Full Show - 9/27/2025

Full show from the Donovan & Jorgenson Heating & Cooling Studio: Saturday, September 27th, 2025

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome into the varcit Plits high School Sports Show, presented
by your local Pick and Save and Metro Market stores,
only on Fox Sports nine twenty and your iHeartRadio app
coming live from the Donovan and Jorgensen Heating and Cooling Studios.
Our special guests is in a lot, so we're gonna
go get him if we can. My co host in studio,

(00:23):
the athletic director Muskego High School, good Win last night.

Speaker 2 (00:27):
That was a really good one. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (00:28):
Brookfield East has got some nice tools, and you know,
they've done really good things I think with their program
and kind of building that thing back to where it was,
you know, in the state championship years.

Speaker 1 (00:41):
But yeah, we got them next week in my twenty
four brook Central Brookie Scan.

Speaker 3 (00:45):
They've been competitive with everyone they played in their schedule,
and I appreciate it from.

Speaker 2 (00:49):
A coaching standpoint.

Speaker 3 (00:51):
They tried to do some different stuff against us, specifically
their offense to our defense because our defense is good,
and they stressed us a little bit. I mean, they
couldn't get on the scoreboard, but they did some unique
things that I think had they been a little bit
more consistent with what they had going on right they
might have had a little tighter ball game, and then

(01:12):
our offense scored when it needed to and uh, you know,
two passing touchdowns.

Speaker 2 (01:17):
Last night and our quarterback was two for two for
two dingers. So that was a good night for him
and great knight.

Speaker 3 (01:21):
Yeah, and the Mnemic kid instead of running the ball
all over, he caught a I don't know, eighty yard
seamer out right down the chute and the way he went.
So it was a good night, packed house from the
Muskeigo side of things. We had people parking all over
the place and it was a lot of fun.

Speaker 1 (01:37):
Well, I always got Pewaukee last night for the mcguanne
go a Pewaukee game, and I got to tell you this,
Pewaukee is a really good football team. They're really well coached.
They look good walking out of the locker room, right yep.
They got good size and I can tell you mguanago.
They two platooned all over the place and Pewaukee got

(02:00):
worn out in the second half. We had a running clock.
And I'm telling you that when Pewaukee gets out of
that conference, they're gonna there. They got two sophomore quarterbacks
that are pretty good, and they got some guys that
can play and guy underclassmen, they're gonna be really tough
to beat.

Speaker 3 (02:16):
Next And they got a chance to get two more
victories I think in the class gate because I think
they have Kettle Morain yet and they have Oconomwal and
those will be two very competitive football games.

Speaker 1 (02:24):
They will be and and talking to their coaching staff,
that's what their their hope is if they can get
to and get into the playoffs. They got a chance.
They said, look, last year, maybe the best team we
played all year was Notre Dame like and they got
run out of that first week in the playoffs. They
got beat up pretty good. But going into that game,
he said, man, we were so beat up, and it's

(02:45):
from playing in this conference, right and we can't we
don't have enough players, quality players to two platoon and
Joe Cook and you've always agreed with him on this,
when I can do platoon, I got forty four players
fully engaged in every practice because the backups know they're
one play away, so they've got to be engaged and

(03:06):
they've got to be right there and making sure that
they practice hard because there's a really good chance they're
going to get in the game. When you're going when
you got seven guys going both ways.

Speaker 2 (03:16):
Yeah, that's tough.

Speaker 1 (03:17):
It's tough. And their best player got the Division one
offense and defensive linemen, got hurt the first game and
he's over on and he tore his ahl. He's done
for the year and he's the Division one kid, and
that that was their best lineman got hurt and he's
out for the year. So now they've got a couple
other kids that maybe should not be getting as much time.

(03:40):
And then one of their defensive linemen coming into the
facility because they have a bunch of construction, turned his ankle.
So he got fully dressed, tried to and they tried
to retape it, and he was over on the sidelines,
great size kid, really nice. I sat next to him
and he had tears in his eyes coming down his

(04:00):
cheek and I said, did you break it? He goes,
I don't think so, but we're going to get an
X rayed. But I cannot believe this just happened, and
you're walking into the facility.

Speaker 3 (04:09):
Well, hopefully it just sprained and hopefully they can get
him some rest and get it back.

Speaker 1 (04:14):
Yeah, who who does Mesquigo get? Next week?

Speaker 2 (04:16):
Next week we go to Kittle Marine.

Speaker 1 (04:18):
Okay, I you know our am I twenty four. We
flexed Week nine. I I only have one vote out
of about eight, and I kept saying, guys, we got
to get the mcgonage Mosquito game. Well we've had both
teams on and I don't care. We flexed it for
a reason and I'm losing this this h this thing,

(04:39):
I'm losing it. The other one Union Grow Badger, Ah,
Union Grow.

Speaker 2 (04:44):
Badger two undefeated.

Speaker 1 (04:45):
There. Maybe maybe we're joined our special guests. We're going
to have him in the beginning next segment. But he's here,
and so we're bringing him in. Head football coach for
the Mighty Broncos. Craig, how you bed real good. It's
good to meet you in person as well. Yeah, he
had a text you a few times and then I
go through Fletcher to get you to respond. But I
appreciate you coming.

Speaker 4 (05:05):
Thank God for Brian Fletcher.

Speaker 1 (05:07):
Thank God. I'm such a fan. Yeah I did then,
and look not only him but his entire family and
his kids. And I got a chance to meet his
mom and I said, boy, I really I'm a big
fan of your son. And she said you should have
known him in grade school. In high school, he was
naughty and he was naughty, but boy, he gets it

(05:27):
and he understands it, and I'm a big fan of his. Hey,
it's good to meet you. Did you have an idea
coming in that this team had a chance to be
pretty good? Yeah?

Speaker 4 (05:35):
I mean we we brought back a bunch of two
year three year starters coming into this year. Uh, two
years ago we started seventeen sophomores and two freshmen and
kind of reaping the benefits of that now very very
you know, tough sledding those two years. By the end
of last year, we kind of saw the workings of

(05:57):
this group could be a really special group this next year.
And they their butts all all off season in the
weight room and they're just they're performing and they're doing
what they need to do.

Speaker 1 (06:06):
Hey, Ryan, when you were at Oconomwalk, did you did
you have that ever where you had that many sophomores
and freshmen and knowing the future was going to be good.
But you had to take your hits during that time.
That's hard to do because you know what you're used
to going to. You know, you were an acadom mark
you and you grow up, you go to the pickings
to local pick and save, and all of a sudden

(06:28):
people aren't talking to you anymore. Like buy of a
second last year when we only had one was everybody
I was getting, you know, some free produce once in
a while, and all of a sudden people are like, oh,
you're you got your one and six. I don't want
to talk to you. That. That's a hard thing for
a head coach to go through.

Speaker 3 (06:44):
Yeah, you got to weather the storm and then by
your time. That the nice part about it is if
you've been in it for a little bit and you
know what's coming or you got some experience. I guess
is when those sophomores get to be seniors, uh, you
don't have to say much to get them wound up
because they've taken their licks.

Speaker 2 (07:03):
You know, you can only be hit so many times.

Speaker 3 (07:05):
Before you decide to stand up for yourself and fight
back right right. So it's like one of those things
you don't have to get the fighter ready for the fight.

Speaker 2 (07:11):
They're already ready for it.

Speaker 3 (07:12):
They want it and they want to get theirs now
and their time is coming. And that's a lot of
fun when you get that that senior group coming through
and those types.

Speaker 2 (07:21):
Of classes and you just gotta It's an abb and flow.

Speaker 3 (07:23):
Everyone goes through it and you just gotta keep pushing
forward and balances the best skin.

Speaker 1 (07:28):
Hey, Craig is the head football coach at Grove. Can
we get your background history where you grew up, where
you went to school, where you played stuff like that.

Speaker 4 (07:35):
Yeah, so I went to Union Grove. So I graduated
from Union Grove and oh seven. Then I went and
played football at Ashcosh. Coach Sarni was our head coach
up there at the time. And then I went back
to Union Grove as like educational assistant, finished my degree,
got my teaching license. In between that time, I played
with like the Racine Raiders. I went down to Texas

(07:56):
to play some arena football, came back up.

Speaker 1 (07:58):
What position? Yeah, you can spin a little bit, just
a little bit. Well, what was SERRONI like for quarterbacks
up at Oshkosh. I'm sure he was just put his
arm round you all the time, said how much he
loved you.

Speaker 4 (08:08):
He he definitely showed you a little tough love, but
he was great. I wouldn't want to play for anybody
else but him. Wish him all the best. I think
he's in Kansas right now. So he's he's He was
an amazing guy. A lot of stories, some that I
probably can't tell on air, and I have a hundred times.
But we had him in studio at the other station.

(08:30):
And my mom when she was live listen to my
high school stuff every week.

Speaker 1 (08:34):
She always forgot, I'm putting quotations up that they do
a home improvement show before that. She no, no, I
kind of forgot about that show, but I love and
she would call me after the show and we had
Seroni on via cell phone and she's calling me during
the segment, so I thought there's she was living at
the Catholic home. I thought there was a problem. So
I went to a quick break and asked coach SERRONI

(08:55):
to hold on, and he said, yep, no problem. And
I went outside and I said, you all right. She goes,
I don't like this guy, and I go what she goes,
he's too cocky. I wouldn't play for him. And I said, Mom,
he's not trying to recruit an eighty nine year old
woman with a bad knee. And she said, I have
eligibility left. I wouldn't play for him, and I want
you to go back on the air and tell him that.
I said, all right, So I told him. He goes,
what's your mom's name? I said, Joan. He said Joan.

(09:16):
When you win as much as I do, you get
to be a little cocky. Well, my phone was blowing up.
She's like, I do not like him at all. He
grew great coach, that's awesome, great coach. How'd you like
playing arena football?

Speaker 4 (09:29):
Different game?

Speaker 1 (09:30):
Yeah? I worked in that game. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (09:32):
You put a you put a slab of carpet on
a hockey rink and you say go play and don't
mind those walls there, right, But I just throw the ball,
swing it super fast, and you got to kind of
predetermined throws at times just because of how fast those
guys are moving. And it's tough. It's it's a tough,
tough game. But then when you come back to eleven
man like on grass, it's a slows down a lite clown.

Speaker 1 (09:52):
Yeah. I worked for the Mustangs for two years as
their director of sales and marketing and watching that game.
We didn't win a game the first year, and it
was horrible. It was we were right on the verge
of winning one in Western Massachusetts and their quarterback and
boy I got I got to remember his name, a
former NFL guy that you threw like three touchdowns in

(10:15):
the last fifteen seconds one like and one of their
kicks went off in that and hit them, and then
it came out for a kickoff and they picked it
up and ran and then in the last forty seconds
of that game they scored three touchdowns and win it. Yeah,
and that happens in that.

Speaker 4 (10:30):
Yeah, you are never out of a game in an
arena now in an arena set and you can score
so fast.

Speaker 1 (10:34):
How long did you play for the Raiders?

Speaker 4 (10:36):
Four years?

Speaker 1 (10:37):
Yeah, it was that fun.

Speaker 4 (10:37):
That was a lot of fun, a lot of history,
great fans out there. So it's I mean, is you
go to other places to play and you're like, I
don't think I would do this if I wasn't playing
in Racine, just because of the support that you get.
Great organization, super well organized. Coach Kennedy, Wilbert Kennedy down
there right now, does a great job with them.

Speaker 1 (10:54):
So who was who was the head coach at Union
Grove when you were playing high school football?

Speaker 4 (10:59):
Jeff Urban?

Speaker 1 (11:00):
Okay, did you guys throw it a little bit?

Speaker 4 (11:02):
We were more like belly option team, So I would
throw about ten times a game, but I was option quarterback,
running the football going downhill.

Speaker 1 (11:09):
So did you ever say, listen, I can wing it, man,
why don't we throw it a little bit more?

Speaker 4 (11:13):
I would never say that to a coach. I'm going
to do my job.

Speaker 1 (11:17):
Okay, look at you. That's a head coach. At you
and your grove talking right right there. When you got
to Oshcast, did you play a lot for Soroni?

Speaker 4 (11:25):
So I didn't play my first So my freshman year
obviously I didn't play. Uh, and then I started my
sophomore year at quarterback, played there my sophomore year, and
then my junior and senior year I got moved to
like h back. And then we had a guy named
Nate Warra come in who was really really good up there.
So he did a great job for them.

