The Green Bay Packers have announced that Dewey Reilly of Tomahawk High School in Tomahawk, Wis., has been named the Packers High School Coach of the Week.
In his third season as head coach of Tomahawk, Reilly has the Hatchets out to an undefeated 5-0 start, the program's best start since 1969. Their strong play has them sitting atop the Great Northern conference, and in the latest Bound Wisconsin Coaches poll, Tomahawk is ranked fifth among all Division 5 programs statewide.
Reilly's focus on leadership and the values he has worked to instill in his players have helped build a culture and identity that are driving the program's success.
"I think for us, it was identifying who we were and who we wanted to be as a team and as a community and reinforcing that day in and day out," Reilly said. "People talk about player-led teams and as a coach, you want to teach your kids how to lead so when they get the opportunity [to lead], they can do it by themselves, and it becomes this magnificent family tree of individuals that take the lessons they've learned and spread it on. I'm also a big believer in iron sharpens iron…we try to make each other better on a daily basis. It's these things that are changing the culture around here and allowing us to expect more of each other and ourselves. We might not win every game, but when we're done, you're going to know you played against Tomahawk football."
Away from the field, Reilly emphasizes the importance of being positive role models in the Tomahawk community. "For us as a program, we try conduct ourselves, carry ourselves and lead by example, not just on the football field but in our community and in our school," he said. "We want to continue to help instill pride. Our community is a small town and we kind of thrive around our school district and athletics. That's huge for us for what we try to showcase in our student-athletes"
Reilly grew up in Tomahawk, Wis., and graduated from Tomahawk High School in 1997. He played quarterback and safety for the Hatchets under head coaches John Larson and Todd Bohm. Reilly went on to play linebacker at Minnesota State University, Mankato for head coach Dan Runkle. After graduating in 2001, he began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Mankato before moving on to dental school. Reilly later returned to coaching at the youth and middle school levels before accepting the head coach position at Tomahawk in 2023. He is also the head coach of Tomahawk's state champion hockey team.
Reilly is honored to win the Coach of the Week award but is quick to recognize the honor as a team award.
"If you're chasing individual accolades, you're going to be chasing for a long time," Reilly said. "I know it's cliché, but they say you'll go faster by yourself, but you'll go further as a team, and I truly believe that. It makes me proud to be a part of this team, community and program and that we are doing things the right way and moving in the right direction."
Reilly and his staff oversee a program of 43 players with 33 of them suiting up for varsity games. His assistant staff includes Cooper Kelly, Mike Reilly, Dewey Reilly Sr., Erik Halverson, Aaron Evans, Jason Olsen and Ashton Greil. In addition to coaching football and hockey, Reilly is a dentist at Reilly Family Dental in Tomahawk. Reilly and his wife, Karina, have two sons, Rex and Jett, and one daughter, Emery.
About the Green Bay Packers High School Coach of the Week Program:
The Packers will recognize one outstanding high school coach as their 'Coach of the Week' winner during the 2025 high school football season. 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 Foundation, as well as recognition of the award on packers.com, boundwisconsin.com and wifca.org.
Nominations for Coach of the Week should be submitted by 10 a.m. every Monday to Jake Krueger, Football Outreach Coordinator, at coachoftheweek@packers.com. Please include the nominee's name, address, school, phone number and reason he/she is deserving of the award.
