Full Show - 8/23/2025

Full show from the Donovan & Jorgenson Heating & Cooling Studio: Saturday, August 23rd, 2025

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Varsity. Plitz High School Sports show is
always presented by our local Pick and Save and Metro
Market stores, coming live from the Diamond and Jorganson Heating
and Cooling Studios. Holy cow, my co host, It's so
good to see him. I'm so happy he's back. He
is the athletic director at Muschigo High School and uh,

(00:22):
I'm a huge fan of his. Ryan McMillan coach, How
you been.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
I've been great, Mike, how you been?

Speaker 1 (00:27):
I've been good. Hey took one. Good to see you
took one out of the chin last night.

Speaker 2 (00:31):
Yep.

Speaker 1 (00:34):
How you feeling about that, Nina? Pretty good?

Speaker 3 (00:36):
You know.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
The hard part is that such a competitive football game.
You know, some people say, are these two teams good?
Are these two are they not good? You know, I
would side with the previous statement that both teams are
very good or could be very good. Right, So we'll
see how that plays out. But his week one, Week
one is always tough. But there's good football players on

(00:59):
both sides the football, and both teams made plays. Both
teams made some mistakes, and it came down to a
kick at the end that you know, as the newspaper
put it, there are some convenient clock issues to get
iced if you will. I don't know, we don't really
get into all that. It's just it was one point
ball game and two really good teams, and and Nina's

(01:21):
coaching staff head coach in particular, Steve's very classy, and
I thought Musquigo handled them, handled themselves well after a
very tough loss. And we're going to get back to
work today and the way we.

Speaker 1 (01:31):
Go, oh, i'll see you next week.

Speaker 2 (01:33):
Hey, you never know. Nineteen eighty three, Miami Hurricanes lost
their a week one game. If you ever watched the
U on ESPN, I used to be into that stuff
that day.

Speaker 1 (01:41):
Those are some bad boys.

Speaker 2 (01:42):
Yeah, yeah, yes they were. But they lost their first
game to Florida and they went on to win the Natty.
So you never know what can happen.

Speaker 1 (01:49):
Well, look I didn't. I thought Moskeigo was going to
get to Level two last year and then be done.
And look at what happened. Absolutely got healthy and both
you keep.

Speaker 2 (01:59):
Working, believe in each other, good things happen.

Speaker 1 (02:01):
And when when you got a staff like you guys
have over there, they've been for everything. There's there's nothing
that they haven't seen and I'm sure on the ride
home they were, you know, already looking figuring out what
they're gonna do with Old Creek, And oh Creek got
a win last night, Brian Calhoun first first win as
a head coach, and I'm going to see him next week.

(02:21):
We'll be on the sidelines at Muskego and looking. Thank
you for that. By the way, our guys are very
excited about that, and I really appreciate it. I know
that it's youth football night. There would be a lot
of kids. We're a aa YFL is now a sponsor
of our Friday night show and and so we'll have
the people that run the Meskigo a aa YFL team

(02:46):
teams who ever sees it. The president and the vice
president are going to be part of what we're doing
out there, and I'll interview those guys and they said
it's perfect because we're gonna have a lot of kids there.
And uh, I think that that a league like the
aa YFL. And I've said this a few times is
the future of high school football and these kids are

(03:07):
figuring it out. I've read a quote from a text
I got from my son in law last night. My
grandson freshman at LCL got a bunch of time in
their varsity game last night against final like Saint Mary Springs,
And he said to my son in law, I think
playing the eighth grade but Skigo team last year was

(03:27):
as difficult as it was playing varsity tonight. So that
says a little something about that that eighth grade team
from last.

Speaker 2 (03:33):
Year on in the AAYFL, it's a community based programming
and everybody is all in and in a lot of
those communities you mentioned Skigo, you'll see it next week
with the turnout that shows up to that stadium and
O Creek we'll have a great turnout as well. And
you know, we thank those youth coaches for all the
hard work they do because they get to start the
race for us and we take great pride and trying

(03:55):
to finish the race in the right way for those
young men and pass the torch if you will, So
kudos to those guys.

Speaker 1 (04:01):
Hey, any scores from last night surprise you.

Speaker 2 (04:07):
I the what was the score of the Kimberly Sussex
Hamilton game? I think that was like got lopsided. That
was the one that was tight I thought at the half,
and then it got lopside at the end.

Speaker 1 (04:19):
Yeah, Sussex Hamilton beat him up pretty good.

Speaker 2 (04:22):
Yeah, that that one jumped out at me a little
bit because he thought it'd be a little more competitive and.

Speaker 1 (04:26):
Just forty one yep, forty two twenty one. The mcguanaga
one surprised me. Yeah, mcguanago took one out of the
chin last night and I was a little surprised by that. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (04:40):
Appleton Norris very competitive. They played a very competitive game
in Appleton last year. I know we kind of watched
that one closely because I mean, Nino's in Appleton's conference.
Obviously we're in mcgwanago's conference, and so we're kind of
following that one. But yeah, it's a different year for them,
and again everybody's learning growing week one. Week one is
so hard. People don't understand it's so hard. It's the

(05:02):
hardest week of the season in my opinion, because you
just don't know till you know. And you know, two
years ago, Muskego was feeling great after Week one and
they had a you know, a two minute drive went down,
kicked the field goal, snuck out of there and big party.
And now we're on the other side of the coin
where two minute drives stuck down, you know, kick the
field goal and it didn't go our way? But you know, now,

(05:23):
how do you respond?

Speaker 3 (05:24):
How do you learn?

Speaker 2 (05:24):
How do you grow?

Speaker 1 (05:25):
How far of a field goal wasn't last night? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (05:28):
Last night was? It was pretty close. We were probably
on the seven maybe going in.

Speaker 1 (05:35):
Yeah, and did he just hit it wide?

Speaker 2 (05:37):
Well, he made the first one, but then they called
time out. Okay, yeah, yeah, so we made the first one,
they called time out, officials awarded it, and then the
the clock went't work, and so literally I think real time,
seven minutes passed by real time of just standing around
and waiting and I don't really know what was going on,

(05:59):
and the officials were holding it up, and I don't
I don't know why we just didn't keep the time
on the field and and or tell both head coaches
as the last play, because it was like three point
seven left on the clock. But we just stood and
we waited and we waited and we waited and we waited.

Speaker 1 (06:12):
And I bet was a peach to be around for
those seven.

Speaker 2 (06:16):
Minutes, you know, I would say him and the staff
actually did a really good job of trying to control
the control balls and keep it together and just kind
of talking and trying to stay loose as much as
we can and keep everyone focused on the task at hand.
And the operation was good again and again there's people
sitting in the stadium that will tell you the kick
was good because it was a mile above the upright.

(06:38):
It was way up there. Our kids got a great leg.
He's gonna be a great kicker for us. He's gonna
win us some games here later in the season. And
uh so, yeah, but in some time, Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 (06:50):
Of course.

Speaker 2 (06:51):
Yeah. From where I was standing last night, it was good.
But then you watch the end zone camera, could you
see where the official gave it. But the hard part
is when it's above the upright right, it's it comes
down to the human element, and it's just like you
know in any other sport, as the balls and a strike,
you know that that person has to make that call,

(07:11):
and whether you like the call or not, you got
to live with it, you got to grow from it.
And there's other plays earlier in the game that we
could have done a much better job on that would
have prevented us from being in that situation.

Speaker 1 (07:22):
Look, you coached for a long time, and you've been
around this sport for a really long a lot of sports,
but this one in particular. How hard is it to
get on the bus and not and not be very
vocal about Look, we got screwed up here, right? We did?

(07:44):
Right three seconds ago in the game. There's one play
left and they have to sit around for five to
seven minutes. You want to talk about the ultimate ic
scene of a kid, yea of a of a you know,
of a of a team that happened, and I know
that that's how it ended. Yeah, I would have lost
my mind, right, I would have. I'd still be a

(08:06):
Nina waiting at you know, some coffee shop for one
of these guys to come in so I could let them,
you know, give them a piece of my mind. That
would have been a tough ride home for me personally.
How is the head of a program? How do you
you just get it out with the coaches before you
get in the bus and then move on.

Speaker 2 (08:26):
Yeah, sometimes it takes time to process. I think, knowing myself,
I'd probably internalize a little bit and then maybe cut
it loose after everybody got home and got on their
way and you know, flush it from there after watching.
I'd always want to watch the tape before I react
to anything. So that's as soon as I could get
access to the tape to see what it was or

(08:46):
how close it was or not, and then grow from there.
I think as ahead of the program, if you're the
head coach or you're one of the main leaders of
the program, you know, the coordinators, whatever, I think, you've
really gotta to find the positive, find the you know
what's next for us, What can we can control, how
can we grow, how we're going to get better, and

(09:08):
then push us, push us forward. And whether you're you're
faking it till you make it, if you will, Uh,
it's just the way it's kind of got to be
because you got to teach the young men that sometimes
you're not going to control everything in life and sometimes
it's not going to go your way, but how do
you respond to it and build better people that way?

Speaker 1 (09:25):
So the conference last night, Arrowhead, I was at that
camp Arrowheads, the real deal. Yep, they got this This
quarterback who's in for Holtz played you know, the whole
division one. I think, scholarship and playing. And this new
kid junior can spin it, he can throw it, and

(09:47):
he's got receivers all over the place. Guys, that all
track guys that were in studio with us a few
weeks ago, state champions, state champion track guys. And they
got some good running backs in a line and and
they they Marquette, Marquette played with him pretty well the
first half, and I think arrow had warmed down a
little bit and Marquette new coach. They they they graduated

(10:11):
a lot of guys, and they still have what I
think is the best running back in the state. And
he kept him in there for a while. Then the
Nevatny kid is the real deal. He made a move
last night where he reminded me of Barry Sanders. He
jumps stop and hesitated, and the kid went flying by
and the whole crowd just kind of went oh, and
then boom down the field he went. He's really cool

(10:35):
to watch. Yeah, he reminded me on Thanksgiving Day when
I do that. No, I've never done that. I tear
an ahcl or something trying to do some of the
things he did. But Marquette or Arrowhead, who now is
going to play Nina? Uh, this is this upcoming week.
Kenna Moraine got beat, right, McGonagall got beat, But then
you look walkshow West got a nice one. Yeah, they

(10:58):
got really a nice way, right, walk one big. I
think that the conference is just fine.

Speaker 2 (11:05):
Right yeah, Walk Pelwaukee one.

