8 (19:03):
Have born and raised, you know, and I love it.

Speaker 1 (19:05):
That's awesome. Tell me that the most difficult part of
being a head football coach's wife.

Speaker 9 (19:11):
For you, Oh my gosh, there's so many highs and lows.
We're kind of touching on this outside. I would say
it's you know, you are giving up your husband for
not only an entire season, but also the stuff that
goes into it behind the scenes during the summer mornings nights.
I don't think people truly understand and see what does

(19:33):
go into it. And you know, having kids too, you know,
as the wife, we are picking up absolutely everything, you know,
so they can go and do the what they need
to do in love with the high school football team.
And it's a lot. We obviously love it too. But
I'm gonna be honest, there are times where it's a
big suck.

Speaker 10 (19:54):
Here.

Speaker 1 (19:55):
You know why. I appreciate that, and I think I
think everybody in your desk because when we have coaches
in it's all coach speak, right, When we have Drake
in Everything's Great. I have James in Everything's Great. We
have Craig in Everything's Great. And then during the break
I find out the real story, and you're right. When
I asked my wife one time, she said, here's what
I didn't I didn't know. So you go to practice

(20:21):
every day from five to seven, You drive kids home,
you get home about eight thirty, You have a quick meal,
you break down film. Then you have a game on
Tuesday and another game on Friday, and then Saturday morning
you have a walkthrough and then you're talking to coaches
on the phone, and then Sunday you're breaking down film
on the phone, and then you're talking about grades. And

(20:42):
she was like, when is there a break? And I go, well,
during the off season and then we're in Summer League
and we're in the weight room and we're getting to
open and she's like, when is the time that you're
not part of this? And I said, it's twelve months
at this point. And then when I retired from coach,
she said, I thought she'd be home a little bit more.

(21:02):
I'm still going to practices, I'm still going to games.
I'm like, no, no, I'm still involved. But you're right,
it's not everything is not these these rainbows and butterflies,
and and whether you're having a great season or not
a great season, that dictates how what kind of mood
we're in this coaches as well, Hey, let's let's go
over to Brandy Becker, who is Brandy? Thank you so much.

(21:25):
The I know firsthand how proud you are of James.

Speaker 2 (21:30):
Right, I'm his biggest fan.

Speaker 1 (21:31):
Yeah, you are his biggest fan. And and look, I'm
a fan. He's got such he understands what this means
for kids coming through programs and stuff. First year head
coach at Nikolay, which adjusts you as a coach's wives
a little bit correct. How is this here for you?

Speaker 3 (21:50):
Well, I mean, like I've said before, James always runs
like there's you know, more than twenty four hours in
a day.

Speaker 2 (21:58):
That's just that's just how he rolls.

Speaker 3 (22:00):
So I'm used to him not being around in the
during the season and even in the off season. But
this year was different because, like we were talking about,
it's not just the football aspect of it for him.
He wishes probably it was more football, but it's the
other stuff and it all came together. He absolutely, you know,
did such an awesome job.

Speaker 1 (22:21):
This year, you're two of so when you move over
six inches on the bench, well eight inches for some
of us, but it might as well be six miles.
And your one for me was always the most difficult
because of all of that other stuff, the paperwork and
the uniforms and all of it. Now you have a template,
so you're two is a little bit easier, but a

(22:44):
big change for the family and for your family, for
the Becker family, it's a family affair, right I mean,
your son loves it, your daughter loves it, and right
now they're all Nicola fans.

Speaker 3 (22:57):
Yes, they definitely are. It's going to be a big
adjusting next year. Easton's been on James's side for the
last however many years as the ball boy, and next
year he'll be a freshman at Grafton, where we live,
so it's going to be an interesting adjustment for us.
I know that Easton's going to miss that part of
it with his dad because it's been just such a
great experience for the both of them.

Speaker 1 (23:17):
But let's move so. Jens Dortman, how are you. It's
good to see you again.

Speaker 6 (23:22):
It's nice to see you. Thanks for having us.

Speaker 1 (23:24):
Yeah, speaking of Easton. I got a chance to coach
my son and in high school basketball, and the relationship
that he had with his mom got a little closer
because his dad, the coach, yelled at him a lot,
and he would get my wife's car after some games

(23:44):
and try to get home. And that listened to me
because I was his coach until we got to the
kitchen table. What is it like for you, because your
son is a really good quarterback and a tough kid.
He' not the biggest kid on the field, but he's
one of the toughest kids. I saw it firsthand at
West Bend West He got hurt, Yeah, and he came
back out there and he was not one hundred percent,

(24:05):
but he was still in charge of the huddle. I'm
wondering for you. Your husband's the head coach and your
son's the quarterback. That's a whole different dynamic as well.

Speaker 6 (24:14):
Yeah, it's a thing, right, it's a thing. You know.

Speaker 11 (24:18):
You talk about your son getting in your wife's car,
and I would say when Lee was younger, as a
freshman and sophomore, he did some of those things too.
We made a rule, I would say last year when
Lee was a sophomore, the dinner tables for dinner. And
it's not for football. It's been it's a ride, it's

(24:39):
been hard, it's been awesome. I will tell you, like
warms my heart and brings tears in my eyes when
you see some of the pictures that are so candid
from some of the photographers and you see the care
that they have.

Speaker 6 (24:49):
For each other. But you know there's some back story
to it.

Speaker 11 (24:53):
We are so fortunate with our staff that we have
some great assistant coaches who have been able to help
Lee grow.

Speaker 1 (25:02):
And Drake said, look, I handed Lee over to him.
He handed him over. And I think that that was
what a smart move for for me. And I talked.
I told the story a million times on the show.
But sophomore year that I coached Matthew, I coached him sophomore, junior,
and senior year at Calvary Baptist and no nominee falls.

(25:24):
It was not a good year for us. And and
and I had to make a change because I was
the adult in the room. And I read a book
called Coaching Our Sons and and what I got from
it and look, it's not for the fate of heart.
It's the good and the bad and the ugly stories
of families being broken up over this, and I found
out exactly what you talked about. Once we got to

(25:46):
the kitchen table, I had to take the coaching hat
off and put I would wake up, we'd have we'd
have breakfast together, and I go, how many turnovers did
you have? And he'd be like And then once I
made that adjustment, it was any pretty say hi day
today in school?

Speaker 6 (26:01):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (26:02):
Yeah, and he'd be like, Dad, there's sixty three kids
in the whole school, Like, excuse me, how many?

Speaker 5 (26:06):
You know?

Speaker 1 (26:07):
But that's that was my line, like, hey, I hope
a pretty girls society today. But I had to make
the adjustment. And the way Drake did this was, look,
I'm not coaching him, I'll take over, and that way
he's he's the quarterback of our team. But they're still
I mean, there's.

Speaker 6 (26:23):
Still some stuff.

Speaker 11 (26:24):
I think, you know, our season ended probably you know,
one game short, just like everybody would answer to. But
the next morning, Lee was, you know, watching he was
actually rewatching the game on YouTube, and Drake had gone
in and said, I'm super.

Speaker 6 (26:38):
Proud of you. You were awesome, thank you.

Speaker 11 (26:41):
And so there's Drake's an emotional person leaves a man
a few words.

Speaker 1 (26:45):
So he's quiet. He's very quiet, but he runs the huddle.

Speaker 12 (26:48):
Man.

Speaker 6 (26:49):
You know what he's he's smart. He has been around
the life. Kid, he's a coach.

Speaker 1 (26:55):
He's a coaches kid, and there's something different. My son,
Matthew came to all of our practices and in the
third grade he said, I want to play. Shit could
do in this? And I go, there's nothing for third
graders And I looked around and there was, so Now
I put a team. Now I had to coach that
teams go to Disney World National. And he was not

(27:16):
happy with me all the time, even in fourth grade.
But but we made it, made it work. The way
that game ended was hard to I mean, you know what,
you guys had a chance to win that thing and
time ran out and you you would not be here
today had it worked out, because you would have played yesterday.
And I don't think it so that that had to
be a very difficult thing to get over for the

(27:39):
coaching staff and some of the players and some of
the kids. And that's a tough way to lose.

Speaker 11 (27:42):
That is you know, it's been I would say it's
been a rough week. And I work at home said too.
So I see all the coaches and there's highs and
there's lows, and there's ups and there's downs.

Speaker 6 (27:52):
But I just kept I told a couple.

Speaker 11 (27:53):
Of them, I said, there's a quote from Brody Brown,
our offensive line coach. There's forty eight minutes in the game,
forty eight minutes, forty seven minutes and fifty five seconds.
We're also part of the last five seconds, you know.
So we can be frustrated and we can be disappointed,
and that's okay. But that's because we have developed they not,
We have developed a brotherhood with their team that they

(28:15):
don't want it to be over right, you know, And
so there's that disappointment is allowed.

Speaker 1 (28:20):
Hey Becky, do you have kids.

Speaker 8 (28:23):
Yes, we have one, little girl, Ari. Yeah, she's seven.

Speaker 1 (28:25):
She's seven. Is she a Bronco fan?

Speaker 9 (28:27):
She is probably the biggest Bronco fan you have ever met.
She is telling the ladies outside. Also, she reminds me
a lot of the little girl from Remember the Titans.

Speaker 8 (28:38):
Oh yeah, yeah, she is really favorite.

