Pius basketball coach Claassen to retire
State legend guided school’s boys and girls teams for 34 years
When the Pius XI boys basketball team wraps up the 2019-’20 season, Joel Claassen will close the book on one of the most successful coaching careers in state history.
On Monday the school’s longtime coach announced his retirement effective the end of the season. In the process, the school also named his successor, Dan Carey, a Pius graduate who has been an assistant in the program for seven seasons.
Claassen is in his 16th season as the Popes boys coach. He led the girls program for 18 years. He has 649
wins combined.
“Thirty-four years ago, Dick Fischer tapped me to take over as head coach for the Lady Popes, entrusting me with building upon his success. I was blessed to coach some incredibly talented and driven student athletes over the years and am I really proud of what we were able to accomplish,” he said in an announcement released by the school. “I don't think I'll ever feel completely ready to retire, but the time is right and we have identified the right person to take over.”
Carey will bring a similar background to the job as Claassen.
Like Claassen, Carey enjoyed a successful run as a girls coach. He was the coach at Sussex Hamilton from 2009-13, leading it to the Greater Metro title in 2012 and '13. The team went 68-27 (.716) during his tenure with a 42-14 (,750) mark in the GMC.
He coached the Wisconsin Glo, a women's pro-league team out of Oshkosh last summer, and prior to returning to Pius in 2017 he was an assistant women's coach at UW-Milwaukee.
Carey has been an assistant to Claassen for seven seasons. Four before he coached at Hamilton and his current run of the past three years.
“We felt that having some time to transition the players over to Coach Carey would establish continuity,” Claassen said in press release. “Dan is known and respected by players, parents and the basketball community and is the right person to lead the future of Pius XI boys basketball.”
Claassen plans to continue to teach social studies at Pius as well as serve as its softball coach.
The retirement announcement adds to an eventful year for Claassen. He was inducted into the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in September. This month he'll be inducted into the Wisconsin Fastpitch Softball Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
Few, if any coaches, have had more success coaching the boys and girls games than Claassen. He went 419-37 as a girls coach and is 230-106 with the boys program.
His time as the girls coach at Pius represented a golden era for not just girls basketball but for all girls sports at the school.
Girls basketball, however, set the tone with 14 state titles, including 12 straight, in 18 seasons and numerous years in the national rankings. Four of his players – Heidi Bunek (2010), Jenny
Kraft (2011), Brenda Brunner (2015), and Kelly Auger (2018) – are WBCA hall of famers.
On the boys side, Claassen led the Popes to Classic 8 titles in 2005, '06, '07, '08 and '12 and Woodland West crowns in 2014 and '15. They made it to the state tournament in Division 1 in 2005 and in Division 2 in 2012.
The team is 4-12 this season. Claassen delivered the news to the squad during its Monday practice. Its next game is Tuesday at West Allis Central.
"The X's and O's were a given, but his real impact was being a great role model, building character and being a profound influence on the lives of young athletes," Shana Nichols, a former Pius standout who went on to play at Wisconsin in the early 2000s, said in the release. "That's the power of athletics. It's so much bigger than the sport, and I learned that from him.”