FROM THE SPRINGS A GIANT AROSE…THE LEDGERS AND BOB HYLAND

When my book, The Great Teams came out the WFCA sent an e-mail blast to its members telling them about it and how to order. The second book I sold was to a Carol Hyland and the address to mail it out was in Arizona. I assumed correctly that the order message was from coach Bob Hyland, under his wife’s email address. I hadn’t planned on doing interviews of coaches but as my blogs evolved, I have talked to several former players and coaches, either my email or in phone calls, obviously, to get needed info. So, a few months back I contacted Coach Hyland and asked for an interview. We did a phone call first, then I followed up with a visit to Fond du Lac. I had a great time on both occasions.

Here are some of the questions I asked Coach Hyland:

At Wisconsin Rapids Assumption you were on a great team in 1965. Tell me a bit about it:

“We had a lot of talent on the team and we went 8-0-1 and won the conference title. The tie was against Madison Edgewood. Several guys played college ball after graduation and our coach was very good.”

Your coach was Don Penza who starred at Racine St. Catherine’s in the late 1940’s. Tell me about him:

Well, he was young and aggressive. He had played at Notre Dame and played some pro ball. He was demanding. It wasn’t unusual for him, if a player made a mistake in practice to take that players spot, run the same play and demonstrate, in a live manner, without pads, how things should be done correctly. He would throw blocks, make tackles and run the ball to show us how it was supposed to be played. He had sort of a Vince Lombardi style, demanding great effort all the time. Much like many coaches from that time.”

Were you surprised that Penza quit coaching at age 35 to run successfully for mayor of Wisconsin Rapids?

“Not really. He taught history and political science at Assumption. You know, he went on to coach later at Woodstock (IL) Marion and won three state titles there, so he didn’t give up coaching altogether. He was out of coaching while I was in college so when I went back home to visit, we didn’t stay in touch. “(See my earlier blog on the 1949 St. Catherine’s team to learn more about Don Penza)

Your brother Dick was also on the team. I know you also played basketball and track and Dick was on the rack team. Did he also play basketball?

Yes. Weren’t great stars on the basketball team but we held our own. I also found time to play on the golf team in between track practice or meets. Dick went on to play football and run track at UW-Madison.

Another star on the team was Steve Krummel who seemed to be able to do it all on the field. Where did he go to college?

“He also went to play with me at North Dakota State and did well. He was an All-America defensive back there.”

Side note: (Krummel was All-state and All-conference in 1965 as he gained 734 yards on 93 carries, caught 33 passes for 665 yards, intercepted 3 passes for 44 yards, returned 11 punts for 235 yards and 8 kickoffs for 175 yards while scoring 18 touchdowns and 6 extra points for a total of 114 points. That’s 1,853 yards in 9-games!!)

You played fullback and defensive end on the 1965 Assumption team and earned 2nd team All-conference. How did you move to the offensive line in college?

“I was recruited by one of the greatest line coaches in college history, Buck Nystrom, who was an All-American at Michigan State and he was the line coach at North Dakota State.”

Side note: Carl “Buck” Nystrom coached for 55-years. In 1965 North Dakota State was the Division II national champion. Like Coach Hyland, Nystrom was a fullback/defensive end at Marquette Graveraet High School (Which now days is an elementary school). He was drafted by the Washington Redskins but decided not to play pro ball as he was only 5-foot 10, 194 pounds. He spent three stints as a line coach at Michigan State, coached at Colorado, Oklahoma, Northern Michigan as well as at North Dakota State. When he retired, he helped out as an unpaid assistant at Marquette (MI) high school. Upon being inducted into the MSU Athletics Hall of Fame, former Oklahoma head coach Chuck Fairbanks said: "He's the greatest line coach who ever coached in high school or college football, without question or exception. He's just so special. There's no one better in his ability to teach young players how to play. He's the unqualified best. He never lost his passion to coach kids."

Another interesting fact is that Buck’s son, Kyle, also attended Michigan State and has coached for over 30-years in the college ranks. At one time, as a graduate assistant, Kyle and Buck coached together at Northern Michigan where Kyle is now the head coach.

It seems that Bib Hyland learned from the best as he himself would earn All-American honors as a center at North Dakota State.

