Full Show - 8/30/2025

Full show from the Donovan & Jorgenson Heating & Cooling Studio: Saturday, August 30th, 2025

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Varsity Blitz high school sports show presented
by your local Pick and Save at Metro Market stores
on Fox Sports nine twenty and your iHeart Radio app.
Coming live from the Dive in and Jorganson Heating and
Cooling Studios. I'm Mike mcgiver alongside by co host. He's
the athletic director at Muskego High School. He's Ryan McMillan,

(00:20):
Divan Jordanson. Must have been in the studio or something.
It's comfortable in here. It is great today. Yeah, I
want to thank those guys, THET Jorgenson dot Com largest
employee owned HVAC company in the state. Man, what an
event last night. I was at the Musquigo game on
the sidelines. It was really good to be over there again.
It's been a couple of years since we've done a game.

(00:40):
And I got there about quarter after five, and it
was raining and cold, and there were probably one hundred
people already in the crowd, putting their blankets down, putting
their chairs down, and by six o'clock it was hard
to park for a seven o'clock kick. And look, oh
Creek traveled well, but miss Ego, that community, it was

(01:01):
youth night three hundred and sixty kids in the youth program. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:05):
Yeah, it's very healthy. Our community is great.

Speaker 3 (01:08):
We we love it. That's the marquee event in August.
In my opinion, in our community. I know there's some
festivals and things that go on, but there's nothing like
Youth Night at MHS.

Speaker 1 (01:18):
It was unbelievable the amount of people that were there,
and the crowd stayed, the Old Creek crowd and they
left a little bit, or at least some of the
students Man and that miskego. They stayed till the end,
till the fireworks. That's I have a good fire show too.
The first one secured. I mean, I jumped, and I
don't jump very high, but I jumped because I'm like,

(01:38):
what is that? And I look up. Neighbors aren't They
don't complain about that.

Speaker 3 (01:43):
No, No, neighbors love it. And you know, the police
officers are all watching. The fires were a pretty good place.

Speaker 1 (01:49):
If anybody's calling and complaining, they got to come over
to the state. I had probably three or four different
police officers and captain come up and say, hey, if
you need me on that show with McMillan, let me know.
Those guys are so fully invested, not only in the
sports there, but the community. Man. Look, I just did

(02:10):
my interview at the end, and I thought it's gonna
take me forever to get out of here. Uh huh.
I was out of there quick. I was shocked. But
the cops are right there getting everybody here. We go.
Let's go, you go right, you go left, get to
the stop sign. Go let's get out of here.

Speaker 3 (02:24):
Captain Foms turns the light off and he says, boys
are gonna run this thing. And the way they go
and they push everyone to the east and before you
know it, it's over. It's all off and gone. The
team looked good.

Speaker 1 (02:34):
They bounced back that that coach Crousey I said, hey,
the guys at Old Creek are like man kind of
hoping Moskeigo would have won that first one. Now they're
going to play a little angry. He goes, we'd better
play angry tonight. And look, Miskigo looked good last night.
I thought they played well.

Speaker 3 (02:50):
Yeah, one hundred percent. I think the turning point for
me is our offense was driving. We unfortunately had a
fumble there and our defense said, don't worry about it.

Speaker 2 (03:00):
We got you.

Speaker 3 (03:00):
And they just decided to go get a pick six
and score it anyway. So then pick us up.

Speaker 1 (03:05):
And the way the game started, you guys, you know,
you get fumble recovery and opening kickoff and go right in.
And they got to give coach Calhoun and Oak Creek credit.
They they battled many, they got some dudes.

Speaker 2 (03:19):
They made plays.

Speaker 3 (03:19):
They made some plays, and especially in the second and
third quarters, they made a lot of good plays, and
they gave themselves a chance to be competitive.

Speaker 1 (03:26):
And I don't know their Their quarterback, sophomore JJ Chapman,
who started the game, went out. His helmet came off
when he got sacked, and he didn't come back in.
And I went on the air and said, look, I
think he's ready to go. But they're going with the
hot hand. The second throw, their back up threw he's
a senior and.

Speaker 3 (03:44):
Dropped the diamond there that he can pitch a catch.
I mean, what was it fourth and eighteen or something.
They threw it right to the back corner of the
end zone and they had about an inch to spare,
but they made it happen. It was a great throw,
great catch and got oh great going a little bit.

Speaker 1 (03:57):
And so I don't know if because I'm on Mosquigo
sideline and I couldn't. I didn't go over on the
other sideline. So I don't know if if he got
injured on that play and they were holding him out,
or they just went with a kid that they thought
the backup. But that senior backup. If you look at
the statu from last year, he had a big year
last year, and you could tell that kid. He's comfortable

(04:21):
on his feet, move a little bit, you know, but boy,
he looks at his first option, looks at his second option,
and he can run a little bit. Not not great,
but he got out of the pocket and he could
throw it. I was there, the quarterback at Muskego Crowsley said, look,
he's like another coach on the field. I'm watching him.

(04:41):
After the fumble, he went up to a center and
and they're trying to coaches are trying to talk to him,
and he's like, hold on a second, let's get this
snap down better, come on, come on, let's and he
him and the center went off to the side, and
then he went over and talked to the line, talk
to his receivers, and he coaches kids up. Man, he's
an impressive football player.

Speaker 3 (05:00):
Yeah, Joey Shaw is fully invested in he uh. I
don't know if you saw the play where we were
rolling him against his hands, so the opposite way play
broke down. He said, forget this, I'm not rolling my right.
I'm left handed. I want to roll to my left.
And he stuck his foot in the ground, spun around
and went to his left, zip the dime right to
somebody touched on.

Speaker 2 (05:18):
I was like, okay, let's go.

Speaker 1 (05:19):
I said, air crousy and they said, no air show.
Yeah you can. You know what, he can spin it,
he can't spend it. Good baseball player too.

Speaker 4 (05:28):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (05:28):
Hey, the running back who was our US Marine Player
of the game. He had a really big game. He
had one hundred and forty five yards rushing two touchdowns.
And I said, hey, do uh, we're gonna be live
on TV. You want me to get your homecoming day?
He goes, no, sir, I'm fine there five And you
know what. He a tough kid. A couple of torn labor.

(05:50):
Continued to play last year, played in the state files
with some real some injuries. Man, and that that kid.
I was surprised. He's got that spin move.

Speaker 5 (06:01):
Man.

Speaker 1 (06:01):
He he made some kids missed with a couple of
spin moves, and he's got really quick feet. When he
hits the hole, you have no idea he could jump
stap and go either way. And yeah, he was really
fun for me to watch.

Speaker 2 (06:15):
Yeah, that's Jackson Neemick.

Speaker 3 (06:16):
And what a lot of people don't know about Jackson
is he's a three sport athlete. So if he was healthy,
he'd probably be running the point for us as a
point guard in basketball. He'd also be starting in center field.
But you know, the kid got two shoulder injuries last
year and he had to go get one repair. And
they don't let you do both. They make you do one,
get fully healthy, and come back and do the other one.

(06:37):
So he he's on his way and football is his love,
and so he found a way to stay healthy. But
he was around the other programs and he did anything
and everything he could to help the baseball program in
the spring, even though he didn't get to get out
there and play a lot. But he he trained his
lower hot half pretty hard, right because he couldn't do
much with the upper half.

Speaker 2 (06:57):
And you saw it last night with the spin moves and.

Speaker 3 (07:00):
The quickness and the bursts that he had and you know,
he wears those lime green shoes and he makes them
look quicker.

Speaker 1 (07:07):
It does make them look quicker. I could tell you that.
When I asked him, you know, I can get you
a date for homecoming, he said, sir, I have no
problem in that area. Don't worry about me. I said, okay.

Speaker 2 (07:18):
He was stright family too.

Speaker 3 (07:20):
His older sisters are classic people. His parents are classic people. Humble,
they do the right thing, They study all those types
of things.

Speaker 1 (07:27):
Do you know normally I will I will have a
conversation with our us screen player the game and remind
that player. He make sure you're thinking. I didn't have
time because he was one of the first to the
last guy shaking hands. So I'm yelling I need this kid,
and everybody's yelling for him, and he's not around, and
so by the time he got to me, it was

(07:48):
in my ear, we're coming to you in fifteen, and
so I didn't have time. And he immediately said, hey, man,
look I did okay, But let me tell you about
my line. Let me tell you about the guy's block
for me. Let me tell you about the play calls,
let me tell you about you know, my my My
coaches have trust in me and I didn't have to.
I didn't have to tee him up for any of that.

(08:09):
And when I went back to him and having quick feet,
and he said, yeah, yeah, but did you see the
holes I was going through? Like smart kid, Like you
might not have the money to go buy all these
guys dinner all the time, but you know what to
be able to say that, and you know the offensive lineman,
they like that for sure. I can tell you that
that a close second for our US Marine player. The

(08:30):
game was that quarterback because he does he does run
that that offense, which is not easy. What I what
I liked about him, the game was in hand and
he was still on the field and he was still
going through you know his face, he's handed off and
then faking and pretending you know all of the the
the not only the just handed off the details, all

(08:51):
the details. The game was in hand. He didn't have
to he he did all of it. He's he would
hand off the fake a hand off here and then
rolled up like he's still had the ball and he
could have stopped doing that, but he didn't. And I'm
sure it's muscle memory for him. But and as a junior,
look he started last year as a sophomore. Not many
quarterbacks can start at Musquego as a sophomore, so he

(09:14):
has seen all this and standing behind him coaches to
coach him up and then he gets up and address
as the team or he gets up and go takes
a receiver off or running back away, or linebacker or
offensive lineman and then talks to him. And I thought, okay,
he is the leader on that. That's that side of
the wall.

Speaker 2 (09:33):
Fully invested this fault, no doubt about it.

Speaker 3 (09:35):
And uh, I think for our offense to be successful
and operate at a high level, the fakes and the
carrying out your your duties is extremely important because that's
one of the strengths of the wing tea is sometimes
the deception, the desception of where the ball is and
finding the football right. And so kids do it really
well and we execute. It's a tough matchup if you

(09:58):
if you take a you know, a play off, and
he decided not to fake a couple of times, well
then it makes a little bit easier on the defense.
So it's it was good to see the sense of
urgency the warrior showed up with last night after missing
an opportunity and uh in Nina.

Speaker 1 (10:13):
Well, and look your defensive coordinator one of my favorite
right and and so I the first time I was
behind the bench, and it was after they they got
the uh the recovery on the kickoff. He had his
defense still sitting there, and I would run through the wall.
I'd play for him. I would play for him. He is,

(10:34):
he is, he is all eyes around him for on
the defensive side when he's talking. And some of the
things he talked about were all the things they talked
about in practice. Right on the line of scrimmage. Finished
the play, swarm the you know what, everybody rallied the ball.
But they talked about they talked about being more physical,

(10:55):
and they used the word violin a little bit, which
I'm good with. Right, Let's be violent, let's play on
the defense end. Let's play violent today. And I thought
they did that. I thought a couple of the plays
that that Oh Creek got, they they did. They got once,
they didn't get twice. And and he would he had
you watch the video and he says, look, you got

(11:17):
to drop quicker, or you get your eyes out of
the backfield, right, play your spot, trust your guy. But
he addresses them and he addresses them with passion, and
he doesn't he does. He speaks exactly what he wants
to and then he walks away. Right. He doesn't, he
doesn't prolong it. He lets these guys coach themselves up

(11:39):
a little bit and gives them direction. And he's impressive.

Speaker 5 (11:42):
Man.

Speaker 3 (11:42):
There's a great conviction with coach lukez uh And again,
I think our defensive staff carry that.

Speaker 2 (11:48):
They're very collaborative.

Speaker 3 (11:50):
They work very well together, very much, very good communicators together.
But they press upon the kids too. If you're gonna
play this game and you're gonna do all this and
all this hard work and play through these injuries and
do everything else that comes with the game, you know,
do it with great conviction. And let's get after this
and be convicted about who we want to be and
how we want to do it. And you see that

(12:11):
energy come through when we're coaching, and then the kids
feed off and the kids bring the energy on the field.