Speaker 3 (11:08):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (11:08):
So it's gonna be very competitive every week and as
again as people settle into who they are and really
truly find their identities and and their personnel gets solidified
and and you know, injuries are going to happen to
and how do you weather that storm. Yeah, it's gonna
be uh, it's gonna be a fun football season. I'm happy.
You know, the temperature is dropping out there. I think

(11:29):
tomorrow's the high is going to be in the sixties.
I'll take that. Here we go back onto you. I
like the fall, the fall.

Speaker 1 (11:37):
Welcome to the studio. That's your Yeah. I can't believe
how close we're sitting right now. I've never cuddled with
a fellow Irish.

Speaker 2 (11:47):
Here in August.

Speaker 1 (11:48):
Here we go working. Well, it's trying. It's trying to
kick in a little bit. Hey, schools start yet for Mosquigo, sir.
When you get in sessions the first of September, Okay,
she got a little bit another week, yep.

Speaker 2 (12:02):
So this whole week teachers come back to work and
everybody's in the building doing the PD stuff and setting
everything up. We had a registration. Was that last week,
you know, for myself and our and our Athletic Activities office.
We've been cooking since. I don't feel like we've stopped
because the spring went so long. In the end of June, and.

Speaker 1 (12:21):
Yeah, I saw you at a baseball game. Yeah, I
went over there and had had your coach in. Oh
there it is state champs. Look at you. I'm so
glad you got my Texas port into bring a sweatshirt. Yes, sir,
I am going back to that real quick. On the
baseball side, any surprises for you. I was surprised they
wanted state championship. But then I talked to a bunch
of people, baseball guys. I said, look, you gotta understand, Uh,

(12:45):
they got some dudes over there. They got the Musquigoes,
got some dudes. They're well coached and they get high
at the right time.

Speaker 2 (12:53):
Yeah, it was I personally surprised. No, having worked with
the coaches, knowing the kids, seeing the kids work. A
lot of those baseball guys signed up for our human
performance class and they were training with coach Malanchnik, their
strength guy who does a great job by the way,
and they were working their tailoff all through from January

(13:14):
through the end of June, still training their bodies, still
trying to be as healthy as they could. And we
had some personnel stuff we had to work through earlier
in the year, and we worked through it, and we
lost some really close ballgames, and the kids didn't quit
and the staff kept at it. And we played an
o'conhomwalk at the Dockhound Stadium and it was a doubleheader
because it was it was later in the year and

(13:35):
we had to make it up. And you know, it
wasn't a great weather day. It was kind of windy
or whatnot. But we won the first one and the
last one it came down to an umpire call and
did not go the warrior's way, which okay, so you know,
we dropped the second one. But walking out of the
stadium and you can call the athletic trainer from o'conamwak,

(13:58):
I said hi to them. You know know each other
for a long time, and I just said, we're gonna
win State and he looked at me. He goes like,
you sure, yeah, we're good. Trust me. These guys are
starting to click and you could just see our approaches
at the plate, the confidence of the kids on the mound,
the continuity and the dugout a lot like what you're
starting to see. Not saying Moschigo's Milwaukee Brewers, but the

(14:21):
Milwaukee Brewers. The way they play. They love each other, yes,
and they really believe in each other, and there's nothing
that the other team can do to frazzle them. And
we started to get that niche and that belief. And
then we had talent too. Don't get me wrong, there's
some talent. Talent, and once they started believing and playing
together and picking each other up, the talent showed through.
And then you know, coach Page just got to stand

(14:42):
back and say, go ahead and have fun, boys, and
let's get her done. So it was a great spring.

Speaker 1 (14:47):
I was impressed with him when he came in studio.
Good guy, classy guy, really classy guy. Yeah, I agree
with that. A lot of multi sport athletes too. Yeah,
you know all true. Hey, at nine, Matt Hensler, you
normally we have mine at the end of the year
come playoff time. I figured we'd start with him. That

(15:07):
first guest at ninety would be Matt Hensler at ten o'clock,
Peter Jennings, he's the head coach at uw ashk is
gonna join us at ten twenty. James Becker, head coach
at Nicola, first year head coach, got a good win
against South Milwaukee, and I just really enjoy him and
his family. So we're gonna call him at at ten
twenty ten forty. We'll start talking about next year's schedule

(15:30):
or next week's schedule. I look a lot in classic game,
but throughout the state. Have you talked to pat Rice lately?
But Wanakay I wondered how he's doing your two of retirement.

Speaker 2 (15:40):
Yeah, he's he's doing well. I golfed with him at
the end of end of July there, so he's happy.
He's healthy, he can still hit it. He was playing.
We let them wind.

Speaker 1 (15:54):
You never let so McMillan. I've known you a long time.
You've never let anybody beat you at anything.

Speaker 2 (15:59):
We just kept it close and I might have shank
the sandshot on on purpose.

Speaker 1 (16:03):
But you had.

Speaker 2 (16:06):
We played at Bishop's Bay over there in Middleton. Nice course, yeah,
very nice course. It was privates course. I've never been
on it before, but one of our ex receivers as
a member there and so he had to call me
for some rural clarifications on stuff with his kid at
a small private school in Madison, trying to understand how

(16:28):
to help. And you know that got us to Talking's like, hey,
you want a golf with coach. I'm like, yeah, golf.
And then they called the quarterback and so I was
a running back, quarterback receiver out with coach Rice. And
the way we went and had a lot of fun.
It was really chill and low key. I think it
was a Thursday something like that, Thursday evening. Yeah, it's perfect.

Speaker 1 (16:44):
You know, I'm so addictedd to this sport now.

Speaker 2 (16:47):
So fine.

Speaker 1 (16:48):
Last Friday, my grandson who's playing football at Lake Country Lutheran,
they had their scrimmage at Mayville.

Speaker 2 (16:54):
Yeah, I left.

Speaker 1 (16:55):
About noon, went to Mayville golf course that night and
I am the putting green before I can get out
and play, and the ninth hole is just below the
they practice putting green. And I heard a guy using
all kinds of language going, I will never play this
course again. And I watched putting the green's there. It's
like playing mini golf. I'm telling you he I watched

(17:17):
him three times in a row uphill putt and the
and he would just come up short and the ball
would roll right back to it if five put it.
And he was a good golfer, And I thought, oh,
what am I doing here? And I happened on the
ninth hole. I happened they hit a really good third
shot right like two feet from the cup and put
it in. And the guy that I was paired with,

(17:39):
he was like, you have no idea how lucky that
was because this green. I go, yeah, I watched the guy,
but I'm so addicted to that sport. I'm hitting the
ball better, not scoring any better. So hey, you just
keep hitting it. As long as you feel good and
you're enjoying it, that's all it's about. I don't you
got to tell that gentleman that you saw, he's got
to learn the term gimme that's aims, pick it up

(18:00):
and go yeah. I didn't meet him, and the language
he was using. He didn't want to meet any new
friends at that moment. We're going to get to a breaker.
On the side of the break, I have a couple
of WIA questions for you.

Speaker 2 (18:10):
Sounds good.

Speaker 1 (18:11):
He is Ryan McMillan. He is the athletic director at
Muskego High School. This is the Varsity Blitz High School
Sports Show presented by your local Pick and Save and
Metro Market stores only at Fox Sports signed twenty and
your iHeart Radio app. Welcome back to the Varsity Blitz
High School Sports Show, presented as always by your local
Pick and Save and Metro Market stores. We're going to

(18:33):
start naming our Pick and Save Metro Market Student Athlete
of the Week here in a couple of weeks, and
I want to thank the people at Pick and Save
in Metro Market. In fact, I was at the Pick
and Save in Moschigo on Tuesday as a celebrity judge
for a bag off contest. There you go, me and
Leroy Butler, a couple of girls from the Walkershaw County

(18:53):
Fair and it was so fun. It was really fun,
you know, I was. It was a big deal. I
was there for eight seconds until the Roy Butler walked
in and then people are like, yeah, I don't care
who you are, I want to talk to him. It
was awesome. He's such a good dude. He is really
a good man. And the people at the the Musquigo
Picket Safe took great care of us and it was

(19:13):
really really fun. Ryan, a couple of WIA questions, and
I don't know how much you can answer, how much
you would you know about any of these. But a
couple of stories I've heard the last couple of days.
One with Brian Fletcher down and Raceeing, the former head
football coach at Horlick. They decided to move to Union
Grove and their son, who's a junior, cannot play at

(19:39):
Union Grove, and the WI is asking him to show
paperwork that they've sold their house in Racene. Well they
haven't gotten it sold yet, and so now the kid
can't play until that. And the reason they moved out
of Racine is the neighborhood's getting a little bit rough
and he was fearing for his family and they moved
to Union Grove and he can't. I don't get that.

(20:03):
I just feel like there's got to be uh, there's
got to be a way to look at this and say, look,
they're getting out of a bad situation. He's no longer
coaching at Hordle. Like they moved to Union Grove. He
can prove that they're living there, but they haven't sold
their house and raciend yet and it might not get
sold for a couple of months and then the season's over,

(20:25):
and I just don't agree with that.

Speaker 2 (20:27):
Yeah, and so I think at the root of that
situation as the residence transfer rule, which is set forth
by the membership, which is really every high school in
the state has to, you know, pass that, and they
passed that many moons ago, you know, prior to myself
or you being in the in the fold here. But
you know, when each situation pops up, whatever the I

(20:53):
don't want to say evidence, but maybe it's evidence, Maybe
it's it's documentation, maybe it's whatever the story is, whatever
pieces are going into that, those have to get presented
to the WI Office. The WI Office's job is to
uphold the membership's rules, so you know, that's what the
associate director is doing in this case. I'm guessing I

(21:16):
did not know about this case until you kind of
told me about it. But you know, the hard part
with that is Brian has great intentions and he's doing
it probably for all the right reasons. Correct, Correct, As
you just alluded to, there's other spaces and places across
our entire state where there's families that have the financial

(21:36):
means to say we don't like this this, and this.
We're just gonna go rent here, We're gonna pay this
mortgage here, rent here, you know, get be able to
play over here. And and the whole resident transfer rule
is put in place to prevent the creation of super
teams and all those type of things, knowing that's not

(21:57):
happening in this case. But I guess the only thing
that I would wonder is what could Brian show. Additionally,
you know, community records, safety records, things like that, and
present to the w A and why they're doing that.
You can't force someone to buy your home, so if
the thing's listed and you can't sell it, that's the

(22:18):
unfortunate truth of trying to make a move. And so
that's a tough deal. I mean, it's.