Why move to Fond du Lac?

“Two things happened upon graduation. My wife, Carol, got a job there and there was an open coaching position at St. Mary’s Springs. I arrived to apply for the job, by chance, the day after the former coach quit.”

What did you teach at Springs?

“I spent 40-years as a math teacher.”

You obviously have had great success over the years but how do YOU measure success?

“By HOW we play the next game. If we are showing improvement.”

What’s the toughest thing about coaching?

“Motivating the kids. It’s different today than in the past.”

How were you able to build a winning tradition at Springs? Admittedly, the school had marginal success before you arrived.

“The school had once been all-girls and then, as boys were admitted in the 1940’s they began to play football and it took a while for them to get the right numbers and athletes. When I took over the program, I had a very small voluntary staff. It took 3-4 years to build the proper staff. When I started there were two guys who would help out but they had no real previous football coaching experience. I eventually went from several paid assistants to a staff of 12, some of whom are voluntary. I have had a good staff for many years. Some of the key current and former assistants are Shawn O’Loughlin, Kyle Krueger, Jim Baudry, Kurt Krueger and Bob’s son, Rob Hyland. Several are former graduates from Springs.

What are the most important concepts you and your staff try to teach the players?

“Fundamentals. All that goes with that and make no mistakes.”

What motivated you to keep coaching and what motivates you now?

“Just the passion for the sport”

You’ve talked in other stories that I’ve read that you probably were prouder of the WISSA titles because you beat bigger schools? Is that true? I mean, people said that you (Springs) couldn’t compete against the WIAA schools but you have proven them wrong.

“Look at our record since joining the WIAA. Only twice has Springs not made the playoffs. And we do play bigger schools. We are the smallest (The only Division 6 team) school in the Flyway Conference and we have for many years gone up to Appleton East and played our pre-season scrimmage against East, Green Bay Notre Dame and Wisconsin Rapids, to name a few bigger schools. Also, when we were in the WISSA we usually played against bigger schools in the playoffs or non-conference games against the likes of Waukesha Catholic Memorial, Milwaukee Marquette, Racine Park, Milwaukee Thomas More, Milwaukee Pius, Wisconsin Lutheran, Menominee (MI), Antigo, Madison West and many other bigger schools. Those that I’ve mentioned are but a few that we played in just our undefeated WISSA title seasons."

“We don’t need to “play-up” as some of the out of state schools do. We are already or have in the past done so.”

After your early success in turning the St. Mary’s Springs around (He did go 0-8-1 in 1971, 1-7-1 in 1972 and 3-5-0 in 1973 before starting to gain traction with the program) did other schools seek you out to come to their school? Any colleges?

“No. My wife had a good job, I liked it at Springs and we liked the area so there would have been no need to move.”

What offense do you run at Springs? What defense?

An option utilizing the Veer. On defense it has varied depending on the personal."

What do you want your legacy to be?

“I treated everyone the same. You got a fair shake from me”

Is there anything people might not know about you?

No. So much has already been written in the papers.

What do you do in your spare time since you aren’t teaching?

“Golf” (In fact I had to delay my visit to Springs a bit because Coach Hyland had a golf date that day but I had a great time talking to him in person that day)

Final question. When did you think about going for 500-career wins?

“I honestly never gave it a thought. Not until my grandson Isaac mentioned in 2020. That year there weren’t playoffs due to COVID. We only played seven games that year (4-3 record). We had won three consecutive titles (2017, 14-0, 2018, 14-0 and 2019, 12-2) and even with the losses we had a chance to win another title. That would make it four in a row and his goal was to win again in 2021 but we went 11-3 and lost to Colby, a good team, 22-7. He remarked that he wanted to play in the 500th win game. I was going to quit but my wife said “NO, you have another grandson (Brady) to coach so you can retire after the 2024 season.” So, that’s the plan.”

Coach showed me his office (small but usable), the locker rooms (Also modest by some newer school’s standards and the weight area (A very nice gift from two former players). On the walls above the weight equipment are large photos of all of his 17 state championship teams (8-WISSA and 9-WIAA titles).

