Tom Taraska, head coach of the Arrowhead Warhawks, has been selected as the Green Bay Packers High School Coach of the Week for Week 7, the Packers announced Wednesday.
Arrowhead is now 6-2 overall, most recently beating Pius XI, 56-6. There are 82 players on the varsity roster with 13 assistant coaches. Taraska has taught physical education since 1975.
Taraska has a 171-61 career coaching record going into Arrowhead's Wednesday night match-up against Waukesha South. He will be inducted into the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame in March 2004.
Arrowhead has a 31-7 record in its three previous seasons with two straight conference titles.
Taraska started his coaching career as an assistant at Franklin High School in 1975 and was named head coach in 1978 before assuming his current position at Arrowhead in 1982.
Taraska was born in Milwaukee and attended West Allis Hale High School where he ran track and played football for Glen Berg and went on to play collegiately at UW-Oshkosh for Russ Young.
Crediting the young people he works with, Taraska said coaching has actually reversed his aging process. He said the Coach of the Week award is a testament to those players and the people around them.
"Any honor of this nature is for the school," Taraska said. "A coach is only as good as the players he has around him. It's a tribute to our community and the efforts of the young people here to build our program to a high level."
The Packers will recognize one outstanding high school coach as their Coach of the Week winner during the 2003 high school football season. As a Coach of the Week winner, Taraska and future recipients will be awarded several items and privileges, including a $1,000 donation to the school's football program from the Green Bay Packers and the NFL, as well as recognition of the award on www.NFLHS.com, the NFL's high school football website.
Nominations for Coach of the Week should be submitted by 9 a.m. every Monday to Cathy A. Dworak, Manager of Community Relations, at coachoftheweek@packers.com (e-mail) or by fax at (920) 490-5937. Please include the nominee's name, address, school, phone number, and reason he/she is deserving of the award.
