PREP TEAMS READY FOR KICKOFF
The “Friday night lights” are set to flip on again. Franklin quarterback Myles Burkett, right, is primed for a big senior season with the area’s top-ranked team. Arrowhead, above, looks like it will have an explosive offense again. And you can never count out Catholic Memorial, below, led by head coach Bill Young in his 44th season.
Seventeen schools in the area hired new coaches this past offseason or lifted the interim tag off coaches who led the team the previous year.
Luke Bingen, Milwaukee Hamilton
The 2007 Hartford graduate and UWOshkosh alum has been on the Wildcats coaching staff since 2015 and at the school since 2013. He was the defensive coordinator in 2019.
Quentin Cauffman, Palmyra-Eagle
Cauffman takes over for Wisconsin Football Coaches Association hall of famer Carey Venne, who served as a head coach in an interim capacity last season.
Nicholas Craft, Milwaukee Obama
Craft takes over a Cougars program that made three straight playoff appearances before being sidelined because of the pandemic last year.
Mike Greinke, Wauwatosa East
The Red Raiders' coach is the former head coach at Wilmot. He spent six years there, leading the Panthers to a share of the Southern Lakes title in 2011 and playoff appearances from 2010-13. Since then he has been an assistant coach at various schools in the area.
Eric Langman, Cudahy
Langman comes to Cudahy from Sussex Hamilton where he was the defensive backs coach last season. Prior to that the Manawa native had extensive experience at the Division III level, working as an assistant at Ripon, MacMurray College and Maine Maritime Academy.
Keith Klestinski, Marquette
Klestinski spent 23 years at Marquette as an assistant coach before taking the reins on an interim basis last season. He led the team to a 5-2 mark and then in January had the interim tag lifted.
Cole Large, Ozaukee
A 2014 Ozaukee graduate who was a standout in football and wrestling, Large has worked in the video departments of the University of Wisconsin and Chicago Bears. He has worked as a varsity assistant wrestling coach and youth wrestling coach in Ozaukee for the past three years. He has been working with the football team since March, first as an assistant and then as head coach after position opened last month.
Greg Love, Milwaukee Vincent
Love actually became head coach after the 2019 season but didn't get a chance to coach last season due to the pandemic. A veteran of the City Conference, he helped King and Marshall win division titles in recent years as an assistant coach.
Jermaine Murry, Greendale
After Rob Stoltz resigned in May, the school turned to Murry in an interim capacity. He is no stranger to Greendale, having spent 19 years as an assistant coach the program. During that time, he had stints as the varsity reserve head
coach and varsity offensive coordinator.
Jamaal Napoleon, Pius XI
The Milwaukee Tech graduate and Concordia alum is serving in an interim role this season. He played minor league football for 12 years and spent one year as the head coach of the Wisconsin Hitmen semi-pro team. This will be his third season at Pius; he was the defensive coordinator last season.
Gaz Osmani, Kenosha Bradford
A 1994 Bradford graduate, Osmani takes over a team that will contend for the Southeast Conference title. He is a former Bradford assistant who spent last season at Kenosha St. Joseph.
Scott Pritzl, West Allis Hale
Pritzl stepped in, in an interim role after Scott Flood resigned days before the start of practice. A former boys basketball coach at Hale, Pritzl also was a longtime assistant in football.
Eric Sulik, Burlington
Sulik takes over for Steve Tenhagen in an interim role this season. He spent the past five seasons as assistant in the program. Before that he was the head coach at East Troy for nine seasons, leading the Trojans to a Rock Valley Conference title in 2012 and playoff appearances in that season and 2011.
Markell Thompson, Milw. Washington
The former standout at Dominican has worked as an assistant at Whitefish
Bay, Dominican, Nicolet and most recently Marquette where he helped coach outside linebackers last season. He also spent five years as an assistant basketball coach at Dominican when the program won five straight state championships (2012-16).
Darnell Wiltz, Waukesha South
The Texas native came to Wisconsin in 2012 when he was named the head coach at Kettle Moraine. He resigned after two seasons and spent the past five seasons as an assistant at South, working most recently as the offensive coordinator under former coach A.J. Raebel.
Drake Zortman, Homestead
Zortman shared head coaching duties last season with Matt Wolf and had the interim tag lifted in December. This is Zortman's second head coaching job. He spent four seasons (2011-14) at Messmer/Shorewood where he led the co-op featuring two schools without much history of football success to a 20-17 mark, three playoff appearances and a Midwest Classic title in 2013.
Nathan Wallman, Delavan-Darien
Wallman has worked in the Milton youth program and at the freshman level at Monroe. He spent the past five years at Janesville Parker where he was the varsity linebackers coach and at the freshman level, the head coach and offensive coordinator for three years.