All-Star game will be last chance to coach Big Foot players
By Dan Truttschel
Correspondent
When he left the comfort of the Big Foot High School football program after last season, Rodney Wedig knew there would be a transition period into his new surroundings.
That time arrived late last month when Wedig led the Beloit Memorial squad into his first team camp.
And now he’s off and running.
“Team camp went very well,” Wedig said. “The kids are very receptive and picked up the new offense and defense very well. Everything was positive, and I think these kids want to know what it takes to win.”
Building that tradition of winning is going to take some time, Wedig said, only because the players themselves don’t have a lot of experience in how to do that.
“They don’t have a group of guys who can say, ‘This is what you have to do (to be successful).’” Wedig said. “They have to learn how to trust the staff and believe in each other.”
Wedig, who also will teach social studies and head the school’s weightlifting program, said his new charges have taken the first step toward building a new tradition.
And that’s from just putting in plain old hard work since his arrival on campus.
“Almost all the young men are showing up to lift and get better,” Wedig said. “We all worked hard those two contact days.”
Wedig and his family moved from Big Foot to Beloit at the end of the last school year, and that part of the transition has gone well to this point, he said.
Not that it hasn’t come with some normal nervous moments.
“The transition has been great, and at times, scary,” he said. “There are nights I wonder what I am doing, and other times I appreciate the opportunity. As of late, I am so excited to have this challenge before me.”
Former stars join staff
Helping him ease into the move has been two familiar faces in former Big Foot standouts Mike Crusan and Michael Walker.
Both will serve as assistant coaches with their former head coach this year, and Wedig is thrilled to have them on board.
“Michael Walker has provided a great boost to our summer lifting program and is a great role model for the young kids,” Wedig said.
“Mike Crusan is going to be a great coach, and I will count on him heavily to get our running game going. I love having both of these guys with me because they know what it takes.”
While he’s now getting used to the new color schemes of Beloit Memorial, Wedig has one last commitment ahead as the Big Foot head coach.
Next week, he will be the head coach of the South Division Small School squad in the annual Wisconsin Football Coaches Association all-star game, set for Jul 19 at UW-Oshkosh.
In that game, Wedig will have one more chance to coach former players Gus Wedig, Collin Frederick and Ian Gallagher. He will also be joined on the sideline by former Big Foot assistants Adam Bakken, Brian Ryczkowski and current assistant Greg Lueck.
“I have been so busy, I haven’t thought about the all-star game that much, but now we are going to get this going,” he said. “I got the band back together, we will have fun, and I think we will do well.”