Speaker 1 (22:25):
Yeah, there are things that happened. I had a year ago.
A year ago, I had a guy call me and
he said, listen, I don't know if you can help
with this. He he had a son who played club
hockey living in Greendale, never played for the high school.
Him and his wife got a divorced. His son stayed

(22:47):
because he had one year left at Greendale. Some things
happened in that home where his ex wife's boyfriend moved
in and didn't get along, and then the kids said, look,
I want to move da, I want to I want
to move with Come and live with you. There's a
lot of tension in the home. He bought a home
in Cedarberg and the kid had never played hockey at

(23:08):
the high school. He played club hockey. So now you
wanted the kid. He said, hey, do you want to
play for the high school? He said I do. Yeah.
W I said no, you can't. You can play JV
which you can't play. And he goes, look he's never played.
We got him out of a bad situation to a
more healthy environment, and to add to that healthy environment,

(23:30):
it's him to play high school hockey. And w I said,
absolutely not, can't do it.

Speaker 2 (23:35):
Yeah, So the unforeseen uncoherst un you know, tampered with,
if you will, circumstances that forces a family to make
that move. It's just like, oh, equate it to bullying.
A lot of people say I got bullied. Okay, well
tell me how, show me when, show me where you know,
give me a list. Now, if somebody has a detailed

(23:57):
list and has documented all their instances of unfortunate interactions
with a certain individual, Okay, Now you can go okay,
wow that person, Yeah, it's real. Right, And so it
comes back to in those situations, whatever those circumstances are,
that's written in the wi's policy and handbook that if

(24:19):
if it's I can't remember the exact terminology, but just unforeseen,
if you will are uncontrollable those types of things, and
if you can document and show that, more often than not,
you get approved in a way you go. I do
know in the membership rules when you talk about club
to high school, when you transfer after that sixth semester,

(24:42):
they do look for what is your past playing experience?
Have you even though you haven't access to it in
high school. Whether you agree with the rule or not,
it's there, right, Have you played clubs? So are you
a soccer player? So let's say you're let's say you're
you've never played hockey, you're fan only does the exact
same move to Cedarburg. You're probably gonna be immediately eligible.

(25:04):
But because this kid has an extensive club hockey background
and moves, because it's written in the rule, that's where
they're probably getting hung up until you can prove those
uncontrollable unforeseen unco correctable acts that you would So, going
back to Brian Fletcher's yeah situation, if I was Brian,
I'd go back into my home and take pictures of

(25:24):
a completely empty home. I would take pictures of the
realtor showing it and here's all of our sewings, here's
what we're doing, here's how we're doing it, here's why
we moved out of the neighborhood. The community records, the
the you know, the running the red lights, whatever it
might be, right and present all of that and then
you know, hopefully on the other side of the fence,

(25:45):
once they see some more documentation they say, okay, yeah,
we believe you.

Speaker 1 (25:48):
Hey, I just don't know as an athletic directory and
whether a kid wants transfer into Meskeigo or transfer out
of Mesquigo.

Speaker 2 (25:56):
Nobody wants to transfer out, Mike.

Speaker 1 (26:00):
I'm not kidding, Okay, I'm gonna keep going. Do you
do you get involved in that? And how much sway
can you have either way, whether whether can you help
a kid who wants to get out if you want
to help him, or can you help a kid that
wants to come in and compete for if you believe
that For instance, one last one was the story I

(26:23):
heard last night. Kid that from from Kettle Moraine that
his house burnt down. It burned down, it's gone and
moved in the Arrowhead district. And now they're going to
court on Thursday. But here's a kid that they had
to move because their house burnt down. It's not like
they they you know, are keeping their house in the

(26:44):
Kettle Moraine area and they want to play football at Arrowhead.
Now look, I understand that nobody there are rules that
have to be it's black and white. This is the rule.
As an athletic director, do you get involved in these
things one way or the other.

Speaker 2 (27:00):
One hundred percent. The athletic directors are school administrator, whoever
that designee is at your school, you know. For us,
because we're a large high school, it's it's me as
the AD. In smaller schools, it might be the teacher,
athletic director might be the principal athletic director, but they
are always the first line of defense or support depending

(27:21):
what needs to happen or and the AD is the
one that works with the family first and foremost and
runs through the checks and balances and follows the process
that the memberships is put forward. And there's a little
cheap seat that you walk through and gets it going.
First of all, if a kid ever wants to leave

(27:42):
our school, we support them one hundred and ten percent.
We don't ever try to get in the way and
say no, you can't.

Speaker 1 (27:52):
You know, do you know that that there are there
are some ads in this market that.

Speaker 2 (27:58):
Oh yeah, well yes, well away, And that's where like, uh,
that's a that's a slippery slope as well. From an
athletic director's standpoint, I don't know that. Again, I would
just I wouldn't take that stance if his family needs
to go. And in my opinion, if somebody wants to leave,
we have to look internally about what are we doing,

(28:20):
where can we grow, what is our process improvements to
help alleviate people wanting to leave? If somebody wants to leave,
it's it's it's on us, not necessarily on them. That's
me taking a totally inward look at it and trying
to be as positive as possible. Others would say it's
on them, which sometimes it is, sure, But on the

(28:41):
other side of the fencement of the schools coming to you,
that's where you have to start checking the box, doing
the checks and balances and making sure for finding the residents, change,
you know, all that stuff.

Speaker 1 (28:52):
If you believe that, if you believe that this this
kid should be eligible, and I trust you, I think
that you're you're a pretty stand up guy. Your daddy
made you do that way that your dad's a referee,
and I don't know about referees, but would you would
you at what point do you go, this is a

(29:13):
kid I'm going to bat for, this is a family
I'm going to bat for. Do you call the WI,
do you go up to any of those meetings with
with the kid? Or at what point do you go?
Look right now, I'm going to do everything in my
power to get this kid to be able to come
to MESKI go and compete.

Speaker 2 (29:30):
One hundred percent. So first and foremost, the AD has
to support it and be willing to submit the paperwork.

Speaker 1 (29:36):
Okay for it.

Speaker 2 (29:37):
So you you check both off and you deem cut
and dry. Kids eligible or kid's not eligible? Okay? If
they're not eligible? Is there something else there that warrants
us We need to take a closer look at this
because there could be something unforeseen, uncontrollable, uncohercible. If you
will and so you take a closer look and then

(29:58):
you start to walk through it. Do I recommend writing
a waiver in support of this kid, asking the WI
to provide this this student a waiver due to these factors.
And then if that process, the waiver process doesn't go
well and you want to appeal the waiver process, you
can do that for the handbook that's out there, the

(30:19):
membership handbook. And then as a school administrator, if you
believe with conviction that this family story is legit, and
because you're the one that works with them, right, you're
the one that has to sit in the room and
ask super uncomfortable questions about past family financial history, divorces,
all this stuff. It's not a glamorous process by any means,

(30:41):
but because of the membership rules, it forces us to
work through all of those checks and balances, which a
lot of folks don't necessarily want to do. It's not comfortable.
But if you believe in the story, believe in the kid,
and you can see where they had no choice in
the matter, right on fire, whatever might be, then then yeah,

(31:04):
you know, have we shown up at the WI offices
and sat in an appeal hearing before in support of yes, ye.
Have we written letters in support of yes?

Speaker 3 (31:13):
Uh?

Speaker 2 (31:13):
In both ways, have we written letters in support of
a student leaving our system because we know for whatever
reason X, Y and Z it might be better for
them at this smaller school or whatever it might be
to get the kid going again. And nothing against our
system is just there's something that went down that we
want to try and help the family as much as
we can. And more often than not, it's us supporting

(31:35):
a student that's coming to us to try to find
a better situation because we got a pretty good thing
going at Meschiegel.

Speaker 3 (31:41):
You know.

Speaker 2 (31:42):
That's yeah, it's it's fun, yeah, and academically, athletically it's
pretty good. So so to answer your question, yeah, they's
got to start that process and support that. And sometimes
when families show up and they don't have all of
the t's crossed in the is dotted and there's a
little bit of I don't know that these guys are

(32:03):
telling the truth, then you'll see athletic directors kind of
pull back a little bit and allow the family to
continue to pursue their interests, but maybe not necessarily put
themselves out there. Is yeah, let's go, you know, because
sometimes people lie too, you know, and they do. They
try to do the best for their kid, and you know,

(32:24):
you try to be upstanding citizens. And that's why we
coach and teach to help help alleviate that.

Speaker 1 (32:29):
Hey, we're gonna get to a break. Other side of
the break, Matt Hensler, they threw the ball three times
the other night against Green.

Speaker 2 (32:36):
That's impressive.

Speaker 1 (32:36):
And he was too good. Matthew O'Grady was two for three.

Speaker 2 (32:39):
There you go.

Speaker 1 (32:40):
But he also rushed for I don't know, ninety yards
and a couple of touchdowns and he's a really good player.
This is a really good team. We'll talk to Matt Hensler,
the head coach from Lake Geneva Badger on the other
side of the break. He is Ryan McMillan, my co
host this time of year, the athletic director at Muskigo,
and I love having him in because I look, I

(33:00):
wanted to spend most of that segment talking about nil
and see where that's been for you. But we'll get
to that maybe later in the show. Want to get
to Matt Hensler on the other side of the break again.
He's Ryan McMillan, athletic director at Muskigo High School. This
is The Varsity Blitz High School Sports Show presented by
your local Pick and Save and Metro Market stores, only

(33:21):
on Fox Sports nine twenty in your iheartradiop 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 Jorgenson Heating and Cooling Studios.
You're gonna have to turn the furnace on soon. Make
sure it's ready to go. Largest employee owned HVAC company
in the state of Wisconsin. And I trust these guys

(33:42):
a lot. Donovan Jorgenson dot com Donovan Jorgenson dot com.
So Lake Geneva Badger threw the ball three times the
other night.

Speaker 2 (33:53):
Hey, why did they throw it at all?

Speaker 1 (33:54):
I don't know, man, because Matthew O'Grady could spin it
a little bit. Here's two for three.

Speaker 4 (33:58):
I think you got to put it on tape. Have
got our team prepared for one hundred percent. We're joined
by Matt Hensler, head coach. Aaron Hensler is what we
call him on this show. He is one and OHO
got a great win against Greendale and they beat him
up pretty good.

Speaker 1 (34:13):
They beat him up. It was forty two nothing at
one point, and near the end of the game, Greendale
got to score. Coach Hensler, that's a really good win. Congratulations,
Good morning, guys.