Speaker 1 (12:16):
Hey, being a former head coach at Oconomwak, you'll agree
with this. When they when at near the end of
the game, when they put the subs in the starters,
were the ones cheering high five and yelling come on,
let's go, let's go. More than it was impressive to
me because these guys their night was done. They accomplished

(12:37):
the goal, and they were sitting at the bench talking
to each other. They had their helmets off and they
were cheering those guys on, which tells me a lot
about the culture in that locker room that these seniors
and junior who's the starting quarterback, were the first ones
out there high five and going let's go. Hey, keep
it going. Well, no, no, you got to do it

(12:59):
this way. And I just thought, Okay, there's there. This
is a this is a team that's that's playing for
each other, and that makes a big difference, especially in football.

Speaker 3 (13:08):
As a secret sauce, as they say, if you got
a team, a true meaning of the team, and we're
in it for one another and and really all the
outside noise doesn't matter, but it's I'm gonna do this
for my brother, right and try to make those plays
and make things happen.

Speaker 2 (13:22):
And there's gonna be no surrender.

Speaker 3 (13:23):
No retreat. If you will, we're gonna do it. We're
gonna stay in the fight together.

Speaker 1 (13:26):
Well, Bruce Springsteen, there you go fact that I know
that no retreat baby, no surrender. I could sing it
for you during the break. I'm not doing it live
on the earth. If you need that's all good? Hey
yeahpecially shaking his head our producers like, please don't do that.
He has heard me saying, hey, any surprises last night
in your conference Mcgwuannage beat some per East pretty handily. Arrowhead,

(13:51):
it's snuck by Nina obviously is the real deal, right
they And so.

Speaker 3 (13:55):
I was told at the end of that game, Nina
was driving Arrowhead picked it off, so with like less
about five minutes ago, then Nina must have got to
stop and then I Arrowhead, I think their long snappers
snapped it over their punter's head. So then Nina got
the ball again and it got a little tight in
the end. So it sounds like our game with Nina

(14:16):
where we were on the opportunity to try to go
score to win and we just didn't finish it. And
and now Nina was in that same spot. So that
tells you Nina was a good football team. And yeah,
we'll see what happens.

Speaker 6 (14:26):
You know.

Speaker 1 (14:27):
I had a few people in the parking lot and
on the sidelines saying, did you hear what happened? Last week,
and Nina, I go, yeah, did you hear what? Did
you hear?

Speaker 6 (14:37):
What?

Speaker 1 (14:37):
Yet? I heard it? You know that ball was good? Yeah,
that's when I'm here.

Speaker 5 (14:40):
You know.

Speaker 1 (14:41):
I watched the film and that the one referee started
putting his hands up like it was good, and the
other one said it's not good. And and I can
tell you who did not want to talk much about
it was crosy crazy like it's over age. Yeah, it's
over I don't want to talk about it anymore. Don't
worry about that game. Let's worry about this one. And
I go, I got it. Yeah, I'm just telling you.
A lot of people in parking lot fans are asking

(15:01):
me if you do the funniest thing last night, and
you'll love this. The guys at my twenty four make
fun of me a lot, like, hey, how come the
more popular mcgimern is not here. I'm like whatever, And
so I have. There's five guys there and I'm talking
to him and I'm telling a story and an older
guy from Muskigo walks right in the middle of the

(15:21):
circle and he goes, hey, my wife is a huge
John mcgiffern fan. Well, these guys are going nuts to you,
and then as they're laughing, he goes, I'm more of
a Mike mcgiffern fan than a John mcgiffn fan. I go, boys,
did you hear that. They're like, no, we didn't hear that.
Like now, my wife she'd love to meet your brother.
But it's such a privilege. I listened to your stuff

(15:41):
and I listened to you and Coach McMillan, and I go, thanks,
that's cool.

Speaker 5 (15:46):
I go.

Speaker 1 (15:46):
He goes, my wife would like to come, probably get
a picture with you. I go, no, my brother's not here.
And then they came down. I got a little and
it's just because she watches all that. But it was
so funny. This guy's time and he walked right in
the middle of our circle and these guys. Now I'll
never hear the end of it. Remember the guy said, hey,
we love your brother. The people out there have so

(16:07):
much fun. You know what else was really impressive. The
Marching Band's really good.

Speaker 2 (16:12):
Oh yeah, they're phenomenal.

Speaker 3 (16:14):
They show up every night and they take what they
do very seriously. They're extremely committed to it, and you know,
they're a piece of the puzzle. On game night, it's
a community event because of the band, the football team,
the cheerleaders, the dancers, the youth, all of it, the families,

(16:34):
the parents, you know, the general community, mentor of the fireworks,
all of it.

Speaker 1 (16:37):
It's all there. Yeah, it's they got it going on.
We're gonna get to a break O. This side of
the break, we're gonna be joined by one of the
assistant coaches from New Berland West, Jason Bloud is gonna
join us along with three players, and we'll keep you
for the segment with Jason. Then these three players that
come on. Travis Wilson's going to join us at ten o'clock.
He's not with Bound Wisconsin, and we'll talk to him

(16:58):
about that transition. The head football coach UW. Whitewater will
join us at ten twenty, and I can't recommend enough.
At ten forty we're gonna be joined by Dennis Murphy.
I would ask that people tune into that segment. Friends
of Jacqueline is the name of his foundation. He's flying
into our area today and going to be out at

(17:20):
our Slinger Hartford game next week, and his foundation, Friends
of Jacqueline is very emotional what he's been through and
what he's doing for people and kids. In different markets
and he will join us at ten forty. That's Dennis Murphy.
This is the Varsity Blitz High School Sports Show presented
by your local Picket Save and Metro Market stores only

(17:42):
on Fox Sports nine twenty and your iHeartRadio App. Welcome
back to the Varsity Blitz High School Sports Show presented
by your local Picket Save and Metro Market stores only
on Fox Sports nine twenty and your iHeartRadio App. Coming
from the Donovan and Jorgensen Heating and Coolian Studios. I'm
Mike McGivern alongside my co She's the Appleck director at Musquigo.

(18:02):
Former head football coach at oconom Walk I could probably
stop saying that. How many years ago?

Speaker 6 (18:07):
Is that?

Speaker 2 (18:07):
By the way, nine now? I think almost ti? Yeah,
almost a.

Speaker 1 (18:12):
Decade still almost, Former head football coach at oconom Wak. So,
why did you talk a little new Berlin West football
and coach Chausick is out of town. But Jason Pal
I've known Jason a long time assistant coach over there. Coach,
how you've been? I'm great? How are you? You guys
got to win last night? We sure did? You did?
During this during the break said wasn't the prettiest one

(18:33):
you've ever been a part of.

Speaker 2 (18:35):
No.

Speaker 7 (18:35):
This this season so far two games in, has been
a lot of learning. We have a fairly young team
who is getting an opportunity to do it for the
first time, and a lot of learning comes out of
these wins.

Speaker 1 (18:47):
But the good news is we are too and zero well.
And when we get to the players that are in
studio next, Beans is the kid I got to talk about, right?
Is that that's his nickname? That is his nickname? Yep.
Why did they call him that?

Speaker 7 (18:59):
Well, I believe the story was at some point in
time there was a conversation and the word beans came
up and he just announced I like Beans.

Speaker 1 (19:08):
I've heard that you don't like beans. Well, we'll find out.
On the other side, the young team feel pretty good
about where they're at right now.

Speaker 7 (19:17):
Yeah, you know, there's as I mentioned, we graduated sixteen
seniors last year, and we returned two defensive starters and
four offensive starters. And we have eleven guys that are
starting for the first time of varsity football this year,
so including six two way starters. So it's a lot
of guys that are you know, they're athletic, they want

(19:40):
it they're talented, they just have never had to do
it on a Friday night before. So you know, we're
we're we've got some learning curves that we're taking are
taking place in our games. But we're kind of looking,
you know, at the season as a nine to nine
game plus season, you know, taking it one game out
of time, but make sure that we are making the

(20:01):
strides each game, and when things don't go well, we're
learning from it so that we can improve for the
next one.

Speaker 1 (20:06):
Hey, Ryan, I was always told that as a high
school football coach, you learn a lot and almost more
than at any other time between week one and week
two when you have as many young guys as West does.
There's a lot of learning after week two, and after
week three and after week four as well. How hard

(20:26):
was it as the head football coach at econom Walk
when you got guys that have never had to do
it on a Friday night. How long does it take
for these kids to kind of have things slow down
for them?

Speaker 2 (20:39):
Yeah, that's a great question.

Speaker 3 (20:41):
I think each players it's individual to their position and
what they're being asked to do or expected to do,
or how much they have on their shoulders. I'll tell
you our quarterbacks had a lot, a lot, a lot
on their shoulders, you know, in our systems and whatnot,
So it took them a little bit almost years sometimes
you know, young kids growing up and and when they

(21:02):
get to their senior year. But really I think what
can accelerate that is, what was the preparation process coming
into the season, and and how was their summer and
and how did you utilize contact days and you're seven
on seven passing leagues and some of those other things
that can help prep you in certain game like scenarios
before the game. And then you can really emphasize what

(21:25):
you saw sometimes in the summer that shows up on
game tape and they and then it clicks, oh yeah,
and they have those aha moments, and then you just
keep building it. You're building a birthday cake. You gotta
start with the base. Can't put the frosting on right away,
so just keep going.

Speaker 1 (21:39):
Depends who you are. Hey, you guys beat Martin Luther.
My boys over at Martin Luther. Thank you very much
for that, by the way, you got it Game one
now I sarcasm, by the way, you know. And then
Milwaukee Reagan, Milwaukee Reagan, give you a little bit tougher time.
I think it looks like, at least score wise, Martin

(22:01):
Luther did did did your guys take a step back?
Do you think did they step forward? Were you happier
with game two or happier with game one?

Speaker 7 (22:11):
I would say happier with game one game two, And
that was kind of the post game was a lot
of times, you know, we take that step from game
one to game two, and for whatever reason, you know,
things just didn't go, you know, our way, and and
it was in all facets of the game. We just
you know, things were there for us. We just didn't

(22:35):
click on all cylinders and and but the message to
the guys was to be able to have a game
like that and still come out on top, right, you know,
shows character and shows grit, because there's a lot of
times where you have a clunker like that and you
come out on the losing end, right, And and we
we didn't. But Reagan was a great team. They're they're
well coached, they're tough, they had a good game plan,

(22:55):
and uh they were they were they were a formidable
opponent for sure.

Speaker 1 (23:00):
You know, Ryan, one of the things that I learned
as a basketball coach, especially when you're when you have
young guys that haven't been through it before, is sometimes
they play to the level of their competition. Right, if
they're playing Catholic Memorial a little bit different, Right, they
feel a little bit different before the game, and they

(23:20):
and then you start the game, and if they feel like, oh,
we're gonna be fine tonight, I'm not sure they play
as well as they can if they're playing a really high,
top quality opponent.

Speaker 2 (23:31):
Do you agree with that, Yeah, I definitely agree. I
think it comes down to energy.

Speaker 3 (23:34):
Sometimes when you're you're younger, you walk into those bigger
environments or those proven opponents, and you got that nervous energy,
but you're ready to try to give it your best
shot and prove yourself and you're juiced up for it,
as opposed to walking into the gym or the court
or the field, whatever it might be, you know, against
somebody that doesn't have as much of the hype or
the people aren't talking to you all the time, and

(23:56):
you don't you don't have that experience to still bring
the same level of energy and push each other to
be better and stay convicted internally.

Speaker 1 (24:05):
Coach.