Speaker 9 (28:40):
Yes, if she could call her dad on the sidelines
at times, she'd be like, Dad, what are you thinking
right now?

Speaker 1 (28:48):
Would she be like a ball girl?

Speaker 9 (28:49):
Yes, she wants to get down there so bad right now,
and just she pays attention to the game. But if
she were to be down there, that's just a whole
nother dynamic. And I can't stomach the thought of her
getting a run over by one of those giant boys.

Speaker 1 (29:02):
So there is a volunteer assistant coach with you, guys.
Coach Fletcher. Yes, his daughter is one of my favorites,
by the way, and she is tougher than any of
her brothers.

Speaker 10 (29:14):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (29:14):
And I remember she was probably seven or eight and
we did a We're seeing Horlck game and they won,
and I said, if they win, I want you when
I give the trophy to your dad, and I kind
of forgot about it. And then they won and I
looked and she was kind of waving. She had to
climb up over this big fence and she if I
would show you, In fact, if I find it, i'll

(29:35):
show it to you. She was looking in the camera
and flexing and it was the best. And I can
tell you. We got to do a Union Grove game
and I'm going to get your daughter in there and
she'll do the same.

Speaker 9 (29:46):
Oh my gosh, she would love it. Like I said,
she loves going to the games. You know, we have
our routines, our rituals on Friday nights that her and
I do because obviously dad's at the school and on
the field, and she just breathes and loves football.

Speaker 1 (30:00):
Home and away games.

Speaker 8 (30:01):
You go, yeah, go to all of them.

Speaker 9 (30:03):
I think the only one we missed was actually, unfortunately
homecoming this year, and she was sick, so she.

Speaker 8 (30:08):
Was like, are you sure we can't go?

Speaker 1 (30:10):
You can't? Probably should, and you know she would have right.

Speaker 8 (30:13):
But we had it streaming on the TV still too.

Speaker 1 (30:15):
It's not the same. Yeah, it's definitely not not the same. Hey, Brandy,
when when James said, hey, look I I know that
that that and I hope I'm not speaking a turn.
His hope was to be the head coach at Marquette,
where he spent some time. And I met him first
at university school, by the way, and we hit it

(30:35):
off right away. And and what I like about him
is that he doesn't look at it as just wins
and losses. As the husbands of the other wives in
here same thing. It's all about, you know what, building
a program and the life lessons that kids can learn
through football. And then the community side of it and
the school side of it, and there's so much more

(30:57):
than if we're winning every game or not. Once that
didn't happen at Marquette, and he was ready to be
a head coach man he he had been an assistant
coach at a very high level, won the National Award,
and I think what a great hire for Nicola. How
how was the dynamic with you guys when he talked
to you about, Look, I'm going to put my hat

(31:18):
in the ring to be a head coach somewhere.

Speaker 3 (31:21):
Like you said, I mean, he's been ready for a while,
Like he's he's he's got all of the skills, everything
that it's needed to be an awesome head coach.

Speaker 2 (31:30):
And I've known that for a long time.

Speaker 3 (31:32):
But like you said, it was, uh, which place is
gonna is going to be the best for him and
for a team. The market thing did not work out,
which was initially definitely a disappointment. However, I think Nicol
ended up being a really good spot for him, like you,
like you said, it's more than just wins and losses.
And I what I uh, I love and appreciate about

(31:53):
him is that he did not go in saying these
are the plays.

Speaker 2 (31:56):
Let's get started right away.

Speaker 3 (31:57):
He wanted to build that relationship ship with the team,
the offense and the defense, the kids that maybe didn't
always you know, have a great relationship together. So he
really built the team together before focusing on the football
part of it.

Speaker 1 (32:11):
Well, and he's had great mentors. Oh, absolutely, everybody had
all the coaches in here, right. We talked Dave Keel
for Drake and the where he played, where your husband played,
and the coaches he's been around have just and as coaches,
we don't invent anything, right. We steal little pieces from
this coach's clinic or this game we see on TV,

(32:33):
and we make it our own and then we develop
what our beliefs are. For James, he's been a defensive
coach and he goes over to nick Ladies. Like when
I talked to him, he's like, I got to figure
I'm going to be the offensive guy and I got
to figure that part out. And when he was in
studio a few weeks ago, he said, look, it took
a little bit, but we did. Okay, I figured it out.
We're okay. Football is football. But to be on defense

(32:56):
for as long as I was and now to be
on the offensive side, he said, made a lot of
calls and ask a lot of guys questions. And when
when other coaches call more in football than basketball, basketball
guys aren't as nice. I'm not telling you how I
run that twelve for sure, but I love the fact
that he was willing to call other people and say,

(33:17):
help me with this always.

Speaker 2 (33:18):
Damn Absolutely, it's a collaboration for sure.

Speaker 3 (33:20):
You know, they're your best friends and then your worst enemies,
depending on if you're on the field with them or not.
But definitely he uses those mentors and other coaches talk
so highly of them, and yeah, it's a great year, guys.

Speaker 1 (33:31):
We're going to get to break. Will continue our conversation
on the other side of the break. I'm joined in
studio Becky McClelland, whose husband Craig is a head football
coach at Union Grove. Brandy Becker James is the head
football coach at Nicole, and Jen Zortman, who have known
a long time, by the way, a really long time. Yeah, yeah,
the head coach at Homestead. Will get to We'll continue

(33:53):
our conversation with them at ten o'clock. Cassidy, who is
our our Curnel Electric Superhero the Week from Berlin West
will join us in studio at ten twenty three or
four coaches from the aa YFL the eighth grade champion
AIFL teams will join me in studio. This is the
Varsity Blitz High School Sports Show presented by your local

(34:14):
Pick and Save and Metro Market stores, only on Fox
Sports ninety twenty and your iHeart Radio app. But welcome
back to the Varsity Blitz High School Sports Show presented
by your local Pick and Save and Metro Market stores,
coming live from the Donovan and Jorgans and Heating and
Cooling Studios. We should have done two hours, guys, this
is fun for me. I gotta be honest with you.
I'm joined by three coaches, wives Becky McClelland, whose husband

(34:39):
Craig is the head football coach at Union Grove. Let
me start this segment with you. The community of Union
Grove is a big fan of his. But you know what,
sometimes it gets a little tough if you're not winning
enough games. They look at your cross side. Yeah he's
getting free haircuts this year, right.

Speaker 7 (34:57):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (34:57):
You know.

Speaker 9 (34:58):
The community has been great everybody. The stands have been
packed for the games. If you're not getting there at
least an hour early. Ye're scrambling to find a seat.
It's just been a lot of fun, you know, everyone
kind of going up to him and telling him how
good of a job he's been because of you know,
as we all know, that's not always the case, and
those tough years are tough, and it's been fun to

(35:19):
just have that support behind us.

Speaker 1 (35:22):
You know. It's interesting because as a former coach, have
had really good years and really bad years. And there
are times, and I would say this out loud to people,
if the team didn't get along and we won a
lot of games, it wasn't all that fun. And if
we lost a lot of games but the team was
really tight, it wasn't so painful. But every once in
a while, you have that special one where the team

(35:44):
gets along, they hang out, they play for each other,
and you get a lot of wins, and it doesn't
come along very often. He must have slept pretty good
this year.

Speaker 8 (35:53):
You know, he did.

Speaker 9 (35:54):
The kids were so fun to watch. I mean, they
all get along. They have played to get there for
so long too, and they can just read each other
and on and off the field, and it's just been
really rewarding to kind of see you know, we have
sixteen seniors I believe it is this year graduating. So
it's been really fun to see those kids come in
as like these awkward, lanky little freshmen and it's getting

(36:17):
to see you too where they are now.

Speaker 8 (36:18):
And it's been it's been great.

Speaker 1 (36:20):
Hey, Jen, you know, next year for you will be
a year of lass right, right? Are you have you
have you emotionally thought of that yet? Where it's going
to be the last time you play you know, some
of the last time you go here to play, let
time you go here to Whitefish Bay? Right? How are

(36:40):
you doing with with with that part of all of this.

Speaker 6 (36:44):
I think I don't know that I've processed that quite yet.

Speaker 1 (36:47):
Parents Knight, You've been around parents Nights forever, Yeah, and
it's never been.

Speaker 6 (36:51):
You, It's never been me, you know.

Speaker 11 (36:52):
So we went through this last year with our daughter
who graduated from Homestead was a basketball girl.

Speaker 1 (36:57):
You know.

Speaker 6 (36:57):
But it'll be front with Lee only because.

Speaker 11 (37:03):
We're a football family and we're a basketball family and
were a Trek family, but like we're a football family.

Speaker 1 (37:09):
It doesn't good he doesn't get to go in the
locker room at halftime if that's when you do when
you honor the parents, right.

Speaker 6 (37:15):
Yeah, exactly, So I think it'll be it'll be better, sweet.

Speaker 11 (37:19):
I hope that it is a super amazing season if
it is anything like the brotherhood and the camaraderie that
this current team has, you know, I hope next year
he has the same, which will probably make it harder
but will make it more fun.

Speaker 1 (37:33):
As a quarterback, year, you're seen as a leader, right
you are, and and and and Lee again is on
the quiet side, but he leads more by example until
it's his huddle. Because I'm watching him as he's pointing
the guys in the huddle, and I'm thinking, I wonder
if that's hard for him.