Speaker 3 (34:24):
How are Yeah, I'm good doing well. Yeah, it was good.
It's good for US week one and you know, I
don't know about if three passing players is just the
world shocking news, but it seems to be. It seems
to be. I've getting phone calls about it. So it's weird.

Speaker 1 (34:41):
Well over under against slinger over unders two and I'm
taking the over because, oh, Grady, could that Irish kid
can throw the ball a little bit?

Speaker 3 (34:51):
Yeah, we'll probably throw fifty times.

Speaker 1 (34:53):
Yeah, if you throw it fifty times, I'm going to
find you at some hospital somewhere. You'll check it yourself
into something. I can tell you that. Speaking of that,
how you feeling nowadays? You're feeling all right?

Speaker 3 (35:06):
Yeah? I feel great. Tell people all the time that
if you know you're going to live through it, I
highly recommend a heart attack for everybody.

Speaker 1 (35:15):
That's that's awesome.

Speaker 3 (35:17):
Yeah, I'm not I feel great.

Speaker 1 (35:20):
Yeah, great advice. I'm not sure the timing on that
one was so good, but you know you fought through it,
and you know you go out with a state championship.
That's not bad.

Speaker 3 (35:32):
Yeah, totally worth it, Absolutely worth it.

Speaker 1 (35:34):
Hey, tell me about this year's team, coach. You know,
I think it starts with oh, Grady, but it certainly
doesn't end with oh Grady. Talk to me about about
what you had coming back from last year and how
you're feeling about this about this team.

Speaker 3 (35:50):
You know, it's uh, we've talked about that a lot.
It's coaching staff, and it's it's Football is interesting in
particular just because so many people are involved. And by people,
I mean like you're the number of kids on your
team and the number of kids it takes to make
a team good. So like, you know, if you have
three kids coming back with same basketball, it's like, you know,

(36:12):
the lead is, oh my gosh, they have all this
experience and you know, all this firepower coming back, and
the narrative, I guess is the same for football because
we have three kids that were you know, our three
year starters that played on that state championship team. But
in football it's different because you still have to find

(36:34):
nineteen other ones, you know, So we do have some
experience with those kids that have played in a lot
of big games. For the last two years. But it's
still about finding everybody else. So that's kind of our focus.
I know, you know, Grady's got a lot of experience.
We got a guy up front, Jackson buchanans started a
million games for us, and then a guy defensively and offensively,

(36:56):
brock Wallser, And those are the guys everybody kind of
talked about. But the success of the team that is
really going to be what we can get done with
those other nineteens. So that's our focus right now. Man.

Speaker 1 (37:10):
That's awesome. I you know, it's always kind of like
a little bit of a blanket, right that you keep
a very comfortable blanket. When you've got guys in key
positions that have been with you for a couple of years.
It you know, you start with those guys obviously, because
they've been through a couple of your training camps and

(37:32):
know what to expect when they get there. The other
guys who have been playing JV or maybe freshmen, you know,
they have to they have to kind of get used
to the speed and the size and all that. But
when you got some leaders in the room who have
been to war with you for a number of years,
it kind of you can take a little bit of
a breath because they've seen all this, right.

Speaker 3 (37:55):
Yeah, that's it is good. And their leadership abilities and
those guys, you're right, it's fantastic. And some of the
younger guys just kind of look at it and like, Okay, yeah,
here's the expectation or here's the mentality, or you know,
they can even gain some confidence like you know, hey,
I you know, if Jackson could do it, or if

(38:16):
this guy can do it, then I just have to
be like that and it helps. It helps a lot.
Every year is different, that's in nature of high school sports.
So it's it's a race to kind of see how
fast those guys can get up to form and then
how quickly we can bring other other guys with them.
So everybody in the state right now, it's a race.

Speaker 1 (38:35):
Man, Hey, talk to me about the conference. I think
Lake Geneva Badger obviously, and everything I've read is kind
of the favorite to win the conference. You know, for
you when you look at what people have coming back,
who uh who? Who's going to keep you from sleeping
really good tonight before you play them?

Speaker 3 (38:58):
All of them just depends on the week, you know. Yeah,
I mean there's I think this is probably going to
be one of the deeper conference slates that we've had.
You know, everybody talks about Union Robe and I think rightfully.
So they've they've got more than a handful of three

(39:18):
year starters. You know, we've talked about our three, but
you know, they had I don't know, two or three
or four of these juniors started as freshmen and and
another five or six or seven of them of the
senior started us off course, so they'll have, you know,
maybe ten kids that are three year starters, and that's

(39:39):
a big deal. And Waterford's always Waterford uh talented and
well coached, and Burlington's dynamic. I think Elkhorn is just
every single year, I think they're getting better and better
and better, and they're running, they're running their program, and
it's just they take this big step up every year.

(40:02):
And Belloyd has one of the best running backs in
the conference, if not if not the state, you know.
And and there's a couple of cute coaching changes at
some other schools that that I think will breathe some
life into those programs. So like overall, we're kind of

(40:24):
looking at the schedule and it's like it gets overwhelming.
So that's when the coaches just fall back on Okay,
forget it, We're not gonna look at all this all
at one time. Let's one let's play one team at
a time. So that that's kind of where we are
right now. I can't really look look forward to anything.

Speaker 1 (40:39):
Well, you know what I love is is next week
when Slinger comes to town. And look, we had Bill
jacquelinin a couple of weeks ago, and and you know,
for the first time he doesn't have one of his
son's playing form. But he said, man, it's it's fun.
We got a new quarterback. And we're just telling you
you're not Michael Theata. You don't have to be him,
you know, just be yourself. And they got a good

(41:01):
win last night, and you know you're you'll have your
hands full next week against Slinger because Jack, you know,
you win a state championship. As you know, right things
the expectations changed a little bit. Uh, players get, you know,
hopefully a little hungrier to to try to repeat. And
you know that Slinger is going to come and give
you everything that you can handle. They're going to be physical,

(41:23):
up tough. U I did. Certainly their lines are as always, Slinger,
They're going to be really tough and strong and and uh,
they're going to try to take away some of the
things that you bring. Question for you for you met
when you won the state championship and sorry about this Ryan,
one of the best high school football games I've ever seen,
you know, beaten his alma materr Wana Key. Did things

(41:46):
change for you and your staff? And and and within
the locker room where kids said, look, we you know,
our seniors are gone. Now it's our turn and we
want to try to get back to that game. And
have you have you seen a change within the whole
youth program on wanting to continue the success you guys
have had here in the last few years.

Speaker 3 (42:07):
Yeah, it's interesting that the impact of something like that
has it's like specifically and immediately, the impact was it
was just really really hard to get started with twenty
twenty four. Twenty twenty three was when we won and
it was great, but everything in the off season kind

(42:27):
of kept pulling us back to twenty twenty three, and
it was, you know, we'd have this dinner, then we'd
have this thing going on, and then this celebration, and
then we kind of felt like we got some momentum
with the new group of kids, and then you know,
the rings came in and so we had a celebration.
All that was great. It was absolutely wonderful and so deserved,
and there were great moments. But I really do feel

(42:49):
like the kids from twenty twenty four got a late
start in it becoming and being their programs. So I
think that was hard for us to get it really
good start at twenty twenty four. The long term impact is, yeah,
there's people still talking about that. And you know, we
had a football golf outing yesterday and there was a

(43:12):
lot of conversation about that and it was packed. In
generally speaking, there's more support for our program and for
our kids and about our program. The really good thing is,
I think there's maybe a little unique to Lake Zeneva
Badger in Lake Geneva area is like there's a true

(43:32):
celebration of what happened in twenty twenty three, but there
really isn't like this expectation of oh god, you know,
now that's the bar and you have to win another one.
It's just like, hey, coach, keep doing what you're doing. Players,
keep doing what you're doing, play hard, and we'll figure
it out. So I think in that way, we're lucky
that the people in our community have kind of increased

(43:54):
their support, but not necessarily their expectation. They're still letting
these guys be, you know, be kids, and they're they're
letting these this group of guys just be this group
and whatever this group can achieve, whether it's one win
or fourteen wins, they're just gonna support the kids and
let them do it. And I gotta think that that's
early unique.

Speaker 1 (44:15):
Right, I would ask you because you you know, Mosquigo's
won I think one state championship in a sport since
you've been the a D. Right, they've won maybe more
than one because you have the baseball swch you're on,
but you do that is unique. I think what he's
talking about with that community.

Speaker 2 (44:31):
Yeah, I think what coach is talking about it's a
it's a genuine, uncohersed excitement and our pride. You just
take pride in who you are and what your community
is capable of. And the support's there, right, and everyone's happy.
But I think there's there's an energy I guess I
would I would put behind it is when you win

(44:52):
one there's an energy that people keep watching and keep
coming back to And when I first started coach and
I had a veteran coach tell me, and he was
an older gentleman, wise guy. He said, if you win state,
it's going to affect your community for a decade. He goes,
you're going to reap the benefits for ten years, is
what he said. I don't really know what he meant
by that. He's just kind of talking tongue and chee.

(45:13):
You watch it, like I think about our seniors and
our football team this year. Those guys were in elementary
school when we won the first one, and their passionate
and excitement. They remember sitting in the stands watching the
other guys play, you know, at Camp Randall. And now
they got their opportunity, and there's a genuine energy and
excitement like we have a chance. Like everybody believes that

(45:34):
you have a chance once you get it done. Because
like coach is showing everybody in like Geneva, listen, if
we do this, this and this and we work together
this way, we can beat anybody and we can be
the best community in the state of Wisconsin. And he
did it, and now everyone believes it. Now it just
keeps paying you back that way, I think with just
authentic energy.

Speaker 1 (45:52):
That's awesome. Coach Hensler, we normally wait till the end
of the year and then we call you, like six
weeks in a row during the playoffs. We thought, go
opposite this year and start with you early. You're just
one of our favorite and I really appreciate the time.
How'd you hit him at the golfunding yesterday?

Speaker 3 (46:09):
Oh? God? Often?

Speaker 1 (46:12):
Oh man, not a big golfer.

Speaker 3 (46:20):
Oh I was, you know, I don't know. I was
playing about the best I've ever played at the end
of July, and then and then football hit and my
mind is everywhere, and it was it was brutal, man,
But I have such a good time. I still still
play with high school buddies, so it's awesome that they
still come out and support after I don't know, thirty

(46:42):
five years or whatever. So it's pretty neat.

Speaker 1 (46:44):
I love that. Hey, just to remind you, I don't
know if I need to remind you of this, but
last year's Slinger got you thirty five twenty eight. They
scored fifteen in the fourth quarter, so you know, just GiB,
I know where you live, not anymore. I moved on
for eighty eight. I lived way somewhere. You will find me. Hey, coach,
how's your family, by the way, everybody's good.