Speaker 7 (24:05):
Yeah, And I think the other thing too, though, is
when you get in a game like that and all
of a sudden things aren't going well, especially with a
young team, you press and you say, we have this
stuff out there because there was a lot of things
that we were trying to do that was working, we
just weren't quite able to execute. We're a couple of
inches off here on a throw, a couple of inches
off here on an assignment, and whatnot. And then you

(24:26):
start to press, and you know, part of the battle
is trying to remind these guys step back, take a
deep breath, park it, and get to the next one.
And I think if there's a lesson to be learned
in a game like that is that's what needs to
happen sometimes when things aren't going your way. Because we
tell the guys, you know, of Friday night football game,
there's going to be ebbs and flows from the beginning

(24:46):
to the end. And it's how you yep, it's a
roller coaster, and it's how you handle both those highs
and those lows that oftentimes dictates the the final outcome.

Speaker 1 (24:55):
You know, the other the other part of that. And
again from doing this show long enough and with Joe
Cook and with Ryan McMillan as my co host, The
trust factor, Right, So you've got if you've got some
guys that have played on the varsity level and they're
playing safety and they don't yet trust the cornerback and
they take two or three steps over because they think

(25:16):
he needs help, and then you get beat on a
wheel route or you know, alignment to tackle who thinks
he's got a chip or a guard thinks I've got
to help this this tackle because I don't think he
gets it yet. And that's where you know, especially in football,
you've got to trust the guy next year, and you've
got to trust that he's doing his job, and you've
got to do your job. And sometimes especially for seniors,

(25:39):
if there's a sophomore junior next year that hasn't played varsity,
it's going to take a few weeks for them to
trust them. Yep, I would agree, I would agree.

Speaker 7 (25:48):
Yeah, that's a been a point of emphasis for us
this uh this year has been do your job and
all eleven, right, all eleven, doing your job, no more,
no less. And I mean there's times that you've got
to make a play and things have to happen, but
just make sure that you do your job, stay assignment
sound and then good things will happen and we'll see that.

Speaker 1 (26:05):
How involved are you with the youth program there now?

Speaker 7 (26:08):
So I am the liaison I guess this is my
official title between the youth and the high school program.
So I know a lot of the guys that are
still there. We still have camps with them. We kind
of go through, you know, some of our our offense
and defense and things like that.

Speaker 1 (26:25):
But back in when I did this segment for Around
the Corner, you were my guy.

Speaker 7 (26:29):
It was yeah, we last time I was in studio
with my family, Mber, the whole family, June of twenty eighteen.
I looked it up before I came in. So at
that time, my my twin boys were going into eighth grade.
They are now going to be twenty one years old
in November. And my daughter, who.

Speaker 1 (26:46):
Was you get old. Yeah I haven't changed it all
but no, not at all.

Speaker 7 (26:50):
Yeah, my daughter was going into fifth grade and she
is now a senior at New berlind West, So unbelievable.

Speaker 1 (26:55):
Yeah, boy, that was a fun segment back back then,
and it was you guys. It was all the New
Berlin kids. That was the interesting part of it, is
it still the same way where kids that are going
to be going to West their playing youth football week.
Guys that are going to Eisenhower, No, once they once
they get to the youth program, you know, fifth sixth

(27:17):
grade and up it's it's West and yeah.

Speaker 7 (27:20):
Yeah, how are they numbers for the youth program numbers
are pretty good this year. Yeah, they've they've done a
phenomenal job. When I stepped down a few years back,
Troy Bouschamp took over the program and did a phenomenal job.
And his boys are now both at the high school level.
One of them is a is a starter for us

(27:40):
on the varsity level and his youngest son is a
freshman this year doing well. And so he stepped away
and a man named Jerry Jeremy Knight took over now
this year, and it's been awesome because when you work
so hard to try to kind of establish a program
and then you turn it over, you never know what's
going to happen. And both those guys have took it

(28:01):
beyond where I, you know, or where I was with it,
so it was phenomenal.

Speaker 1 (28:04):
That's awesome. Guys. We're gonna get to an early break
because we've got three players over here, and we'll find
out who's gonna talk the most. We're gonna have a
conversation with three of the the guys that are leading
this too and zero new Berlin West team. They get
a game at West Allis Central following week against Wakshaw

(28:26):
North and then you know, Walkston North is going to
give you all you can handle. Central's got some athletes
they got to win, and then Catholic Memorial to the
East we might as well. You know, that's the meat
of the schedule, and then Eisenhower at the end. I'm
going to ask these guys the rivalry game for them,
what game do they circle? Do you think they'll all
have the same answer.

Speaker 2 (28:46):
I would think that it would be I think they will.

Speaker 1 (28:48):
Too, but maybe not. I would think though, Hey, coach McMillan,
we're gonna put you over in the corner here for
one segment and then bring you back when ten o'clock.
Travis Wilson is going to join us. Then the head
football coach at UW. Whitewater will join us, and then
Dennis Murphy from Friends of Jacqueline for that last segment,
and Ryan will be back for all of those. This

(29:09):
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 your iHeartRadio app well, Welcome
back to the Varsity Blitz High School Sports Show is
always presented by our friends at your local Pick and
Save and Metro Market stores. Coming from the Donovan and
Jorgansen Heating and Cooling Studios, we're talking to Berlin West

(29:31):
Football for the first couple of segments. Second hour, Travis
Wilson will join us along with jas Rindell, who is
the head football coach at UW Whitewater, and then Dennis
Murphy Friends of Jacqueline. If you can only catch one
more segment other than the ones with these boys from
new Berlin West, come back and listen at ten forty.

(29:52):
That Friends of Jacqueline Foundation is something that I think
they're doing, doing great work all over the country. And
Dennis will be in town and slinger for next week's
Game of the Week on my twenty four Hartford Slinger Game,
and you're gonna want to hear as much as you
can about this foundation that he started, the great work
that they're doing. We're now joined by three seniors I

(30:14):
believe right, all seniors from the new Berlin West football team.
And let's start with it with a kid. They call beans?
Why do they call you beans? Man? I don't know.

Speaker 8 (30:24):
It's just one of them.

Speaker 1 (30:25):
Come a little closer to the microphone, if you can.
Thank you.

Speaker 9 (30:27):
We were having a conversation with one of our coaches
and it just kind of popped up. I said I
didn't like beans, and it's kind of stuck.

Speaker 1 (30:33):
Kind of stuck ever since. Yeah, it's okay. It's not
a bad nickname. It'd be worse. Hey, you're a multi
sport athlete. You hit the golf ball a little bit.
You guys are going to play a little golf after this.
Where are you going?

Speaker 2 (30:45):
Gott a hills?

Speaker 1 (30:47):
You have fun? You hit it long? Oh yeah, I
had a boy. How'd you play last night? Pretty good?
I felt like I did pretty good myself. What position
do you play in football? Center? You play center offense only. Yeah,
that's good. I like that. I like that a lot.
Martin Luther O Milwaukee Reagan, do you think gave you
guys more trouble?

Speaker 9 (31:08):
I feel like Reagan gave us more trouble, but Martin Luther,
so for sure. The harder opponent.

Speaker 1 (31:12):
Really. Yeah, how do you feel about this team? You're
feeling pretty good.

Speaker 8 (31:15):
I'm feeling good about it.

Speaker 1 (31:16):
Yeah, it's gonna be a good year. Last year. You
did you start at center last year as well? So
a couple of years ago a friend of mine, his
son was starting at center for New Berlin West Fisher
a kind of Yeah. He was a pretty good player, right,
tough kid. Yeah. Did you learn anything from him or
learning what not to do with him? No?

Speaker 9 (31:38):
I was more a freshman when he was a senior,
so I didn't practice with Ti much.

Speaker 1 (31:41):
So his dad is the president of Donavan Jorgans and
Heating Cooley, who's still there, the studio sponsor. And I've
known his dad a long time. And and Kenna loved
playing football over at New Berlad West for sure. Hey,
let's let's move over real quick. Connor, how are you?
I'm good? Yeah, I'm sure you're gonna get that micro phone.
You were a basketball player as well? Huh yeah, football?

(32:03):
Where do you play?

Speaker 8 (32:04):
I played wide receiver and I play safety.

Speaker 5 (32:05):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (32:06):
They put down in the stuff they gave me about you.
You're kind of the Swiss Army knife on on on
the offensive side. Yeah, wide receiver. You guys throwing the
ball a little bit, little quarterback? Look at you? Yeah,
because you got you open on every play I'm open usually. Yeah,
Usually there's a wide receiver right there. Basketball. What do

(32:26):
you play?

Speaker 10 (32:27):
Uh?

Speaker 8 (32:28):
I play all around? You know, I guard of all positions.
I'm not the biggest guy, but I got some heart.

Speaker 1 (32:33):
So and you can shoot it.

Speaker 8 (32:34):
I can shoot it.

Speaker 1 (32:34):
Yeah. Yeah, you step back when you go in the
gym to get shots of please tell me you'll know
you know started that at the block and right you
go albout elbow and then you step out you three.

Speaker 5 (32:45):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (32:46):
Usually your coach is a good player. Yeah. He was
really good. Yeah, and he a little quiet about it.
But if you look at video and I he he
played against my son in like an old guy league.
And I told my son and at halftime, my son
was like, yeah, I hadn't shown me much. I go
just wait. About seven minutes ago in the game, the

(33:06):
game was tied, he scored the next fifteen. Yeah, and
he did it quietly, and he just went about his
business to make sure his team got to win. Gave
me a little wink because my son was trying to
guard him and he goes, Okay, now, now I get it.
How are you feeling about this team?

Speaker 8 (33:21):
I think I'm excited. You know, we're a young team,
but we got stuff to prove too.

Speaker 1 (33:26):
And oh you know what if I don't care how
they looked, if you start the year two? And oh,
how'd you play last night?

Speaker 8 (33:32):
I played all right. I could have played better, but
glad we got to win.

Speaker 1 (33:34):
Yeah, that's awesome, Jeremiah. How are you Jeremiah Morris? Tight end,
defensive end, go both ways?

Speaker 4 (33:40):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (33:41):
Yeah, what do you like better? Offense or defense?

Speaker 4 (33:43):
Defense?

Speaker 1 (33:44):
You do? Yeah? You like hitting people more than getting hit? Yeah, yeah,
the defensive end and tight end. Yeah, you don't look
big enough to me to do that, but yeah, obviously
you got some strength and you don't mind hitting people.

Speaker 2 (33:56):
Yeah, of course. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (33:57):
How'd you play last night?

Speaker 4 (33:59):
I think I played pretty well, even though it's a
little rough.

Speaker 1 (34:02):
But yeah, do they on offensive? Does he look to
throw to you at all? Or you more of a
blocking tight end?

Speaker 5 (34:09):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (34:10):
I'm more of a blocking tight end, but.

Speaker 1 (34:11):
You can catch it. Yeah, and you're open on every
play too, right? Yeah, yeah, of course of course we are. Hey, Jed, Jeremiah,
when when you look at the schedule and have you
been up RC for how many years? Okay, when you
look at the schedule, who's the rivalry for you? Who
are you like, Look, I want to win every game,
but I want to make sure we win this one.
Definitely Ehower, no doubt. Yeah, you didn't even think about that, right,

(34:35):
And you've done pretty well against Eeenower lately. Correct, you've
had your way with them a little bit years ago.
It was Eisenhower had their way with West and things changed.
Things changed, and now they're they're trying to get back
to that. If I talk to anybody from Eisenhower, they're like,
this is the year. I'm like, are you sure. They're like, yeah,
we're gonna get him this year, so be careful on that.

(34:57):
What's going on with you next year? Do you know yet, Jeremiah, I've.

Speaker 4 (35:04):
I don't know. I'm undecided right now.

Speaker 1 (35:05):
Okay. Do you think you want to go to college?

Speaker 5 (35:08):
Uh?

Speaker 4 (35:08):
Yeah, I mean I'm thinking about it.

Speaker 1 (35:10):
Okay. Grades are okay?

Speaker 2 (35:12):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (35:12):
Of course, to take care of the not of course,
because there's kids that sit where you're sitting that go
they could be better. Good. I'm glad they're good. If
it's not college trades. Yeah, I've got some opportunities for it.
Do a home improvement show. Everybody that comes in every
company says, hey, can we talk about we're looking. We're
looking anybody coming out of high school that wants a

(35:33):
career and out a job, have them call us. So
if you if that's what you decide, make sure that
Jason has my number, you call me. And if it's
whether it's plumbing, whether it's elect you want to be
an electrician. You got creative construction Wiscott's. So whatever it is,
you let me know and I can help you out
with that.