Speaker 6 (37:50):
You know, I don't think it is.

Speaker 11 (37:51):
I think he has been given an opportunity to grow
through some leadership councils, you know, through the north Shore Conference,
with the help of al And Moroder and Andy Kolstead
or other one of the offensive assistant coaches, and and
that the line. I would say, they're like amazing friends

(38:12):
and they listen to Lee, they see him, they respect him,
and I'll never forget one of them said to me,
He's like, I just love blocking for your son, you
know they they truly it's wild.

Speaker 6 (38:23):
It's wild.

Speaker 1 (38:24):
So what I watched in that game I was at
was him when he when when he would run or whatever,
he'd be the first to help alignman up, he'd be
a first to pat him. And I thought, smart boy
right there, and you know what, that's definitely what you
want to do. Hey, Brandy James has coached Euston, correct

(38:46):
I did. I coached when my son was a freshman
at a different high school playing basketball, and I struggled
with that, how hard will it be for him next
year when he's playing for freshmen or whatever. He's going
to play at Craft and he'll be able to get
to some of those games. What did he gets to varsity?

Speaker 3 (39:06):
Yeah, I mean we've we've kind of we've kind of
come to the realization that this year was a lot
of last for in a different way obviously last time,
that he's gonna be the ball boy things like that.

Speaker 2 (39:16):
He'll likely be at the Grafting games.

Speaker 3 (39:18):
Now the dinner table will look a little bit different
because it's not talking about because now Nicolay will be
playing Rafton next year, which is going to be very interesting.
So right, well, like I have to get one of
those shirts that's divided like half Nicol and half Grafton
or something, and I'll just stand in the end zone.

Speaker 2 (39:35):
I think I don't even.

Speaker 8 (39:36):
Know what this point.

Speaker 1 (39:39):
That canna be fun. I don't think it's.

Speaker 2 (39:41):
Going to be tricky for sure.

Speaker 3 (39:43):
But like James mentioned to you, if anyone else besides
him is going to be coaching Easton, we wanted to
be Jim Norris. He's an amazing coach, he's an amazing mentor.
He's excited to have Easton starting next year, so it'll
be it'll be a good experience for him.

Speaker 2 (39:56):
So he's in good hands.

Speaker 1 (39:57):
That's awesome. Hey, when and your daughter she did she's
is she going to play some football when she gets older?

Speaker 8 (40:05):
You think, you know, people joke about that.

Speaker 9 (40:08):
And she is the softest girl when it comes to
anything that is violent or rough or anything like that.

Speaker 8 (40:17):
She's a ballet and gymnastics girl.

Speaker 9 (40:20):
So yeah, but she will be always you know, she'll
always you.

Speaker 8 (40:24):
Know, let's be honest. She she's getting there.

Speaker 1 (40:28):
Did you play sports?

Speaker 9 (40:29):
I was in dancing band, so I was in the
marching band, which is a big back and forth between
Craig and I because I don't know if he'll appreciate
me saying this, but when I was pregnant, he was like,
you know.

Speaker 8 (40:39):
You're beautiful.

Speaker 9 (40:40):
I hope our daughter looks like you and she gets
my athletic ability no offense, and it's like the complete opposite.

Speaker 8 (40:46):
She looks just like him.

Speaker 9 (40:47):
She has like the blonde, curly hair, and she is
not very nimble, and you know she's coordinated.

Speaker 1 (40:56):
During the summer, I do shows outside of baseball, football
and basketball, right, I talk about sports that nobody else
talks about. I did an hour in underwater hockey. Yeah.
But I've had dance teams come in and I can
tell you this the amount of respect that I have
because how hard they practice, and it really is the
sweat equity they put into that sport, and it's a

(41:18):
sport they have to it's hard. And gymnastics look, I
talked to gymnastic parents that are like, why don't you
come to one of our mey It's we sit for
five and a half hours for a fourteen second deal,
and I go, no, no, I am glad none of
the grandkids are in gymnasta. I do have a two
year old granddaughter who knows what she's in charge of
the world. Yeah, she's two years old. It's awesome.

Speaker 8 (41:40):
So she loves it all.

Speaker 1 (41:42):
But no, no co ed football coming.

Speaker 8 (41:44):
No, I don't think.

Speaker 9 (41:45):
So she's not going to be the girl that's out there,
you know, making tackles and catching passes.

Speaker 1 (41:50):
That's okay. Do you miss your daughter playing basketball? You
miss watching it?

Speaker 6 (41:54):
I do?

Speaker 1 (41:55):
I do.

Speaker 11 (41:55):
I think she's in the University of Minnesota, Okay, living
her very best life. Chose to put away the basketball
and her track field track shoes.

Speaker 6 (42:04):
But she's awesome. We're really proud of her. She's home
for break now.

Speaker 1 (42:08):
Since Lee and a multi sport athletele is Lee runs
track okay, he.

Speaker 11 (42:12):
Actually played travel baseball all growing up and after freshman
year chose to transition to track to work on his speed.
So it's turned out to be positive for us.

Speaker 1 (42:23):
Yeah, and your kids both athletes, right.

Speaker 6 (42:26):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (42:26):
So Easton is, you know, our little ADHD boy. So
he's got to be doing something at all times. So
if it's not basketball, then it's football, and then it's baseball,
and then he does enjoys golf just for fun. And
then Avery is our tennis player. So she's a one sport,
but she's working really hard at and has grown really
She is a sophomore this year. Yeah, and she she

(42:47):
like going to watch her play tennis. So it was
an interesting experience last year as a freshman, I'm that
mom that cheers for everything, and I found out very
quickly that you cannot cheer at tennis.

Speaker 2 (42:59):
Matches like you can't. Oh, I got, I got the looks.
Let me just tell you.

Speaker 3 (43:03):
It was a very big learning experience, so I had
to learn very quickly how to be a quiet, cheering mom.
It being that it's a hurt just her because she
plays singles. It's very different than watching Easton on a team,
so it's a lot. I think it's a different kind
of nervous watching her, but I enjoy it so much.
It's so fun watching how much she's grown as a player.

Speaker 1 (43:23):
My freshman grandson is a freshman Lake Country Lutheran, and
he got some time up on varsity, but I'm the
satelline reporter for the high school football game of the week,
so I didn't get a chance to watch him play much.
They got to the playoffs, and we don't do the playoffs,
so I got to go watch and I would sit
by my daughter and my other grandkids, and I would
yell to Logan and she'd go stop it, like say

(43:44):
Lake Huntry go team go Blue, and I go, no,
I don't care about know those guys. I care about Logan.
She's like, you can't sit by me that. I never
got to sit next to my wife watching my son
play in college basketball. She said, you don't cheer, correct,
you got to move because I would. I would yell
at reps and do what like, I'm a basketball coach

(44:05):
and now my daughter's kicking me away because I can't.
I'm like you are. I would have a hard time
at tennis message they would hate me.

Speaker 2 (44:13):
It was like I said, it was. It was. It
was a learning experience for sure.

Speaker 1 (44:17):
Who would your daughter hear when she was playing basketball?
You were Drake More, She.

Speaker 11 (44:21):
Says, she can hear Drake. She there are times where
she would be like, you're annoying and I can hear
you screaming. But there's she has vivid memories of Drake
yelling certain things in the stands. However, then he was
the announcer, so for all home games he was on
the microphone, so that kept his his voice very positive.

Speaker 1 (44:37):
You know, coach, and my son in high school. I
would then go to his college games and I would
sit at the top of the bleachers and it would
be packed at Maranatha, And after the game, he'd say,
are you ever going to hit a shot tonight? And
I go what he goes, I can't. I can't hear
my coach on the sidelines, but I'm in tune to
your I hear everything you say, and so when you
say are you ever going to hit a shot? I

(44:59):
hear all the I kno, get on that right, I
can hear tonight. Hey, guys, we should have done two
more segments because I have eighteen more questions for each
of you. I thank you for what you guys do.
Understand that if your husband, I'm sure your husbands tell
you all the time, thank you. But understand how important

(45:20):
it is as as a head coach to have your
family with you. And understand that you guys are tough
enough to hear the stuff you hear behind you and
in front of you, and to the right and to
the left sometimes like why don't you run the ball more?
Why are you playing this defense? Come on, why can't
you beat this team? All of that stuff that you

(45:40):
probably don't tell him that you're hearing and to go
home and give him a hug and say, hey, you
know what, get a win next week. I thank you
for what you guys do, and I, honestly, from the
bottom of my heart, believe there's a special place in
heaven for coaches wives because of the stuff that you
guys put up with. So thank you. It's nice to me.
It's good to see you again. It's great to see
you again, and it is it's always good to see

(46:02):
you guys. Thank you very much. We're going to get
to a break. Other side of the break are Kernel
Electric Superhero of the Week If you get a chance
to go to the Colonel Electric Facebook page. This girl's
really impressive. We're not going to have we might have
to do four segments with her because of the amount
of things that she does and she's involved with. And
we'll get to her on the other side of the break.