Hyland stands with a superb 492-113-2 career W/L record in his 51 seasons. He is 45 wins ahead of Jerry Sinz of Edgar (447-89 career record in 47 seasons) and 113 wins ahead of Bill Young of Waukesha Catholic Memorial (379-120 career record in 44 seasons). As he heads into his 52nd season at Springs, Hyland is second on the national active coaching records behind the legendary John T. Curtis of Metairie (LA) John Curtis Christian Academy who has won an incredible 603 games and lost only 75 with 6 ties in 53 years (27 state titles!!). Jim Roth of Southern Columbia Area (PA) is 21 wins behind Hyland with a crazy coaching record of 471-64-2 in only 38 years. John McKissick of Summerville (SC) is the all-time winningest football coach, high school or college with a 62-year record of 620-156-13. In 2021 Mile Smith of Hampton (VA) retired with 505 career wins.

Below is a list of the top 15 coaching wins supplied to me by Steven A. Floyd (THANKS, Steven) of Corpus Christi, Texas who has been doing national research for many years. I took what he sent me and condensed some of it to fit this format. As you will see where Bob Hyland and Jerry Sinz stand on the leader wins listing. Note that Bob Hyland ranks second, tied with Gary Rankin of Tennessee in the column listed as ST’s for the most state titles, behind John T. Curtis of Louisiana. Several coaches held two stints at the same school or retired and then returned to the game, but I didn’t add that info to the listing. Nine of the 16 coaches listed (There was a tie for the #15 spot) are still active. Six active coaches have 47+ seasons under their belt but two, the afore mentioned Jim Roth of Pennsylvania and Tommy Knotts of North Carolina have coached 38 years. Also, Gary Rankin has put in exactly 40 years of service.

FINAL NOTE BEFORE THE LIST:

Thanks to Coach Hyland for keeping such great records as I now have much needed information to do several future blogs on four of his undefeated WISSA teams. I would have done more on the WISSA championship teams but I found newspaper and available school records lacking for many of the teams I wanted to profile when I wrote my book. School records is, to me, important to maintain, even if there is a change in the coaching staff or a team has a poor season record. I wish all schools would be as diligent as what I found at St. Mary’s Springs.

The list below is for 11-player coaching records only. While some 6, 8 and 9 player coaches have approached great overall career victories, none approach the list posted here. Also, at this point in my estimation, records for schools and coaches with career totals in 8-player and 11-player football should be separated. A coach may, say, attain 175 career wins (A notable feat in any case) those wins by 8-player and 11-player squads should be separated.

DARLINGTON: THEN AND NOW

THIS IS AN UPDATED BLOG DONE AT 7:14PM, August 4, 2022

First, getting back to the blogs on the 1917 football title:

When I was doing research for the blog, I saw a two-line snippet in the La Crosse Tribune that mentioned several teams in the hunt for the state title. The snippet mentioned that undefeated Darlington, with a 5-0-0 record wasn’t being considered to be in the hunt as they didn’t play tough enough competition (An opinion by the sportswriter, J.E. “Jack” Dahlgren”). At the time I didn’t have access to the Darlington records but to be complete on contenders, I present it here:

Again, yearbooks are wanting for some school records and newspaper stories were sometimes sparse. . The season totals for the Darlington opponents and the second Mineral Point score are not available. However, meticulous research by current Darlington football coach Travis Winkers and assistant coach Lee Black. I was looking to see how tough the Galena, Mineral Point and Monroe teams were for 1917 but found nothing.

Second, now, a brief rundown on the great school’s program

A while back, while looking for some information I ran across a story on the “changing of the guard”, the retirement of the then Darlington coach, Scott Zywicki and the hiring of Travis Winkers. The story stated that there had only been seven coaches ever at Darlington (including Winkers). I knew that they had the second-best (Or is it third best? See the final section for clarification on this…well sort of a clarification) winning total of any Wisconsin high school football team (Just below top dog Milwaukee Marquette High School). Some schools change coaches every few years trying to find the right fit, but I found the story to be incredible for their only having seven coaches. So, I reached out to Travis and he set the record straight.