Speaker 3 (47:07):
Yeah, good. My oldest is uh, my oldest is at
Bradley University, my middle East. We just moved her into
Marquette a couple of days ago. And then the Kaboos.
He's playing JV football and it's it's great, it's so awesome.

Speaker 1 (47:23):
Great what position?

Speaker 3 (47:25):
He's a center? You know, yeah, Mann a.

Speaker 1 (47:29):
Lot of athletics. He's getting all that athletic ability from
his father. That's great, man.

Speaker 3 (47:34):
Yeah, I know that's that's a blessing or a curse,
depending in your review.

Speaker 1 (47:38):
I guess that's awesome. Matt Henser, thank you so much
for your time.

Speaker 3 (47:42):
Man.

Speaker 1 (47:42):
I I'm sure that we'll be in touch here in
a couple of weeks because we always enjoy having you on.
Good luck this week against Slinger.

Speaker 3 (47:50):
Thanks guys, keep doing a good job.

Speaker 1 (47:52):
Thank you.

Speaker 2 (47:53):
Coach.

Speaker 1 (47:53):
Hey, we're going to get to a break this side
of the break. Peter Jennings, the head football coach, you
got you Oshkosh is going to join and then a
ten twenty or so. James Becker, head football coach at
Nicola first head coach win. I love that he's a
really good dude. He's a really good dude. And I
watched the tevy coach last year at Marquette take one

(48:16):
on the chin and he went out and got a win.
So I'm sure he's feeling pretty good about it. And
we'll talk to him around ten twenty or so. My
co host Ryan McMillan sitting in studio this time of year.
I love it because he brings man. I can ask
him just about anything during the break. He'll say a
you might not want to ask me that one, but
just about anything I can ask him. We'll get to

(48:38):
a break other side of the break again. Peter Jenny's,
the head football coach at uw osh Cash will join us.
This is the Varsity Blitz High School Sports Show, presented
by your local Pick and Save and Metro Market stores
only on Fox Sports nine twenty and your iheartradiop Welcome
back to the Varsity Blitz High School Sports Show, presented
as always by our friends at your local Pick and

(48:59):
Save and Metro Market stores. I'm Mike mcgiverern alongside my coach,
the athletic director at Muschigo High School. He is Ryan McMillan.
We are now joined by the head football coach at
uw Oshkosh. He is Peter Jennings. Hey, coach, how you
doing today?

Speaker 5 (49:16):
I'm doing great this morning. How are you guys doing?

Speaker 1 (49:19):
Man, We're doing good.

Speaker 3 (49:20):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (49:20):
I love having Ryan McMillan in studio. Anytime you got
a guy who was a high school football coach, played
at Wanna Key, played in your conference, and now he's
the idea at at Muskeigo, you can get a lot
of knowledge. He's a really smart guy and it's good
to have him back in studio. Tell me about this
year's team, coach, how you feeling and how you guys

(49:41):
been looking.

Speaker 5 (49:43):
It's been a whirlwind of a fall camp. I can
honestly say I'm having the most fun I've ever had
as a football coach. Head coach, assistant coach, doesn't matter.
I'm having a blast. Our guys have a ton of
great energy, and obviously that helped make the days go
super fast. And you, guys, when you have guys that
are that are locked in and just have juice throughout

(50:06):
the long days, because camp is long, right, and we're
blessed that our school year doesn't start for another couple
of weeks. So truly, right now, it's kind of like
an NFL mini camp in the sense that it's it's
football all day long and you can get a lot
of good work done. So I'm very excited for the season,
and I'm excited to be around our guys. They're just
really good dudes.

Speaker 1 (50:27):
Hey, coach, I when we have guys a college coach
in the state, before I invite them on, I look
at their roster because I feel so passionate about kids
in a state of Wisconsin getting a chance to play
at the next level if that's what they're looking for.
And your roster is filled with a bunch of Wisconsin guys,

(50:48):
and I say thank you for that, to you and
your staff, to recruiting kids from our state and giving
them the opportunity to play at the next level. And
I think, look, I whenever I look at rosters from
from some of the colleges in the state, I just
start looking for guys that that are from the state,
whether I know them or watch them play, as long

(51:10):
as they're from the state. And you guys do a
really good job of recruiting the state of Wisconsin.

Speaker 5 (51:17):
I appreciate that that's obviously a big time priority. I I'm, I'm.
We're very blessed in the sense that we have an
unbelievable coaches high School Coaches Association here in the state.
Our young men play an unbelievable level of football. Wisconsin is,
without a doubt, one of the best high school football

(51:38):
states in the country. We've got great high school head coaches,
great staffs, and and it's something that we really put
a priority on as a as a staff here at
uw O building relationships, growing relationships with high school coaching staff,
with with with players in the state, because again, like
you got to win your home state if if you

(51:59):
went with football games, and we're just lucky up that
we got a ton of football players right here at home.

Speaker 1 (52:06):
Coach, you know I and I hear this a lot.
And look, I don't think you're going to answer it
any differently, but any high any college coach that have
in the show that that recruits a lot in the
state of Wisconsin says, Look, when we get kids from
the state of Wisconsin, for the most part, these kids
have been coached up really well. Do you feel like

(52:28):
the high school coaching in the state of Wisconsin is
at a different level from some of the other states
you recruit from.

Speaker 5 (52:37):
Yeah, I'd stay without a doubt, I think, and I
think that goes It's kind of like the circle of life,
if you will, for lack of a better term, but
we got a lot of high school coaches that played
a high level of college ball. They played in the
Wei Act, they played college football right, and so they
have a great baseline of knowledge. They're committed to growing
themselves as people as coaches. I mentioned before, we have

(53:01):
a great High School Coaches Association that really goes above
and beyond to offer services for professional development for our
high school coaches. And so it's just it's everybody just
continues to give back. And when you get such great coaches,
they're coaching a high level of student athlete. We then
grab a high level of student athlete who ultimately ends

(53:23):
up becoming coaches and giving back to their community. So
you know, when I say it's a circle of life,
I really think it is.

Speaker 1 (53:30):
Coach who who's going to be under center? If you
guys were to be playing today, to have you you
named a starter?

Speaker 5 (53:36):
Yet we have not justly named the starter. We've got
a number of great ballplayers uh, from in state and
out of state accident. As we talk about just the
Wisconsin on the level of Wisconsin football, but there's also
great football around us, right, So we've got a number
of different guys that we have that we go to.
Last year we had four different guys take snaps. It

(53:56):
was just kind of one of those years with injuries
and whatnot. And so a lot of guys with experience
came back and and and they're battling it out right
now during camp.

Speaker 1 (54:05):
You know, my co host is hoping that that kid
from WannaKey is your you know, he has a chance
to maybe play the keen kid. And he's a senior
six two two ten. Can he throw it a little bit?

Speaker 5 (54:21):
Oh a phenomenon ring. He started a couple of games
for US one US a big want US a big
game against number six ranked team in the country. Week
one had a great spring and he's really doubled down
on this fall camp. He's got complete master of the offense.
He's growing leaves and bounds as a leader. Uh and
and and and truly it's been fun to watch him

(54:43):
progress and watch him grow as a young man. And
and you know, it's fun for me because I've he's
all I had, all I've had right Like he was
in my first part of the first recruiting class when
I came in. So I've seen him grow from an uh,
you know, a a not immature, a stupid eighteen year old,
but an eighteen year old as you know what eighteen

(55:04):
year olds are like, to really a great young man
and a very mature young man, somebody that we're very
lucky to have on a program.

Speaker 2 (55:12):
Coach, how long have you been at uwo.

Speaker 3 (55:16):
Uh?

Speaker 5 (55:16):
This is gonna be my fourth season, so three and
a half years.

Speaker 2 (55:19):
Have you been able to create great staff continuity? Have
you been able to hang on to your guys or
as you kind of took over and you know, getting
into that, you know, the end of your first recruiting
cycle and really the program is really starting to be
you right and take on your personality and be what
you wanted to be because you recruited all those kids.
How have you how have you done with the staff wise?

(55:41):
Have you been able to hang on to your guys
or have you had to ebb and flow there a
little bit?

Speaker 5 (55:47):
Yeah? So for during our first spring it you know,
there was a little it was a little touch and
go with just the transition, whether you know some of
the staff saw the vision wanted to stick around, things
of that nature. They're all great guys, uh and and
really Coach SERRONI had had assembled a really elite staff,

(56:08):
but you know, how things go right, like the change
can be hard on everybody. Since that first year, we've
been really really consistent with our staff, between the holdovers
from the previous from Coach Seroni staff and then also
guys we've brought in, and that really helps. You know.
I mentioned how much fun I'm having during fall camp.
Part of that is I'm surrounded by great coaches who

(56:30):
understand the vision, who are bought into the vision, and
who are working as hard, if not harder, to fulfillitate
that vision than I am.

Speaker 3 (56:37):
So it's been very.

Speaker 5 (56:38):
Blessed that way to have staff continuity here at uw
O Hey.

Speaker 1 (56:45):
Coach one, Uh, I wanted to thank you for for
something with with the All Star Game that you guys
host and and I. The WFC All Star Game is
so much more than than the game, right, It's raising
money for Children's Hospel of Wisconsin and anybody who has
kids or grand kids like I do. You've been you've

(57:06):
utilized Children's Hospital maybe more than once. And I love
the fact that that game is played, all those games
are played on your field, and you guys open and
open up your arms and say, come on, you can
you can stay here, you can do this, you can
do that what you need from us. And I thank
you and your staff because I know that, look that
there's a lot of work that has to be done

(57:28):
to make that a really great event, and you guys
do a really marvelous job of that.

Speaker 5 (57:34):
Well. I I appreciate that the compliments. I wouldn't want
it any other way. I really do want Oscosh, Wisconsin
and UWO more specifically, to be the home of high
school football in the state. We we we we embrace
the Alser game. We love having it Here's so much
fun meeting the coaches, it's so much fun having the

(57:56):
players on campus, and so much fun having having a
game here. And and we really try to open our
arms throughout the course of the year. So I mean
even last night, you know, we had we hosted uh
the Oscars West versus Green Bay Preble game. Before that,
last he came through to to have a team meal
at our at our at the stadium before their trip

(58:18):
down to Economy walk we had Muskigo, uh coach McMillan's
uh you know, uh stopping ground right. We had them
up for a walk through before they're tough game against Nina.
So you know, just last night alone, we hit four
high school football teams here at the stadium trying to
get better, trying and trying to start their season off
the right way. And that's that's just our ment mindset.