(46:22):
This is the Varsity Blitz High School Sports Show, presented
by your local Pick and Save and Metro Market stores
on Fox Sports ninety twenty and your iHeartRadio app. Welcome
back to the Varsity Blitz. High School Sports show is
always presented by your local Pick and Save and Metro
Market stores, coming live from the Donovan and Jorgensen Heating
and Cooling Studios. Matt I like doing Coaches Wive shows.

(46:45):
It's just fun for me. And I want to thank
Becky and Brandy and Jen for coming in. They did
just a really good job to be able to talk
a little bit about what it's like to have a
husband as a head football coach and a lot going
on right in these programs, and all three of those
teams had great years, and I want to thank again.

(47:07):
I thank them for coming in studio for a couple
of segments at ten twenty, we're going to talk to
a number of AAYFL coaches, the champion eighth grade coaches
from Sussex, from Hartford, and from the Journey House. But
before we do that, our current electric Superhero of the week,
let me tell you how this happened. Cassidy Samaja, Is

(47:29):
that correct, Simoji? I was close close everybody everybody.

Speaker 8 (47:34):
Rex out way, Oh no, definitely closer.

Speaker 1 (47:36):
Than most, right, Yeah, Cassidy Simoji from New Berlin, West.
I met her dad. I was doing the AYFL Team
of the Week and I got a chance to talk
to him and we just started talking about life and
family and kids, and he was talking about his daughter
and I started asking some questions about her and he
was like, why what do you do? Why are you

(47:56):
asking that? And I go, let me tell you what
I do with with this show, we do a Kernel
Electric Superher of the week. Is she involved in the school?
He goes, yeah, she really involved. She's a good student,
she's a great student. Does she have this this servant
leadership hard? And he goes, let me tell you about
my daughter. You're so proud of you. I'm like, all right,
do it?

Speaker 10 (48:16):
All right?

Speaker 1 (48:17):
I got it. I got it, which was just awesome.
By the way, Cassidy, how are you today?

Speaker 8 (48:21):
I'm good.

Speaker 1 (48:21):
Thanks, congratulations on being our Kernel Electric Superhero of the Week.
I'm going to just start with this question I always
ask and as we go through your bio, and we're
not going to have if we spent the next forty
five minutes, we couldn't go through it all. We couldn't.
I'm so impressed with you, and this is the first
time we've met the You're to have that servant leadership

(48:44):
hard is not something we're born with and it is
a learned behavior. And I'm wondering where that came from
for you.

Speaker 10 (48:51):
I think for me, a big part of it is
just being surrounded by people who are like great role
models of leaders. Like for me, the largest impact was
being on a a team with upperclassmen and coaches who
are like great examples of leaders. So like one teammate,
she was like a big example of a leader. She
would like she was just always there for everyone. She

(49:12):
uplifted everyone, and like she did this out of her
own choice by being like a good role model.

Speaker 2 (49:16):
She like was the mom of our team.

Speaker 1 (49:19):
Do you know what the reason I asked that question? Yes,
everybody has a different answer, And that's the first time
I've heard that answer, And and I love that as
a former coach, I love the fact that you learned
some of this from from peers, from people that were
leaders on teams. What sports do you play?

Speaker 10 (49:39):
I do cross country and track, so I'm a distance runner.

Speaker 1 (49:45):
Really good too, right, you had some success in that,
and that's for correct, I'm pretty good. What's your favorite?

Speaker 10 (49:52):
I really like cross country just because longer distance is
what I prefer. Yeah, I know, crazy, But the team
is also just like what makes it because it's like
a small family.

Speaker 1 (50:04):
My grandson second year ran cross country at Country Lutheran
and he did it. His parents made him, and he
was not happy. And I took him to get shoes right,
and he was just not happy. And the girl that
sold the shoes, the same thing happened to her, and
she said, look, you might fall in love with this.
He goes, no, I don't think so, and he did.

Speaker 10 (50:24):
Yeah. The team is what definitely like. If you have
a good team, it makes the sport better.

Speaker 1 (50:29):
And you like cross country more than track. Yeah, hesitating
your mom who's over there and smiling and shaking her head.
In fact, could you move the microphone? What is your
mom's first name?

Speaker 13 (50:41):
Lisa?

Speaker 1 (50:42):
What is your mom's first name? You tell me, Lisa, Lisa?
How are you good? Good? It's nice to meet you.
You got to be really proud of her, huh, very proud.
Did you see this kind of kid when she was
younger where she would like get really? First of all,
there's her rouma messers. It's spotless.

Speaker 13 (51:00):
Uh, it gets messier as the week and then she
cleans it every weekend.

Speaker 1 (51:03):
But I'm glad it gets messy. Yeah, because a kid,
what's your grade point average?

Speaker 6 (51:08):
Right now?

Speaker 13 (51:09):
It's almost four to three.

Speaker 10 (51:11):
Well, no, we don't have any grades, but last semester
it was a four point three.

Speaker 1 (51:14):
Four point three. I always get nervous if your room
is completely spotless, because you're you're a kid who's never
gotten really anything but in a and right and so
when you when you get a being, you're going to
be in the fetal position if everything in your life
is like that. The reason I didn't get a four
point zero is because I didn't want it, you know,
I always wanted something to strive for. No, I had

(51:36):
nothing to do with, like skipped out of class half
the time at mess smart tell me a little bit
about some of the things that you volunteer in some
of the that servant leadership part. When you go to
the current Electric Facebook page to read her bio, there's
a lot there and spend a little time to read it.
You said, look, is this too long? I said absolutely not,

(51:56):
because everything you put in there is really important. Talk
to me about some of the things that you do
outside of being a really good student athlete.

Speaker 10 (52:05):
So I am involved in my school's French honor society.
Like the chapter is titled on Vogue and I joined
this my sophomore year because you can't be a freshman
even if you have like the level of French required.
So I joined as a sophomore in my fourth.

Speaker 2 (52:22):
Year of the language and.

Speaker 10 (52:27):
It's just community based volunteering basically, but like our goal
of the group is just to raise money for French
group charities and to like spread the language and culture.

Speaker 1 (52:39):
Man, So what's going to happen with you next year?
Do you know yet?

Speaker 10 (52:45):
I know for sure that I'm going to Stephens Point
because I'm committed for the team for cross country and track,
and I want to major in environmental science, which is
like Stephen's Point is like really well known for.

Speaker 1 (52:57):
That really well known?

Speaker 6 (52:58):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (52:58):
Yeah? Is that the reason to be? Because looking at
some of the things you've accomplished your cross country and track,
there were there there was some opportunity for you to
go a little bit further, a little bit higher, write
a division one, division two, and you decided on Stevens Point.
Was it because of the that that degree or was

(53:19):
it you get on campus and said, oh, this would
be great.

Speaker 10 (53:21):
I knew when I toured. I was like, Wow, this
is this is the place for me. And I just
like like I met the coach, and I loved the coach,
and I met the team and it was like I
felt like a part of the team even though I
wasn't there yet. And of course, like I'm going to
school for my major, so it was important that that
was a big thing too.

Speaker 1 (53:39):
And it's close to home kind of right, two hours
two hours, yeah, and I'm bad. It's not like you're
going at least, so you go, that's not bad. My
kids went to Marinatha in Watertown, so it was forty
five minutes, so it was a little bit easier for
me for sure. But the Stevens point part when when
you look at the numbers that their cross country team
does right and track you got a chance to compete

(54:02):
as a freshman, you.

Speaker 2 (54:02):
Think, I'm not sure.

Speaker 1 (54:04):
Probably, yeah, I'm sure. Let me talk to your dad
for a minute. So everything that you would talk to
you can pull the microphone right over. It's gonna start moving,
so you might want to hold the metal part of it. Look,
I get that parents can be proud of their kids.
And but when when we started talking that day, and

(54:26):
and when you said why you asked me this, and
I told you you said, look, this girl would be
perfect and here's why you knew this about her early on. Huh.

Speaker 14 (54:35):
Yeah, you know, she's one of those kids. I've coached
kids for twenty two years. I mean, she's my daughter,
but you can pick out a kid that's just one
of those kids.

Speaker 1 (54:45):
Did she get that a lot of this? More from
you or more from Lisa will.

Speaker 8 (54:52):
I said, neither.

Speaker 10 (54:53):
Neither.

Speaker 1 (54:58):
Tip your waitress because the comedian going to be here
for a while. That's a great answer. Well, play she gets.

Speaker 14 (55:05):
She gets her smarts from her mom and probably her
endless drive for me.

Speaker 1 (55:10):
Okay, all right, and you said neither, which I absolutely love.
That's very, very funny. Hey, talk to me. Four year
varsity letter winner in both sports. The difference between running
on varsity as a freshman and a senior is night
and day. Do you remember the days of walking into

(55:31):
a freshman and going, wait, I'm good enough to run
on varsity?

Speaker 10 (55:34):
Oh my goodness, yes, I do. So. Freshman year, like,
I walked on the team and I was just like,
I don't know what cross country is.

Speaker 2 (55:42):
Oh I took a gamble and joined.

Speaker 10 (55:44):
But it was like one of the best decisions I
ever reade.

Speaker 1 (55:47):
Ohoha. So it wasn't like in middle school, you were,
you were, you were traveling all over the Midwest. Is
across country phenom No. Freshman year, you said, okay, I
want to join something, and this is had you had
you run before?