Speaker 1 (11:41):
So all right, now we got to go back into
the mindset of a sophomore in college or a junior
in college after starting a quarterback for Oshcast, when they
came to you and said, look, we want to keep
you on the field. It's not going to be behind center.
How difficult was that as a nineteen twenty year old kid.

Speaker 4 (11:58):
I mean it was hard because obviously you have the
whole you have the you know, the whole program in
your hands in a sense. And I thought we did
some good things. We kind of deficient on the offensive
line a little bit, had some turnover from the year before,
struggled a little bit, but thought towards the end we
were coming on a little bit. Uh. But then comes
to me in the summer coach Toerroni. And you know

(12:19):
when coach Saroni comes to you and talks to you,
there's there's a reason for it. And he said, hey,
the best way to get the best eleven on the field.
What do you think?

Speaker 1 (12:26):
What years were you at at Ashcat.

Speaker 4 (12:29):
Seven to two thousand and eleven?

Speaker 2 (12:32):
I believe they're pretty successful those those years.

Speaker 1 (12:34):
And when were you at Steven's Point.

Speaker 2 (12:37):
Just before him? I got out in six?

Speaker 1 (12:39):
Okay? And who who'd you play for.

Speaker 2 (12:41):
A point, John Mish?

Speaker 1 (12:43):
Did you guys have success against Point.

Speaker 4 (12:45):
Where I believe we were Maybe I think we split.
I think it was two and two or something.

Speaker 1 (12:52):
That was always fun to go to Oshkosh and and
always had fun for you to have Ashcosh come up.
He's a pretty good program obviously.

Speaker 3 (12:59):
Yeah, And those two school's battled a lot for recruits.
I mean they're they're pushing the especially Green Bay in
the Fox Valley. So those two coaching staffs really wanted
that game because it helped them when they hit the
recruiting trail.

Speaker 1 (13:12):
Out did you get recruited by ashsh No? No? Steven's
point yep, yeah, what would you have considered?

Speaker 2 (13:20):
Maybe I really did?

Speaker 4 (13:21):
You know?

Speaker 5 (13:21):
I was.

Speaker 2 (13:23):
I didn't have a lot of help.

Speaker 3 (13:24):
I was first generation college person out of my family.
Nobody went to school out of my out of my group.
So you know, when someone called, I went and checked out.

Speaker 2 (13:32):
Points said yeah, let's do this, and away we went.

Speaker 3 (13:35):
And then I remember going to lacrosse and I was
mad that nobody told me about lacrosse.

Speaker 1 (13:40):
But uh, how did you pick Ash?

Speaker 4 (13:43):
By the way, Coach SARONI uh came down, Uh talked
to me a little bit. I went up on a
visit to Oshkosh and we had a really good basketball
team my senior year. You know, we're playing Saint Kat's
that night like blizzard like probably should not have played
the game, and three of the guys from the staff

(14:03):
drove down, including coach Troni, to watch watch me play.
So these guys are going to do that, Like I
think I feel welcome here with them.

Speaker 1 (14:12):
So how did you do against Saint Catherine?

Speaker 4 (14:14):
Beat them both times? Did senior area?

Speaker 1 (14:16):
That's good. They're pretty good at their gym. Yeah, one
of my favorite places as a former basketball coach. I
always felt like, this is what Indiana basketball must be. Like,
you know in your mind, right, you think Indiana basketball
and when you go to Saint Catherine's with all the
fans sitting about, oh the pit, yeah, yeah, just a
great place. Could could you shoot a little bit on

(14:39):
the court.

Speaker 4 (14:39):
A little bit?

Speaker 1 (14:40):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (14:40):
I mean I would obviously like six four six, five
times I would bring the ball up. I had really
good handle skills, and I would go down in the post.
I'd kind of play all over the place.

Speaker 1 (14:48):
So when when you had a chance to come home
right and work at Union Grove, was it an easy
decision for you?

Speaker 4 (14:54):
Oh, one of the easiest ones to ever make. Like
that's where that's my home, that's where I love, Like
town has treated me so well, Like that's that's a
place where it would really be weird if I was
not there.

Speaker 1 (15:04):
I feel like, hey, so going into this year right now, undefeated,
You got Waterford coming. You go to Waterford on Friday,
and then to Beloit Memorial, then at home against Badger.
And look, guys like Ryan and I he's an athletic
director now and now I'm just somebody time by the radio.
We can we can look ahead. You can't, right, Waterford

(15:28):
might not be having the kind of year they've had
in the past, but you know when you go to Waterford,
they're gonna punch you in the mouth a couple of times.
And how are you going to respond? And you have
to be looking at that. Guys like us are looking
a couple of weeks ahead, hoping nothing against Waterford and
nothing against Beloit Memorial. But man for that conference. Yeah,

(15:48):
and for guys like me, if you can get through
these next two games and stay healthy and get wins,
that game against lakes ENIV and Badger is going to
be Man, you better get tickets today for the one, right.

Speaker 2 (16:00):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (16:00):
I mean we always talk about with our kids, the
most important game is the next game, right, and we
can't look past anyone. Waterfridge really really good. They're big,
they're physical, they go downhill. They got to playing two
different quarterbacks right now, both doing a really good job,
and it's one of those things you go into their house.
They just got off of almost a comeback victory. They're
down thirty to three against Elcorn, they come all the

(16:22):
way back in the end, have a chance to win it.
At the end. I mean, they're they're they're rolling. Obviously
they're they're not going to be happy with what happened
last this past Friday. But it's one game where we
cannot go in there and you cannot play.

Speaker 1 (16:35):
And you saw firsthand Elcorn's good.

Speaker 4 (16:37):
Oh yeah, they're really good.

Speaker 1 (16:39):
You guys beat them thirty four to thirty three. Talk
to me a little bit before we get to a
break about that game. Was it a good finish? Did
you have to hold on?

Speaker 4 (16:47):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (16:47):
I didn't look at the stats on that one at
the end, but to beat el Corn thirty four to
thirty three at home good win.

Speaker 4 (16:54):
Yeah. It was a game of momentum. We got up,
we got up early. They kind of storm back, they
grabbed the momentum. Third quarter, we fumble a kick return,
they punch it in to go up then two scores,
and by then everyone's kind of like looking around down thirteen.
We end up scoring two touchdowns in the last like
four minutes thirty seconds of the game to push it
to overtime. We kicked the field goal to obviously go

(17:17):
up seven. They score in overtime, they go for two
to win, and they throw the ball and we defend
the pass and we win the game.

Speaker 1 (17:24):
So did you have an idea on what they were
going to try to run at the end?

Speaker 4 (17:29):
I thought they were going to run the same two
or three players they're going to run all game. Yeah,
but they ended up pulling the ball throwing it And
you got to give credit to our defensive back Drew
Denauer stayed on it all game, wasn't really tested, just
stayed responsible to his position, saw their guy go out
and he attached to him and just kind of supermanned
at the end and hit the ball up.

Speaker 1 (17:49):
Hey, Ryan, when you and we got to get through
a break. But boy, that that can can help teams
throughout the rest of the season. Right you get into
a spot like that, we're now not only do you
defend a two point but you come back, you're winning.
You have some some like every game is like a
roller coaster on the down. How does your team react?

(18:09):
He's got to feel pretty good about how they reacted against.

Speaker 2 (18:12):
Alcorn confidence breed swagger. So they're rolling.

Speaker 1 (18:15):
That's a great line.

Speaker 4 (18:16):
I like it.

Speaker 1 (18:16):
Yeah, the fact that he has that tattooed on his back.
We're gonna get to a break. Other side of the
break will continue our special guest in studio Craig McClellan.
He is the head coach at Union Grove. At ten o'clock,
we're gonna talk to Jake Bushada, he is the assistant
director of the WIA. And then Colton Greeby from Greeby

(18:37):
Bakery believe it or not, is coming in studio Greendale,
Martin Luther grad student athlete. But Greeby is partnering up
with with our metro market, our partner, and we're going
to talk to him a little bit about that. Looking
forward to meeting Colton in person. Are you a Greenby
Bakery fan? Because I was just gonna ask you bring
this up. You might want to stop and bring some

(19:01):
fresh crawlers or something. But I'm sure he's I don't know,
who knows, who knows? If not, I'll go out and
get us something.

Speaker 2 (19:07):
All right there?

Speaker 1 (19:08):
You might want to stick around, you might have to,
for sure. This is the varsity Blitz High School Sports
Show presented by your local Pick and Save and Metro
Market stores, only on Fox Sports nine twenty and your
iHeart Radio app. Welcome back to the Varsity Blitz High
School Sports Show, presented as always by our friends at
your local Pick and Save and Metro Market stores. We're

(19:29):
coming live from the Donovan and Jorgensen Heating and Cooling studios.
You're gonna have to turn your furnace on. I sorry
to give you that news, but it's coming. Any issues
you have go to Donovan Jorgenson dot com, the largest
employee owned HVAC company in the state of Wisconsin. And
I trust these guys a lot. I'm telling you I've
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(19:51):
and people that listen to this show because they do
a really good job and you can trust the work
they do. And Scott Fisher, who's the president of Donavan
and Jorganson, does a great job, uh with their three locations,
one in mcguanago, one in West Dallas, and then one
in New Berlin. And any problems you have, they they
find small issues before they become major problems. Go to

(20:11):
Donovan Jorgensen dot com. I am Mike McGivern alongside my
co host, the athletic director at Musquigo High School. He's
Ryan McMillan, and our special guest for the first hour,
we're talking to Bronco football with the head football coach
at Union Grove. He's Craig McClelland. And I want to
thank again Brian Fletcher, because you you didn't return my
text and I was mad at you, coach, but now

(20:34):
you're here. Now I'm not mad at you anymore. It
all worked out.

Speaker 4 (20:38):
It didn't hear it?

Speaker 1 (20:40):
Did? Hey is? And we've got the assistant director of
the WIA coming up at ten o'clock. Fletcher's kid. Is
he able to play?

Speaker 4 (20:49):
No, he cannot play. I don't get that. Yeah, do
you get it? I don't.

Speaker 1 (20:54):
And I'm not sure we can talk to Jake about it.
But I don't. I don't understand sometimes. Yeah, I mean
they're living in Union Grove right now.

Speaker 4 (21:05):
It's one of those things where I just you know,
to me, you want to do what's best by by
the student, you know, and by the kid. And I
feel like every situation, just like when we teach you,
you treat every kid. Every kid learns differently. Every kid
has kind of like a different path, and I feel
like the same thing with these type of situations. Every

(21:27):
kid is unique, Like every situation is unique. It's really
hard to you know, black and white like this is
the rule of this is this. So it's to me,
it's a tough situation, and I just obviously wish we
had them because.

Speaker 1 (21:39):
You know that five years ago they think about all
five years ago, Brian Fletcher and I were on the
phone and he said, you know what, it's getting so
rough down here that when I stop coaching, I got
to get my family out of here, like just in
our neighborhood, close to our school. And then there's some
issues that I that my kids tough as they come.

(22:01):
But you know what, I've got a wife, I've got
a daughter, and and and I feel like we have
to we have to move. But my kids are involved
in the program, and there's gonna be a come a
time where I have to He was talking to me
about the safety part of it five years ago and
they finally decide, look, we have to go and he
can't his son can't play varsity.

Speaker 4 (22:23):
Yeah, And it's one of those things where obviously, I
mean it's it's a sad situation and it sucks, and
you know, you just you you wish JJ, which is
the son who can't play. We have his freshman boy
on the team to Bennett who's playing right now. But
you just feel for JJ because he's worked so hard.

(22:44):
He's a junior.

Speaker 1 (22:45):
Okay, you'll get him next we'll get him next year.
But just the work that he put in, he's just
destroying JV games.

Speaker 4 (22:50):
It's yeah, and it's one of those things where if
that's where the w I A say says he has
to play, that's where he's got to play. And it's
unfortunate because it's.

Speaker 1 (22:58):
Think of the trickle down. Now he's a kid who
he was really good at Oursity last year as a sophomore.
Now he's playing JV. So not only is it not
good for him, it's not good for the kids he's
playing again.

Speaker 4 (23:13):
No, nope, but it's that's where they deem him eligible
to play. And my hands are tied with that, and
you know it's we wish we have him. We wish
we had him because obviously he makes our team totally
different than it already.