(58:40):
That's our mentality. We want coaches and we want players
to feel comfortable here at uw O. It's why we
host the state championship seven on seven. It's why we
we love having the w FDA All Star Game here.
We just we really do want to be the home
for for high school football in the state.

Speaker 1 (58:56):
Hey coach. During the show, during when the school years starts,
we do a thing called our Pick and Save Student
Athlete of the Week. We have been studio. We we
talked to them about being a true student athlete. And
I had a kid years ago from Cedarburgh that won
the award. And I go out to the local Pick
and Safe store in the evening and as family comes

(59:19):
and some coaches come and we give them a plaque
and take some pictures and really highlight, promote and celebrate
true student athletes. And I always asked these guys, hey
at night, when you you know, before you close your
eyes or you close your eyes, where do you like?
What's your dream school? And a lot of these guys,
I want to go to Alabama. I want to go
to Florida. And these guys, you're not going to Alabama,

(59:40):
gonna play football? Come on, now, you're right. Well, this
kid from Cedarburgh, I asked him that and he said,
you w Oshkosh And I go what He goes, you
w Oshkosh, that's my dream school, and I go, have
you done anything? He said no, he said, but I'd
like to go there and play. And he was a
really good football player. So I called coach Saroni and

(01:00:02):
he picked up and he was actually in a staff
meeting and I told him this story and he started laughing.
He goes, hold on, I'm gonna put you on speaker.
I want you to tell the staff the same story.
And so I told the story, and that night I
went out to the local pick and Save to give
the kid the plaque, and he pulled me over to
the side he said, can I ask you a question?
I go, yeah, he goes, did you happen to call

(01:00:24):
coach Seroni at Oshkosh? I go, I did? He goes.
Their whole staff called me today. I'm going up there.
I can't believe it, but I think I got a
chance to play at uw Oshkosh. And I said, well, rightfully, So, like,
if that's your dream school, you're an all conference football player,
you're a four point zero student, You're exactly what uw
Ashkosh would want. And the kid was so excited. He

(01:00:47):
ended up going up there playing two years, and he
got injured. But I can tell you that the coaching
staff at Oshkosh, they immediately hung up with me and I.
They gave them his name of a number and got
him on the phone, got him up on campus, and
he played football for him for a couple of years.
He got his degree from there. And so I love

(01:01:09):
that part of You know, our state schools the best
Division III football conference in the standumus in the country,
and these guys are willing to take a call from
a radio guy to say, look, this kid is dreaming
about playing for you. Guys. Let's get let's make that happen,
and so man, it's just it's great some of the

(01:01:31):
work that you guys do with the coaches and the
players and the families. Hey, last question for you coach
before we get to a break. When you're sitting at
somebody's kitchen table and you want this kid to come
play football for uwsh guys, what do you tell him
about and their family about the transition from being a
senior in high school and what it's going to be

(01:01:52):
like when they come on campus and join your team.

Speaker 5 (01:01:57):
Yeah, the biggest thing when you start talking of the
difference is just the accountability and responsibility piece. Right. We
have a standard here at uw OSCOS that is very
difficult to uphold, and we do that on purpose. We
want people that love football, that are willing to go
the extra mile to be successful on the football field,

(01:02:18):
in the classroom, and then just also socially. So we
talk a lot about accountability, responsibility and upholding a higher
standard than they're probably probably used to. And we also
talk a lot about the idea that we want you
to come to uw Oshkosh because you want to grow
as a person, you want to grow as a football player,

(01:02:39):
you want to grow as a student. You want to
be given the tools to grow into a successful young professional.
That's what we focus on. We're looking for good people
who love football, who can play the game at a
high level, who want to get a degree. And our
goal is to recruit our standard a person. And if
we recruit our standard of person, we believe that we

(01:03:00):
can develop at a very very high level because everybody's
got the same end goal, which is to grow and
grow in the appropriate manner and become the best version
of themselves.

Speaker 1 (01:03:11):
Hey, Ryan, you've heard the term Jim Ratu coach here
is a coach rat That's what I'm calling. He was
the interim baseball coach at Carol. That's awesome. Yeah, he's
a multi coach and I love that. You know, we
love multi sport athletes. He's a multi sport coach. Was
it just one year that you coached baseball?

Speaker 5 (01:03:33):
Yeah, it was one year I coached baseball. And my
claim to fame is I had the first non losing
record at Carol University for baseball in like thirty years.

Speaker 3 (01:03:45):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:03:46):
Like, and you know that, I can tell you it's
you know, people talk all the time, right x's and
o's x's and o's and the old statement. Right, it's
not about the x's and o's. It's about the Jimmy's
and Joe's. I can tell you right now. It wasn't
the baseball, the baseball coach, or the strategue, the strategy
I was giving the young man on the baseball field

(01:04:07):
that helped us win games. That was that was done
by them, those kids wanting to play and wanting to
play at a high level. I was very proud of them.
It was an eye opening experience for me, for sure.
I can remember getting on our left fielder at one
point for because I didn't feel like he was focused.
And he also played football for us. I was offensive

(01:04:28):
coordinator at Carol at the time, and you know, after
the game, he's like, hey, coach, like, you know, baseball
is different than football, right, And I'm like yeah, he's like, well,
I said, but go on, explain what you're what he's
like in baseball. I just played seven innings. I batted
three times. It had two balls hit to me in
three hours. And I was like, yeah, I guess it

(01:04:50):
is a little bit of a slower game. Like the
whole point was the focus is different. It's a different
caliber of focus, intent for focus versus just absolutely being
locked in for two and a half hours straight. Right,
You're not getting to play every forty seconds, You're getting
a ball hit to you once every three hours. Really
opened my eyes to two differences in sports.

Speaker 1 (01:05:10):
Did they Hey, did they try to get your back
to coach again?

Speaker 3 (01:05:14):
Yeah?

Speaker 5 (01:05:15):
It was, but it was just too much. It was
gonna be too much time. I'm I'm a football guy
through and through at the end of the day, and
trying to juggle between being the head baseball coach and
the offensive coordinator was just going to take me. I
wasn't going to be able to be great at either one.
I was going to be It was gonna be too
much sacrifice, lack of a better way to say. And
I also had a young family at that point, so

(01:05:36):
being pulled in that many directions, I just I couldn't
couldn't wrap my head around it.

Speaker 2 (01:05:40):
Hey, coach, did you let those baseball players grow their
hair already? Make them cut it? Because looking at your
profile you could appreciate a good flow, So I'm curious
how you handle that in that baseball culture.

Speaker 5 (01:05:51):
Oh yeah, no, you grow it out more.

Speaker 1 (01:05:54):
Let better man nobody's got better hair than you and
that conference. Tell your coach.

Speaker 3 (01:06:00):
Nobody, I appreciate that.

Speaker 1 (01:06:03):
Yeah, you bet, Hey, good luck you guys open up
coming up here. I think in a week or so,
right against on September sixth, you're going to Oregon to
play Lynnfield University, and then North Central you're going to
inn Aperville, Illinois the following week. And then you open
up another non conference against Roosevelt at home on September twentieth.

(01:06:28):
The river falls and here comes that conference, and there's
no letting up. Once you get in that conference, you
know that, no.

Speaker 5 (01:06:36):
No, no, there's definitely not We got the We have
the toughest conference or the toughest schedule in the country
and it's not even close. And I wouldn't want it
any out of the way. Our guys have the belief, sister,
or have the belief that we'll play anyone, anywhere, anytime,
the bigger, the batter, who cares. Let's rock and roll.
And I love that mentality about our program. I love

(01:06:57):
that mentality from our coaching staff. I love that mentality
from players, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
How cool is it to go play against the number
one ranked team in the country, the reigning national champions
for their home opener. I mean, that's freaking cool. If
you can't get juiced up for that, I don't know
what you can get juiced up for. I got goosebumps

(01:07:18):
talking about it, and then the idea that we get
to fly out to basically Portland, Oregon and play another
top ten team. It's cool. It's really cool. It's just
it's just stat great experiences here at UWO, and I
love it for our kids.

Speaker 1 (01:07:34):
McMillan, you got any eligibility left because you've played for
this guy, which.

Speaker 2 (01:07:39):
I'd played for him. I don't have an eligibility, but
I'd love to.

Speaker 1 (01:07:41):
I've run through the wall for this guy. I would
I'd want to know whose barber is in Ashcosh because
he hasn't seen him in a bit, and I love
that I'd played for this guy. Any Look, if you're
listening to this show, if you've got a son, you've
got a grandson, you've got a nephew that wants to
play at the next level, look at you w Ashkosh
and do yourself a favor and call and contact coach

(01:08:04):
Jennings or somebody on his staff and get up there
for a game, you know, get up there and look
when they open up against River Falls, get up there
for that one and get a feel for if this
is the kind of staff and the kind of place
that your son could play college football at. And I'm
telling you the coach Jennings, he responded to my email
in about fifteen minutes, and if he's going to respond

(01:08:27):
to mine, he'll respond to yours. If you think that
your son this is a perfect spot. And look, I
say this every time that we have somebody on from
this conference. Don't don't take the two thousand dollars scholarship
to go up in the Minnesota and say, well, I'm
a Division two football player and I got a scholarship.
You're driving right past u w Oshkosh. Stop there and

(01:08:48):
have a conversation with coach Jennings about what it would
be like to play for him. And after what you
just heard, he looked a lot of guys would be
like I can't believe who set this schedule or playing
like a top ten team in an Ore guy and
then going to play North Central. He's loving it. He's
not even he's not going to sleep for you know,
the next week because he is get a chance to

(01:09:09):
play Linfield and then play North Central. He's kind of
guy your son and your family would be really proud
to have your son play for Coach Jenny's Thank you
so much for your time. I look forward to shaking
your hand one day, and I appreciate you giving us
a few minutes on the Varsity plays.

Speaker 5 (01:09:27):
It is my pleasure anytime, gentlemen. I love what you
guys do. Anytime we can help promote the great high
school football in this state, I'm all in. Anytime we
can talk we at football, I'm all in. It's the
best league in the country, the best It's the best
state for high school football in the country, and I'm
just blessed to be part of both.

Speaker 3 (01:09:45):
Man.

Speaker 1 (01:09:45):
That's awesome. Guys. We're gonna get to a break. James Becker,
the head football coach at Nicolay High School, his first
game last night as a head coach. They get a win,
and we're going to congratulate him and all the boys
over at Nicolay High School on the other side of
the break, says the Varsity Blitz high school sports show
presented by your local Pick and Save and Metro Market
stores only on five Sports nine and your iHeart Radio app.