Speaker 10 (56:01):
I did middle school track, and my thought process was
because I was trying to choose between like a fall sport.
My thought process was, well, I should do cross country
because that's running, so then I can just do track
and I'll be better for track. It's vice versa now
like track is for cross country, like track is to
benefit my cross country?

Speaker 1 (56:18):
Do you know with it with the list or least
let me ask you this. I'm not a good cross
country fan. I don't. I didn't know much about the sport.
And then the grandsonds over at LCL and I they
would run Saturday mornings. Well, then their their their conference
speed I could go to and all of a sudden

(56:38):
they take off and I'm looking and everybody's running and
I'm like, aren't they coming back? And they were like, yeah,
this is where they finish. And I just put my
chair there and I waited that said you go running.

Speaker 13 (56:50):
Not her freshman year, I was on crutches. But now
I know, you know the track or the court of course,
well enough that you know the best spot so you
make it to the finish line before they do, because
otherwise they're way faster than you.

Speaker 1 (57:05):
Yes, that's what I thought. I'm not going anywhere. You
hear your mom or dad when you're running cross country.

Speaker 10 (57:13):
It depends. It depends on who's yelling, because sometimes it
just like if there's a giant group and it's just
like I can always pick out my coaches.

Speaker 1 (57:22):
Though, when when I went to the first one, I
stood by my daughter and her son, Keegan is running.
She was yelling, go baby, go baby. No. She sent
me a video and she was yelling go baby. So
I told him, you'll know if I'm ever at one
of these, because I'm gonna be yelling go baby go.
And that's our thing now for any time I go,
I stand near the finish line and yell go baby,

(57:44):
go baby. And he's like, Papa could just say go Keegan,
this is our thing. And I absolutely love that.

Speaker 10 (57:50):
Funny.

Speaker 1 (57:51):
When do you know who you're going to room with
up at Steven's Points? You got friends up there.

Speaker 2 (57:56):
Or yet I'm gonna I'm figuring it out.

Speaker 1 (57:59):
Yeah, and that's okay, make it you.

Speaker 10 (58:01):
Got to like reach out through like college like apps
and stuff, and it's kind of like dating. Like it's
like dating almost because it's just like you want them
to like you, and you're like messaging and.

Speaker 2 (58:11):
Like, oh what do you like?

Speaker 6 (58:12):
Oh I like this?

Speaker 8 (58:14):
Oh what do you do for fun?

Speaker 10 (58:15):
It's just like it's like dating, but trying to make
a friend and get a roommate.

Speaker 8 (58:18):
So it's pretty funny.

Speaker 1 (58:19):
I just so happy. I'm old. I'm so happy. I'm
just this grandfather is six And let you young people
do all of that. Hey, at New Berlin West, they
they have gotten you prepared pretty nicely for the next chapter,
the next phase of your life. Correct, Yeah, you're going
to miss it.

Speaker 10 (58:37):
I am gonna miss it. I'm gonna miss being with
friends all the time. And like I'm gonna miss my coaches.
I have great teachers, like I have not had like
a single teacher that hasn't been like a good person
and a good teacher.

Speaker 2 (58:50):
So like I'm going to miss that.

Speaker 1 (58:52):
Yeah, I love that. Hey, I can't thank you enough
for coming in and getting me all this. This five
took you a little bit to write it, and I
really appreciate it. And when you said look, is it
too long? It's not because what I ask from you
from the superheroes is give me what things that you
have done, things that you want to do, and things
you're going to do in the future. And you did

(59:14):
exactly what I asked, and it doesn't surprise me. I
can tell you that I always feel in the beginning
of the interview of the superhero of the week that
I'm such a loser because you guys are the best, right,
And then I think, well, I talk a lot, and
the nuns that Messment would have said, he's going to
do something where he gets to talk a lot. But
what I love is that, Look, you're gonna go away

(59:36):
and then you're going to come back into our community
and be part of the leader leaders of this community.
And when that happens, remember how nice I was to
here today, because I'll probably be working for you one
day and I'll be like opening the doors of the
building that you own something like that. Cassidy, thank you
so much. Congratulations. Go to the current Electric Facebook page

(59:57):
to take a look at this beautiful picture of her.
You look taller in the picture, by the way, and
people have told you that before. Yeah, yeah, yeah, No,
wonder you're so fast. I can tell you that when
you go to the currentl Electric Facebook page, take a
look at all the things that this young lady at
an age are eighteen. I've just recently turned eighteen every birthday,

(01:00:18):
thank you eighteen years old. She's done more in the
her eighteen years than I've done, and I'm not going
to tell you how many, but a lot more than that. Cassidy,
thank you so much. It's good to sir. It's good
to see you again, Lisa. It's good to meet you.
And you know what, you guys should be so proud
of her, for sure. When you get to a break
other side of the break, a number of aa YFL

(01:00:39):
football coaches, guys who won their eighth grade championships are
going to join us. And I think the AAYFL because
a sponsor my stuff here and along with Channel twenty four,
my twenty four the high school football game of the week,
and we'll talk to these guys on the other side
of the break. This is the Varsity Blitz high school
sports show, presented by your local Pick and Save and

(01:01:00):
Metro Market stores, only on Fox Sports ninet twenty and
your iHeartRadio app. Welcome back to the Varsity Blitz. High
school sports show is always presented by my friends at
your local Pick and Save and Metro Market stores, coming
live from the Dotovan and Jorgans and Heating and Cooling studios. Man,
I wanted to think Cassidy, our current Electric superhero of
the week and her mom and dad. That's a really

(01:01:22):
impressive young lady from New Berlin West, big time student
athlete and understands what that means. And I can't thank
them enough for coming in. We're now joined by a
number of coaches from the AAIFL. I want to thank
Greg Clark and everybody in the AAIFL. Two years now
they've been sponsoring what I do on this show, and

(01:01:43):
this year got involved with my twenty four and being
part of the high school football game of the Week.
I definitely want to thank Greig and the staff and
the board for allowing me to be a part of
what they do. The second segment of this AIFL deal,
we're going to talk to the two coaches from the
Journey House, but right now in studio with me from Sussex.

(01:02:07):
I'm sorry, Greg, yep, how are you great?

Speaker 5 (01:02:10):
How you doing?

Speaker 1 (01:02:11):
Hey? Good year?

Speaker 5 (01:02:11):
Huh fantastic.

Speaker 1 (01:02:12):
Here, my goodness, man, you guys never lost, right.

Speaker 5 (01:02:16):
All four years fifth through eighth grade thirty two and oh, unbelievable,
an unbelievable group of kids, unbelievable group of coaches. Everything
worked out extremely well.

Speaker 1 (01:02:29):
The fact that you guys, you guys have two teams
at that age group and the other team is really good.

Speaker 5 (01:02:34):
Other team was phenomenal in fifth and sixth grade. I
don't believe they lost a game either. And then in
seventh grade they had a challenge where they lost their
quarterback for about half the season, and then this year
they struggled with injuries as well. But I mean, both
teams were split, and I mean it was probably one
of the biggest things that had us to be successful
over the years was competing against them every night at practice.

Speaker 1 (01:02:54):
And you guys kept the team together though it wasn't
like every year you went and said, okay, we're going
to split. Once you split it in fifth grade, And
I don't know if that's how everybody.

Speaker 5 (01:03:04):
Does it, I don't think it is really how we
handled it was because both fifth and sixth grade, because
both teams really never lost, there was no reason to
shake up the rosters. And all the new kids that
came out every year were just divving up between the
two teams.

Speaker 1 (01:03:18):
And what do you do Over at Sussex Hamilton it
was defensive port. They come a little closer because defensive coordinator.
I watched when I came out and gave the AAIFL
Team of the Week. I watched that offense and going
against them. How to make you guys better?

Speaker 4 (01:03:35):
Right?

Speaker 15 (01:03:35):
Absolutely, Like Craig said, being able to match up against
the other team undefeated pretty much equal teams honestly for
tip for tap every night. So being on the grind
with the boys was it was cool to have them
best advantage we could have.

Speaker 1 (01:03:48):
I don't know if there's been many AIFL teams that
can say they went undefeated for four years. I don't
know if that's ever been done. Do you know that
I don't.

Speaker 5 (01:03:56):
I know our Jim and I both have an older
kid that's a sophomore, and I know in their grade
there was a Germantown team when undefeated all the way
through until the first round of the playoffs in eighth
grade and the lost.

Speaker 1 (01:04:08):
So I know that you know they're still talking.

Speaker 5 (01:04:10):
Trust We were talking about that to our kids all season.

Speaker 1 (01:04:12):
One hundred percent. Let's move over to Brian Brian Arverson
from Hartford, if you can move this one here. Yep,
Hey Brian, how you been? See you again? Hey, congratulations
winning this championship. Did you guys go into the eighth
grade year thinking you had a chance to win this thing? Yeah?

Speaker 16 (01:04:31):
This team, I'm not the coach. I'm us more or
less the league rep. And I'm bridge between the coaches
at the high school and the youth. Now, I don't
they coach for fifteen years up the last two. In
their case, this team, they made a change in sixth
grade after the second game to change quarterbacks and things
a little bit. Yeah, So in their case, they've been
undefeated since then.

Speaker 17 (01:04:51):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (01:04:51):
So definitely this year as well.