Speaker 1 (23:27):
Did you guys appeal it?

Speaker 4 (23:28):
Oh?

Speaker 1 (23:29):
Yeah, it was appealed, and that was about a forty
second appeal.

Speaker 4 (23:32):
I'm sure it was. It was a quick one.

Speaker 1 (23:35):
So I look, I I was texting back and forth
to Jake. You're on a committee with him, and we're
going to talk about some of the stuff that that
you guys are doing together. But I but he was
a little bit hesitant about coming on, and I said, look,
we highlight them and celebrate student athletes on the show,
so we're not going to throw any bobs at you.
Don't worry about it. And now I'm second guessing whether

(23:57):
but I won't do it. I won't. I I you know,
I mustim that we won't, but I don't. I don't
get Sometimes the decision process with with how they go
did did did? Look you don't have to get too
deep into the woods, but look, it worked for Arrowhead
to take them to court. So they got the kid
from Camrain able to play a couple of weeks here

(24:19):
until whenever it goes back to court. And do you
get did they consider it?

Speaker 4 (24:24):
The big issue with that is if we do play,
if they do take that process and file for an injunction,
which is just like a temporary restraining order in the
w I a it?

Speaker 1 (24:33):
Uh?

Speaker 4 (24:34):
If you play and then it comes back and the
judge says no, right, then the games that you play
you have to forfeit those games.

Speaker 1 (24:41):
Does anybody know when the next court date is for Arrowhead?

Speaker 2 (24:45):
I do not know.

Speaker 4 (24:46):
I wonder, I know whatever I would do.

Speaker 1 (24:49):
I'm sick. Yeah, I'm sick today. You know how how
about some time in January? You know, I'm sure that
that and then you can make any decisions that that
you want. Hey, let's talk about about this team and coach.
When when somebody thinks about you as a coach or
are you a guy that that that throws it?

Speaker 2 (25:08):
You don't?

Speaker 1 (25:08):
You guys don't throw it a ton.

Speaker 4 (25:10):
Yeah, that's the funny thing because everyone's like, especially my
first couple of years, I threw out a necessity just
because our line was not that big. But it wasn't
deep downfield chats. We threw a lot of bubble, a
lot of fast screens, a lot of intermediate passes. Just
get the ball out of your hands quick. Once we
started building a little bit, once we started getting guys
in the weight room or building up our line. I'm

(25:30):
a big run the football, run the football, control the clock. Eat,
eat drives, eat plays, and just just control absolutely everything.
I would run the football every single time if I could, really, Yeah,
absolutely as a head coach, that's what you want. You
want time of possession. You want to run the football.
You want to wear teams out, you want to throw
when you want to, not when you have to.

Speaker 1 (25:51):
So well, and and there's some guys out of the
condom walk back in the day, when the guy sitting
next to you, they threw it a lot man, he
threw it all over. What was the score with Wisconsin
Luthin again?

Speaker 2 (26:03):
Eighty two?

Speaker 1 (26:05):
Yeah, that's area football. We we were doing a scoreboards
show back then and Mike Bush, my family, just one
of my best friends in the world, was covering that game.
We went off the air. He called me like forty
five minutes later and said, I can't even get a gatorade.
The game's still going on. Everything got sold out in
the concession stand. No hot dogs left, no gatoray left,

(26:26):
no water left. And that game was was something that
we still Mike Bush and I still talk about. And
he said, look, if you if you turned your head,
you missed a touchdown. Was that a fun game to coach?

Speaker 4 (26:39):
Uh?

Speaker 3 (26:39):
Yeah, from where I was at, because a lot of
people don't remember. We got up by two scores in
the second half, and that was the first time we
were bringing it to Wisco, essentially because Wisco beat everyone's
tail for so long, right.

Speaker 2 (26:53):
And we were building.

Speaker 3 (26:54):
But that was that group when you alluded to the
kids that had to play as sophomores, you know, and
they got whooped a little bit. That was that group
when they got to be seniors, and I think it
was homecoming and place was packed and they had to
overcome the almighty Wisco, right, And so we said we're
going to create a circus and we did, and it

(27:16):
was eight to seven at the end of the first quarter,
and it's thirty six thirty two under the second, and
then we just kept rolling after that. So really we
scored on points in three quarners.

Speaker 1 (27:26):
You told me the next day, hey, we are concession
made enough money. We're gonna be able to build a
new stadium. And it got built. Yeah, yeah, it got built.
I don't think that had much to do with it,
but you kind of laughed and said, hey, we raised
enough money to help build that stadium.

Speaker 2 (27:42):
Yep. And that game was on grass too. That it
was crazy, man, unbelievable.

Speaker 1 (27:46):
Hey, when we talk about this Uni growth team and
with how much you guys run the ball. The Martinez
kids having a big year.

Speaker 4 (27:53):
Yeah, Quinton's doing a great good job. Just a tough runner.
Another kid, another three year starter, he actually got a
Cup Reps as a as a freshman at running back,
and just a kid who you see progressively getting better
and better and stronger and stronger as the year goes on.

Speaker 1 (28:08):
Hey, on a personal note, I have to ask you this.
Do you find that kids that are freshmen that get
a couple of plays here and there on the varsity
that when they come into sophomores everything is slowed down
at that point for them.

Speaker 4 (28:20):
Well, you like to show them the speed, right, because
the speed's absolutely different from freshmen to even freshmen to JV,
from JV to varsity. It's nice, but you got to
be careful because you could throw a kid in who's
not ready and then their eyes get real big and
that could be a negative experience for them. So you've
got to make sure the kid is one of those
that you believe can can get it done and the

(28:42):
lights aren't too bright on Friday for him.

Speaker 1 (28:44):
Well, and the reason the personal sid I've got a
grandsonat who's a freshman like Country Lutheran got his first
start in varsity. All congratulations, Yeah, but he had been Yeah,
they haven't played defensive line, defensive end. They put him
to tackle a little bit. Last night. He had started
guard and Sholand Lutheran's got a three hundred pound defensive
lineman that that is getting some noise, and that's who

(29:06):
he ate a block and he hung in there for
three quarters. They took him out a little bit then
in the fourth and then put him back in. And
he said, Papa, this kid was a beast man. Before that,
I had asked him he had gotten time all of
their games and their first two games final La Saint
Mary Springs and Lakeside Lutheran. And I said, how are

(29:27):
the guys you were playing against? He said, to be
honest with you, the eighth grade Muskeigo team last year
was better. And I go what he goes, I'm not kidding.
Every kid I had to play against on that Muskeigo
team was tougher than some of these guys I'm playing.
He just turned fourteen, so he should be in eighth grade,
but he's six to one and ninety five pounds, so
they're putting him in right. And my fear was what

(29:50):
you just said, is the light's going to be too
bright for him. And they ended up getting to win.
And I asked him, and you know, he was on
the bus. I said, how'd you play? He said, I
think I played decent in my The Lives breaking Down film.
Now he's a coach at Homestead in a few years
and at Brookfield Central and out at Pewaukee, so he
knows the game. And he said, look, he did fine.

(30:10):
There's a couple of times that second level he was
chasing linebackers. Yeah, the one quick enough to get to him.
But we'll work on that. So I'm glad to hear
you say that, because I'm hoping that if he would
have text back last night, I got destroyed. I don't
know what I'm doing out here. I would have concern
with that. Hey, this is so the Martinez kid. His
sophomore year, he started at running back.

Speaker 4 (30:32):
Yes, so he started he uh, he's kind of dinged
up coming into the year, but he started at running back.
And again that's that's when we had the big group
of really really young kids. It was it was tough.
It was tough sledding all the way around. And I
think that, unfortunately, that year kind of benefits where he
is right now because he's kind of seen the big

(30:52):
picture of it all. Just a very, very tough runner
when he gets his hands on the football. Uh not
not an extremely big kid, but just tough as nails
than just a downhill, downhill kid.

Speaker 1 (31:03):
Talk to me a little bit about Quinn Schultz, who
is your your junior quarterback. He is man percentage wise,
he's really good over sixty percent and throwing a couple
of touchdowns. You ask him to manage the game a
little bit more than does he want to throw it
a little bit more.

Speaker 4 (31:21):
Here's the thing with Quinn, we could, we could. I
would have all the confidence in the world just go
five wide with Quinn and he'd be able to do it.
And last night our stats actually aren't up to date
right now, they haven't been put in from last night,
but he threw for one eighty four last night and
two touchdowns. I would have all the confidence of Quinn
to just sit back there and redefenses and do that.

(31:42):
And he's done it. He's done it for us this year.
He did it for us last year as well, and
another kid who can run the ball. So adding a
quarterback who can run into the mix is really big
because I'm a big, big believer of running quarterbacks. Got
to be able to run an insert in the run
game because then you're up a full man, you're scheming
things out.

Speaker 1 (32:01):
Did you run it pretty well as a quarterback? I did?

Speaker 4 (32:03):
Okay, yeah for you a little bigger, so I was
able to kind of get downhill, ran that option decent.

Speaker 1 (32:08):
So he got a text from Brian Fletcher, who was
at a soccer game. You know the toughest kid in
his family, right, bella doctor. Yeah, yeah, she's the toughest one.
She's the only one in that family that scares me.
Brian doesn't scare me. His boys don't scare me. Fella
a little bit, yeah, a little bit, man. She what
a personality and and just but he's listed and he

(32:30):
sent a textas to go Broncos.

Speaker 4 (32:32):
There we go, Broncos.

Speaker 1 (32:33):
Yeah he used to he used to say, go revels. Yeah.
I don't hear that much anymore.

Speaker 4 (32:39):
It's an adjustment period for him's getting there though.

Speaker 6 (32:41):
It is.

Speaker 1 (32:42):
Is he looking He looks good in those colors, right,
kind of colors, same color.

Speaker 4 (32:46):
Same color logo.

Speaker 1 (32:48):
Yeah, better that one hundred better logo. Hey, we're gonna
get to a break. This side the break, I want
to get to the defensive side. Who runs your defense?

Speaker 4 (32:57):
Darryl Bones. So he's been with me since I've been
there from the start twelve years ago.

Speaker 1 (33:01):
So did were you an assistant coach when you grew
up before taking over?

Speaker 4 (33:05):
Yea, yep. So I was just a JV head coach
before and then I got bumped up. They let go
of an offensive coordinator in mid season. I kind of
just stepped in out of necessity, and then that next
year is when I kind of took over the whole program.

Speaker 1 (33:16):
So was that a dream for you?

Speaker 4 (33:18):
Absolutely? Going back to going back to where you played
to coach, but then ultimately taking everything back over was
kind of like a surreal moment and like just a
full circle thing.

Speaker 1 (33:28):
So, Ryan, did you ever think, man, maybe one day
I'll take over for coach Rice at Wanakee?

Speaker 4 (33:35):
Uh?

Speaker 3 (33:35):
He said it to me a couple of times, like,
just hey, come on, think about ever coming back type
of a thing.

Speaker 2 (33:41):
And I didn't really give it too much thought, but
you never know.

Speaker 3 (33:45):
I mean, it's the opportunity to present itself or there
was a need there and I could help fill that need.

Speaker 2 (33:50):
Yeah, let's go home.

Speaker 1 (33:51):
It'd be fun to go home.

Speaker 2 (33:52):
Yeah, let's light it up.

Speaker 1 (33:53):
Wanakee is a football community. This Union Grove is a
football community.

Speaker 4 (33:58):
Right, we're trying to make it that.

Speaker 1 (34:00):
If somebody says to you, what what is Union Grove?
You know, known most for as far as sports? What
would you tell them?

Speaker 4 (34:08):
In my heart, I want to say football? But we
we football. We We've had a pretty good baseball program.
Our girls basketball team has been really really solid the
past like fifteen years, so a lot of good things
going on. Our soccer team won a state championship two
years ago. So a lot of a lot of good things,
a lot of good programs. Hard to say and just
pinpoint just a football team, but that was in my heart,
that's what I want.

Speaker 1 (34:27):
How is the youth program right?

Speaker 4 (34:29):
Youth programs rolling?

Speaker 1 (34:30):
How many kids we have?

Speaker 4 (34:32):
Well, we got grades one through one through eight, so
we got we got teams at every single level. Kind
of thin at at some grade levels, but what we
we fill every single every single grade level.

Speaker 1 (34:41):
Boy, that's that's impressive. Are you involved in it?