(01:10:10):
Welcome back to the Varsity Blitz. High school sports show
is always presented by your local Pick and Save and
Metro Market stores. Right, I would play for Peter Jennings
at uw Ash. Gosh, he's got some good energy, he's
got some really good.

Speaker 2 (01:10:22):
To throw your hair out and play for him too.

Speaker 1 (01:10:24):
Manes, you can. He doesn't mind that flowing out of
the helmet a little bit. Yeah, I don't know if
Pat Seroni liked that much, but no, you didn't like it,
But Jenny's no problem. Yeah, I would. I'd run through
the wall for that guy after listening to him. And
if he gets on at the kitchen tables, he's going
to close the deal and close the deal. So you

(01:10:45):
know what it's like the first game as ahead of
varsity football coach, man, you know, a lot of nervous energy,
you're not sure if your kids are ready to play.
Moving over six inches might as well be three miles
right in, assistant coach And now you're the guy, And
I like, I'm a big fan of good people, and

(01:11:08):
James Becker is a really good guy, the new head
coach at Nicola and I was so happy when I
got home last night from the Marquete game.

Speaker 2 (01:11:15):
That I was at.

Speaker 1 (01:11:16):
I right away went on scores and I wanted to
find out if Nickolay got a win. And they did,
and he's want to know. They went down to South Milwaukee.
They beat him thirty five seven. And if I were him,
I'd retire right now. I would just step away and go, Hey,
I'm undefeated as I head football coach. I'm done. James Becker,
how you been.

Speaker 3 (01:11:35):
Brother, I've been good. Mike.

Speaker 6 (01:11:37):
Good to hear from you.

Speaker 1 (01:11:38):
Hey, what a good win. How nervous? How much sleep
did you get on Thursday night?

Speaker 6 (01:11:45):
About as much as uh, I don't know, about as
much as you would expect. Probably a good couple of howers.
There's a lot of nervous energy. I will say that
a little bit different. Like you said, you know that
six inches might as well be three miles. It's definitely
a different perspective of how you look at things. It's
it's been great. The staff has been phenomenal. The kid's

(01:12:05):
been really buying in so you know, that's all I
can really ask for. I guess when you're in that spot.
So it's been great.

Speaker 1 (01:12:12):
Hey, coach. When we talked a while back, you said, look,
I'm a defensive guy, but I've got a great defensive coordinator.
I'm have to move over the other side of the ball.
Did that happen? Are you? Are you calling the plays
or more on the offensive side? This time?

Speaker 6 (01:12:29):
I am on the offensive side of the ball, which
is pretty hard for a lot of people to believe.
I know, and I still try to at my arms
around that idea too, But but no, we really coach
Rosa does such a phenomenal job with defense. I really
didn't see a need for me to insert myself there.
And he's done a great job. And it's been kind

(01:12:50):
of a unique perspective for me. I've been able to
kind of look at things from a defensive lens as
I'm as I'm putting together a game plan and our
our offense is staff is just phenomenal and they really
have helped me make that transition a lot easier. But
it is unique for me, you know, twenty three years
of coaching, fifteen as a decordinator and now it's the

(01:13:11):
other way. But it's been fun. It's been kind of
a you know, a nice little energy boost on top
of it. Seeing things the opposite way. So it's been good.
It's been good, Coach.

Speaker 2 (01:13:22):
What surprised you last night as you went through the
game and the process that you just kind of sat
up last night and because it didn't sound like you
slept too much, but I just reflected on it. What
what were you like? Whoa that was kind of interesting?
Or what was What's what got you as you think
back on last night.

Speaker 6 (01:13:40):
I think you know some of the little things, you know,
like just meeting with officials before the game, you know,
deciding who's going to talk with you know, the officials
from a captain perspective, you know, kind of I think
you know all the you know, big picture stuff that
when you're an assistant you kind of you know that
it's going on, but you're not really directly involved in

(01:14:02):
any of.

Speaker 3 (01:14:02):
It, you know.

Speaker 6 (01:14:03):
And now you're you're in it, and you have the
officials and you've got to talk to the other a
D and you have to have the you know, conversation
with the trainers and everything else. And I think just
you know all of that and then you know, when
you're standing there kind of looking at it, it was
you know. I hate using the word me because it's
not really about me. It's always about us. But you know,

(01:14:24):
when you're the head guy, you kind of got to
look at that a little bit differently. And I looked at,
you know, on the sixty guys, and I'm thinking to myself, Wow,
this is sixty guys, and everybody's kind of looking at
me to lead them, not just you know, one side
of the ball or the other. It's you know, everything,
and you know kind of have that you know a
little bit of the weight of the school and everything

(01:14:44):
else on you. I think it's a little bit different
in a good way, but it's those are the things
that I think that I reflected on. You know, you
always want to make sure that you're making your ad
proud and the fans and the families, and you're doing
the right thing by them. And you know, obviously hopefully
my family was proud to yesterday, so you know, we
got long ways to go. But it was really kind

(01:15:04):
of a I think those big things, those big picture
things for what I reflected.

Speaker 2 (01:15:08):
On, Hey, coach, your family is very problem. My family
wanted to kick me out of the house. I lost
forty two to six.

Speaker 6 (01:15:15):
I think.

Speaker 1 (01:15:16):
He slept at my house that night. His dad wouldn't
even let to sleep at his house. I I love that. Hey, coach,
what surprised you about the team? Yeah? South Milwaukee. Look,
it's not a powerhouse. You know, they've had good teams
and I'm not sure how they're going to be this year.
But going into that game to beat them thirty five seven, obviously,

(01:15:38):
you know, you scored a lot of points. You didn't
give up many points to this idea of you being
on the offensive side and your defensive staff being really stellar.
That was a good showing. Any any kids anything surprised you,
as far as some kids that that you thought maybe
weren't ready for this, but actually stepped up and played
much better than you thought. And you don't need to

(01:16:00):
name any of the kids, but were there some kids
that that that when you look back at tape said, Okay,
these kids were a little further along than I thought.

Speaker 6 (01:16:09):
Yeah, you know, I thought both of our both of
our running backs, we you know, both of them got
you know, kind of split carries last night. Connor mcconna
and Isaac Thoms. They did a wonderful job. They ran
really hard, both of them really were physical, finished their
runs exceptionally well. I thought up front, they a lot
of some you know, obviously a new staff over there

(01:16:31):
as well. We got some un scouted looks and you know,
it took a series and then they adjusted on the
fly up front our own line. They're along on line.
Coach Brian Hartley does phenomenal job of getting those guys
on the same page and on the same page quickly.
Our quarterback is you know, he was hurt all last
year and with BN guard and he came in and
was efficient with his throws, tucked and ran a couple

(01:16:53):
of times, which which was good. So I think offensively
those were guys really stood out. And you know, some
of those guys hadn't really had a lot of arsity
experience and see them kind of shine in their first
opportunity was was fantastic. And like I said, South, No,
they're gonna be all right.

Speaker 5 (01:17:08):
Coach Nimber will figure.

Speaker 6 (01:17:09):
Things out over there. There did a lot of nice
things offensively and defensively last night that we weren't necessarily
prepared for. We had to adjust. Unfortunately, our kids are
staff did a great job of doing that.

Speaker 1 (01:17:22):
You know, Coach, you went from a really good conference,
uh a greater Metro conference and when you look at
the north Shore. You know, there are years that North
Shore is is good conference anybody. We've got Homestead in
Cedarburgh and Whitefish Bay and Slinger and Hartford. It's not
like you you stepped down talent, you know, talent wise

(01:17:44):
as far as football conferences. You get a non conference
game against Milwaukee King and then you jump into the
fire in that conference with Homestead, Cedarburg, Slinger and then
West Bend West and at Hartford at Whitefish Bay West
Bendy And I know, as coaches is one game at
a time. But boy, I'll tell you that your conference

(01:18:06):
I think is loaded this year.

Speaker 6 (01:18:09):
Oh absolutely, and it always is, you know. Fortunately, you know,
you know, you know, I obviously coached for coach Keel
and played for coach Keel, so I know that Marshall well,
and there's no there's no letup, that's for sure. I
got tremendous respect for all of those programs.

Speaker 3 (01:18:24):
You know.

Speaker 6 (01:18:24):
Coach Rudders does a fantastic job at Hartford. Drake at
Homestead has you know, obviously been a close friend for
a long period of time as well, and he's got
things rolling over there. And you know, obviously coach Jackeline
and slinger Man. They are awful good. We played that
team that just won State. They had a couple of
for a couple of years, they didn't have a JV

(01:18:46):
a week off of their JV, so the Marquette jvs
went up there and played them. So I saw those
kids when we were young, and it did not surprise
me the success they had last year, to say the least.
So you know, West Ben West is really on the
rise as well. I know East is. You know Numbers
Wise is coming back in Ceedarburgh. You know his Cedarbird.
They're going to be really physical and they play a
really good brand of football up there. So there is

(01:19:09):
no weeks off in the North Shore, just like in
the Greater Metro. You know, I like to think that
the Greater Metro kind of helped prepare me mentally for that.
But you know, there's definitely a lot of challenges ahead. So,
like you said, one week at a time, King is
going to be a tremendous challenge for us as well.
They're incredibly well coached. You got a lot of great
athletes diving through their film right now and there. They

(01:19:31):
are going to be a challenge. But we get them
at home and our first one are crowd will be excited,
so looking forward to it.

Speaker 1 (01:19:37):
Hey, I saw your old team last night. Was on
the sidelines for that game, and and I can tell
you I think Arrow had wore them down a little bit.
But the Navotny kid is as good as he made
some some plays last night, Coach, that man that you
could tell the crowd, U, your jodge just kind of dropped.

(01:20:01):
He had some Barry Sanderd kind of moves that you
just went, how did he just do that? And I
think they're going to be better middle to the end
of the year than they are right now. Getting they lost,
as you know, a lot as seniors, but I think
they're gonna be just fine. That Navatni kid would look
awfully good in any backfield. I can tell you that

(01:20:22):
he would.

Speaker 6 (01:20:23):
He is probably one of the most exceptionally gifted athletes
that have been around, and honestly he is an even
better human being. That family is fantastic. I'm excited for
what his future holds. I mean, Tommy is just a
great kid. I cannot say enough positive things about him
or that family. And like you said, you know, coach,
Kylie's going to get things figured out over there. Coach
Joe Study is a tremendous offensive mind. They're going to

(01:20:46):
get things figured out. Having their new DC is coach linebackers.
When I was there, he's awesome. That staff is too
good to allow you know an arrow had lost it
affect things, you know. I remember two years ago we
lost arrowhead in week one two when things turned out
all right at the end of the year.