Speaker 4 (35:50):
Beans.

Speaker 1 (35:51):
What about you, you know what's going on next year
for you?

Speaker 9 (35:53):
I have a youth apprenticeship right now at Lee Mechanical,
but it's small one of the things, or it's you know,
I'm testing it out, but for now undecided between that
and college.

Speaker 1 (36:01):
Same thing. If you decide, you let me know. And
I've got two guys I coached over at Martin Luther
that are both at Current Electric and both are going
to become electricians. One already bought his first house, the
other ones in the process, and all their buddies are
just graduating this They have one more year in college
and their buddies are all doing really really well. Same

(36:23):
question for you on the rivalry think, uh.

Speaker 9 (36:26):
It's obviously Ike at number one, But for me, Tulsa
East is right behind them at number two. With how
we lost to them last year.

Speaker 1 (36:33):
Yeah, you get them coming up in a couple of
weeks right after the Catholic Memorial game, which is always good.
But you got look, West allis Central's coming this week,
and you got to make sure as leaders on this
team that your your team does not play to the
level of the competition. If you if you guys walk
in there thinking, oh, we're better than Central, they you
know they don't win many games. Man, They're going to

(36:54):
make it difficult. So you got to make sure you
stay focused and make sure that the other kids understand
that what it is to wear West on the front
of the jersey. We're gonna come and be everybody's problem
and would take care of your business for sure. When
when you think about when you think about where you
guys were five six, seven weeks ago, right when camp started,

(37:15):
when off season, if I said to you, look, you're
gonna be in studio, You're gonna be two and oh
with the chance to start the season three. You know what,
what would you have said to me?

Speaker 8 (37:25):
Honestly?

Speaker 9 (37:25):
I mean I've had high expectations from the start, but
I know I'd be proud of the team and proud
of the guys that stepped up and made all their
big differences.

Speaker 1 (37:34):
Yeah, that's great. Kind of pull the microphone to you.
Getting back to the rivalry thing? Is it? Is it
Eisenhower for you as well?

Speaker 4 (37:41):
Yeah?

Speaker 8 (37:41):
It is Eisenhower. But also, like like my guy Bean said,
I want I want Tosa the East. You know, we
lost last year. We got something to prove this year and.

Speaker 1 (37:49):
And they're playing pretty well and coach Swittle is doing
a nice job. Do you know what's going on with you?
Next year?

Speaker 8 (37:55):
I want to go to college.

Speaker 1 (37:57):
Basketball, football, football? If football? Okay? People talking to you yet?

Speaker 4 (38:03):
Yeah? A little bit?

Speaker 1 (38:04):
Well, if you if you could go to any school,
like what would be you know, your head hits the
pillow and you're closing your eyes right and you're dreaming
about Okay, I want to have a great senior year
and then next year, what would be the football school
of choice for you?

Speaker 8 (38:19):
I think it would be Ripping?

Speaker 1 (38:21):
Really Yeah? Has Ripping contacted you yet?

Speaker 2 (38:25):
Yeah?

Speaker 8 (38:25):
A little bit here and there.

Speaker 1 (38:26):
I hope that that coach is listening. I hope he's
listening because normally when I asked that question, the guys
like you say Alabama, want to go to Wisconsin, want
to go to Tennessee, want to go to Michigan. And
it's like number of years ago. A kid from Cedarburgh
who was our Pick and Save student athleter the week
I asked him that question. He said, do you w Oshkosh?
And I SAIDs anybody talk to you? Said now yet,

(38:47):
but I'm going to reach out to him. Well, I
call coach Seroni and he happened to be in a
staff meeting and I said, wait till I tell you
this story this kid, because I normally get Alabama, Wisconsin,
you know, and and this kid's his dream is going
to play football at uw Ashkosh. And they called the
kid and then I had to go to Pick and
Save and give get the kid the award. And he goes,

(39:08):
can I ask you a question? I go, yeah, he goes,
did you call the coaching staff an Oshcotch? So they did.
He goes, I have a visit there this week and
he played football at Ashketch so if I can call
anybody at Ripping, you you let me know why.

Speaker 8 (39:22):
Ripping, by the way, you know it's a small hometown
college and uh beautiful campus. Beautiful campus. They just rebuilt
their football facility in a nice field.

Speaker 1 (39:32):
Hey, your favorite memory and I gave you guys your
heads up on this thing. But your favorite memory being
part of New Berlin West football? And it could go
back to youth football. I don't really care. Then they
have to be a game. But when I asked that question,
and everybody's light bulb goes over their head, like, man,
I've got a lot of them. But you got a
lot of football to be played yet at New berlind West.

(39:52):
But so far, your favorite memory of being part of
this football program? What would that be?

Speaker 8 (39:57):
I'd say beating Eisenhower it's our biggest one.

Speaker 1 (39:59):
Ye and then to eight beans It's okay, you know what,
everybody can have the same favorite. That's it. That's a
great favorite memory for sure. Let me come to you
your favorite memory being part of this program. Oh, he
mugged mine.

Speaker 8 (40:11):
So I'm gonna go with pasta dinners. Pasta dinners before games.

Speaker 1 (40:15):
Yeah, what's chance you get me an invite for one
of those. I can eat some pasta boy, I'd be okay, come.

Speaker 9 (40:22):
On, beat you got you got some j six or
seven chance six or seven higher seventy.

Speaker 1 (40:29):
Maybe you know who can get me there? Jeremiah. Jeremiah
can get me there. Your favorite memory being part of
this program.

Speaker 4 (40:37):
Was definitely last week against Martin Luther when I had
that pick six.

Speaker 1 (40:41):
Why you gotta hurt me? I coached basketball and Martin Luther,
those are my boys, the mighty spartans Man. You had
to pick six? Yeah, how far?

Speaker 4 (40:50):
I think it was around eighty nine yards?

Speaker 1 (40:52):
Nobody caught you too quick. You got too quick, too quick. See,
that's why you should say. Look, you saw what I
did on that pick six. As the tight end, you
guys got to get the ball theme a little bit right.
Was it? Was it a swing pass or tell me
what kind of I mean if you're at the defensive vent,
it wasn't. It wasn't a forty yard passage you picked up.

Speaker 4 (41:13):
Yeah, it was like a play action on the running
back was kind of going out for like a little
like flat kind of route.

Speaker 1 (41:19):
And they were ready to go in and score on
this thing. Yeah, and you caught it and took off.
Were they chasing you?

Speaker 5 (41:25):
Uh?

Speaker 1 (41:25):
Yeah, you've watched it on video a few times, haven't you. Yeah, obviously,
and it was at Oh that was at at home. Okay,
that's the reason because Martin Luther. Oh no, they have turf.
Now they have turf, and that's awesome. Hey, are you
guys the captains of this team or just the senior leaders?

Speaker 9 (41:43):
How does that work? They haven't come come a little closer.
They haven't like fully decided captains. The updated that later
towards the end of the season. But I'd say where
the senior leaders?

Speaker 8 (41:52):
Definitely?

Speaker 1 (41:53):
He beans who taught you how to be a good leader?

Speaker 9 (41:56):
Ah, my guy, Bennett Mueller. He's playing football at Stout.

Speaker 1 (41:59):
Now, okay? And what made him a good captain?

Speaker 9 (42:03):
He was always just a talk first guy, but he
always backed up what he said, and you always knew
what to say at the right time.

Speaker 1 (42:09):
Connor, how about you? Who taught you how to be
a leader? And and and the three of you? I
would think the guy in my right is kind of
the vocal Is he the one that's the raw ra guy?

Speaker 8 (42:18):
I think he is. Yeah, he gets us fired.

Speaker 1 (42:20):
Up, more of a quiet like you're gonna do everything
right kind of leader? Do you think for you? Who
taught you how to be a good leader?

Speaker 8 (42:29):
I think my mom taught me how to be a
good leader.

Speaker 1 (42:31):
Really, what is her first name?

Speaker 8 (42:33):
Her first name is Michelle, Michelle.

Speaker 1 (42:35):
I hope she's listening.

Speaker 8 (42:36):
I think she is?

Speaker 1 (42:36):
Is your Does your mom and dad come to every game?

Speaker 2 (42:38):
Yeah? They do.

Speaker 1 (42:39):
Who do you hear? Do you hear anybody?

Speaker 8 (42:41):
I hear my mom talked pretty loud?

Speaker 1 (42:43):
I love that. How grades are good for you?

Speaker 8 (42:47):
Grades are good?

Speaker 1 (42:47):
Yeah? Your motivation for being such a good student leader
to come from her as well?

Speaker 8 (42:52):
I think it did. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (42:53):
Who who talks to you more about football? And who
talks to you more about grades?

Speaker 8 (42:58):
I think my mom talks me about both.

Speaker 1 (43:00):
Really is she waiting up for you after the game?
Does she know the game?

Speaker 8 (43:04):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (43:05):
Man, I love that. I absolutely love that. Jeremiah, how
about you? Oh? Who do you hear in the crowd?

Speaker 4 (43:13):
Definitely my mom. She's she's at every game supporting me,
wearing her jersey.

Speaker 1 (43:17):
Yeah. Have you played for did you play for the
new Beryland West youth football program as well? Have you
guys played together for a long time?

Speaker 2 (43:25):
Then?

Speaker 1 (43:26):
Since since fifth grade? Has she and she's been at
every game, every game. Does she know the game or
just supports you in the game? Really?

Speaker 2 (43:34):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (43:35):
So that pick six she was pretty excited about. Yeah yeah,
start running down the sidelines cheering. I bet she did.
I bet she did. I love that beans. How about you?
Everybody come to watch? You got family? Yeah, everyone comes
to watch. Who's loudest?

Speaker 9 (43:51):
Honestly, no one's real vocal, but I'd say my grandma
she's you're Honestly, she doesn't know the game that well, but.

Speaker 11 (43:56):
She's always cheering. She's always hooting and hollering. What is
her name, Chris? Do you think she's listening? If she's not,
I'm going to get you the tape of this, Chris.
I want you to look. Guys, you what you don't
get on this? With your moms and and all your
family and your grandmother. This is the year of last
for them, right, you get it, this year of last.

(44:17):
But you're still thinking, Okay, well, next year, I want
to do this. Next year, I want to go to
ripping these guys. It's the last time that the home
opener against Reagan last night, it's or against Martin Luther.
It's the last home opener for these guys and it's
very emotional, and so give them a little bit of
grace when when they're maybe even a little bit more

(44:39):
emotional that that game at home against Eisenhower at the
n before playoffs is going to be hard for them.
And and you know, is that going to be Parent Knights?
You know, Senior Night, Senior Knight? So which which games?

Speaker 1 (44:53):
Homecoming?

Speaker 5 (44:54):
Bean?

Speaker 1 (44:55):
So I need to get you a date for homecoming?
By the way, Yeah, yeah, anybody I should call you?
Got a phone number for a girl. We did this
for a kid from Greendale years ago and we put
her live on the air and he asked her and
she said no, and then she goes, I'm only kiddy.
But it was five seconds before she came back and
it was the longest five seconds of that kid's life.
So if there's anybody I need to call for you, No, No,

(45:17):
you're gonna have to do this. Which homecoming? Which game
is it? You know?

Speaker 2 (45:22):
I think tossa West.

Speaker 1 (45:24):
Tos West coming up? And at the end of September.
You guys should know this. Don't you got to like
get to get your date lined up? Or well you
gotta have it to get man, I'm telling you, come on,
you're doing okay there? Right, No, I'm hanging in there. Yeah. Connor,
how about you? Anybody I need to call? You're on

(45:46):
your own, no way, Yea, your mam will help you
with that, trust me, trusty Isaiah? How about you, Jeremiah?
How about you? Do I need to call anybody?