Speaker 4 (34:46):
Uh? A little bit, not not to the point where
I'm there at absolutely everything, but I definitely make sure
that they're running a variation of what we run.

Speaker 1 (34:54):
A tyson and you tell and you you head out
every once while the games and practices. You understand how
what a big deal it is for those fifth sixth
grade boys to see the head varsity show up at
a game.

Speaker 4 (35:06):
Absolutely.

Speaker 1 (35:07):
McMillan taught me that when he took over to condom
Walk first time I met him and I said, during
the first break, I said, how's youth programming? He said,
I want to talk about it right now, but trust me,
a year from now, it'll be exactly how I want it.
And he figured it out be coming from WannaKey, And
what pat Rice believed is it's all one And I'm
glad to hear that. You say that you'll show up

(35:29):
and they're running your stuff and that's really really important
and you're not in your head over there. Do you
remember that first time?

Speaker 2 (35:36):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (35:36):
Absolutely, they wanted no part of you. Nope, you took
care of that.

Speaker 2 (35:40):
We worked on it.

Speaker 3 (35:41):
Yeah, it took some time, and the structure they got
there now is the endgame structure that we were really
growing towards as the years went on, and you know,
it took about nine years, but we finally got there.

Speaker 1 (35:53):
I was at I went to the Old Creek Channel
twenty four. We did the Old Creek at Muskigo. It
was youth night. Thank god they started introducing the teams
at like five point thirty because they had three hundred
and fifty kids and ninety coaches and kids were excited
and yeah, it's it's pretty awesome. Last night Pewaukee had
their youth Night. Yeah, it was so fun. It was

(36:15):
I know, Pewaukee got they didn't play as well as
they had hoped. And next week we're going to have
in either next week or in two weeks, we're going
to have some Pewaukee coaches and players in. And I
watched these kids and it was incredible. It's still such
a cool thing to be on the sidelines for Mesquigo
Youth Night or Pewaukee Youth Night and see all these

(36:37):
kids in their jerseys and high five and and then
all the little cheerleaders who are all excited. It was
just really really fun. And then at the end of
the game, because it was a running clock, I look
up at the crowd and a lot of the kids
had now gone home because it was bedtime. Yep for
them for sure, But it was really cool to be
a part of We're going to talk a little defense
with you on the other side, and then just kind

(36:58):
of the culture and the overall mission statement of what
what you're hoping for Union growth? How long you've been
the head coach?

Speaker 4 (37:04):
That's twelve years?

Speaker 1 (37:06):
Really yep, I remember talking to you like your two
or something crazy.

Speaker 4 (37:09):
Well, are you in the building? What do you US history?
World history? And then US government?

Speaker 6 (37:15):
Hey?

Speaker 1 (37:15):
That good for you. Well, we can talk politics as
you want now maybe no, maybe, depending on where you live.
I'm not sure we should do that, but we'll figure
out that.

Speaker 4 (37:26):
Friends will be okay.

Speaker 1 (37:26):
Yeah, well, I just we'll be Switzerland through the whole thing.
He is the head football coach at Union Grove, the
undefeated Mighty Broncos and and Craig does a great job
over there. Also, I'll talk to you a little bit
more about your staff if we can. On the other
side of break. This is the Varsity Blitz high school
sports show presented by your local Picket Save and Metro

(37:47):
Market stores only on Fox Sports nine twenty and Your
iHeart Radio app. Welcome back to the Varsity Blitz High
school sports show, as always presented by your local Picket
Save and Metro Market stores. At ten twenty Colton Greeby
is going to be in studio. We're gonna talk some
some student athletes stuff from Greendale, Martin Luther but they

(38:08):
are there's a big event at the Shorewood Metro Market
tomorrow with Greeby Bakery and him and his brother are
running Greeby now and we're going to talk to him
about this event going on over at Metro Market tomorrow.
Leroy Butler's going to be there and if you're listening
to this show, you're probably gonna wanted a picture or
get an autograph with Leroy. He's one of the good

(38:30):
guys out there in studio with with my co host,
who's the ad over at Muskego. I can tell you
that that Craig McClelland I didn't realize twelve years at
Union Grove teacher in the building and I've been doing
a great job with the Broncos undefeated this year and
got some some big games coming up at Waterford this

(38:51):
coming Friday. Let's talk about your staff and what go ahead.
No you spent your go ahead. I just want to
say that drink.

Speaker 7 (39:01):
KB our sister station will also be at Metro Market
from noon to three tomorrow.

Speaker 1 (39:05):
I see that on my sheet. Yeah, we're going to
talk to Colton about that. I will see Spencer, thank
you very much. Don't forget KB and Drew will be
there on her sisters station tomorrow. But go see Leroy Butler.
Yeah that's all right, and get bakery. The bakery parts
are the best. I love KB and Drew. They're good guys.
But come on, free bakery and Leroy Butler Bakery is good.

(39:28):
Let's talk about your staff. Yeah, yeah, you talked about
your defensive corner of being with you for a while.
Who else is on the staff.

Speaker 4 (39:36):
Well, we got uh Ryan Boylan, who is our linebackers coach.
Chad Spenson. Uh he is our d line coach. Scott McBride,
who is a former head coach at Union Grove. He
is back with us this year. He's our our corners coach,
Jason Sondenberg. Coaches are strong and free safeties. And then

(39:58):
I think that rounds out the defense. We got fletched
there kind of kind of helping out where we need.

Speaker 1 (40:03):
Who else is on the offense.

Speaker 4 (40:04):
So the offensive staff, we have Jimmy Penzil who came.
He was with us for a little bit, went to
Burlington to go call plays. Now we brought him back
to the good side. So now he's back with us
as our o. C Ryan Bingenheimer, he's our quarterbacks coach,
does a lot with Jeff Tricky quarterback camps. And then
we have R. J. Howard is our running backs coach.
Coach Eric Peasley is our line coach who calls the

(40:26):
play Coach Penzil. So, Coach Penzil, do you have a
headset on during the game. I got a headset, I
got some input. So let's just say, oh, I bet
you're I'm sure Coach Penzil is kind of shaking this
head right.

Speaker 1 (40:35):
You don't ever yell run the ball.

Speaker 4 (40:39):
That might have came out of my mouth just a
couple of times.

Speaker 1 (40:41):
But well, defensively, what your staff are they a get
after it? Sit back or fifty two, fifty three, forty four?

Speaker 4 (40:49):
What do you guys? It's it's kind of a variation,
but we'll we'll call it like a four to three fourth.
We cover four. We can try to keep everything in
front of us. We try to let our linebackers read.
We don't want to bring a ton of pressure because
we want them to just read their keys, and the
keys should bring pressure on their own. But I mean,
we'll mix it up. We got calls to to come
downhill and get after people, for sure.

Speaker 1 (41:11):
So you guys, some guys putting up big numbers. Yeah,
one of your line is it a linebackers? Quinn a linebacker?

Speaker 4 (41:17):
Now, Quinn is our He's one of our defensive linemen
where we move absolutely everywhere on the line. So he's
he just committed to Winona State before the season started,
and he is. He's a monster.

Speaker 1 (41:27):
So man, good for you. Yeah, he he's putting up
big numbers. He a tough kid to block. Yeah yeah,
very very tough kid. Great kid though, great kid to have. Hey,
you talked about the defensive back that broke it up
against el Corn. Is he a senior?

Speaker 4 (41:42):
H No, So Drew is a Drew's a junior number eleven,
Drew denouru. But then we got to talk about if
we're talking about defensive backs. Griff Schultz, who is our
quarterback's older brother. He plays corner. He had had another
pick last night. I think that makes it four for
him on the season, but pretty pretty stout defensive backfield.

Speaker 1 (42:02):
He took one back for a touchdown.

Speaker 4 (42:03):
He did against Uh oh, my goodness, who was that?

Speaker 1 (42:07):
I don't know, but it was good for him.

Speaker 4 (42:09):
Yeah, well my good homecoming game. So that was a
big one to have for him.

Speaker 1 (42:14):
So how do you was a head coach like homecoming week?

Speaker 4 (42:17):
Hate it just right behind picture Day.

Speaker 1 (42:20):
So you know what, all you football coaches would always
say to me, why don't you take home coming one week?
Can let me know what you think about?

Speaker 4 (42:27):
Just so many distractions and you got. I mean, it's
it's good, right, It's a good thing for the kids
to celebrate the kids, they have fun. But I tell
our guys, the ultimate reason why homecoming exist is for
the football game on Friday night. That's where everybody's coming.
They want to see you play. So we got to
prepare for it. That's that's the biggest thing, just making
sure we can we can silence the noise and prepare

(42:48):
for Friday.

Speaker 1 (42:49):
So hey, got one more text from the Fletcher. He's
he's facetiming and play. He's well, you know, he didn't
really want to watch soccer, but his daughter's playing and
he wants talk football a football because he's a football guy.
But he is facetimed with Blake and saying, look, I'm
living the dream right now, boys, So good for him.
He he, He loves Union Growth right now. And you

(43:11):
know he'd be at more games if we could get
the WI to figure out. But we're not good to
talk to our next guest about that. Yeah, we're not
bringing up Union Grove. Don't drop bombs. No, I'm not
because I don't get you in trouble anyway. I'm gonna
tell him everything you said about them during the break
and you said nothing, but I always you know, stir
some some prop. Hey this team, is it driven by

(43:32):
these seniors or does the future just continue to look
bright for Union Grove football.

Speaker 4 (43:37):
It's it's a heavy senior driven team, but the juniors
behind them are right there, uh, you know, pushing as well.
And you got to give a lot of credit to
our strength and conditioning coordinator, Cody Clapper. We are one
of I think very few who have like just a
full time strength conditioning coordinator in the building. He's not
a teacher. That's his only job that he does. And

(43:58):
he he how.

Speaker 1 (43:59):
Did you get that.

Speaker 4 (44:00):
We had a lot of conversations, but he he does
an amazing job, and it's it's really nice because obviously
before that it was it was on me, like what
are you gonna do with your football team. Now it's
this dude who has all the experience, all the certifications,
everything that you would want. And it's kind of like
a mini college program that we put our kids through,
not just football, but all of the sports programs go

(44:22):
through coach Clapper and I can't say enough good things
about him. So it's just the boys love them and
they just they bust their butts in that weight room,
so big.

Speaker 3 (44:30):
Such relief as a one hundred percent man, because when
you walk in and you got to do it all,
and you do it all for twelve months, you can't
do that for a long period of time. And then
you get help and the school gives you somebody who's
got the passion for the weight room day in and
day out, because you got to bring juice to the
weight room, just like you bring juice to the field.

(44:51):
And if you don't have that every single day, or
you're a head coach and you're bogged down with the
administrative stuff or you're getting pulled in to handle this
fundraising quiest or this uh issue from a parent or
whatever might be, and you can't bring it to the
weight room. It's always great to have guys in your
system that we got coach Malastic at at Muskigo.

Speaker 2 (45:09):
We don't even think about it. He's all on it.

Speaker 3 (45:11):
He's on it, and we just get to walk in
there and build kids up and high five of them
and push a little if we need to.

Speaker 2 (45:19):
But you know, bring, bring it when you might not
be there. So it's good stuff.

Speaker 1 (45:22):
Huge difference, a huge When you were at Union Grove,
they didn't have that.

Speaker 4 (45:26):
Nope, Nope, we had obviously Coach Irvin was there and
obviously doing as much as he can. But again you
got all the administrative stuff that you got to do.
Then you go to practice and then you got to think, oh,
we got to turn back around at six o'clock and
get in the weight room in the morning. Or Coach
Clapper he's there, he's ready to go and he's got
the pedigree to to do what needs to be done.

Speaker 1 (45:44):
What is your wife's first name?

Speaker 4 (45:45):
Rebecca?

Speaker 1 (45:45):
Rebecca? And your daughter are you believe she knows everything?

Speaker 4 (45:49):
She knows? Everything. She's seven years old. She a big Bronco,
big Bronco fan every single game.

Speaker 1 (45:57):
You knows, there's a special place in heaven for coach's wife.

Speaker 4 (46:00):
Oh, there has to be.

Speaker 1 (46:01):
Ry knows that I know this. You know it because
it's not. It's just not now. You know, you open
camp in August and you know when season's over then
you forget about it. It's twelve months nowadays.

