AIMING TO LEAD A TURNAROUD

RIB LAKE GIRLS BASKETBALL

Edwards eager to work with young RL squad

A one-time rival for Rib Lake athletes has joined their side, aiming to bring success back to the school’s girls basketball program.

Austin Edwards, a 2019 graduate of Phillips High School, has taken over the program. He’s the program’s fourth head coach in four years following the end of Mike Wudi’s seven-year run and the one-year stints of Wayne Mann and Joe Treffinger.

He takes over a varsity squad that went just 3-21 in the 2022-23 season but also played with just one senior, a handful of freshmen and lost one of its top players, Tessa Weik, to a season-ending injury in the year’s first week.

“I’m really excited,” Edwards said Tuesday after wrapping up day two of a three-day basketball camp he led for fifth through eighth grade girls and boys. “When I applied here I didn’t know there was going to be an opening. When I found out about the opening, I instantly became interested. I started watching film of the team right away. I figured that we had some really good pieces coming in and they’d be fun to coach. That’s why I’m here.”

Edwards, who graduated from UWOshkosh in May, will start as a middle school social studies teacher in the district in August.

Avid followers of the Marawood Conference will remember Edwards as a three-sport athlete at Phillips. He ran cross country for the Loggers in the fall, but he stood out in the sports of basketball and baseball. He was a two-time first-team All-Marawood North selection in hoops and was the North’s Player of the Year as a senior while playing for the league’s Coach of the Year that season, Trevor Raskie. He was a threetime All-North selection in baseball and was on the second team once.

He’s been a member of the Rib Lake Osprey Dairyland League baseball team the past few summers and said he’s already seen how supportive the community is of its schools and its athletics. His father, Blake Edwards, is the Loggers’ head softball coach and has led that program to two WIAA Division 3 state appearances.

“Watching him build a program, he took over a softball team that was kind of in a rebuild and he took them all the way to state multiple times,” Edwards said. “So seeing him build a program that had been struggling and taking it to state in just a few short years, it made me realize in coming back here that I can do something similar with these girls in Rib Lake.”

Upon learning of the coaching vacancy, Edwards said he quickly viewed some game film from the 2022-23 season to get familiar with what he could be working with. He did see the Lady Redmen play in person once in Phillips.

“It’s a very youthful group, but I think the territory that comes with that is they have the greatest gift of all which is being underestimated,” Edwards said. “There’s not going to be a team that plays us this year that thinks much of us because we only won three games last year. The gift of being underestimated and counted out is going to be our best blessing. After this year, nobody is going to underestimate us. We’re going to enjoy it while we have that gift of being underestimated, but knowing that it’s short-lived because we plan on competing every single night we go out.”

Being a coach is something Edwards, who is just 22, said he envisioned himself doing as he geared up for a career in teaching. He feels fortunate to have had a lot of positive coaching influences while being devoted to three sports while growing up.

“I had a ton of good coaches in all sports starting at the youth levels,” he said. “I’ve gotten some really good advice from other coaches that I have worked with before and some of the coaches here, like Terry Voltz, I’ve gotten the opportunity to talk to Mike Wudi and other coaches too, like Mike Eggebrecht in Phillips. I’ve leaned on him for some things and watched some of the stuff he’s done over the years, and Amy Ring, the boys coach in Phillips. I’m leaning on all of those people for resources. I was blessed with very good basketball coaches all the way through.”

Upon his hiring, the first goals for Edwards were making sure the team was set up for summer league competition, setting up his off-season contact days with the team and setting up this week’s youth camp. He also got his JV coach hired, a familiar name in Rib Lake, Gracie Weinke.

“She’s so knowledgeable about the game,” Edwards said. “She’s already proven that she’s a great coach in other sports. She coaches three sports in a year and she’s also a teacher. I think the girls and myself are really blessed to have her come on and join the program.”

Weinke was a senior on Rib Lake’s last winning team, the 20-4 Marawood North champion squad of 201718. Since then, it’s been tough going for the Lady Redmen at the varsity level with just 19 wins in the five seasons since. It will take the right combination of talent, coaching and belief to turn things around and, a month in, Edwards thinks those ingredients are there.

“As we got into the gym I saw how willing to work these girls were and how they’re always here early, they’re always staying late,” Edwards said. They’re never ones to skip out on any extra work. They’re definitely a team you want to coach.

“My biggest thing is to build a winning culture you have to build winning habits,” he added. “Building winning habits starts at the youth level and it goes all the way up to the high school. It starts with good coaching. It starts with good fundamentals. I think that so far this summer every girl that’s come in has started building winning habits. The rest will follow.”