Speaker 4 (45:54):
No, you don't have to.

Speaker 1 (45:55):
Yeah, you're okay with that?

Speaker 4 (45:57):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (45:57):
Hey, when when off? She happened last year? And you guys,
obviously as seniors, you know that you have to step
up and start to make sure that these guys are
getting the weight room. Everybody's shown up seven on seven
all of that. Jeremiah, did you did you just fall
into this world or did you have you guys had
conversations about what it takes to lead this team? Well, no, no,

(46:28):
let's have that conversation because it had to go into
your mind, right, you had to know that, Okay, I
especially if I'm a two way starter and I've got
to get these guys to understand that there's a lot
of sweat equity that goes into this. Do you have
the conversations with the sophomores and the juniors going, look,
I didn't see if the weight room, come on you
gott to join us here.

Speaker 4 (46:48):
I definitely do. I definitely try to talk to them
more and make them understand what's going on, right, because
they're young and they don't know what's going on, so.

Speaker 1 (46:57):
They do not and and and unless somebody talks to
them about it. I had a coach in years ago, Jeremiah,
that said, look, our seniors didn't do a great job
of under getting our younger class to understand what it takes.
And they thought, because we've had a lot of success
in the past, all they had to do is walk
out on a Friday night with that on the front

(47:19):
of their jerseys, and we're gonna win because that's what
we have always done. And they started the year one
in three and their coach came in and said, look,
I've told these guys there's a lot that goes into winning.
We don't just show up, and you didn't pay attention,
and our seniors didn't do a good enough job of
leading this group and making them understand. So I want

(47:40):
you to even be more vocal with those kids. Because
the season gets long. Man, come week five, week six,
you're practicing every day, you're in the weight room, you're
doing all this stuff. It gets long, and these kids
got to understand that they need to take care of
their their their business, classroom, at the dinner table. You
got to keep your body healthy right, get your sleep,

(48:04):
and make sure that they understand it. So I want
you to be more vocal with these guys. What I
don't want to have happen is for this season and
sooner than you think it should, whether because kids get
worn out or they're doing stupid stuff where they're going
to parties or doing things in the classroom, skip in school,
and as leaders, it's up to you guys to make
sure that that stuff doesn't happen. And I hope you're

(48:26):
you're willing to do that. Hey be shakkaya beans. Yeah,
that's okay. Van is the for real name right, for
real name right? Not Ryan Ryan. Why do I have
Van here? I have no idea, Hey Ryan when? When?

Speaker 5 (48:42):
When?

Speaker 1 (48:42):
This season and hopefully it gets done at Camp Randam
that that that's the goal right at Camp Randall. When
you look back at at just this year and in
the beginning of the year, maybe didn't think that we
could do because of all the youth that we can
get this far. What was the goal for you? Is
it is it always to beat Eysenhower and win the conference.

Speaker 9 (49:05):
Well, for me, the goal is always to beat Eisenhower,
then one conference and then always make a nice deep
playoff push.

Speaker 1 (49:12):
Yeah you've gotten a taste of that. Yeah, you've gotten
a taste of it. And and look, when you were
a freshman, you were in seventh grade in the youth program.
That wasn't talked about with West as much as it
is now. And for you guys to make a deep
playoff run, would it would certainly be a good way
for you guys to go out. It would be nice.
It would be nice. Guys. I can't I can't thank

(49:33):
you enough for coming in. This was quick, beans, you
were you were all excited. We had to pull these
two guys in here. Man, they were like, let him
do the talking. Thank you so much. Good luck to
rest away. Make sure that as leaders that you don't
lose anybody on this team because they're doing ridiculously stupid stuff.
Take care of your business, classroom, stay away from from

(49:54):
anything that can get you in trouble. Yep, right, it's
good to see you, guys. I'm gonna come watch you
play basketball. Shoot the ball, you're open, you're open. Scott,
sorry about that. Shoot the ball.

Speaker 5 (50:05):
All right?

Speaker 1 (50:06):
Really that's what you were last year?

Speaker 5 (50:09):
Sure?

Speaker 1 (50:10):
Oh your said you're a liar Beads who wins one
on one by you? Between you guys?

Speaker 4 (50:15):
Me?

Speaker 1 (50:15):
Oh, no fouls on. Hey, if Scott needs somebody to
get five files, you'll come out and play for him.

Speaker 2 (50:23):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (50:23):
Yeah, that's awesome, But guys, good luck next week against
West Allis Central. The rest of the way, you bet
we're gonna get to a break other side of the break.
Travis Wilson, he is gone from with Sports down and
that he's over at Bound Wisconsin. We'll talk to him
about that transition. This is the Varsity Flix High School
Sports Show, presented by your local Pick and Save and
Metro Market stores, only on Fox Sports nine twenty and

(50:45):
your iHeart Radio app. Welcome back to the Varsity Flix
High School Sports Show, presented by your local Pick and
Save and Metro Market stores, coming live from the Divan
of Jorgans and Heating and Cooling Studios. Any issues you
have or you want to make sure your furnace is
ready to go, go to Donovan Jorgenson dot com, the
largest employee owned HVAC company in the state of Wisconsin

(51:09):
at ten twenty, we'll talk to the head football coach
at UW Whitewater will join us at ten forty Dennis Murphy,
friends of Jacqueline, You don't want to stick around for
that segment, so man, this guy's doing great workout of
New York and going to be in our market this
week for the Slinger Hartford game. And Dennis Murphy doing
really good work. We are now joined by Travis Wilson.

(51:31):
I'm so used to saying with sports dot Net it's
Bound Wisconsin now and Travis wanted to have you on
for a segment to talk a little bit about this
new thing that you're doing with Bound Wisconsin. And it's
a great website. You can go to go bound dot com,
backslash Wisconsin, WIAA, and a lot of high school football information. Travis,

(51:53):
how you.

Speaker 6 (51:54):
Been Thank good Ben Biby trying to get Bound Wisconsin
often running and obviously the first couple of weeks of
the football season.

Speaker 5 (52:04):
But it's good man.

Speaker 1 (52:06):
What a time for you to make a change. You know,
you're really busy and you're coaching, and and for you
to make a change from with Sports over to Bound
and it had to be you did get much sleep
there for a couple of weeks, I've got to imagine.

Speaker 6 (52:23):
Yeah, you know, it was It's definitely bittersweet to close
that chapter and you know, move on from something that
I was very proud of for seventeen years and very
proud of the things that we did. But you know,
just the way things were heading and looking at it
felt like a good time to make a change. And

(52:45):
the folks that Bound have been incredible with what they've
wanted to do and invest in the state of Wisconsin
and really build out a new home high school sports
in Wisconsin at Bound Wisconsin. And it was a challenge.
The timing I understand, I know was not ideal for
for anybody, for for coaches that you know, we're we're

(53:08):
now entering information and in in housing their their information somewhere.
Just different for fans to you know, get kind of
switched over. But uh, we we scrambled really hard, and
our team at Bound was incredible to get it all
built out and ready to go in a pretty short

(53:28):
amount of time, just a couple of weeks to get
things turned around with a new season starting. But it's
it's been it's been really good. The reception has been
really good from the football and sports community. You know,
some really cool things that we're that we're doing and
able to do it bound with displaying information and displaying
stats and an incredible app to be able to follow

(53:50):
a team or the entire state that people really are liking.
So really good reception overall, and we're just going to
continue to build from here.

Speaker 1 (53:59):
Hey, Ryan, you we talked to during the break You
were familiar with BOND a couple of years ago and
said bad they gave a great presentation. We're somewhere where
you were at, correct Yeah.

Speaker 3 (54:12):
I was down in a national Athletic Director's conference. I
think it was Nashville if I remember correctly, and they
were talking about fundraising in that particular segment. But BOUN
can do a lot of things, and Travis correct me
if I'm wrong, But it seems like BOUN can be
a one stop shop for an athletic department.

Speaker 6 (54:32):
Yeah, that's that's kind of the main main business Bound
is providing tools and solutions for departments and athletic directors
to to be able to manage what they're doing efficiently.
There's already been a number of schools and in conferences
in Wisconsin that have made a switch and are using
BOUND down in southeast part of the state, the Woodland

(54:52):
and Parkland are using BOUND for many of their their
tools and excited to be able to share kind of
you know, what that means and what that can mean
for schools and ads while continuing to provide coverage and
and everything on the kind of fan display media side
with what I'll be focusing on largely again providing coverage

(55:17):
for high school sports. But yeah, the tools are there,
They're awesome. I've seen a number of demos, have talked
to a lot of ads and commissioners that they're excited
about learning more and making that switch. So yeah, there'll
be another piece to keep an eye on and that
we'll continue to spread that messaging on.

Speaker 1 (55:33):
Hey, Travis, were you familiar with with bound prior to
a long time, prior to making the change.

Speaker 6 (55:41):
You know, I've been familiar with Bound. They are from
a league and stats management side. They are the official
source of information in the state of Iowa from the
Iowa Association and the Girls Association in Iowa. They have
to separate associations for boys and girls, but that's where
everybody goes in Iowa. You know, they have a really

(56:04):
high usage rate from coasts and fans and everybody is
just used to using Bound in Iowa for a number
of years. That's where Bound is based out of Bound
in the Aims area. So I was familiar with them there.
I uh, you know, gotten familiar with them over the
last last few months and in last year I had
some great conversations with them at different times, and you know,
again they're really really wanting to invest in the state

(56:27):
of Wisconsin and bring their tools over here to be
able to showcase to to U schools and athletic directors
and you know, on on the media side, just fits
really well with what what I have done for a
long time and continue to be able to provide that
coverage not only the league and management, uh you know

(56:49):
side with stats and that kind of thing, but also
continuing with written content at bound Wisconsin dot com that
you know that can be your jumping off point. We've
had all of our content up there that you've kind
of grown to know and love, but also uh information
and links to the facts and uh the scored scores

(57:10):
and standings and coaches poll and all that kind of
stuff as well. Uh So if you're if you're looking
for you know what you should be bookmarking. It should
be bound Wisconsin dot com and then you can go
out from there.

Speaker 1 (57:21):
Bound Wisconsin dot Com. One one thing, I have a
bone to pick with you before you wait, I left
with UH with sports. I wish you would have gotten
all the previews done, the conference previews. I'm sure you
have them done, but they're not all up and and
will that be something that you'll be able to continue
to do on Bound.

Speaker 6 (57:42):
Yeah, We've got all kinds of written content on Bound.
I did not get to UH to finish the conference
previews that I started, just with everything changing over and
trying to get everything ready to go. But you know,
already after the first week, we've got player and Team
of the Week polls up, got the new coaches that
will come out on Tuesday. The Bound Wisconsin Football Coaches

(58:04):
poll will come out on Tuesdays. Working on my level,
excuse me a week two rapid reaction article right now,
taking a look at, you know, some of the things
that caught my eye in week two. We'll have a
weekly preview out every week and all that information is free.
There's no subscription, there's no payment required. And of course
as we get going throughout the season, we'll have kind

(58:24):
of that regular cadence and then you know, as we
get closer to playoff time, we'll start some of those
playoff preview articles and.

Speaker 5 (58:30):
All that good stuff. So a lot of the types
of content.

Speaker 6 (58:33):
That people have been used to just in a new
home at Bound Wisconsin. But yeah, keep an eye out
for it and make sure you check it out.

Speaker 1 (58:40):
Hey does Bound Wisconsin do they? Obviously they do girls sports.
Do they also get involved with with basketball and baseball
and lacrosse and everything else.

Speaker 6 (58:50):
That is our plan to get everything going full board.
You know, with with the time crunch that we were
in when I made a decision to make the move,
did not have the opportunity to fully build out the
seasons for some of the other fall sports, volleyball and
boys soccer. But all those tools are there Inbound. All

(59:10):
of them are managed, like I said, in the state
of Iowa, also the state of South Dakota, Bound as
the official resource in that state as well, So all
those tools are there. We plan on getting those all
built out. We're already kind of getting stuff going to
get ready for a basketball season coming up as well,
So you can look forward to a continued buildout not

(59:32):
only in coverage, but also in the sports and all
kinds of different things that will be going out over
the next few months.