In an e-mail Travis sent me the breakdown of the school record. Winkers is the seventh coach since 1926. Only seven coaches in the last 86 seasons and just over 600 wins between them Three have gone on to be inducted into the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame…W.W. Martens, Doug McArthur and Scott Zywicki. I set up a phone interview with Coach Winkers to talk about a lot of things but mainly Darlington. We talked in May, and he was very forthcoming about his previous position at Markesan as well as the Darlington tradition.

The program started in 1894 and between then and 1925 the school posted an 88-39-12 record over the first 27 years. In 1926 W.W. Martens took over and spent 42-years as a teacher at Darlington, 35-years as the head coach. A graduate from Platteville High School and Platteville State Teachers College (Now UW-Platteville), “Wadzy” set the gold standard for excellence. In that time his teams won 11 conference titles and eight undefeated teams as he posted a great 183-61-14 record. Besides teaching Industrial Arts, he spent time scouting for several UW-Madison football coaches…Harry Stuhldreher and Ivy Williamson. When he retired, he was elected to the school board of education. The school football field is dedicated to him.

Coach Martens

Here are the records for all of the coaches:

Travis and I discussed the offense at Darlington. When I put together my football record book, I added a category for teams that had three rushers gain 1,000 or more yards in a single season. Of the 10 Wisconsin teams that have accomplished this feat, Darlington has had five of those seasons…1995, 1996, 2013, 2014 and 2015. I can only find three other schools in the entire country that have had three 1,000+yard rushers in a season more than one time. Under coach Doug McArthur they began to use the wing-T offense. Always a running team, Darlington, under McArthur worked hard with his teams and they powered through the opposition in his 13 years at the school. During that time period the Red Birds won four state titles…1987, 1990, 1991 and 1995 as well as finishing second in 1992, 1994 and 1996. His tenure at the school started slowly, going 0-9 his first season in 1984, followed by 2-7 in 1985 and then 5-4 in 1986. The Red Birds hit their stride in the next 10 seasons going a fabulous 110-17. Born the same year that W.W. Martens stepped down from his coaching spot, McArthur had attended Watertown HS and then moved on to UW-Platteville where he won three letters in football and four in tennis. Before he came to Darlington in 1984 at age 22, he spent a short time at Schullsburg and at Wahlert HS in Dubuque IA. He was only 37 years old when he stepped down to take a job in the private sector. He later returned after additional college studies and became the principal at Darlington from 2009-2015. While at the school he also coached wrestling, track & field as well as golf.

McArthur at a state title game

Dennis Bogacz and Scott Zywicki continued with the wishbone and had great success. Born in Milwaukee, Scott Zywicki attended St. Francis HS and then moved to Greendale where he played football before moving on to UW-La Crosse. He was a graduate assistant there for two seasons before moving to Darlington where he was an assistant to Doug McArthur and Dennis Bogacz. Moving up to the head coaching spot in 2005 he spent 11 seasons in that position before retiring. His Red Birds won seven conference titles and appeared in the state finals four straight times in 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 finishing as the runner-up. It Coach Zywicki was the story about his retiring that led me to seek out his replacement, Travis Winkers

Coach Zywicki

Travis is 35-years old, but he has a lot of experience. Raised in River Ridge where he was the teams quarterback. He attended U.W. La Crosse majoring in sports management and business. Winkers went to Markesan as an assistant for Kevin Wopat, the current coach at Oshkosh Lourdes Academy, for two seasons before taking over the head spot in 2013. Wanting to move back to the southwestern part of the state he applied for the Darlington job after posting a 40-13 record in five seasons. He and his assistants fine-tuned the offense and they run the wishbone formation and the” pistol”. Their defense is a 3-3-5 because the opposition tends to throw a lot and with a four-year record of 27-14 at Darlington. Even having to replace many key offensive starters there are a number of experienced linemen and seven of the top 10 2021 defenders returning this season and with paid assistants like Lee Black, John McGranahm, and John Sturtz and volunteer assistants Jin Bryson, John Bartaszewicz, Brett Knautz and Tyler Domink. The Red Birds will be ready for their opponents.