Speaker 16 (01:04:53):
You know, they put a lot of focus on being
a team, and we have to be all one together
and not lose focus. Don't get them place, and you know,
don't fall back.

Speaker 1 (01:05:02):
You know, Brian, it's hard, and you know this because
for the years that you coached, it's so difficult to
get to the point of being able to win your
last game. That journey through the playoffs is really a
difficult thing to do. And for Hartford to be able
to do that. I know, coach Writers very happy obviously,

(01:05:22):
I coach Gum has got to be, you know, going, hey,
we got something coming through the pipeline with the A
and y I fell and the way that you guys
go about things is very impressive to me. Let's keep
your head out of the game. Let's teach kids how
to tackle correctly. Let's it's not all about wins or losses.

(01:05:42):
But once you get into the playoffs in eighth grade,
it kind of is right.

Speaker 16 (01:05:47):
Right, it's I mean definitely a two week when you
get that kind of record. I'm sure the same floor
social Hamilton as well, like people bring your best every game.
You know, they're looking at film of you as well,
you know, trying to find advantages, to take advantage things,
find weaknesses for you. So definitely the team not to
keep improving. They can't be complacent. I mean know the
other thing, when the when the play, when the series,

(01:06:07):
when the game you win the.

Speaker 1 (01:06:08):
Day, Hey, who did you guys beat in the finals.

Speaker 16 (01:06:12):
When the finals we played against Walukasha.

Speaker 1 (01:06:14):
South, Okay, was it a good game?

Speaker 5 (01:06:16):
Yeah, it's a good game.

Speaker 16 (01:06:16):
I mean then you know a few players that we
knew going in as well that we had to stop.
And yeah as well, so didn't couldn't let up at
all at any point.

Speaker 1 (01:06:23):
Jim, who'd you guys play in the finals. Yeah, and
I'm sure they thought, oh, we got our hands full
because you guys, was it a good game? It was
a good game.

Speaker 15 (01:06:34):
Score settled out, first half was pretty much even, and
then second half.

Speaker 1 (01:06:39):
We were able to pull away, so the kids were
able to manage offensively. You guys ran some pretty way
the practice. I was at watching some of the things
that you guys ran compared to some of the other teams.
When I would hand out the trophy, I thought, you
guys were You guys were doing some things that that
were surprising to me. The kid who was throwing the ball,

(01:07:00):
I thought, man, this kid can really spin it. You said, yeah,
he's really good. But we've had we've had either quarterback
that got injured, I think.

Speaker 5 (01:07:07):
So the big challenge for us this year was our
quarterback for fifth through seventh grade. Western Kashu had surgery
preseason and we had never had a backup. So it
was a conversion and we held quarterback trials at my
house in late July when we figured it out that.

Speaker 12 (01:07:23):
Might be against AYFL. Greg Oh, yeah, Greg, Oh, you
got five days we're playing catch. They better not be
taking that trophy away. He's only kidding, Greg, don't be
doing that.

Speaker 5 (01:07:35):
So we converted. We converted our running back who was
a first year player in seventh grade, had never played
football before Sam Redman and converted him to quarterback and
built everything around him. And I will give credit to
you know, Gums. Guns offense is awesome. It's it's running
a college NFL playbook, and it helped that. My older
son is a quarterback in his in his high school offense,

(01:07:56):
and he was not shy about giving us, giving us
tidbits that coach Gum has put in over the years
that gave us some really good plays that were very
successful for us.

Speaker 1 (01:08:05):
How'd your son do this year?

Speaker 5 (01:08:07):
It was good. Sophomore quarterback. Yeah, got an opportunity on
varsity before he was ready, so it was an eye
opener for him. But he's still grinding at it.

Speaker 1 (01:08:16):
It's amazing. I have a freshman grandson that played some
varsitia at Lake Country Lutheran and after their first game,
I said, how did it go? He said, I had
to block a guy that had a full beard and
he was fourteen right. A year ago we played at
Brookfield East against eighth grade and he said, Papa, I
gotta be honest with you. Played finally like Saint Mary

(01:08:39):
Springs and they were really good. But the eighth grade
team two of the teams I played against last year,
and the AAI felt I thought were better. And I said, what,
he goes, Yeah, and he's playing against seventeen eighteen year
old kids. At that point, it'll slow down for your
son next year. Is he the quarterback in waiting?

Speaker 17 (01:08:57):
Yeah?

Speaker 5 (01:08:57):
Probably by the time he's a senior.

Speaker 1 (01:09:00):
What will you do next year? Are you going to
continue to coach?

Speaker 5 (01:09:03):
I'm not so. I rode off into the sunset and
my youth sports coaching career with an AAYFL championship. I've
done basketball and football for probably about a decade, and
now I'm going to have two kids in high school
and I'm going to watch them play and enjoy it
and sit in the stands with Jim.

Speaker 1 (01:09:17):
Yeah you wait, so you wait? Yeah, you know how
many people will be calling you. Can you just come
and run? If somebody calls and says can you just
come and run one practice, don't do it. Because then
you get hooked in and you're going to be there
for rever.

Speaker 15 (01:09:31):
Jim, how about you saying my oldest is twenty playing
up at lacrosse now, so.

Speaker 1 (01:09:36):
My youngest group. So I'm done.

Speaker 15 (01:09:39):
I'll be watching from the telephoto lens out in the
back of the end zone.

Speaker 1 (01:09:43):
That's awesome, Well, congratulations on one in that. Did you
know you obviously came into this year having a pretty
good feeling. The problem is when when you're undefeated in fifth, sixth,
and seventh is you literally are getting everybody's best shot.
Everybody wants to be that team to go. Well, you
know what, they had one wash in four years, no
was against us. Did your do you think the kids

(01:10:05):
understood that they were getting everybody's best shot.

Speaker 5 (01:10:08):
Coach Jim, who ran our defense, was very adamant in
driving that point home in just about every single practice
as as I mean, you couldn't get a more like
minded group of coaches that have had these kids for
four years from a competitive standpoint and just really driving
them to to be to be perfect. The kids knew it,
but I don't think they believed us all the time.

Speaker 1 (01:10:30):
They did. The kids never believe guys, we.

Speaker 5 (01:10:33):
Were waiting for that game to kind of kind of
bite us where they didn't take us seriously. But I
give the kids all the credit man, they when when
we did get faced some adversity, they just didn't know how.

Speaker 1 (01:10:42):
What was the toughest game for you guys this year?
Do you think closest game was?

Speaker 5 (01:10:45):
The first game of the year was against Arrowhead and
we were down eleven in the second half and rattled
off two quick four fourth quarter touchdowns, including getting an
on side kick that our kicker recovered who is a
man child and recovered it, And we snuck on a
couple of plays and we didn't play well. We were
still adjusting to a new quarterback, a new little bit
new system on defense, and the kids were a little

(01:11:07):
shell shocked in the first half, and they pulled it
out one by one.

Speaker 1 (01:11:10):
Hey, Brian, for you guys, who what was the toughest game?
Do you think.

Speaker 5 (01:11:15):
I mean?

Speaker 16 (01:11:15):
Before I get too fine again, the honor stood in
Forair coach Kreiser, head coach coach Gaillen, Vander Geese coach
Smith Porter, and Otman. Either they're on vacation or hunting.
Maybe getting out of the deer standardis.

Speaker 1 (01:11:25):
Maybe they just didn't want to hang out with me today.
Maybe I hope Yeah, I hope that too.

Speaker 16 (01:11:30):
I mean I think probably the toughest game for them.
I mean, anytime we play a team twice when you win,
obviously think well, we're going to do the same thing.
So we had to play Key Waskam the second time
was a good great quarterback as well, So it's okay,
what do we got to do to change things up?
You know, to make sure we get that edge as well?

Speaker 1 (01:11:47):
Boy, what was it like on the field after the
championship game? These kids had to just be just going nuts, right, Yeah.

Speaker 16 (01:11:55):
I mean that's one thing. I was there and as
silin during the game. But part of the one thing
I'd like to do, even when I was watching gamester
is just watching the handshake line and how they celebrate
after the game.

Speaker 1 (01:12:03):
Hundred percent other kids just giving.

Speaker 16 (01:12:05):
Them hugs like they just battled for them all that time.

Speaker 1 (01:12:07):
So yeah, put me.

Speaker 16 (01:12:08):
I went up the stands kind of watched everything for
more of a fire.

Speaker 1 (01:12:11):
Do you know? And most of those kids will go
on to play at at Hartford, correct, right? Do you
know if they if they never get a gold ball again,
this is something they'll talk about for a really long time,
and the kids at Sussex Hamilton that can say, look,
we never we didn't we never lost a game in
four years. Those are things that these kids are going

(01:12:32):
to talk about when they're standing up in each other's
weddings kind of stuff. And that's what I think high
school and youth athletics brings. Why why is running such
a good program at Hartford? Why is that so important
to you? You understand what this does for these kids?

Speaker 5 (01:12:48):
Right?

Speaker 1 (01:12:48):
Yeah, for sure.

Speaker 16 (01:12:48):
I mean I'll probably see you know, I'm on the
freshman team as a coach. I'll see some of them,
so might you don't get bumped up as well. I mean,
great opportunity for them as well. They don't hold anything
back from them on that, but definitely trying to build
that why I'm kind of the bridge between there to
kind of it's more preseason that we know, obviously teach
them everything that we do during the season. I'm always
there to asking questions. Their one accepts all the huddle requests.