Speaker 1 (59:39):
Man, well, they cherry picked the right guy in the
state of Wisconsin, I gotta tell you, and good decision
for them. Bound with Sconsin is where you're going to
want to go and follow Travis Wilson on Twitter and
obviously does such a great job and the information on
this website again on their website and Bound as a man,

(01:00:03):
everything is right there and I really appreciate the work
that goes into it. Hey, Travis, before he cuts you loose,
any surprises so far in high school football in the
state of Wisconsin that that you know, either teams that
are are have started out better than you thought or
teams that maybe have not started as good as you
thought they would.

Speaker 6 (01:00:23):
Yeah, well, the first couple of weeks here have been
chock full of great matchups. That's what I love about
these non conference games is you get a chance to
go out and test yourselves and for instance, you know
Msquigo going out and playing two great opponents and you know,
took it on the chin a little bit and Week
one a tough one, but rebounded well to get a
nice win in week two over a former rival, you know,

(01:00:45):
Badger taking it too, Slinger. The way they did last
night was incredibly impressive. I gotta gotta like that.

Speaker 5 (01:00:53):
You know.

Speaker 6 (01:00:53):
But again, it's some of these heavyweight teams just going
out and playing each other and saying, you know what,
let's go test ourselves.

Speaker 5 (01:00:58):
I love it.

Speaker 6 (01:00:59):
Kimberly lost in week one, you know, a little bit
of a surprising fashion, but they rally and beat the
fenning champion Bayport this week. So some of some good
stuff happening, you know. I Don'laska being two and all,
I think is impressive. A little bit farther out of
your area obviously, but they're off to a nice start. Yeah,
so it's it's good to see, uh, you know, some

(01:01:20):
of the stuff going on, and again the great matchups
that we've seen so far in the non conference. Excited
to get into conference season and and what that will
bring for a lot of people.

Speaker 1 (01:01:29):
Hey, I whenever I get off the sidelines like last night,
leave him a skigo, I turn on Chuck and and
Dan here on nine to twenty and and uh and
I wait for your segment, and I wait for you
to come on and and uh be able to to
to listen to either the game you were at or
listen to some of the things you're thinking about with
some of the teams throughout the state. You guys do

(01:01:49):
a great job on that show when people are leaving
different high school games. And and Chuck and Dan and
and Spencer here do I think Spencer? Yeah, it's Spencer
does okay, They're produce sure over here. He does great
as well. And and thank you for the time that
you put in with that. I appreciate a couple of
minutes of your time and and congratulations on the move.

(01:02:10):
How's your son playing, by the.

Speaker 6 (01:02:11):
Way, going good so far. We're two and zero, averaging
four hundred and fifty yards a game on the ground.
It's scored a touchdown the other night we played on
Thursday against the Forest. Coach mcmillane like this one we
uh we beat the Forest and he's scored a touchdown
on a fumble recovery a long path to one of

(01:02:33):
his teammates and got knocked away and recovered it in
the end zone. So we're excited about what we're doing
at Reethsburg. Got some chances to do some really good stuff.

Speaker 1 (01:02:42):
Man, that's awesome. Well keep up the good work, Travis.
Thank you for your time. Anything you ever need from
me over here let me know. But really impressed with
this new website, all the information you know, all like
literally right at your fingertips, and I think Bound is
going to be a huge success. Here stated of Wisconsin
with you driving that bus. So thanks for your time.

(01:03:04):
Let me know if there's anything you need, and I'm
sure we'll be reaching out come closer to the playoff time. Oh,
I think we lost him, might have lost him. Go
to Bomb Wisconsin and read some of the stuff that
Travis stem are gonna get to a break. Other side
of the break. Do you know Jason Rindell, the head
coach at Whitewater at all?

Speaker 2 (01:03:25):
Just no of him?

Speaker 1 (01:03:26):
Yeah, he's uh boy. I sent him an email and
within a minute said absolutely, I'll come on. I'd love
to be able to talk to him. You w Whitewater football,
So we'll get to the head football coach at youw
your Whitewater on the other side of the break. This
is the Varsity Blitz high school sports show presented by
your local Pick and Save and Metro Market Stores only

(01:03:46):
on Fox Sports nine twenty in years iHeart Radio app
Welcome back to the Varsity Blitz high school sports show,
presented by your local Pick and Save and Metro Market Stores.
I'm Mike Mike mcgiverett alongside my co host, the athletic
director at Muskigo High School. He's Ryan McMillan. We are
now joined by the head football coach at UW Whitewater.

(01:04:08):
He's a Wisconsin guy through and through. He is Jas Rendell. Hey, coach,
how you.

Speaker 5 (01:04:13):
Been I'm doing great, guys. Thanks for having us on
and looking forward to a conversation.

Speaker 1 (01:04:19):
Man, I appreciate your time, coach, I really do. How
do you feel about this year's Whitewater football team.

Speaker 5 (01:04:26):
I'm feeling really good. We just closed up camp yesterday
at fifteen practices. I feel good about the leadership and
some of the upper classmen really taking control of that
locker room and setting a great foundation for the year.
We came out of camp. I think we only had
honestly less than five guys walk away during fault camp,

(01:04:48):
and that's pretty unique. So I think that speaks volumes
to the staff and what our coaches are doing, but
more importantly, what those upperclassmen are doing in that locker room.

Speaker 1 (01:04:58):
Hey, coach, being from a camera Wisconsin, you understand the
culture in the state of Wisconsin and understand probably know
all the high school football coaches in the area. How
good of a job do you and your staff do
at recruiting our kids from the state.

Speaker 5 (01:05:15):
Yeah, well, speaking of cambrid it's got to get a
shout out to the Blue Jays two and oh on
the year, So they're off to a great start with
coach Nellison. Then yeah, I think that's that's where we start.
I mean, we really are as a program, we're going
to recruit a hunter mile radius around our campus and university,
so whether it's the Chicago suburbs across the border, but

(01:05:37):
really diving into Milwaukesha County, Milwaukee area, Madison, the Dane
and Jefferson areas, and then you know, we'll go from
there a little bit farther north. But we really want
to make our roster and fill our team with guys
that are from that Hunter mile radius. And you know,
I'm biased as a Cambridge guy, you know, with those

(01:05:58):
Wisconsin roots and and uh, we we love having we
love having the Wisconsin guys on our team.

Speaker 1 (01:06:05):
Hey, coach, when when you when you were playing at
Cambridge and uh went on and played made and played
college football. If I had told you, look here, here's
where you're going to be in a number of years
in twenty twenty five, you canna be the head football
coach E W. Whitewater growing up to was coaching something

(01:06:26):
that you thought you wanted to do for your your career.

Speaker 5 (01:06:30):
I think, you know, in high school, just loved sports,
kind of gravitated towards that I shouldn't even say in
high school. Growing up, I was a ball boy all
through middle school for basketball and football. So something about
being on a team, something about the competitive spirit of
sports that just really sucked me in. So coming out

(01:06:50):
of high school, I knew I couldn't go into a
fall without football played college football. Was fortunate enough to
do that. Got done with playing play anymore. So, Oh,
it looks like I got a coach now, And that
just kind of just kind of fit me. And I
was surrounded by a lot of really good people at
Whitewater and was fortunate enough to get the opportunity to

(01:07:11):
get on and coach right away for coach Leopold and
his staff, and it just really fit me and who
I am. And my mom was a is an here,
she was a nurse, So the serving and helping others,
it's kind of in my blood and in my roots.
And my dad was a carpenter, so he's a builder.
And I think those two things I took away from

(01:07:32):
my parents is building and serving others, and just this
coaching thing. Really fit. To be at Whitewater, to be
at your alma mater, and to be the head coach
at thirty nine years young, it's pretty special. So I
got a lot of gratitude and feel very fortunate for that.

Speaker 1 (01:07:49):
But uh, you know her here, very surreal. Hell Ryan,
he just kind of passed over his playing days, but
he was a first team All American in the D
three football dot Com defensive player that year as a
linebacker in two thousand and eight.

Speaker 2 (01:08:02):
Well, they did a lot of winning when he played.

Speaker 1 (01:08:04):
They did a whole lot of winning. Hey, I coach,
The players on this team have any idea what type
of football player you were when you were at Whitewater
or those days just long gone?

Speaker 5 (01:08:19):
That's probably a question for them. I think they do.
I don't. I don't like to talk too much about myself.
I mean, I think those accolades are pretty special. I
mean I contribute that to being on a really good
football team. And as you guys know, right, teams success,
individual accolades come. So I was just very grateful to
be on some really good football teams with a lot

(01:08:41):
of really good coaches and teammates, and I just happened
to get some of those awards. So I think the
players know a little bit, but we don't really talk
too much about that.

Speaker 1 (01:08:49):
Hey, Ryan, So when it can when a guy can
can leave you w Whitewater and then come back and coach,
I think there's there there there. He's so familiar with
the surroundings and what the culture should be and is
I think that that's a really good way to have

(01:09:10):
a successful I think program. He went away for a
little bit and then came back on staff and then
and became the head coach. He you know, he's been
on campus when things have been going really really well,
and then he's leading this team to try to get
back to that. I think that's a good way to
have success one hundred percent.

Speaker 3 (01:09:28):
And I think you go back to who was at
Whitewater when when coach was on campus and you never
lose those relationships and those resources if you will.

Speaker 2 (01:09:37):
You know, he mentioned coach Lightpole.

Speaker 3 (01:09:39):
Something tells me Jays can pick up the phone and
call coach Lightpol today if he needed to and talk
through some things and how you're handling this, how all
the rule changes and the process procedure that is the NCAA.

Speaker 2 (01:09:52):
So coach is in good place.

Speaker 3 (01:09:54):
And I think what's cool about him too, is you see, guy,
he's a hometown kid. He's close to Whitewater growing up,
he played there. But he I took a risk to
step out of his comfort zone. And I don't really
want to speak for him, but I'm just guessing here.

Speaker 2 (01:10:05):
Coach. You can correct me if I'm wrong here in
a little bit.

Speaker 3 (01:10:08):
But goes out to South Dakota, right, and it works
in something completely brand new and then gains perspective and
then comes back home, you know, with a peace of
mind and know where you're at in your surroundings and
works to build a better tomorrow and at UW Whitewater.

Speaker 2 (01:10:23):
Coach, go ahead, correct me.

Speaker 5 (01:10:25):
Well you hit it on there, Ryan, I mean I
think you you know, I came out of high school
from Cambridge and I'm a freshman at Whitewater, and I mean,
we played fifteen games and we're in the National Championship
playing on ESPN. And then we did that again the
sophomore year, and then my junior year and senior year,
so it was four straight years as a player playing
fifteen games and finishing it in the national championship game.

(01:10:47):
Then I hang up the cleats and put the whistle
around my neck and become a coach, and sure enough,
three years in a row, same exact thing, and we
actually won three consecutive national championship. So I'm coming from
Cambridge High School. Seven straight years of playing fifteen games
and playing all the way into December, So that was crazy.
But to be part of that was just so special

(01:11:10):
and so awesome. And then I you know, I'd step
away from Whitewater and go to a University of South
Dakota and at the time USD wasn't quite at the
top of the conference, so we were we were more
one of the teams at the bottom. So you go
from winning all the time to now, you know, only
win in a few games, and you do gain perspective

(01:11:30):
and it really solidified some of the little details and
nuances to the processes that we had at Whitewater and
how those were so critical to the success that we had,
And so that was just such a great experience to
go out there. I got to meet a lot of
new people and got to be surrounded by some really
good coaches that I'm really good friends with still to

(01:11:51):
this day. And you know, it's just that's the journey,
and you got to make sure that you're not afraid
to step out aside of your comfort zone, because honestly,
that's really when the growth takes place, is when you
get into those challenges. So to be laywater to have
all that success and be a part of those teams
that want to step away kind of go to the
opposite end of the coin and and really have to

(01:12:11):
cut your teeth and take on some losses, but then
to be able to come back and use that those
lessons to help the program. It's been, it's been. It's
been a great journeys and it's been really good.