Travis Winkers

Setting The Records Straight…sort of

When I was preparing to write the blog, I looked for an updated listing of the all-time winningest football schools. The one I had in my book; THE GREAT TEAMS was a few seasons old and when talking to Travis he said he had heard Platteville was now in second place on the list. I found that hard to believe as my book, information taken from a person who posts in the FORUM section of WISSPORTS. I updated it a bit as I had found some records for Fond Du lac St. Mary’s Springs prior to Bob Hyland starting to coach there and I had done extensive research on Delafield St. John’s. So, I went back to the FORUM (Found under the High School Football section) and asked for an updated list. It was posted and I was surprised to see the results.

In comparing the list from my book and the new one I see that somehow Platteville is credited with 699 wins vs 552 wins from 2-seasons ago. Somehow Platteville did additional research and found 195 games unaccounted for and 147 more wins or someone has made a mistake. I've updated my totals with the assumption that the new research is accurate since the prior number was based on the same source. The new list shows Darlington with only 601 wins vs. the record that Travis Winkers gave me at 693 vs, the list from 2-seasons ago at 590. Yes, Lee Black at Darlington was able to come up with older records and they are now at 693. It would appear that the old Darlington total was based on the past seven coaches and not anything prior to 1925. As a side note, the totals for St. Mary’s Springs have dropped to 491 even though Coach Hyland has 492 wins, and I came up with an additional 47 wins for the school from my research. I had sent the information to the FORUM writer, but he appears to have missed the message. He did get my note on an updated St. John’s record. As I’ve mentioned, getting old information to update records is hard to come by.

Here is a graph of the records of the winningest Wisconsin high school football teams:

I added the 2020 and 2021 season records to the 2019 list o make my own 2021 list and there are a few changes compared to the new FORUM posting. Whether they are #2 or #3 the Red Birds have a right to be proud of their long tradition.

AN UNUSUAL WAY TO THE HALL OF FAME

In 1997 or 1998 I was using the fairly new, virgin, world wide web. I was searching for as much information about high school football, Wisconsin as well as national stories. I searched for football records in all places including state athletic organizations. I ran across the WIAA web site and found a listing for school’s information. Overtime, after Todd Clark, WIAA Director of Communications, must have revamped the site because the information on the web there is much improved and is easier to use. I took that directory and sent out massive amounts of e-mails asking coaches to send me records and to send me stats each week during the season. I got a fair response, and I began to do weekly/season leader lists. I continued to send e-mail requests each season.

In 2003, the new head coach at Big Foot, having just moved from Almond-Bancroft and he began sending stats weekly. Rodney Wedig didn’t just send me a short list but his running seasonal stats sheet. He sent me everything but the kitchen sink. I wished everyone would have done that. Rodney and I would e-mail each other every now and then over the years.

In 2014 I read a story about him leaving Big Foot and taking the head job at Beloit Memorial and we conversed some more about the new challenges he faced after leaving a successful program. I wished him success and we didn’t write each other for the next nine years. I hadn’t kept track of him, but I knew that he hadn’t fared well at Memorial. Then, this past March Rodney sent me a message and a file with his coaching record. I was unaware that he had been named to the 2022 class of the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame. I then learned that he had moved on from Memorial to Milton. I congratulated him being named to the HOF and noted that his file showed the most remarkable record. It was unusual to say the least and is probably one of a kind.

WFCA Hall of Fame Picture

The file showed his season by season coaching record for his four stops…Almond-Bancroft, Big Foot, Beloit Memorial and Milton. If you could see the chart 9Hard to replicate here), you would find that he has coached every possible record, other than ties, for wins…from 0(Zero) to 14 wins.

In 1995, his first year as a head coach, Almond-Bancroft went 0-9, as also happened at Beloit in 2014 and 2015.

In 2016 Beloit won their only game in a 1-9 season as they won the end of the season matchup with Racine Park in a game between two winless teams that failed to make the playoffs.

His 1999 at A-B and 2018 at Beloit his teams won 2-games…2-7 records.

Next up is his two three-win seasons. 3-6 at A-B in 1998 and 3-7 at Beloit in 2017 (Also with a season ending matchup with Park).

Four wins in 1995 and 2000 at A-B and 2021 at Milton.

He collected 5-wins in each of the 2001 season at A-B, twice at Big Foot (2004 & 2005) and at Milton in 2020 during a COVID shortened season. Three seasons were 5-5 as the teams made the playoffs and 5-2 in 2020 when there were no playoffs.