Speaker 4 (46:12):
Yeah, and it's uh, Becky, I love you, thank you
for everything that you do.

Speaker 1 (46:15):
Next time we'll bring it back again, for sure.

Speaker 4 (46:17):
But it's uh, it's one of those things where August
starts and you are not I always say, you're not
truly home. Me and my wife, we've had a lot
of discussions, right, a lot of deep discussions during football season,
and you come home, but sometimes you're not always home home, right,
your mind is wandering, You're always thinking. And what she
does at home, keeping everything organized, everything, just taking care

(46:42):
of it's a blessing and I would not be able
to do it without her. And I just I love
that she supports me and she allows me to do
what I do here.

Speaker 1 (46:50):
Thirty six years I coach basketball. Then I retired, and
my wife said I thought she'd be home more. And
I'm still going to practices. We're doing games here on
nine twenty. I'm still like, but it's not that grind.
And there's parts I miss. I miss coaching in big games.
I don't miss the grind. I don't. After thirty six,
that's enough, and I think I'm home more. At least

(47:12):
when i'm home, I'm home. You're present, present, and the
guys you'll laugh at this and then we'll get we'll
get you out of here. Two days ago I said
to Terry, and we've been married forty years, and I said, hey,
let's think of the top ten good and bad things
we've said to each other throughout the years. And I
came up. But the first one, she goes, why would
you want to go there? No, no, I'm just looking

(47:34):
to have some fun. She goes, you don't want to
do that, and I no, no, no, She goes, I
have like five of them are good, And I said,
well one that I did was, I said I do.
She was yeah, fine, what about the next night? And
I thought, what am I doing so causing all this trouble? Becky,
thank you for being a big supporter. You do You're
you're right on all of it. So when your dad

(47:56):
says no, this is the way it orcs, you tell him, no, Dad,
this the way it works. It's really good to finally
meet you in person as well. Over the years, you've
given us a lot of time on this show, and
I want to say thank you in person. Waterford's the game.
You understand that if you can get that one in
the next to that Badger game is going to be
something else. Absolutely, and either way it's going to be.

(48:18):
But anytime you get a chance to coach against Tendler,
you know what you're up for. You know they're not
throwing the ball. You're not throwing the ball. It's gonna
be a quick game.

Speaker 4 (48:26):
It will be. Yeah. So it's something we're looking forward to.
And I appreciate you bringing us on the show and
talking Union Girl football and thank you for everything that
you do for for high school sports and stuff.

Speaker 1 (48:36):
I appreciate that. Thank you for that. Craig, we're going
to get to a break. Make sure you listen. If
he brings up you and your girl, I'm calling. I'm
calling shut down. You can call and say hi, and
Brian Fletcher, why are you my son? Play? But I'll
know it's you. I can tell you that other side
of the break, we're gonna talk with Jake. Is it

(48:56):
a shutta? I think so close. Yeah. I He is
the assistant director of the WIA and at ten twenty
in studio Clton. Greevy and if you're driving in Colton listening,
everybody here wants to know if you're bringing any Greevy product.
I didn't bring that up, but certainly Spencer and Ryan
McMillan did. If you don't, it's okay. Don't worry about fans,

(49:17):
big fans. This is the Varsity Blitz High School Sports Show,
presented by your local Pick and Save and Metro Market stores,
only on Fox Sports nine twenty and your iHeart Radio app.
Welcome back to the Varsity Blitz High School Sports Show,
presented by your local Pick and Save and Metro Market stores.
Coming live from the Donovan to Jorgensen Heating and Cooling Studios.

(49:39):
I'm Mike m give Her alongside my co host. He's
the athletic director at Muskigo High School. He is Ryan McMillan.
We are now joined. We have not talked to him.
He's new to the WIA board. He's the assistant director
at the wia Jake Beschetta, No, Jake Beshta. There we go.
I got it. Yeah, it's just a director wi a, Jake.

(50:03):
How you doing.

Speaker 6 (50:04):
I'm doing well. Thanks for having me guys.

Speaker 1 (50:06):
Yeah, Hey, that last name. That's been a problem for
me this whole show.

Speaker 6 (50:11):
That's okay. I don't think you're the only one. No,
but an sh sound for SDH. So I just appreciate
you having me on and talk to high school football.

Speaker 1 (50:20):
Yeah, I appreciate you coming on. Hey, talk to me
a little bit about your background. I know that you've
been principal a couple of different locations, and talk to
me about how that job as a principal has gotten
you ready to be on the board at WIAA.

Speaker 6 (50:36):
Yeah. Absolutely, And I think it started all the way
back from high school. I'm a Lena High School graduate,
a graduating class of forty eight students, so a really
small community, but one that was close knit, and really
the school was the center of that community culture. And
through my experiences there as a three three sport athletes, football, basketball,
and track, really built a foundation for a value of

(51:01):
athletics and competition. But how meaningful it was all the
experiences that were bought throughout those high school years, so
I took that forward. I started out collegiately. I attended
Lawrence University. I played football there are two years as
an outside linebacker, and started out actually as a pre
law major. And then along the way, as I saw
myself kind of getting further and further away from the

(51:24):
possibility of coaching and still being involved in a school environment,
decided after two years to make the decision to pursue education.
So I transferred out at that point, got my undergraduate
from Steven's Point, and began my career as an educator.
From there, I taught seven years in the Coleman School district.
I was a middle school math teacher. I coached high

(51:44):
school football and high school girls basketball. I really cherished
those years, and that was the last time I was
really able to coach consistently on a yearly basis, and
I still miss those days and those Friday nights even now.
There's nothing like being on the sideline. But those years
were very valuable and meaningful to me. From that point then,

(52:06):
I pursued a career in administration, where I became an
athletic and athletic director and associated principal Attraboygan Falls High School,
and then I always knew at that point I was
going to transition to high school principal at some point.
It did that just three years later, having the opportunity
to spend a few years at O'Connell Falls and then
the last five at Denmark, so multiple experiences along the way.

(52:30):
Had been a high school basketball official for twenty years,
most recently a part of a three man crew with
Tim Marcourt and Tommy Williams out of the Green Bay
Officials Association officiating a lot of games in the FRCC
and the Sea, but just a balance I guess overall
educational in interscholastic athletic experience or experiences. It brought me

(52:54):
to this moment where I bring a pretty diverse background
of the WIA as assistant director.

Speaker 1 (53:00):
One hundred percent. Your background is perfect for what you're
going to be doing for a long time as the
assistant director of the WI. I love the fact that
not only have you coached and you played, but now
you're reughing and so you're always around high school athletics. Jake,
I got to tell you last night on the sidelines,
I'm the sideline reporter for the high school football Game

(53:22):
of the Week on my Channel twenty four here in Milwaukee.
I had a sponsor, Colonel Electric. Chuck Smith was there
with Kendra, who works at Colonel Electric, and I the
place was packed at Pilwaukee against mcgwannago last night, and
I said, and this is great. And she said, look,
this is the first high school football game I've ever
been to. And I said, what she said, I was

(53:44):
like an art geek in high school and I never
went to a game. And she goes, Now, I'm sad
about that, because this is so much fun. Look at
the crowded look at these kids, and this is such
a fun atmosphere. She goes, I'm really sad that I
never did this when I was in high school. And
I plead with people, Look, if you have not been

(54:06):
to a game at Muskigo, you've not been to a
game at Pewaukee. Some of these environments are so much
fun to be a part of and just to go
and watch. If you just like watching people right, to
go to these games and support these kids that are
putting this on the line. Every Friday night, go out
and buy a hot dog, buy some popcorn, and watch
these kids compete and watch the cheerleaders, watch the band

(54:29):
at halftime, and it's such an event to go to.
Even if you don't like high school football. You don't
think you like high school football, there's so much there
for everybody.

Speaker 6 (54:38):
Wouldn't you think absolutely, you know, you take it beyond
the sidelines in the field, and you said, it truly
isn't event. You think about the band, the cheer and
dance teams, the youth organizations that are typically involved or
recognizing some capacity on a Friday night, the special events
and recognition of individuals, and as a captive audience that

(55:01):
large consistently where you can really highlight, you know, achievements
in different you know things, an organization in your district,
it truly is an event. And I will argue, as
a former building administrator, the success of and the energy
surrounding your athletics not only in the fall but throughout

(55:21):
the school year really truly play a major role in
defining the culture of your school building a community in general.
It's just, you know, when you think about the vast
and majority of your visitors to a district, your district,
where are they coming for? They're coming to attend some
type of athletic or col curricular event. So it truly

(55:42):
is an event, and there really isn't anything like it,
especially in our state. We have no matter what region
you're talking about, we just have some outstanding programs just
you know, athletic department speaking in general, that are providing
our kids great opportunities.

Speaker 1 (55:57):
Hey, Jake, let me ask you this, when when you
started with the w i A. What has what in
that job has kept you up at night? Is there
anything that you you walked in and didn't know that
this was going to be the way it was? Is
there anything that keeps you up at night as part
of the.

Speaker 6 (56:17):
W i A board, I, you know, just it And
that's that's a good question because it is. I do
miss the daily interactions with students, and I think anyone
who gets an education that really is the priority is
those interactions to make certain that you're doing everything you
can to support each individual students. So I wouldn't say

(56:38):
necessarily anything about the job at this point, but I
do miss that. The job itself is a lot new
to me. The team has been absolutely incredible in supporting
me and helping lead me as a new assistant director.
I think it's just continuing to network as much as possible,
get to meet as many people as possible, and then

(56:59):
find different ways to engage with our student athletes, not
only locally for me, but throughout the state. So I
think it's always trying to find ways to engage in
that regard that maybe isn't keeping me up worrying at night,
but I put a lot of thought into and finding
ways to create those opportunities.

Speaker 1 (57:15):
Hey, Ryan, you you're on the boarder Control, correct, Yes, sir,
And so you get a chance a little bit to
to meet or you know, be part of some of
the things that Jake has to work on as part
of the boarder control. What what does that What is
a day to day for you or a month to
month for you on the board of control? What does
that mean? And how are you trying to direct? What

(57:38):
are you guys working on now?

Speaker 3 (57:39):
Yeah, So from my standpoint, really it's it's all the
good work that guys like Jake do and have put
you know, a lot of sweat equity into. They'll bring
it to the board level, and then the board is
really more there to to make sure that the work
we're doing in the WI office supports what the membership's
goals and objectives are and what membership wants to see

(58:01):
push forward. Because the boarder control and just like the
Advisory Committee and everything else, they're all elected positions, so
you've got to get voted by your peers to be
up there and do the work and push those things forward.
So I think month to month there's not a lot
for me personally, and our board, our president has a
little bit more because he works hand in hand with
Stephanie and all the things coming through. But really it's

(58:23):
it's stay out of the newspaper and support the membership.

Speaker 1 (58:28):
Again, that should be somebody's like I tattooed, right, you
stay out of the newspaper and support the members I
think that's awesome. Hey, Jake, with the new playoff seating
the way this is going to be this year, were
you part of implementing that or did you come in
after that was implemented?

Speaker 6 (58:50):
So as far as research and development and then going
to approval to Ryan and the remainder of the Board
of Control and good morning Ryan, by the way, I
came in after implementation. So after last year's season to
the WFCA and Brian Kaminski as president, at that point

(59:11):
from some prairie and our office really started collaborating together
to find a process for identifying playoff qualification that would
be clear and transparent. So I know the WSCA did
a lot of the work early on in researching potential
models and points systems that they could use to really

(59:34):
help modify and adapt that fit Wisconsin in what we
were looking to do going forward. So our office, Chad Shall,
who oversees a player football and officials in general, was
there last year and a part of that process, and
they based it off the Ohio model, but led to

(59:54):
implementing this playoff qualification points system that we have now.
So it was approved in the spring by the Board
of Control and then I have since been a part
of division identification, which is based on enrollment and then
working through the data on a week week basis. That
led to our posting of our first official standings here yesterday.

Speaker 1 (01:00:17):
When is it October tenth? Wait? When is when is
the CD meeting? Or well, you don't have CD meetings anymore?
I miss those. By the way. Those are great places
to watch arguments and I love that, so can you
get that back and implement that again? But when is
the when is the the the playoff show and all that,

(01:00:38):
and when will the brackets be released? What's the data
on that?