(01:13:10):
But again it's kind of more hands off, you know,
don't interfere with them too much. Let them take that tone.

Speaker 1 (01:13:16):
Jim, your athlete and where'd you go? To high school
Nominie Falls and you played football at the college level.
I did not you played at the high school level.
Youth program was not there was not no What about
this AAYFL youth program out in Sussex? Like, are you
most proud of it? Look? When is championship is as

(01:13:36):
great as a coach, But there's so much more involved
in this thing. Look, coach gum is really involved in
the youth program, which I think is very important. But
as a former student athlete, what do you think these
kids are learning through this process?

Speaker 15 (01:13:51):
I mean the culture out in Sussex is team first.
I mean talked about it just being as one and
I think being able to instill that and start that
or with the kids and get them to truly buy
into that. Uh, I think that's kind of it. And
for myself, being a part of a team was the
biggest thing where it gives every every one everyone does
or eleven the coach coom uses it. You don't have

(01:14:11):
to be a superstar, but your part makes the difference
and that's what makes wins.

Speaker 1 (01:14:15):
Does he do the pon the rock or what is he?
What is chop the wood? Chop the wood? You guys
got to use that or we do. We use their parts.

Speaker 15 (01:14:21):
We try and bring it in as much as we
can so the kids are the kids are in the
swing of it.

Speaker 1 (01:14:25):
Is ry crafton the rock. Yeah, upon the rock, if
we can move the microphone over, same question for you.
And now that you're you're retired, right, you're retired. But
when you look back at at the journey of coaching,
how long have you coached out there in youth program football?

Speaker 5 (01:14:41):
Six years?

Speaker 1 (01:14:42):
Okay, Well, look there's so many lessons as a form
of basketball coach. I believe that football teaches the most
because the amount of kids that are on a roster
tell me a little bit about what you're going to
miss the most on coach in that group.

Speaker 5 (01:14:57):
It's it's really hard. And I'm very involved in basketball
and I played basketball at uw lacrosse.

Speaker 1 (01:15:02):
So can you still shoot a little bit?

Speaker 5 (01:15:04):
I just had hip surgery, Probably not.

Speaker 1 (01:15:07):
Basketball to be I'm always open there you go.

Speaker 5 (01:15:10):
So you know, coaching football was something I got into
because I love football and I played. I played a
couple of years of football in high school. But it's
it's been the most enjoyable thing I've done with the
youth over my ten plus years of coaching youth sports,
and it really comes down to the team aspect of
it and watching kids that don't share my last name
or Gym's last name. Right, we know, we know some

(01:15:31):
of these kids are good players. Watching kids that come
in and are struggling in fifth and sixth grade and
then watching them come in to be a player that
is a starter for us. By eighth grade, we had
a couple of those kids. Yeah, And that's the thing
that I think all of us as coaches are the
most proud of and really just that that team aspect
and creating good humans that are that are going to
be great student athletes and have the right culture and

(01:15:54):
really pass it on to their kids when they get older.

Speaker 1 (01:15:56):
Hey, guys, thank you, thank you for allowing me to
be a part of what the a IFL does. I've
become a really good fan, a big fan of Greg
Clark and the things that you guys do. And being
able to go out to a practice and address the
team for a couple of minutes each week is really
one of the highlights of my week. So thank you
for that. We're gonna get to a break, guys, I'm
gonna I'm gonna let you guys go because we've got

(01:16:18):
the coaches from the Journey House coming up. And again,
thank you very much gratulations on getting the gold ball
and win in to the championship. You bet. This is
the Varsity Blitz High School Sports Show presented by your
local Picket Save and Metro Market stores only on Fox
Sports nine to twenty and your iHeartRadio app. Welcome back
to the Varsity Blix High School Sports Show presented by

(01:16:40):
your local Pickets Save and Metro Market stores. So a
few weeks ago, a number of weeks ago, I went
over to the Journey House to their field to give
away the AAIFL Team of the week. I got a
chance to meet Martin, got a chance to meet one,
and after ten minutes of talking to Martin, I said,
we got to have you in studio, and I just

(01:17:00):
talked to them about coming back in. I don't know
if it's going to be later this year or in
twenty twenty six, but the work that they do over
at the Journey House, I think is different than other communities.
And I give these guys a lot of credit. Man,
a lot of credit. Martin, how are you doing good? Thanks?
Good to see you against her. I walked away and

(01:17:20):
I called my wife and I told you. Charles was like, hey,
come on, I walk into your car. I said, I'm
a big boy. I'm okay, you can said no, they
let me just make sure you get there safe. He's
one of my favorite people in the world. And he
has such a servant leadership hart and cares about the
Journey House. And I thank him for what he does
in this community. I really do. And Martin, I not

(01:17:41):
to make light of it, but I walked up on
your team and I thought these guys wouldn't scare me
getting off the bus. They don't look that big to
me compared to some of the other teams. And you
said every single year, But you guys have had a
lot of success, man, a lot of undefeated seasons, right, yeah.

Speaker 17 (01:17:59):
We've been a part of the a Y fil for
This was our sixth season competing at that time. We've uh,
we've gotten three undefeated championships Man, nineteen, twenty three and
twenty five.

Speaker 1 (01:18:10):
You know every team in that league wants to beat you, right,
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, you know you do know that.
Oh yeah yeah. Give me your background. You've been a
coach for a while.

Speaker 17 (01:18:18):
Yeah, I've been coaching that Journey House uh football for
twenty years. Like you said, Coach Charles Brown had the
idea to start a you football program.

Speaker 1 (01:18:25):
Twenty Were you twelve when you started twenty years ago? No,
don't let the exterior for you. I'm allowed older and.

Speaker 17 (01:18:31):
Yeah, you know what, whatever you're doing, keep it up
because you don't.

Speaker 1 (01:18:35):
You don't look old enough to be coaching anywhere for
twenty years. All right, you play as well?

Speaker 4 (01:18:39):
Right?

Speaker 17 (01:18:39):
Yeah, I played at Madison High School and Clark Atlanta University, So.

Speaker 1 (01:18:43):
You played at the college level. What position?

Speaker 17 (01:18:45):
Defensive back? But unfortunately that was cut short due to injury.
So man, I don't use more than.

Speaker 1 (01:18:51):
I would have. I would have done a down, out
and up and beat you for a bunch of touchs.

Speaker 5 (01:18:54):
No, maybe not.

Speaker 1 (01:18:55):
No, I just got talking a lot of smack.

Speaker 17 (01:18:59):
You know what.

Speaker 1 (01:18:59):
You give me a car, I couldn't beat you. I'm
telling you that for sure. There's something about coaching at
the Journey House for you, that it is in your heart.
And I'm wondering what started that for you? I would say,
you football, playing you football.

Speaker 17 (01:19:17):
My dad put me in a league on the northwest
side of Milwaukee callt Saint Bernadette. Man, that was the
league back to the tough League, oh Man, tough League.

Speaker 1 (01:19:26):
And not only on the field, but in the crowd.
I'm telling you, man, people yelling. I used to go
to games over there, going wow, these people are fully
engaged in this thing. Yeah.

Speaker 17 (01:19:35):
So that's where I got my start from and the
rest is history and allowed the principals and fundamentals and
basics still apply today. Same offense, same defense I ran
in nineteen eighty six, eighty seven, eighty eight.

Speaker 1 (01:19:49):
Man, good for you. And then why you were coaching
over at Marquette, right, I was.

Speaker 18 (01:19:54):
I was with the Junior Hilltoppers for seven years.

Speaker 1 (01:19:56):
And when Mark comes to come calling and says, hey,
why don't you come over here?

Speaker 18 (01:20:02):
It was kind of crazy because it really didn't spark
on the football field. It actually sparked on the baseball
diamond because my son was playing for Felix Mont thea
little league that Journey House runs as well, and we
just got to talking about x's and o's, and I
was like, this is where this is where my next
journey is going.

Speaker 1 (01:20:20):
Good good move for you.

Speaker 5 (01:20:21):
Definitely a good move, you know.

Speaker 18 (01:20:22):
I love, love what I learned over there and coach
Mas and coach Bassroom and the opportunity that they gave me.
But coming over the Journey House has been life fulfilling.

Speaker 1 (01:20:32):
The the the grade, the age group that you coach,
the younger kids, what what what grades are they?

Speaker 18 (01:20:37):
I have the combined fifth and sixth grade team, but
we take fourth graders. I even had a second grader
on my team.

Speaker 1 (01:20:42):
Yah, I saw him. I'm you were tiny, man. But
what's interesting to me is it doesn't matter what grade
you're in on your team. Let's let's just come together's
team of play. What kind of year did you have
this year?

Speaker 18 (01:20:55):
We had a good year, not not up to the
standard that we had last year going undefeated. But my team,
it's always a crapshoot because getting new players every year
and that level teaching them the fundamentals. It might not
always be a dominant going undefeated every season, but I'm
more looking at who's growing, who's improving every week, Who's
you know, wanting to come back next year to still
play football right? And and that's usually my goals is

(01:21:18):
to keep guys coming back.

Speaker 1 (01:21:19):
Do you run the same stuff that Martin.

