G.B. Southwest to rely on experience
Pat Wallace is loosening up his coaching hat this year.
The Green Bay Southwest co-head coach still loves football just as much as he did over 20 years ago when he started out as a wide-eyed assistant.
However, he’s trying not wrap himself up in the gridiron as much this season and instead take more time to enjoy the little things in life.
“I let a lot of these younger (coaches) talk more this year,” Wallace said. “I don’t study everything all the time like I used to. I’ve made a more concerted effort not to live here at the school.”
The Southwest alum decided to take a different perspective towards coaching after he received quite a health scare in the spring.
Wallace thought he had developed another kidney stone when he went to the doctor with similar symptoms of the ones he had developed before. He was taken aback when he was diagnosed with kidney cancer.
“It was a reality check,” Wallace said. “I was totally blessed. It was one of those things where we found it and had surgery to remove it. There were no big side effects or anything. I was blessed.”
Wallace went on medical leave following the procedure, leaving the football team without its usual leader in the weight room.
It forced the squad’s more experienced players to step up to guide the offseason conditioning program for the underclassmen.”
“We have four or five guys that are coming up on three or four (varsity) seasons now,” Southwest co-head coach Tim Birr said. “That’s kind of unheard of.
“The (younger players) are so much further ahead than they were two or three months ago because of guys like Isaac (Klarkowski) spending time with them.”
Klarkowski, a junior center, is entering his third year as a starter on the offensive line, which will have plenty of experience behind it in the backfield with Josh Komis, Allen Bunker and Nick Howard returning from the squad’s playoff team of a year ago.
Komis, a four-year starter, was the second-leading rusher in the Fox River Classic Conference (1,098 yards) and leading scorer (20 touchdowns) last season. Bunker is a versatile threat and a four-year varsity player, while Howard enters the season as the starter at quarterback after splitting reps last year as a sophomore.
“On the O-line we have a lot of news guys, so I’m just trying to help them out to get them to where they need to be,” Klarkowski said.
Defensively, Nathan Steinbrecker is a four-year starter, earning first-team all-FRCC honors as a linebacker last season. However, the defense sustained an early blow when senior safety Hunter Vang tore an anterior cruciate ligament in a knee earlier in the summer.
This will be Southwest’s third season using a no-huddle offense. It has proven to be effective in spreading the field and offset the team’s smaller roster size.
While the overall numbers aren’t up to where Wallace or Birr would like them to be, they’re encouraged by having nine upperclassmen coming back out after sitting out a year or coming out for the first time.
Wallace feels this is one of the closest teams he’s had in his coaching career. Everyone’s willingness to help each other has even inspired the veteran coach to take on a different role.
“I took a new challenge,” Wallace said. “I’m doing the jugs machine stuff. I haven’t done that in forever because I’m an O-line guy. It’s a fun deal.”