In his first season at Big Foot in 2003 the team marched to a 6-4 and their first ever playoff appearance.

1997 saw Wedig direct Almond-Bancroft to their first ever playoff appearance as they finished 7-3.

2006 brought his first 8-win season as Big Foot advanced to the second round of the playoffs with an 8-3 record.

After posting a 2-7 season at Beloit in 2018, Wedig directed Milton to a 9-2 in his first season there.

Big Foot posted three 10-win seasons…10-1 in 2007, 10-3 in 2010 and a 10-1 year in 2011.

His final year at Almond-Bancroft, 2002, Coach Wedig posted an 11-1 season just as he did in his final year at Big Foot, in 2013.

2012 Big Foot went 12-1 as they battled Somerset in an overtime loss. 35-33 in the state finals.

A 13-1 season occurred as Big Foot made it to the state finals but bowed to Wautoma 20-0.

The crowning season was in 2009 as Big Foot mauled Kewaunee 42-13 for the championship.

Coach Wedig and I talked in May about his career and the upcoming season. You can see that his teams have made the playoffs 16 times, won nine conference titles and a state championship. Not bad for a guy who played football, basketball and baseball at little Belmont High School. Rodney attended Southwest State University in Marshall Minnesota in 1992. He took a job out of college to teach and coach at Holy Redeemer School in Marshall. He then moved back to Wisconsin and became an assistant football and head girls’ basketball coach at Green Lake.

Rodney worked part time for the Oshkosh Northwestern newspaper and in 1995 received his first head coaching position at Almond-Bancroft. As noted above his first season was a winless one but he won his first game in 1996 as the Eagles finished 4-5. He finished there with a 36-41 record, but it was his 2002 season record of 11-1 that allowed him to find a better coaching spot. That was in Walworth at Big Foot.

After going 6-4 in his first season there, his teams continued to make progress and the playoffs. 11 straight seasons into the playoffs and seven consecutive conference titles. From 2006 through 2013 the Indians were always in the hunt for titles and advancing deep into the playoffs. As at other schools he has used variations of the double-wing and the spread offenses, often with a no-huddle look. At Big Foot he had great linemen who could open huge holes. At his first two stops he was able to “sell the program” to his players, the schools and the community. While at Big Foot he coached running back Mason Dixon who was the WFCA State Player of the Year in 2012. Mason went on to star at Beloit college and is a policeman in southern Illinois. One of his star linemen was former All-Pro center Travis Frederick who played for the Dallas Cowboys'.

Beloit was another story. After going 103-26 at Big Foot, he was only able to garner a 6-41 record at Beloit. While the school has been able to produce some very good individual players that moved on to the college ranks. It has been before 2002 (As far back as I could trace on WisSports.net) that the school has posted a winning season. They have mostly in that 20-year period gone 0-9 or 1-8. A tough nut to crack for anyone.

So, in 2019 he moved to take over at Milton. The team was loaded with seniors who the year before posted only a 3-6 record but under Coach Wedig they progressed to 9-2. Their season ending loss was to always tough Waunakee, 35-28 in the second round of the playoffs. Being in the Badger-South was always tough for Milton but they usually could hold their own with the likes of Watertown, Stoughton, Monona Grove and Edgewood. That’s not to say that Fort Atkinson, Oregon and Monroe were pushovers. But 2020 brought realignment to the league and a move to the Badger-North and now they face Waunakee on a yearly basis and then realignment again in 2022 brings Sun Prairie East and Sun Prairie West into the picture. He does return this season four defensive starters and seven on offense, all linemen so the Red Hawks hope to hold their own. In three seasons at Milton Coach Wedig has posted an 18-10 record.

Rodney was very gracious to spend time in talking to me and I thank him. I asked about his family and his two daughters, Kayleigh and Kelsey played basketball at Big Foot and his three sons played there as well. Jacob was a quarterback and Gus and Matthew were linebackers. Gus played at UM-Duluth and Matthew at Illinois State. He has been married to Tammy for 31-years.

Overall, at age 55, Coach has a 163-118 record going into the 2022 season with more wins to come. It was a pleasure in talking to him and it certainly was an unusual career record to look at as he made his way to the HOF.