Speaker 18 (01:21:21):
Run the same stuff?

Speaker 5 (01:21:22):
That Martin runs.

Speaker 1 (01:21:22):
Yeah, I I love that And the difference between the
Journey House and and you know when you think of
Sussex Hamilton or you think of Hartford, all those kids
are going there kind of a feeder program for that school. Look,
you you had a kid that that that want to
state championship yesterday. That's playing that arrowhead who's a sophomore
and he's a beast by the way, playing both sides

(01:21:44):
of the ball. Your your kids, Yeah, they don't all
go to one school. They kind of go to to
different places. Is that better for you? For you and
you get a chance to now go watch these kids
play all all over the.

Speaker 17 (01:21:59):
Area, right, Uh, yeah exactly. I wouldn't necessary necessarily say better.
I would say it's good either way though. Yeah, it
gives them option, gives them freedom of choice.

Speaker 3 (01:22:09):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (01:22:10):
Has the had the City conference football has taken ahead?
It has, It's not what it used to be. Does that?
Did you get a lot of city coaches coming to
you saying, hey, look, how do we how do we
get kids from the Journey House to consider coming here?

Speaker 17 (01:22:27):
We have in the past, I'd say the past three years,
not as much as we have traditionally we've actually had
more suburban and a y f L to your programs.

Speaker 1 (01:22:38):
How many, how many city conference or how many high
school athletic directors have contacted you and said have you
thought about coaching at the high school level? A lot? No, No,
I think they I think they sent them comfortab where
I'm at. Yeah, yeah, I know. Hey, Martin, you know
what if I'm the athletic either a scared of me one.

(01:22:59):
You know what if I'm the athletic director of high
school looking for a head football coach, I would plant
a tent on the frontlawn of your house and I'd
knock on your door with coffee in the morning and
Danish and say would you come be my coach? And
if you said no, I would wait for lunch and
I'd knock on the door. And I've had I have
a substant I would say, come coach, because look, you're

(01:23:21):
really ingrained in this community. You played here, you know everybody,
and to have you come coach my high school team,
that you would be my phone call? Yeah, you would think.

Speaker 17 (01:23:31):
You know, if MPs came and reached out to me
and coach one, I'm sure we can get them a
championship in a reasonable amount of time to Charles, I
think the last one was nineteen thirty nine, nineteen fifty
something like that.

Speaker 1 (01:23:44):
Can I tell you this. When I was at a
different radio station, I did a Friday night scoreboard show,
and when Riverside was in Level four playing against Arrowhead
at Heart Park for the first time ever to have
a City Conference team get the state and they I
had to go an extra hour because of what happened
at the end of that game and the rivers I

(01:24:05):
got to stop on fourth and short and the game
was over, and a kid who made the tackle was
jumping celebrating and he accidentally bumped into an official who
threw a flag. Arrowhead got first in goal and scored.
And people who were at the game and had no
dog in the fight, no dog in the fight. My
phone lines were full with them saying what just happens?

(01:24:27):
Not right, like like, come on, man, I got to
see the tape on this, I got to see the
film on this, and I know the young man who
did it. He goes, I don't even know the ref
was there. I'll celebrate with my buddies. And so if
I'm a City Conference athletic director, you heard Martin and Juan.
I would make the call. And Charles, you say, quit
trying to steal our coaches, man, don't do it. Hey

(01:24:50):
for you. When one said, look, I never know what
it's a crapshoot. Who's coming back? When you get a
kid in seventh grade? Is it one? Is it ninety percent?
They're coming back?

Speaker 17 (01:25:01):
It's like you said, it's a crapshoot, kind of kind
of fifty to fifty. We don't recruit. We take whoever
comes to us within our within our borders, and we
just work with them and develop them.

Speaker 1 (01:25:12):
And that's how we roll.

Speaker 5 (01:25:13):
Man.

Speaker 1 (01:25:14):
I love the Packers donated that field.

Speaker 17 (01:25:16):
Huh, Yes, the old Radnitsky field turf. Yeah, it's it's pretty nice. Yeah,
you got nice special. Hey, tell me about the hill?

Speaker 1 (01:25:24):
Tell me so, I guess what I had A I
had a little canary chirping to me saying, you asked Barton,
the U asked one? You ask about the hill? And
tell don't know if I want to give away that secret.
That's a secret. It's not a proprietary secret. Don't talk
about it. But I'm just telling you I know about
it and being but yeah, being an old time being

(01:25:46):
an old coach. I love it.

Speaker 17 (01:25:47):
It's called granddad, right the hills, called granddad. So you say,
you get off the bus. You see our team don't
pass the eye test. How are they beating everybody?

Speaker 5 (01:25:54):
Granddad?

Speaker 1 (01:25:55):
Granddad? You know what? I was told this off the rocker.
I'm not going to talk about it, but I love it.
I think granddad does a nice job. Granddad's been good
to us. I'm not sure everybody's using anything like Granddad,
but you use it pretty effectively. And I think your
kids understand. They don't want to go see granddad.

Speaker 4 (01:26:13):
All the time.

Speaker 17 (01:26:14):
I don't really want to say they love granddad, but
they don't. They don't need to visit them that often.

Speaker 1 (01:26:17):
Hey, is winning getting old for you? No? Thank you,
thank you for that.

Speaker 17 (01:26:22):
Yeah, winning winning doesn't know but that way he refreshes me.

Speaker 1 (01:26:25):
And it's not the when we when we had a
chance to talk, I asked you about that and you said, look,
I like winning. Our kids love winning. It's not that
important to me. It's not just not. That's not what
it's about. What we teach them is if they do
everything and we ask them to do and buy into
the program. Whether we went on the scoreboard or we
don't we're winning anyway. Yeah, but typically you take care

(01:26:48):
of everything that we try instill in them life skills,
character development, smart moves, discipline, commitment, team work typically works
out on the scoreboard as well. Hey, so you guys
aren't getting paid one point five million dollars a coach. So,
I mean, I think I know the answer, Martin. I
think I do. But you have to have the servant
leadership hard to do what you're doing. At the journey,

(01:27:09):
I was coaching this team, and I'm wondering for you
where that came from. The thing was instilled in me
through my through my parents. Yeah, that's where I was.

Speaker 17 (01:27:17):
Your dad, my dad, Yeah, and my mom still with
Bernadet Sinclair.

Speaker 1 (01:27:21):
He still he's still out here, Yeah, out and about
is he coming to games? He's coming to games. Can
you hear him hanging out? He's kicking it. What is
your dad's first name, MacArthur? And what's your mom's first name?
Bernad did? I hope they're listening, because look to have
a man your age to say listen, this is where
I learned it from. I always want to know what

(01:27:41):
my kids were like when they couldn't smell my cologne. Right,
I'm not I'm not in the room with him and
I'm not in the car with him. So I'd ask
every teacher, every coach, and I want your parents to
understand that. Look, you know you're a grown man at
this point, but still working with the things that they
taught you. One, how about for you where do you
think that came in front.

Speaker 18 (01:28:00):
Of my parents as well? Just giving back always? You know,
my mom comes from a very large family, so that
was eleven of them. So there was always a play
of food for anybody in the neighborhood that needed it.
But just always giving back and things stilled that in
me and then also just learning being a man for others.

Speaker 1 (01:28:15):
From Market High and you played you're a hilltopper.

Speaker 5 (01:28:18):
I am a hilltopper. I believe blue and Gold still.

Speaker 1 (01:28:21):
To my goodness as well. Oh okay, you played for
coach Bachelot.

Speaker 18 (01:28:27):
I played for coach Bachrooms smashing bashon Bason and beat them.

Speaker 1 (01:28:30):
We bashroom Man, you know him and Terry Kelly two
of my favorite people. And coach maz Man. I just
picked fans and and mass you know over at Katholine Memorial.
Now coach k Coach Becker's wife was just in yeah
and she did. Man. James is over at Nikolay now
so great. Hey, guys, I can't thank you enough. I

(01:28:50):
ask you on the air because now then i'll have
a recording, but I would love to have you come back,
and what I want to do is talk some excess
and notes, but I want to talk about the leadership
part and the difference between coaching at the Journey House
than coaching at some of the other AAIFL teams. And
they're all doing a great job, but it is different
because you're taking anybody that wants to come. And there

(01:29:11):
are kids you had this year on seventh eighth grade
that had never played football before, quite a few, quite
a few, and now you've got to teach them how
to get into a stance where that's different than than
were some of the other programs through the AAIFL.

Speaker 10 (01:29:24):
IS.

Speaker 1 (01:29:25):
Guys, thanks a lot.

Speaker 18 (01:29:25):
Thank everythanks for having everything.

Speaker 1 (01:29:27):
Yeah you guys, tell Charles, I'm sorry to try and
get you a high school and then college, but i'm
your new agent. I don't know if you knew that.
It's okay. My dad has been been pulling for years too.
It's it's Okay, yeah, it's gonna happen. I'm telling you
for sure. Man, Thank you very much. I really appreciate it.
We've got to get we got to get out happy.
Thanksgiving everything you best, special, great job today, great job.

(01:29:50):
A lot of movie parts in today's show, and you
did great. This is the Varsity, but it's high school
sports show presented by your local Pick and Save and
Metro Market stores, only on Fox Sports twenty and your
iHeart Radio app