Speaker 1 (01:21:02):
So hey, hey, coach, last question will cut you loose.
When you took the job at Nicola, how was it
hard to fill the staff? Did you keep most of
the staff? What was your approach on that?

Speaker 6 (01:21:17):
You know, it kind of got hired a little bit late. Unfortunately.
You know, Coach Broder did a fantastic job with this group,
and he hires hired a lot of really good guys
and I so I kept a lot of them. There
was a couple of pre existing relationships that I had
with some guys that are currently on staff, which helped.
You know, Coach t Terrence Smith, you know from basketball,

(01:21:39):
I coached with T. This is my actually my second
stop here a Nikola, so uh so I knew him previously.
Coach Kwama is still on staff. Lecoco, who I coached
with at university school some years back. So there's some
guys that I was familiar with, and then the guys
that that I've been able to meet, they all, you know,
work in the building or work in the district, and

(01:21:59):
that's been a tremendous helf as well. So I've been
very very fortunate in that way. And like I said,
they've been incredibly supportive of me. That's awesome. So I
couldn't be happier with how things worked out.

Speaker 1 (01:22:09):
Hey, anytime I talked to Nicola A Football, I have
to apologize because years ago when they when they pulled
out of the varsity scheduled and played JV, I said,
Nickel A Football is dead, It'll never come back. And
I was so wrong, James, I was so so wrong,
and I have to always apologize for it because I
went out of the airwaves and said I don't think
it'll ever come back, and I didn't think it was

(01:22:32):
the right move. And it definitely was the right move
for Nickel A Football. They had some success, they got
their numbers back to where they should be, and now
they've made a great decision to have you as their
head coach. And Nicola football is rolling. They're one to o.
Like I told Ryan started this segment, if I were you,
I'd retire right now. Undefeated, undefeated football coach. What's that.

Speaker 6 (01:22:57):
I've already mentioned that to my wife.

Speaker 3 (01:22:58):
I think I'm done. I think this is It's awesome.

Speaker 1 (01:23:01):
That's it. It's great. It's great. Hey, good luck next
week against King and then in two weeks against Homestead.
Alba owners the offensive coordinator to Homestead, so that game
is gonna you know what, there's a lot riding on
that one coach there is.

Speaker 3 (01:23:16):
We look forward to it.

Speaker 6 (01:23:17):
But we got a tremendous challenge with King this week.

Speaker 1 (01:23:20):
So hey, keep up the good work. And I I
truly appreciate all the time that you give me in
this show. And uh, and thank you for that and
looking forward to having you on later in the year.
And uh, let's figure out where the dust is going
to settle in that North Shore conference.

Speaker 6 (01:23:36):
Absolutely, Mike, I appreciate it. No better ambassador for high
school sports than you and my friend.

Speaker 1 (01:23:40):
Man, I appreciate that. Say hi to your wife and
kids for me.

Speaker 3 (01:23:44):
I will do that. You got it.

Speaker 1 (01:23:45):
He's James Becker, the head football coach at Nick Lay
the want to know nicko Lay Knights where you get
to a break other side of the break. I got
a couple of nil questions for you as the ad
at Musquigo. Well, see what you think of that. I
don't mean to take all this time talking WIA stuff,
but I got a couple questions and then we'll talk
a little Oak Creek matchup coming up Friday night at

(01:24:08):
Muskego Live on My twenty four six thirty pregame seven
o'clock kickoff. This is the Varsity Blitz High School Sports
Show presented by your local Pick and Save and Metro
Market stores, only at Fox Sports nine twenty in your
iHeartRadio app. 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 Jorgansen

(01:24:31):
Heating and Cooling Studios my coast. Ryan McMillan, I'm telling you,
this show goes so fast when he's in studio with me,
and and thank you for the time, and thank your
wife and kids that I get you know, they got
to share you with me for a few saturdays and
I appreciate that.

Speaker 2 (01:24:47):
Listen.

Speaker 1 (01:24:48):
Yeah, Hey, the nil. How much has that touched any
any of the student athletes over at Meschigo Yet.

Speaker 2 (01:24:58):
We haven't had a specific case or anything where we've
had to work through it. If you will, hey, let
me ask you this as puts your former football coach
hat on from o'connum walk.

Speaker 1 (01:25:13):
Here's what I started thinking as a former basketball coach.
If my sixth or seventh best player gets his dad
owns a law firm and his buddy or whatever, right,
and I get number six or seven walking into my
locker room with the new payer nikes, going look at
what I got for my nil money and my number one,
two and three don't have one. That's going to cost

(01:25:34):
some issues in that locker room. And so I'm kind
of happy that I'm retired right now from coaching basketball
because I wouldn't want to be a part of that
as a former head coach and athletic director. Now do
you do you think that that's going to cost some
issues in locker rooms?

Speaker 2 (01:25:52):
That's a piece of the puzzle there when we're talking name, image,
likeness and the jealousy factor that comes in to, you know, again,
young adolescents. We're dealing with kids that are eighteen and younger. Yeah,
so it's a real How do you manage team culture?
How do you manage those that are able to acquire

(01:26:13):
those name image likeness deals and or get funding? Very
very very few kids are going to get any funding though,
I mean it's less than one percent normally so. But
when you do, you know, what does that do? What
does that do to that player? You know, are they
humble or does it boost them up? How do they act?

(01:26:33):
You know, are they showing off or you know, so
you got to manage people. At the end of day,
you're still going to have to manage people, and climate
and culture are going to be real on your team,
you know, when dealing with the name image likeness.

Speaker 1 (01:26:43):
Hey, one one question for you that I have reading
all the WI and IL stuff. What jumped off the
page at me? First of all, I think they they
they they pushed it and wanted to get this pass
because they didn't want to, you know, they didn't want
to have anybody sue them because it's nil is in
thirty six states for high school athletics. The one thing

(01:27:05):
that reading that they are utilizing a few different templates
from different states, but they make it apparent to me
and what I've read that this is a template. This
isn't the rule, like this may change after the first year,
might change after the second year. But we're testing it
right now and we'll make it better after we learn

(01:27:28):
more about it. And that part, for me scares me
a little bit, like like I know, the first time
you do anything, you're learning from it. But boy, I
would hope that they had learned enough from other states
what not to do. But in reading the material, it's
this is what we're doing this year, and this may
change year two.

Speaker 2 (01:27:47):
Yeah, And I would say our name image likeness rule
in the state of Wisconsin is pretty conservative, almost very
conservative in terms of what you can and cannot do
for the most part. But you are correct, there is
whenever you make a new rule, there's the interpretation of
the rule and what does this sentence actually mean or
not mean? And as people bring cases forward and you

(01:28:08):
keep you start to work through these scenarios. That's where
somebody has to litigate that if you will or judge
this is what that means or no, no, no, it's
actually this, just like our legal system does for anything.
And so I think that's probably what you're looking to
in that growth process. The good part about our association

(01:28:29):
is the membership can dictate those changes or not and
help with those interpretations. And we do have a system
set up that we can do what's best for the
member schools if something is needs to be adjusted or
is out a whack or whatever.

Speaker 1 (01:28:46):
If there will let's just choose baseball because you've got
the state baseball. Sure looks good on you. By the way,
I didn't have my size feels good. It feels it's
still pretty cold and you're not quite as cold. But
if let's say a picture from Mesquigo has an opportunity
to do this, do they go to their coach, Do

(01:29:08):
they go to the athletic direct or do they go
to the prinson? Do they take it somewhere before they
get it signed up?

Speaker 5 (01:29:15):
Uh?

Speaker 2 (01:29:16):
Yeah, So ideally and again we put together a little
template for our folks on what is your role in
this process? And as a coach and or as a
or a parent and a player, your role is to
one work with school administration right away to ensure that
you do not infringe upon your student's eligibility or their
amateur status. Essentially, all this is kind of tied to amateurism,

(01:29:38):
which really there isn't much anymore, no, you know, not
to what you and I used to know. But there's
still a little bit and making sure that you check
those boxes and stay eligible first and foremost, because you
playing this game is what's allowing you to get the
recognition you're getting, right, And so once they know that,
then yes, any coach that gets anything, obviously it's bring

(01:30:00):
back to the Athletic Department of principles and then we start,
you know, following that template if you all similar to
the residents rule and working through the process and making
sure that everything's on the up and up.

Speaker 1 (01:30:10):
One of the rules I didn't understand. If you own
a business and wantakee and you're a wanta Key grad
you can't do that.

Speaker 2 (01:30:17):
You can't give to their kids, right, Yeah, and if
you if.

Speaker 1 (01:30:22):
You get like next year, the McGivern agency is probably
looking for a freshman girl hockey player to do it
at IOLA with. But after year one, if she decides
or if if the mcgiverern agency decides this isn't the
right fit for us, I can't. I can't get involved
with another student athlete from that school until that girl graduates. Yeah,

(01:30:43):
so I can do one year and if it's not
a good fit, I gotta wait three to do anything
with any other student athlete in that in that school.
And I don't know if I agree with that.

Speaker 2 (01:30:54):
Yeah, it's the undue influence piece.

Speaker 3 (01:30:56):
You know.

Speaker 2 (01:30:57):
The McGivern agency has the means to go out and
pay X number of kids and get them to come
to this school because that's where their passion is. That's
where they love that school community. It gave so much
to them and now they're successful in life and they're
trying to give back and help their sports. And so
that's that is part of why I said Wisconsin's is
a conservative name image like the true because in other

(01:31:20):
states that's not the case. The money flow.

Speaker 1 (01:31:24):
Yeah you go, hey coach, thank you man. It's so
good to see you again. And I appreciate your willingness
to come and sit with me on saturdays. It just
it means the world to me. And I have a
lot of respect for you as a man, as a
coach and as an athletic director. And thank you for that.
I'll see you Friday night. We're gonna see each other.

Speaker 2 (01:31:44):
A lot next week. It's gonna be a left fun.

Speaker 1 (01:31:46):
Yeah, you got it. Friday night at home against So
Creek on my twenty four six thirty pre game seven
o'clock kick, and it should be a really good game.
This is the Varsity Plates high school sports show, presented
by your local Pick and Save and met Tru Market
stores only have five sports nine twenty in your iHeartRadio
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