Appleton Xavier High School's Dave Hinkens has been named Green Bay Packers High School Coach of the Week, the Packers announced Monday.
Hinkens, in his fifth year at the helm of the Hawks, has produced back-to-back undefeated Valley 8 Conference seasons. Xavier is 38-13 under Hinkens and 8-1 this season heading into tomorrow night's Division 4 playoff game against Denmark.
"I'm very honored to receive this award from the Green Bay Packers and the NFL," Hinkens said. "It's very special to me and I think it really represents a lot about our program. Our football team is playing at a very high level right now and we have a very difficult game tomorrow night against Denmark. We need to play at a very high level because they're a very good team."
A Kaukauna High School prep player, Hinkens was coached there by Bill Biekola. After graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, Hinkens went on to coach at Kaukauna High School (1990-99) under his father, Glen Hinkens. After a year-long stint at Lawrence University, Hinkens assumed his current post at Xavier High School in 2000 where he in turn added his father to the coaching staff.
Hinkens and his wife Julie have two sons, Drew and Darren. Hinkens is a mortgage broker at Mortgage Concepts in Appleton, Wis.
Hawks assistant coaches are Jim Zuleger, Joe Schuh, Troy Verhagen, Chris Simon, Jeremy Schuh, Justin Wilson, Glen Hinkens and Ken Diedrick. The coaching staff oversees 82 total players including a varsity roster of 53.
The Packers will recognize one outstanding high school coach as their 'Coach of the Week' winner during the 2005 high school football season. Coach of the Week winners are 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 Web site.
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) 569-7302. Please include the nominee's name, address, school, phone number and reason he/she is deserving of the award.