Speaker 6 (01:00:42):
Absolutely, so a player, the eight player playoff actually begins
a week earlier than eleven players, So eight player will
be on Friday, October tenth. Those final week games will
be played, and then our office will work to based
on the point system with a player, identify who qualifies

(01:01:05):
and then work to set a bracket, and then a
release would be the next day on that Saturday. The
following Friday then will be eleven player, same process where
games will complete. Week nine will go through and finalize
qualification points standing, and then the reveal show will be
that following Saturday.

Speaker 1 (01:01:24):
Right do you feel like because I do, and you
can disagree with me, but I feel like coaches and
people that are involved are pretty excited to see how
this because last year there were some issues and the
year before there were some issues. But it seems to
me like this has people's attention and they're excited to
see how it works.

Speaker 3 (01:01:44):
One hundred percent just based on the transparency of the
whole process. I mean, you just heard Jake say, hey,
we just released our standings for week six, Like that's
the official standings for if we need to start playoffs today,
we could and here's what.

Speaker 2 (01:01:57):
It would look like.

Speaker 3 (01:01:58):
And the WIOF fish in the WFA working hand in hand,
and they're working every week now for the next three
weeks to be able to get it right. And everyone's
gonna know what's coming down the pike and and those
should should be no surprises, but we never know. We'll
find out.

Speaker 1 (01:02:12):
Oh they'll be surprising. Guys like me. I stir a
lot of trouble here, Jake, and so I'll be one
going how can homes take it a two seat? Are
you crazy? You know? And I I just get out
of the air. And this big Irish mouth of mine
might cause some probs, but it's nothing personal, Jake. Yeah.

Speaker 6 (01:02:29):
Well, the rest of us are on the same page.
We want this to go really well. So well we'll
we'll leave the controversy to you. And we're hoping that
uh and Ryan said it. With collaboration with a WSKA
and these weekly check ins that we do that we
are our postings. WFC has been posting unofficial ours official

(01:02:51):
but resemble one another and you know our accurate and
and set up a great tournament series here in a
few weeks.

Speaker 1 (01:02:59):
Well, we look forward to it. Hey, Jake, I appreciate
you coming on for a segment and and thank you
so much for for your time. I'm going to probably
reach out to you here in a month and as
the playoffs start, just get you back on and and
you know, your first year as the assistant director of
the WI to see how you're you're you're getting through it.

(01:03:20):
And uh, I just thank you for for all the
time you put in and and Ryan Ryan said, look,
this guy is going to be really good at what
he does. And uh, when when he tells me that,
I I I believe him because I trust him a lot.
So thank you so much for your time. And I'll
reach out in a month or so and get you
back on.

Speaker 6 (01:03:38):
Absolutely, I'll work hard to earning that every day. Ryan,
and guys, anytime you want me on any way I
can help, I'll I'll be a part of that. Because
any group that celebrates high school sports, I'm all about it.
So thanks again for the invite this morning, and have
a great.

Speaker 1 (01:03:52):
Weekend you got Jake, Thank you very much. Ryan. We're
going to get to a break. We're a little upset
with our next guest. He's in studio. I don't smell
any bakery.

Speaker 3 (01:04:01):
I don't go and you're hoping for that white box, Yeah, white.

Speaker 1 (01:04:05):
Box, A couple of crawlers is what we were hoping for.
Colton Greeby is our guest and we're gonna finish the
show with him. They got a great event coming up
tomorrow at the Metro Market in Shorewood. We're gonna talk
to him about that, and I thought that that get
him in one segment we'd highlight promote that. But then
we talked on the phone for about forty five minutes
about student athletes and he went to Greendale Martin Luther.

(01:04:28):
I should have wore that state championship ring. I think
I've worn it once. By the way, Colton Greeby from
Greenby Bakery is in studio. We got a number of
things to talk to him about on the other side
of the break. This is the Varsity Blitz High School
Sports Show, presented by your local Picking Save and Metro
Market stores only on five Sports nine twenty and your
iHeart Radio app. Welcome back to the Varsity Blitz High

(01:04:50):
School Sports Show, as always presented by our friends at
your local Picking Save and metro market stores coming from
the Donovan and Jorgans and Heating and Cooling Studios, Colton
Greeby in studio with us.

Speaker 5 (01:05:03):
Colton, how you been, man, I'm I'm good. I'm happy
to be here. I got a little bit of sleep.
I was making cream puffs all last night, but I'm
here already.

Speaker 1 (01:05:10):
The fact that you put six boxes of cream puffs
in my car and said, do you want me to
bring some in studio, I said no, just leaving my
car on the McMillan can McMillan specter. You can go
over to your local metro market and buy them. I'm
eating them. I don't, I'm not. Hey, you talk to
me a little bit about growing up in the Greeby family. Man,
you guys been in this market giving back to our community.

(01:05:31):
Your family is a mainstay in our community.

Speaker 4 (01:05:35):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:05:35):
No, I I appreciate that.

Speaker 2 (01:05:36):
It's an honor.

Speaker 4 (01:05:37):
You know.

Speaker 5 (01:05:38):
I always say most kids grew up on playgrounds. I
grew up on flower sacks, So you and I were
You know, we're always in the bakery always. In fact,
it's funny we used to I was a hockey player
growing up. One of our guys the other day we're
doing a remodel and found one of the pucks like
from when I was a kid. Uh, you know, just
playing hockey in the bakery, just causing all sorts of troubles. Yeah,
it's it's been a lot of fun.

Speaker 1 (01:05:57):
Man. That's awesome. When when we when I called you
and I thank Emily for the introduction. Emily over at
Picket Metro Marketing is my favorite.

Speaker 5 (01:06:06):
Yeah, she is.

Speaker 1 (01:06:07):
She is my favorite. She can more than anybody I know.
She can have sixteen plates up in the air spinning
at the same time and never.

Speaker 5 (01:06:15):
How does she do that? I don't I don't know.
I told her, teach me, teach me.

Speaker 1 (01:06:20):
Yeah, She's like, I don't know. It's just the way
I am. But she can be on the phone with
me and say hold on a second, and she'll take
another call about some whole different event and just hit everything.
And and I thank her a lot because her and
I have been at the hip and and I just
I do. I love my wife, but she's a close.
She's got to tell you, did you always know that

(01:06:41):
this was your your what you're going to be doing
in your life? You and your brother now run Greedy Baker,
What's your brother's.

Speaker 5 (01:06:48):
Name, my brother Brandon.

Speaker 1 (01:06:49):
Okay, yeah, who's the better athlete?

Speaker 5 (01:06:53):
That goes back and forth? So grow up in a
household of three brothers, I would say I'm not the
best athlete, but I was probably one that tried the hardest.

Speaker 1 (01:07:00):
Okay, So you can play on any like you Why
did you come play basketball? You can't shoot.

Speaker 5 (01:07:05):
Rockey players usually can't shoot.

Speaker 1 (01:07:07):
They cannot, they cannot. Ryan's daughters are big hockey player
cool and girls hockey is getting big. Yeah, it's big,
it's big. You told me that you used to be
used to have your blades and you would in the bakery.
You guys would play games.

Speaker 5 (01:07:20):
Yeah, all the time. We call it hard roll hockey.
So it used to be actually a tradition on Christmas.
So the tradition kind of went our dad. It was
the only time where Baker would ever close down right,
was on Christmas Day. Uh. And so what we do
at night is my dad we grew up thinking that
there was a pack of dogs, believe it or not,
that protected the bakery on Christmas Day. So we would
go in there. We'd bring our hockey sticks. We play

(01:07:41):
hard roll hockey. And then you go on the intercom
and say release the dogs, and then we would have
to sprint out of the bakery.

Speaker 1 (01:07:47):
Uh.

Speaker 5 (01:07:47):
And I probably believe that for a little bit too
long that there was actually dogs in the bakery.

Speaker 3 (01:07:52):
Uh.

Speaker 5 (01:07:53):
So yeah, I'm actually trying to get that going with
my daughter coming up too.

Speaker 1 (01:07:55):
So good. Like, what is your daughter's name? Her name's
min Do you think mental play hockey.

Speaker 5 (01:08:00):
It's funny because this past away a year and a half.

Speaker 1 (01:08:03):
Okay, So I looked at my wife.

Speaker 5 (01:08:04):
I'm like, well, it's it's that time now when we
talk about buying skates for her. She's like, she can't
even walk yet.

Speaker 1 (01:08:10):
Like, let go, let's get that. That's awesome. Hey, talk
to me about about continuing the tradition of Greenby Bakery.
And and and again, look at the conversation we had.
That servant leadership heart that you have. It's not something
we're born with. It's a learned behavior, and certainly from

(01:08:32):
your family and being part of Greenby Bakery and understanding
the importance in our community of what you guys bring, right,
you guys, you and your brother have continued that.

Speaker 5 (01:08:42):
Yeah. No, I can't say enough how grateful I am.
I mean, I think the the number one thing in
life we're put on this earth is to give opportunities
to people. And the opportunities that I was given at
a very young age be putting some situations, you know,
Like I said, I was sort of where I was
a rollboy at the age of nine, working in the bakery,
doing a lot of things like that. But I think,
you know, between sports and working and being around this,

(01:09:06):
you know, this kind of atmosphere and a family company,
it's taught me that the greatest thing I can do
is pass on that opportunity to other people. And that's
that's something that my brother and I we say we
just happen to be baking. I know a lot of
people say they're in the people business, and you know,
we're the same, but we really really really focus on
that day to day with our staff and our culture
at Greeby's.

Speaker 1 (01:09:24):
Well, you talk to culture and that comes back from
being in the locker rooms, right and understanding that and
then being part of Look, you you work it every day,
so you're in that building every day. Well you don't understand,
maybe you do, but the the reputation of your family
and your product in our community is huge. When you

(01:09:46):
see Greenby Bakery to anybody. Look McMillan from you know,
Wannakee and he's from oconom Walk and now Muskego and
Spencer lives up in Cohler. When I go, hey, Colton
Greeby's coming in from Greenby Bakery, the first thing they
want to know is bringing crawlers, because you bringing a product.
And I go, yeah, I think so I We'll ask
him too.

Speaker 5 (01:10:04):
But as I walked in, I said, usually it's once
two reactions. People are either very excited when I show
up or very decided.

Speaker 1 (01:10:09):
Right fortunately a little bit, but you know what you're
making up for, making up for it. Talk to me
about this event going on Tomorrow, September twenty eighth at
the the Metro Market in Shorewood from twelve to from
noon to three o'clock. L Roy will be there. Drew
in KB from from the Game from ninety three ninety

(01:10:29):
seven to three the Game right down the hall from here,
and I've known Drew a long time, no KB a
long time. They're gonna do a great job. Leroy Butler
Boy used to work with every single day and he
always said big times, missed a big time doing I go,
She's great. He has been so kind to my wife,
and I go, why are you so kind to her?
He goes, come on, man, she's stuck with you. That's

(01:10:51):
why I know I sound like Lron. That's pretty man,
that's pretty good. He stuck with you all this time.
She deserves something, and so he's gonna be over there
talk to me about this event going on at the
Metro Market in Shore tomorrow from noon to three.

Speaker 5 (01:11:06):
Yeah, let's talk about the event. I'd love to talk
about how we kind of got to this event.

Speaker 4 (01:11:09):
Two.

Speaker 5 (01:11:10):
Emily's done a great job putting this together. So yeah,
noon to three tomorrow. Obviously Pro Football Hall of Famer
Leroy Butler, I'm going to be a little bit starstruck.
I'm sure everybody else will be. But you know what's
kind of cool is that they basically built like a
little mini Greeby's Bakery inside of this metro market. Right,
So this event is really highlighting that it's got the
iconic Greenby sign up there. In fact, the first one

(01:11:31):
hundred customers are gonna a chance to win some packer tickets,
a big deal around these parts, right, and then also
saw some gift cards and some free crawlers, right, who.

Speaker 1 (01:11:40):
Can beat that Spencer. Who can beat that Shorewood? Yeah,
Ryan's shore metro market tomorrow. He didn't bring the free
wins in today, but's noon to three o'clock tomorrow. Did
do you think that Greeby and it's a Greeby's grand
opening in that metro market? Do you know that when
I was a kid that that area that was a
Cole's food store. Yeah, that was like my second job.

(01:12:01):
I worked at WAP. I didn't know that I worked
at ihop and then I worked I was a soacker
for five and a half months. I got promoted to produce,
and I think I got promoted because I was a
really bad soacker. So I got a big bump and
pay money and I got over into the produce department.
I taught myself how to juggle with oranges and stuff
like that. But so grand opening do you feel like

(01:12:24):
in other metro markets? This is coming?

