Rodney Wedig, head coach of the Big Foot High School Chiefs, has been selected as the Green Bay Packers High School Coach of the Week for Week 3, the Packers announced Friday.
Under Wedig's leadership, Big Foot is now 4-0 overall and 2-0 in the Rock Valley Conference in Wedig's first season as head coach for the team.
The positive start is much needed for a Big Foot program that has never made the playoffs and has not posted a winning season since 1994.
The varsity team has 48 players with 7 assistant coaches. Wedig teaches social studies.
Previously, Wedig spent 8 seasons with Almond-Bancroft and took the team to the playoffs 4 of his last 5 seasons. The team went 11-1 last season to win the first conference championship in school history.
The team had recorded only 5 winning seasons in 40 years before Wedig's arrival. He began his coaching career as an assistant coach at Green Lake High School in 1994.
Wedig attended Belmont High School, where he played football and basketball. His football coach, Robert Edington, is now the defensive coordinator at Burlington High School.
Wedig played one season of college football at the University of Dubuque, before transferring to Southwest Minnesota State to finish his education.
He is married to Tammy and has five children: Matthew, 2, Cristian, 7, and triplets Jacob, Kelsey, and Kayliegh, who are 10.
Wedig said that, despite the team's past, he fully expected improvement as a result of its thorough off-season preparation.
"The assistant coaches and the kids have all really dedicated themselves this year," Wedig said. "I can't say enough about my staff as far as the hours they put in this summer preparing so that we wouldn't have to go through the growing pains that first year coaches usually go through."
Wedig admitted that, although he anticipated progress, he is pleasantly surprised with their 4-0 start.
"I knew we had some good athletes and I was confident that if the kids believed and stuck together, I was hoping we could surprise some people, but right now we have exceeded my expectations," Wedig said.
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, Wedig 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.