Speaker 1 (01:12:23):
And we're talking to Jase Frendell, he is the head
football coach at UW Whitewater Chase. One of the things
that drives me nuts, and I know it drives Ryan
nuts a little bit too, when we have kids in
this area that are good enough to play at the
next level, and pride gets in the way. Right, this
is the best Division III conference in the state, in

(01:12:45):
the country for college football. And some guys that are
going up to schools normally up to Minnesota to to say, look,
I got a scholarship to play Division two and they're
getting about a two thousand dollars scholarship, not even going
to cover the gas. But to be able to then
walk on the on the on the street and say, oh,
I got a scholarship. I'm a scholarship football player, instead

(01:13:06):
of saying, look, I fit in really well at UW
Whitewater or UW Lacrosse or Ospatch or Platfiller, whatever school
is in this conference. That to be able to play
at home, have your parents come watch you play, your face,
your friends and family come watch you play and play
at a really high level, like at a place called
like UW Whitewater. How difficult is it for you when

(01:13:29):
you're losing a couple of kids to some divisions to
school up in the you know, up in Minnesota, the
middle of the state, and and they're not really even
getting a scholarship worth talking about but you're losing kids
to those schools.

Speaker 5 (01:13:43):
Yeah, I mean, I think that's just the nature of
the beast. I mean, you know, everybody's tuned in now
on Saturdays because you got college football starting in the
college game Day with Lee Corso and the crew, so
that highest level and thinking of scholarship is kind of
just planted into everybody. So you know, my biggest thing
would be, hey, come take a look, right, Come come

(01:14:06):
kick the tires, come see what this place is all about.
And you know, speaking about Whitewater is our game day atmosphere,
our program and the support that we have from our
administration is truly special. And that'd be my challenge to
guys or you know, if you're set on the scholarship
level and we want to go get that two thousand
dollars scholarship or whatever it may be. And if that's

(01:14:28):
what you're all about, that, you know, tip our cap
to them, and we're not going to be negative, but
come come look at this place, Come see what it is.
Because I think from game day experience to support standpoint,
from the admin to our coaching staff model, we're probably
as good, it's not better than a lot of those
those scholarship schools that you're talking.

Speaker 1 (01:14:48):
About ran you'd agree with that. You know, the atmosphere
at Whitewater and a number of conferences, a number of
teams in that conference, it really is if unless you've
been there and walked through it and felt it, the
atmosphere is every bit, if not more than some of
the schools. Some of these guys are looking at totally.

Speaker 3 (01:15:08):
Their resources are second to none, and they do a
great job of care for the student athlete as well.
You know, Whitewater always be number two in that conference
for me, you know, being behind Stevens Point, but they
do a really really good job.

Speaker 6 (01:15:22):
Man.

Speaker 1 (01:15:23):
Look, you know he's a pointer. Sorry about that, Chase.
I didn't know he was gonna bring up how much
you love Steven's point. But that's all right. Well we'll
let him have that. And look, when you when you
go on the road to face Stevens Point out of
October eleven, make sure that maybe McMillan is standing on
the other sideline so when you get that win you

(01:15:43):
can shake his hand.

Speaker 3 (01:15:44):
I think coach Chase is gonna be just finding that
game's gonna be just fine. The way things are going lately,
it's gonna be just Whitewater is second to none. Like
these kids chase stuff in the Minnesota and even Michigan
and they don't need to. And some of these kids
that come to campus and coach convert if I'm wrong,
but they see white Water on ESPN and various other pieces.

(01:16:04):
I want to go that's cool. I don't check that plate.
And they get there and it feels like a big
school campus.

Speaker 1 (01:16:08):
Yeah, one hundred, I agree. I agree with that. Hey, Jason,
when you get a chance to talk to a senior
or a junior in high school that you really want
to come over to u W Whitewater and play football
for you and their parents, and you're sitting at the
kitchen table, can you kind of give me an idea
the reader's digest version of what you talk to them

(01:16:29):
about what it takes to play at the next level,
not only football, but academically as well.

Speaker 5 (01:16:36):
I mean for us. You know, I'm sitting down talking
to a family and a potential work cruit. It's hey,
you know, here's what we are at Whitewater. We're a
bunch of good dudes. We're going to play the game
the right way. You know, our identity is simple we're
gonna be disciplined, We're gonna be tough. We want guys
that go out there and play play for four quarters,
one play at a time, play in and play out.

(01:16:58):
But then we want to do it the right way.
We're gonna respect the game of football. We're not gonna
taunt our opponents. We're gonna clean, be cleaning Chris with
how we go about it, care about the details. But
you know, ahead of all that is character. We want
guys that are are men a character and and are
going to be you know, selfless and team players. You know.
So that's that's kind of what we look for. And

(01:17:20):
you know, then hey, come be a part of some special. Right.
We got a lot of support here at Whitewater. We
got a chance that loves football. He's all in. We're
gonna do it first class. We're gonna treat you right.
But come be a part of some special And uh,
that's kind of the plug that we use. And and
that's kind of been the recipe of success. But the
key to the whole drill is they not resting on

(01:17:42):
your laurels, not thinking that what happens in the past
is really going to help you today. It's more about
how you go about it day in and day out,
how you treat people, and you know that's how that's
how we go about it here at white Water.

Speaker 3 (01:17:55):
Hey, coach, how many of the of your staff are
guys from back when you played or somehow connected back
to UW Whitewater, Because you guys have had such a
rich history and tradition, especially over the last twenty years.
I'm just curious, from a staff building standpoint, do you
find a lot of the alumni have that same passion

(01:18:18):
that you have to give back to the university that
gave you so much and gave you that experience.

Speaker 5 (01:18:24):
Without a doubt. I mean half of our staff, out
of our eighth position coaches, half of them are our
alum that played played, you know, in the perk and
wore that Warhawk on their heads. So you know, our
defensive staff, Ryan Cortez, or defensive coordinator, who's been with
the program since two thousand and nine, is as good
as a coach as there is out there. My first
year coaching linebackers, Ryan was a freshman in that room.

(01:18:47):
So that's kind of a neat tradition piece. Our associate
head coach and linebacker coach bou Martin, same deal. He
was an alum that came to Whitewater back in twenty fourteen.
Coached him as a linebacker. So to have that connection
and kind of that tradition of linebackers on top of

(01:19:08):
the linebackers all grown up in that defensive system that
was really created by Brian Borland and Chris Simpson and
some of the other great coaches that we had here.
So yeah, it's pretty special, pretty neat. You know, our
quarterback in twenty twenty three, alec Ogden, that was my
first year as the head coach. He led us to
the final eight in the playoffs, and he's coaching our receivers.

(01:19:31):
So you just try to make sure that you people
that have been here not only do they have the
institutional knowledge about Whitewater, but they get it right. They
get how special it is. So to be able to
have that to carry the legacy forward is pretty outstanding.

Speaker 1 (01:19:47):
Hey, coach, thank you so much for your time. Good luck.
You kick it off at one o'clock September sixth next
Saturday at home against Carlton College, and then in a
few weeks after you open up in conference at home
Perkins Stadium against w lacrosse. We wish you guys the
best of luck. I really appreciate your willingness to come

(01:20:09):
on and give us a few minutes today. Coach.

Speaker 5 (01:20:12):
Yeah, this is awesome, guys. I appreciate the opportunity and
hopefully we can do it again this year and keep
doing what you're doing. You gots do a heck of
a job, man.

Speaker 1 (01:20:20):
I appreciate that. That's Jas Rendall. He is the head
football coach at UW Whitewater. Guys, our next segment Dennis
Murphy Friends of Jacqueline. I ask you to stick around
for this one. This one is be at a little emotional,
but this foundation is doing great work and they're going
to be in town and actually at the game that
my twenty four is going to be at, the Hartford

(01:20:41):
Slinger game. Next week. We'll talk to Dennis Murphy about
this Friends of Jacqueline foundation that he has started. You
can go to friendsif Jacqueline dot com to get more
information if you want to learn about it before we
have him on the air. This is the Varsity Blitz
high school sports show, presented by our local Pick and
Save and Metro Market stores, only on Fox Sports nine
twenty in your iHeartRadio App. Welcome back to the Varsity

(01:21:05):
Flicks high school sports show, presented by your local Pick
and Save and Metro Market stores, only on Fox Sports
nine twenty in your iHeartRadio App. Coming live from the DONOVANU.
Jorgensen Heating and Cooling Studios. We are trying to reach
out to Dennis Murphy. He's going to give us a
call here in a minute, I believe, and his foundation,
Friends of Jacqueline Foundation and Ryan. I. When I saw

(01:21:29):
you in the satellins the last night, I said, you
got to hang with me for the entire show because
I want you to hear the story on what Friends
of Jacqueline does and how they do it and why
they do it. And it really is this guy you
want to talk about a servant leadership heart and some
of the things that Dennis Murphy is doing. It's really impressive.

(01:21:50):
In fact, he's coming into the market today, gonna be
here all week, going to be up in the Slinger area.
I asked him, you know the second question, you play golf?
He goes, I love golf. I said, maybe we got
to get out and get nine. Darren, you know why
you're here. We are now joined by Dennis Murphy again.
The foundation. It's Friends of Jacqueline Foundation. Dennis, thank you

(01:22:11):
so much for a couple of minutes of your time.
How you doing today, that's great.

Speaker 10 (01:22:16):
Thanks thanks for having me on.

Speaker 1 (01:22:18):
Yeah, you bet Hey, thank you for sending all the
information as we talk to Dennis, Friends off Jacqueline dot org,
Friends off Jacqueline dot org on that website, all the
information you need about what this foundation does, what they're
that that servant leadership Hart comes right through and in
the stuff that you're that you read about this foundation,

(01:22:40):
there's also a place if you're you're feeling led to
help him continue. And this is a ministry I know
it is. It's his ministry and and and if you're
willing to help him, there's a donate page and you
can donate five bucks or one hundred bucks to help
him continue on this ministry. Hey, talk to me about
the background, the history of Friends of Jacqueline and why

(01:23:03):
you started this foundation.

Speaker 5 (01:23:06):
Yeah.

Speaker 10 (01:23:06):
First of all, it's a pleasure and honor to be
on the call with you. Our mission at Friends of
Jacqueline is to improve the quality of life the children
that are battling pediatric brain tumors and cancer, and I'll
give you the short version of how it started. But
there's a reason our mission is about quality of life.
I'm about what can we do for these kids today,

(01:23:28):
not tomorrow or a week or a year or five
years from now, where research research is important, but that's
not my focus. My focus is quality of life. And
what we do is we pair up children battling pediatric
cancer with sports teams all over the country Division one,
Division two, Division three, high school of junior college, every

(01:23:49):
sport you can think of. I'm talking to you right now.
I'm in Darlington, South Carolina, at the racetrack, and we
have a little boy adopted by Connor Mosak, who's running
in the NASCAR Truck Series for Bill mcinally Racing. So
that's why if you hear the noise in the background,
that's what's going on here. But how Friends of Jacqueline

(01:24:09):
real short version how it started as I have two girls,
Jacqueline and Karen, and Jacqueline spelled j A C L
y N. She was nine, the mother daughter was seven,
and Jacqueline was playing sports lacrosse. We're up from New
York and her gate went. We rested to the hospital.
She was in there for misiagnosed for a week at

(01:24:30):
a local hospital. And my wife is a high school
business teacher and one of her students as said, you
had to get the cat How Jaquelin was doing? She asked,
have you gotten the cat scan? We had linked got
in the cat scan and bone found the NaSTA size
of a golf ball and the fourth central club of
brain in our journey started and we went down a
Memorial Stone Kettering, which is a cancer hospital in New

(01:24:51):
York City, and we had surgery, radiation, surgery, and while
we were down there, her coach called back and said,
where's Jacqueline. I had to explain to him, and she
came with a malignant brain tomber called Mendela blastoma and
she had a thirty percent chance to live. He reached
out to Chicago Northwestern, the women's across team at the time,
and they started this relationship and then Jacqueline would text

(01:25:15):
message them while she was getting treatments, and she inspired
them to win a national championship, and then they went on.
They ran rattled off five national championships. But in the interim,
one day when we're on the ninth floor, that's the
pediatric floor, Memorial Stone Kettering. The ninth floor is the
stattest place on the planet in every children's hospital, because

(01:25:37):
the beast is there twenty four to seven, three sixty
five attack on these kids, and the good nurses, doctors
and caregivers are there trying to help these kids. But
she was a text message in these other girls in
Chicago on the team and listening to her talk to
this other girl who was waiting to get her chemo,
and she got called away for chemo, and then she
turned to me and said, Dad, you got to get
her a team. So that's when the light bulb went

(01:25:59):
on and I started friends Jacqueline. That's the real short version.
But today we have over thirteen hundred children adopted, like
I said, in Division one, two three Junior College, and
we're branching out into the arts of music. There isn't
a team I won't find for sick kids.