Speaker 5 (01:12:27):
Yeah? I mean right now. Emily like me for saying this.
We're focusing on this one right now. But hopefully I
mean success. You you know, usually when you have success,
good things follow, So.

Speaker 1 (01:12:36):
Would you you know she in her mind, she's like
next October we're going to be at this metro market
and I'll get coldon to do this, but but I
love that. So it looks like a mini Greevy baker.

Speaker 5 (01:12:47):
Yeah, it looks like a mini's Greevy bake. And you know,
it's kind of funny when we first sat down. What's
crazy us going through some old archives. You know, family's
been around. You know, we've been baking since the thirties.
Think of it like World War Two recessions, COVID. A
lot of things have happened. But you know, I was
looking through some some archives and I found an original
proposal that my grandfather pitched two roundies. It was it

(01:13:09):
was January tenth, nineteen sixty three, and basically was back
when all these bakers are folding up because a lot
of grocer stores started popping up, right, So my grandpa
was like, Hey, why don't I pitch to the grocery
stores that I'll run your bakery for you. So all
of a sudden, here I am sitting in front of
you know, Kroger, and I'm thinking, gosh, in the sixties,
my grandpa was doing the same exact thing that I'm
doing right now, me and my brother and pitching, you know,

(01:13:31):
this idea of Hey, let's team up.

Speaker 1 (01:13:33):
No, I love that.

Speaker 5 (01:13:34):
How crazy is that?

Speaker 1 (01:13:35):
Yeah? And you'll be there tomorrow.

Speaker 5 (01:13:36):
I will be there.

Speaker 1 (01:13:37):
Yeah, hang out with Leroy.

Speaker 5 (01:13:38):
Yeah, I can't wait.

Speaker 1 (01:13:40):
I can't wait. I mean I got you know. Yeah,
oh there, you gotta pack her. Yeah, you gotta pack her.
I can tell you that. Get to him early, because
once people kind of figure out he's there, Yeah, it's
hard to talk.

Speaker 5 (01:13:52):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:13:52):
And he is such a he is such a great
ambassador for Emily and for Jed and the people that
pick and save Metro market stores. He walks in the sackers, no,
the the the girls that that that are checking you
out are like, hey, le Roy, how you doing. He
is such a good ambassador because he understands the importance
of them with their local office here and the amount

(01:14:15):
of people that they employ here, like high school age kids,
college age kids, and then people my age working there,
and and he understands, and he seems to know all
of them, and he might not remember everybody's name, but
he's like, hey, what's going on, Charlie, or hey, how
you been young man? And then when he cause he
didn't remember my name all the time, but it's big time, Hey,

(01:14:37):
big time, how's missus? Big times? He's doing great, But
get to him early because it starts getting crowded and
a lot of people want pictures and talk to them
about their local pick and save a metro mone Yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:14:47):
He you know you meet He's one of those rare
people you meet in life that you know who he
is to you kind of in person is obviously he's
a fantastic human being. He's one of those guys that
hears stories about he does behind the scenes. You know,
I heard a not too long ago where you know,
someone's wife was sick and end up sending a text saying, hey,
how you feeling?

Speaker 1 (01:15:05):
How are you doing?

Speaker 5 (01:15:05):
I mean, he is that kind of guy that has
always just been you know, cares about people, right.

Speaker 1 (01:15:11):
Do you know when I when I was working with him,
I brought him to pick and to Emily, Oh, I said, look,
he would really be you might want to think about
an endorsement. And because he's a chef, right, he's an
author with books and he fits really well because he
understands our communities. And every time nowadays, every time I

(01:15:31):
see him, he goes, hey, man, I just want to
say thank you because this is such a great partnership,
and and I'm like, Emily's great, right, He's like she's unbelievable,
Like she's such a few she can look into the
future and thinks. So I'm telling you there will be
another creepy grand opening coming up.

Speaker 3 (01:15:48):
Hey.

Speaker 1 (01:15:49):
When we talked before, we talked about me coaching at
Martin Luther and you going too high school there and
and you understand the importance of high school athletics, right,
and the and the lessons that are learn Talk to
me about about that part of it, Like, how did
you you're you're an athlete, right, and understand how many
life lessons we can learn through athletics.

Speaker 5 (01:16:09):
Yeah, I think you know, when when you look back
at your childhood and you think of like the most
formidable years and what's molded you the most. I think
if you talk to annie student athlete, I got goosebumps
to talk about this, they'll tell you there was a
certain coach that along the way, you know, kind of
kind of helped them out.

Speaker 1 (01:16:25):
You know.

Speaker 5 (01:16:25):
I would think one of the biggest life lessons I
got that has really really served me well, you know,
is feedback tolerance. Right, Because I was an athlete, I
wouldn't say. It's always funny you talk to people and
about high school sports and they you know, you start
to size each other up. It's like, yeah, how good
were you?

Speaker 4 (01:16:41):
Right?

Speaker 5 (01:16:41):
Like, oh, I started on varsity?

Speaker 4 (01:16:42):
Right?

Speaker 5 (01:16:42):
Well, I never was that great of an athlete. I
just always really tried hard. But the thing that it
taught me the most was that feedback tolerance, right, that
those those coaches were always trying to push and push
and push you, regardless if you were the starter or
you were riding the pine pony like I was, you know,
all three years of high school and then I finally
made my way up to varsity. But it taught me

(01:17:04):
humility and that sometimes just because you're not going to
be the star of the show doesn't mean you don't
try right. And it's always about trying right.

Speaker 1 (01:17:12):
So think about him as a fourteen fifteen year old,
probably not thinking about what his future is running this organization.
Grevy Baker has been around since nineteen thirty seven. He's
going to be running it. But think about what he
just talked about, right, feedback tolerance. When he's got to
snap at one of his employees because maybe they're coming
in late every day or they're not putting in the

(01:17:34):
time that they have to. He goes back to a
coach and how he had to take that talent and
take it and say, Okay, I need to get better
to get on the field, get on the court, get
on the ice. He's got to get better. And now
as a manager and an owner of a company, he's
got to be able to utilize that skill set.

Speaker 3 (01:17:53):
Hey, it's all the soft skills that we can't always
teach in an educational classroom that we get to teach
after the school ends, and we get kids employed because
of it, Kids are successful because of it, kids don't
quit because of it. And you just heard that coming
through in Colton's story here.

Speaker 2 (01:18:10):
And shoot, man, I.

Speaker 3 (01:18:12):
Mean anybody listening to this segment that doesn't things athletics
and and you know there's young. Yeah, business don't go
hand in hand, or you're not gonna you're not getting
anything from it because you're not playing.

Speaker 2 (01:18:24):
He just got a whole bunch from it. And he
told he was riding the pine pony.

Speaker 1 (01:18:27):
You know, I've never heard that, but I never wrote
down feedback talarts because I want to give my wife
that life. She's listening right now. I can tell you
that right now, how hard is it to find kids
at sixteen, seventeen, eighteen in high school that are willing

(01:18:47):
to put in an honest day's work.

Speaker 5 (01:18:50):
I feel like you're teeming me up for this because
you probably know the answer to that.

Speaker 6 (01:18:53):
I do.

Speaker 5 (01:18:54):
Yeah, it's it's it's tough.

Speaker 4 (01:18:56):
You know.

Speaker 5 (01:18:56):
We actually see it at at cream pots and we
heard about three hundred people. It's usually it's all high school,
you know age students. And you know I have I've
made it my life's mission to give opportunities people, right,
And I'm not gonna just settle for the trope that
these kids don't want to work anymore. I'm going to
figure out a way to try to get them more

(01:19:17):
involved and more engaged. And you know, in the working world,
it's a generational thing, right, and it's it's the next
generation's job and duty to try to help foster them
into the workforce.

Speaker 4 (01:19:27):
Right.

Speaker 5 (01:19:28):
So could you coach? I do not coach, Someday, someday
I would love to. If you're listening to this, I
would love to be at least like, give me softball,
give me something, right me something?

Speaker 1 (01:19:37):
Hey, if you ever want to coach an old man softball, team.
I'll play for you. I'll bring donuts. Maybe not, maybe
I shouldn't play for you. Then maybe I got a
couple of guys in studio that would if if they
they get you get free donuts. We're gonna get to
a break, hey, tomorrow from noon to three. Perfect timing.
By the way, the Packers play at night game. You
guys picked that, didn't you?

Speaker 4 (01:19:58):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (01:19:58):
Absolutely, yeah, big game to big game. Well what's your
what do you think? Oh? Man, oh man, I think
they come out and.

Speaker 5 (01:20:05):
Rolled them thirty one seventeen.

Speaker 1 (01:20:06):
You know, yeah, as long as George Pickens gets one
fantasy football that screws, don't get involved in that. Are
you involved in it?

Speaker 4 (01:20:13):
No?

Speaker 5 (01:20:13):
Actually I had to quit. I had to quit fans football.
You know. It's uh, yeah, I'm rehabilitated from.

Speaker 1 (01:20:18):
What is your wife's first name? Amy? Amy? Amy said
no more man? More Amy is Amy? Does Amy get
involved with creepy Baker?

Speaker 5 (01:20:26):
Yeah? I mean you were talking about you know, there's
a special place in heaven, you know, as as yeah,
there's for Baker's wife Bakers wif Yeah, I mean the
three o'clock in the morning, you know, even last night,
it's like, hey, I'm I'm getting home at one o'clock
in the morning. Uh, you're probably not going to see
me at night, and you won't see me in the
morning because I'm up early, you know, and I got
to go back to work.

Speaker 1 (01:20:45):
So hey, when you when you said I was at creampuffs,
is that a different company?

Speaker 5 (01:20:49):
It's it's so it's my brother and I are very
involved with the ssconsin Baker's Association. So they've been doing
that for over one hundred years at at State Fair.
And we've had the privilege to uh to run creampuffs
at Wisconsin State Fair.

Speaker 1 (01:21:01):
Man, So you're involved in that too, absolutely, Amy, You're
she didn't see it much. Huh, not much, not a
whole lot much. But you bring you bring home good.
Are you sick of eating it? Yeah?

Speaker 5 (01:21:12):
I don't get sick of it. I mean I'm not
a sweet tooth, but yeah, it's I mean it's crawlers us.

Speaker 1 (01:21:17):
Well, yeah, how do you? How do you? Yeah? That's
not bad, right, It's not bad gig, not a bad gig.
We're going to get to a break. On other side
of the break, Colton Greeby from Greeby's Bakery, and people
might be wondering you got two segments with him. It's
because of the forty five minute conversation. Twenty of it
was saying great things about Emily, who we both love.
We both have just this crush on her, just because

(01:21:38):
she's so good and cares so much about people and
the job she does with with Metro Market and our
local Pick and Safe stores. They have been part of
the stuff that I do with our Pick and Saved
Student Athlete of the Week for as long as I
can remember, and I thank them. I thank them every
single week for their loyalty and the fact that they

(01:21:58):
allow me to come on these airwaves and then meet
different at different Metro Market and picking Safe stores with
student athletes and highlight promote and celebrate those kids and
those families, and I thank them for that. Hey, tomorrow,
the Shorewarod metro Market and that's the I'm sorry, that's
my favorite store. Awesome, it just is the one, the
one on Bluemont, the Metro Market at Bluemont is my

(01:22:20):
wife's favorite store. But I love going down the one
at Charlotte's Beautiful. It's just a beautiful store from noon
to three tomorrow, get a chance to meet Colton, get
a chance to meet KB and Drew. Oh yeah, Leroy
Butler hall of Fame. It doesn't matter. Talk to him
about the Lambeau Leap. But talked about you know, KB,
and talked to Drew about you know, being there. And
they're gonna do a great job of promoting this event.

(01:22:41):
But head over there. If you're one of the first hundred,
you get to sign up and maybe wins the packer
tickets and free product, which is awesome. It is uh
the grand opening, Greeby's grand opening. First hundred shoppers again
receive a bunch of stuff and so make sure you're
there early and the crawl there. What I'm going to
be there for. I'm going to get out of church

(01:23:02):
earlier for excite Baptists and head over there for sure. Guys,
thank you. We're got one more segment. We'll continue with
Colton Greeby in studio. I asked him to bring his brother.
He said, not bringing my brother. I'm gonna do all
the talking here today. This is the Varsity Blitz high
school sports show, presented as always by your local Pick
and Save and Metro Market stores, only on Fox Sports

(01:23:23):
nine twenty and your iHeartRadio app Welcome back to the
Varsity Blitz High School Sports Show, presented by your local
Pick and Save and Metro Market stores. Coming live from
the Donovan and Jorgensen. He didn't need cooling studios. I'm
Mike McGivern alongside the athletic director from Muskigo High School.
He is Ryan McMillan and our special guest in studio,
Colton Greeby. And if you didn't hear that last segment,

(01:23:45):
go online later and listen to it and understand you know,
what Greeby Bakery is all about. And when he talks
about trying to give you know, give people a chance
to have a career to work.

Speaker 5 (01:23:59):
How many employees, by the way, just about one hundred
and sixteen?

Speaker 6 (01:24:02):
Wow?

Speaker 5 (01:24:02):
Yeah years?

Speaker 1 (01:24:03):
Is that more than in the past less.

Speaker 5 (01:24:06):
A little bit less. So right after, say, when COVID came,
we had just over one hundred and sixty employees and
we had to kind of downsize and reshape. And yes,
and now we're down about one hundred and sixteen. Were
you in charge at that time? I was, yeah, difficult time. Well,
in fact, my brother was out in North Carolina at
the time on vacation. And you know, also in the
world ends, and you know, as brothers, you know, like

(01:24:28):
I can handle this. Yeah, So I call him up.
I'm like, hey, man, I don't know how to say this,
but like, you know, half fur revenue just went away.
He's like, what do you mean?

Speaker 1 (01:24:39):
You know?

Speaker 5 (01:24:39):
I mean, like I remember that phone call like it
was yesterday. Talk about adversity, right, yeah, but yeah, once
that came and he's like, all right, I'm on my way.
Because you know, my brother and I we always like
say we're yin and yang. We say I if I
was just running the company, we would be in big trouble, right,
And and him likewise, he's more a little a little
more level headed than I am. I think he did

(01:25:00):
just fine without me. But but yeah, that was that
is that has really shaped our business.

Speaker 1 (01:25:05):
Did you did you see then an uptick because everybody
was staying home and and you know, I remember going
into my local pickets safe start trying to find toilet
paper that kind of stuff. Yeah, in the beginning, and
then I my home improven showed. These guys were like,
we don't know what's gonna happen. Yeah, and then about
I don't know four or five six weeks later, They're like,

(01:25:25):
we've never been busier and people were staying home. Did
that help your business?

Speaker 5 (01:25:30):
No? Actually we Yeah, like I said, fifty percent of
our revenue dried up overnight, you know, and you know
we we we're talking about opportunities here. This is a
perfect time to talk about this because it it it
kind of it goes into you know, the work that
Emily's doing at Kroger and things like that, because because
actually Kroger was the one who gave us an opportunity
during COVID. So what ended up happening was half our

(01:25:51):
you know, revenue drives up.

Speaker 6 (01:25:52):
Uh.

Speaker 5 (01:25:53):
You know someone at Kroger, one of the category managers, Janine,
she said, Hey, I grew up eating your cookies. My
don't guy just stopped producing owns for me? Could you
make crawlers for all my stores?

Speaker 4 (01:26:02):
Right?

Speaker 1 (01:26:03):
So I just love them?

Speaker 5 (01:26:04):
Yeah, I like the story gets sweeter and sweeter, right,
But yeah, so that really today, if that wouldn't happen,
I'm not gonna say we wouldn't be here. We would
look a lot different. They gave us an immense opportunity
and really shaped our strategic vision for the company going.

Speaker 1 (01:26:18):
Well in one hundred and sixteen employees say thank you
to them. Yeah, you know you may have been down
to eighty, down to seventy something like that. What's an
average day for you? Do you really get up at
three o'clock every day?

Speaker 5 (01:26:30):
No, So there's bankers hours and there's baker's hours. Right,
So you know, I'm the sales guy. I'm the R
and D guy. So you know, yes, once in a
great while, I'm getting up at two three in the
morning and I'm going to help the mixer guys, you know,
mixing doughs things like that. But most of the time,
you know, I'm getting in rolling into work, right, you
know between eight and nine o'clock.

Speaker 1 (01:26:50):
You you don't miss those because you you spent some
early mornings there.

Speaker 5 (01:26:54):
Yeah when you were younger, right, Yeah, I earned my stripes.

Speaker 1 (01:26:57):
You did, did your your dad ranted? Yeah?

Speaker 5 (01:27:00):
My dad ran it. So you know, Unfortunately, my father
passed away in twenty sixteen, and you know, the company
really was not set up to be like, hey, guys,
here we go. It was you know, I remember, you know,
I was in college at the time. My brother calls
means like, hey, we we got something. We got to
do something. We're either going to sell the company or
we're going to make something of it. And one of us,

(01:27:20):
if we decided to go in, one of us needs
to learn how to bake, right, he goes, So pack
your bags, right, good luck, baker. Yeah, so I drove
down to a man Manhattan, Kansas. You know, when you
know commercial baking school, learned baking really cut my teeth
into that. And you know you were asking before, it's
is this something always I wanted to do? You know,
I actually grew up working on farms in them Skigo area,

(01:27:41):
went school for agriculture. Really really loved you know, working
on the land, things like that. But you know, I
wasn't always the greatest student. I still tried. But I
remember in baking school. I'm sitting here, I can say
this now it's been a while. I got I got
a student copying off of my paper right on the test.

Speaker 1 (01:27:56):
That never happened in Martin Luther.

Speaker 5 (01:27:58):
Nope, that never. For the record, that never happened.

Speaker 1 (01:28:00):
Yeah, I checked in on you.

Speaker 7 (01:28:01):
Nobody copied on your papers, No, no, no, But I
remember I was sitting in class and all of a
sudden I was looking at my paper and it was like,
you know, at the age of I think I was
what twenty was twenty four at the time.

Speaker 5 (01:28:13):
To be able to have that luxury in life, to
realize is what you're meant to do in life, to
be a baker at that time just clicked.

Speaker 1 (01:28:21):
It did, and then the whole idea of being such
an iconic company in the state Wisconsin around since nineteen
thirty seven. Did you feel some pressure?

Speaker 5 (01:28:31):
Yeah, yeah, a little bit of pressure. I mean at
the time it was like, let's just keep these doors open, right,
The pressure was really from inside. You know, we have
staff that watched me grow up in diapers, you know,
you know, Brand and I aren't the only generational employees.
I got my maintenance guy who took over from his
dad who retired after forty years. The guy working in
my icing department was actually his dad was my Santa
Claus growing up worked our icing department. He took over

(01:28:54):
from his dad. So there's a family legacy there.

Speaker 1 (01:28:56):
Do you under you understand the what now you do?
But you didn't then the importance of that. Right, These
people that your father, you know, treated really well, and
I'm sure their fear was, oh, these two young guys,
don't you know, are they going to continue doing things
the way that we do things. Change is always hard
on people, right, Change is hard, and you have kept

(01:29:17):
it going.

Speaker 5 (01:29:18):
Yeah, yeah, you know. You know you think of a
coach in a losing season, what do you tell your
what do you tell your team?

Speaker 6 (01:29:23):
Right?

Speaker 5 (01:29:23):
There's only so many pep talks you can give, right,
And I would say when we took over, I wouldn't
say we were losing, but we definitely weren't five hundred. Right,
So day in and day out, you gotta just keep
like what we found is our north Star Wars, our culture.
It's like, hey, we're going to keep this thing intact.
We're gonna stay true to who we are. We're going
to try to grow and make this company successful.

Speaker 1 (01:29:41):
Now I'm now, I'm hungry. Now. Now I want some
of that bakery for sure, and I can get it
tomorrow tomorrow between noon and three o'clock at the Shore
Road Metro Market. And I'm telling you, it's really cool.
And I think he's going to be back in one day,
and we're talking about the second grand opening, and I
think Bluemont's the next one. But I'm not telling Emily

(01:30:04):
how to do her job, but that that is my
favorite store for sure. Tomorrow is gonna be fun, it's
gonna be exciting. Uh what what do you hope to
accomplish with everything tomorrow? Just to make sure it runs
smoothly and you're up and running and everybody's you know,
tasting the product and and enjoying the time there.

Speaker 5 (01:30:23):
Yeah, I mean it's it's our purpose statement at Greeby's
is to make everyone's life just a little bit sweeter. Right,
So it's it's it's there making sure Kroger and Emily
are happy, right, got to take care of them. And
then ultimately it's you know, it's that person walking up
and eating a donut. Right, It's just like, yeah, make
your life a little bit sweeter.

Speaker 1 (01:30:39):
Yeah, I think it would make our life a little sweeter.

Speaker 5 (01:30:41):
Next time you come in, next time, I will bring it.

Speaker 1 (01:30:44):
Yeah. McMillan told me he ain't coming back unless he's
bringing something. Spencer wanted me to kick you out in
the beginning, but I said no, we're talking to Cold
and Greevy really quickly. You can see now why this
company is still around since nineteen thirty seven.

Speaker 3 (01:31:00):
Totally they got the secret soft sauce of staff continuity.
You always talk about that in athletics and how how
do people continue to win over decades? And it's the
same people together doing the same things and believing in
each other. And then inadvertently they have generational okay, generational
people and families that believe in what they're doing, how

(01:31:23):
they're doing it, and the product they're doing and the mission, right,
the mission making life sweeter for somebody.

Speaker 2 (01:31:28):
They're doing it.

Speaker 1 (01:31:29):
Okay, Hey, do you know what tells me a lot
about them is right on their website, right on the
top Greeby's Gifts, and on there you can fill out
a request request for Hey, this is Mike mcgiffren from
the McGivern Agency. I'm requesting a free doesen don't it?
And see what happens. But right on the website, what
an easy way for people to go, Look, we're doing

(01:31:50):
a fundraiser with their nonprofit. Can we get some help?
They can just go online. It's a quick, easy form
and you guys will let them know if this is
something you want to get involved in.

Speaker 5 (01:31:59):
Yeah, I mean that's just part of every you know,
family Bakery is It's a big part of what we
do is get back to the community.

Speaker 1 (01:32:04):
One hundred percent. That's good to meet you. Yeah, I
appreciate this. Let's keep in touch. If there's anything I
can do for you, let me know. Emily will always
let me know if there's another grand opening. And trust me,
she's already got it planned out. You know that she's
thinking twelve months ahead all the time. Tomorrow if you
if you want to meet with Colton or LaRoy, but

(01:32:26):
you're doing autographs tomorrow, I don't know about that. Yeah,
you'll do an autograph or two. You get a chance
to meet Colton Greeby tomorrow from noon to three along
with KAB. I know Spencer, KB and Drew are going
to be there from ninety seven to three of the game,
along with Hall of Famer Lroy Butler, who's just the
best ambassador for the people over at Pick and Save.

(01:32:47):
Colton is nice to meet you. Say hello to your
brother next time. We'll bring him absolutely and see how
he does talking about you behind your back. We can
certainly do that. It's good to see you, Ryan, It's
good to see you.

Speaker 3 (01:32:58):
I don't think I have you next week, No, sir,
you got me by the phone if you need me.

Speaker 1 (01:33:02):
Brian Leear, former coach at cedarwork's coming at a big
good than Yeah, big fan of Brian and we'll reach
out to you. Where are you gonna be?

Speaker 2 (01:33:10):
I will be in chiple Falls watching hockey.

Speaker 1 (01:33:13):
Watching girls hockey. That's good for you. I love that, guys,
Thank you so much again. Tomorrow from noon to three
at the Shorewood Metro Market, Colton Greenby said, I'm not
signing autogress asking for an autograph. He'll sign it for you.
And maybe that gets you a free donut hi every
maybe a selfie with it for sure. But noon to
three tomorrow Metro Market in Shorewood, and it is the

(01:33:36):
I'm telling you Greeby's grand opening, and it looks like
a mini Greeby's Bakery. And trust me, it's gonna be
worth You know, the time to go down there and
say hello to Colton, say say hello to Leroy and
the guys. From ninety seven to three the game. This
is the Varsity Blitz high school sports show presented by
your local Pick and Save and Metro Market stores only

(01:33:58):
on Fox Sports. Side twenty and years I heard radio
app