Speaker 1 (01:26:14):
Dennis. I look, I have a son and a daughter's
six grandkids. Ryan's got daughters. And watching the watching the
video that Brian gumbledd on Real Sports on you and
your daughter and everything coming up, I had tears just
flowing down my cheek. And the fact the thing that

(01:26:34):
was amazing to me, is that picture that you pointed
to every time you guys walked into the hospital and said,
that'll be you one day. And it turns out it
was the coach at Northwestern who had adopted your daughter basically,
And I'm like that, that's a god thing in my world, right,
there's no coincidence to that. That's a god thing. And

(01:26:55):
the fact that all of a sudden your daughter realized, Hey, Dad,
that's our that's my co Oh, so that's my friend
right there. I love that when you saw what this
did for your daughter. Look, it had to be exciting once.
And she's thirty one years old right now, and she's
healthy and feeling good.

Speaker 10 (01:27:15):
Yes, I'm blessed. I'm the luckiest guy in the planet.
And that's all I care about is you know, I've
been doing this for twenty one years. You're diagnosed at nine,
and all I pray for is three words, and it's
called no evidence of disease, and it's called ned. All
of our children that go through there's no care for
cancer right now. So the only thing that doctors can

(01:27:36):
tell our kids is you come back and they get
their MRIs or readings. They're like, there's no evidence to
disease and we'll see it. You will see your next scan.
So that's what we live. We live for, We live
for ned. That's how critical. And you're never out of
the woods. You know, cancer is the relapses, reoccurrences. While
we have over thirteen hundred children adopted, I've lost the

(01:28:00):
two hundred and ninety eight. You never want to do
what I do ever, because you go to a funeral
with a small coffin, it'll change your life forever.

Speaker 6 (01:28:08):
And I'm on a.

Speaker 10 (01:28:09):
Scale that's that's what I have to call a carpartmentalizes mortality.
But it's guys like you that at what you're doing
right now. Somebody's going to hear this. They're going to
share this story. They're going to go to friends of
Jack on website and they're going to share this with
a friend or a family member that's sick, and you'll
change your life. I can guarantee it happens every time.

(01:28:32):
Happens every time. So you know you're using your platform,
your vehicle to change lives with this phone call. Hey,
we're grateful and appreciated for giving us the time.

Speaker 1 (01:28:42):
Hey, Dennis, I know you can have as much time
as you want. Anytime that you want on this show
because what you're doing is so important and I'm so impressed.
I am right now on your website and again you
can go to Friends of Jacqueline. It's jac l yn
dot com right Jacqueline dot dot org, dot org dot

(01:29:04):
or excuse me dot org. But I'm on there's there's
five pages in very small print. I need my glasses
of all of the different schools and places that have
gotten involved. When you reach out to a school, well
do they read? First of all? Do they reach out
to you or do you reach out to them? And
how do you find the kids that that you want

(01:29:27):
to match up with?

Speaker 10 (01:29:28):
Some of these schools, Well, that's that's what you're doing.
That's why you're you know, you're what you're doing is
is a gift TUSS. Because HIPPA is my biggest challenge.
I just can't call the hospital and say, hey, uh,
you know I I'm getting to that level where we're
right up there with make a wish uh where we
you know? And and my feeling is every day that

(01:29:48):
goes by that a child doesn't have a team is
one day, one less day of a better quality life
they could have had. So I'm adamant about getting every
kid a team. Uh, but it's it's it's it's vehicles
like this that the children will come out. And then
what I try to do is is try to keep
it wherever their geography is. I look at the closest

(01:30:12):
university or school in their area and uh, and then
we then we start working that way to pair them up.

Speaker 6 (01:30:18):
With the team.

Speaker 10 (01:30:18):
And the biggest misconception of our friends of Jacqueline is
little Joey Wance Notre Dame football or or Alabama baseball.
But it's it's it's not even that, it's it could
be the water polo team, it could be the equestrian
team I have. I have a couple of hundred teams
that are waiting to adopt the child. And and uh,

(01:30:38):
once that child gets on that team, they forget about uh,
they forget about the sport and they got themselves.

Speaker 5 (01:30:45):
Uh.

Speaker 10 (01:30:46):
You know, twenty five to thirty new uh student athletes
that are to become a family to them. And it's
not one game, it's not one game or one season.
It's for life. They're remember that team for life.

Speaker 1 (01:30:58):
Hey, Dennis, his own Dennis. I'm looking at my co
host and he's the athletic director at Musquito High School
and light bulbs are going on over his head? Would
he be would he be the guy to reach out
to you if he if he hears of somebody in
his community, and if and if it's a boy or
girl and they're a soccer fan, or a golf fan,

(01:31:20):
or a football, basketball, baseball fan with the athletic director
of a school, reach out to you.

Speaker 10 (01:31:26):
And Sam, Absolutely yes, absolutely, anybody.

Speaker 1 (01:31:30):
Who calls me and wants your number, can I pass
along your number to them?

Speaker 5 (01:31:34):
Absolutely? Yeah.

Speaker 10 (01:31:35):
I'm twenty four seven, three sixty five and I take
the calls and and you can tell him that nine
nine nine number. People usually hang up on that. But
when Jack was diagnosed, she was dyslexic and she couldn't remember,
so I asked the phone number. The phone company give
me an easy number to remember, and they gave me
that number, and I've had it for twenty one years.

(01:31:57):
That's that's my that's my cell number. And I'll talk
anybody about helping a kid anytime.

Speaker 2 (01:32:02):
I appreciate it. Hey, I appreciate you committing to this.

Speaker 3 (01:32:06):
Coming from an athletic director's heart, all of us are
going to be infected by cancer in some way, shape
or form in our lifetime. But knowing there's people like
you out there that athletics obviously.

Speaker 2 (01:32:18):
Is my passion.

Speaker 3 (01:32:18):
There's a lot of young students that come through our
school system that love athletics and that's what fills their bucket.
And if it at any unfortunate turn, if a student
gets into a tough health situation or is meeting that
your need, I'll never forget this conversation ever. And knowing
that the people to call to that connected kid that

(01:32:41):
have that same type of team camaraderie, if you will
to just keep them going and keep them enjoying life.
I really appreciate what you're doing and thank you for
committing to the grind. It's not easy too, and you
see the very.

Speaker 1 (01:32:54):
Good to Hey Dennis, Dennis, talk to me about if
when you line somebody up with a team, what does
that look like? Like I watched the video, so I
know what it looked like and what it did for
your daughter, Jacqueline. But like you're coming in for the
Slinger Hartford game. We're gonna meet in person this week
and I'm gonna be able to interview you on the

(01:33:16):
sidelines and I know there's a I believe a young man,
a five year old out in that area that that
you're gonna do this for. But what does that look
like for the team and what does it look like
for the young adult or the young child?

Speaker 5 (01:33:28):
Yeah?

Speaker 10 (01:33:28):
Great, great, great, great question because every that's uh a crush.
I get asked all the time, what what what happens
during an adoption? And every adoption is different. I just
was at Clemson University and the women's soccer team together
adopted a pair of twins and it took place at
the softball facility. What's gonna happen when at slinger Thursday

(01:33:53):
night is their their pasta dinner after pasta dinner from
the team, I'm gonna be there. I'm gonna do what
I'm doing with you, basically walk everybody through our mission.
Our program's Jaquein's journey, and I gave you the real
thumbnail version, but it's it's emotional. I think twenty one
years is still emotional to get through. And then I'll
hand it off to mom, and then the mom's going

(01:34:14):
to walk the team through Vincent's journey, and then we'll
hand it back to the to the head coach and
he's got some gear for him, and I'll have a
letter assigned and then we'll start the bonding process. He'll
come to practices. Dependent upon where they are on their
journey and how they are in treatment, will they come

(01:34:35):
out to a practice. And that's the magic of Friends
of Jacqueline. They get to come and forget about the
beast for an hour or two. And it took me
years to two from the players telling me how much
more they were getting at it. So their perspective, it's
a win. It's a two way street. You know, the
family gets the benefit because they get to take their

(01:34:56):
child someplace where they they're treated normal. They don't look
at the child cancer. He's a teammate. He's just a
teammate and uh, they treat them normal and and and
the perspective that they take away for the rest of
their life is pretty powerful. So it's a it's a
win win situation and to two way street. But every

(01:35:18):
adoption is different. I've had him the the West Point
Parachute team, the Black Knights, they adopted. They didn't take
him up in there, but they wanted to take him
up in the plane. They jumped out and Andrew. They
they formed an A so I've had I could tell
you stories all day long. But yeah, they're they're everyone,
everyone's unique, and by all means you're you're, you're invited.

(01:35:39):
Anybody listens to this if they wanted to come and experience,
I highly recommend you experience and adoption because uh it's
not you have to be there in person to really
get the uh toull gravity and it's raw.

Speaker 1 (01:35:54):
Dennis, Dennis, I can tell you this. If you can't
get there in person, go to this website. And I'm
telling you do not expect to go on the website
and leave your house three minutes later go to the
grocery store. Because I've spent so much time on this
website and I'm asking I don't do this very often.

(01:36:14):
I'm asking you to go to the website. And if
you're feeling led to help him to continue this ministry,
I highly recommend to hit the donate button. You can
donate ten bucks or one hundred bucks or out whatever
you want to do, but read about it, Read about
what their mission is, read about some of these stories
that they have done. And if I talk to Dennis Murphy,

(01:36:36):
you know twenty five years ago and said, look, this
is what you're going to be doing. This is what
you're gonna be doing with your life twenty four to seven.
At one point he would have he would have looked
at me like I was crazy, and this is his life. Now,
this is what he does, and I'm telling you he
does a great job. And you want to talk about
servant leadership, hert man, this guy is. He might as

(01:36:56):
well be in the dictionary with his face when under
that term leadership hard. Go to Friends of Jacqueline Foundation,
right Jack and do that and read about what he's doing,
and join us out on the sidelines that Slinger on
On on Friday for the Slinger Hartford game. Dennis, thank
you for your time. I look forward to shaking your

(01:37:16):
hand and buying you a cup of coffee and watching
your beat me on, having you beat me on the
golf course, because everybody does, Dennis, no issues there.

Speaker 10 (01:37:25):
That's yeah, it's really really humbling, and yeah, are our
models living the moment, playing the moment. It's hard to do.
It's hard to do, but we tried to do it
every day and we're blessed to be on the call today.
Thank you so much for making time for us.

Speaker 1 (01:37:40):
You bet, guys again, Friends of Jacqueline Foundation. Just google
it and you'll get all the information you need. Ryan,
it's good to see you today. Do you see You
see why I asked you to stay for this last segment.
It's a great segment. He is Dennis Murphy again, Friends
of Jacqueline. This is the Varsity Blitz high school sports
show presented by your local Pick and Save and not
Throw Market stores, only on Fox Sports ninet twenty and

(01:38:02):
your iHeartRadio app.