The Green Bay Packers have announced that Adam Dow of Sparta High School in Sparta, Wis., has been named the Packers High School Coach of the Week. The program is presented by Jack Link's Protein Snacks.
Dow, in his first year as the head coach of Sparta, led the No. 7 Spartans to a 33-14 upset victory over the No. 3 New Richmond Tigers in the second round of the Division 3 WIAA State Football Tournament on Friday, Oct. 26. Sparta began the playoff tournament by knocking off the No. 2-seeded Ashland Oredockers 36-8. Dow and the Spartans look to continue their hot streak when they travel to Rice Lake High School to take on the defending Division 3 state champion, and No. 1-seeded Rice Lake Warriors on Friday, Nov. 2.
Dow and his staff embrace the feeling of unfamiliar territory, as until this year, the Spartans had never won a game in the postseason.
"[The players] need to just come out and have fun and play their best," Dow said. "You have to come out and perform your best every Friday night in the playoffs. Ultimately, you're looking at it, and you have to go 1-0 each week, and if you do that five times, you'll find yourself in a good position down in Madison. But if you look at the future or you look behind, and you spend too much time dwelling on things you can't control, you have an opportunity where you end up getting picked off. Ultimately, I'm excited to see how good we are because I think that we've beaten some quality teams, but this is an opportunity for us to really see how good we are this year.
Dow grew up in Stevens Point, Wis., and graduated from Stevens Point Area Senior High in 2001. Throughout high school, he participated in football, wrestling, and track & field. Dow played offensive and defensive line for Wisconsin Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame Coach, Jerry Fitzgerald his junior year, and Coach Pete McAdams his senior year. He then went on to start at center for four years at UW-La Crosse, under Coach Larry Terry. Dow graduated from UW-La Crosse in 2007.
Dow began his coaching career as an assistant coach for De Soto High School, where he coached for five years. In 2011, he transitioned to an assistant coaching position at Clear Lake High School. Dow remained at Clear Lake until 2015, when he took over an assistant coaching position at Sparta, and he became head coach at Sparta this season.
Dow feels that the Coach of the Week Award is not only for him, but for everyone involved with the program.
"This is an award for the kids, this is an award for the rest of the coaching staff and ultimately, this is an award for the community," Dow said. "Sparta hasn't always been necessarily competitive year in and year out in football. Being able to be sitting here in the state quarterfinals, this is great for our kids, and great for our community."
Dow and his staff oversee a program of 75 players, with 55 suiting up for the playoffs. His assistant staff includes Larry Noll, Mike Jones, Nick Kingeter, Jared Pankow, Josh Lydon, Jordan Laufenberg, Kyle Hutson, Casey Olson, Jake Dallas, Chad Wampole, Buck Engel, Bob Stuessel, Chad Guns, Vince Torres, Gabe Miller and Nate Pollnow.
In addition to coaching football, Dow is also the dean of students at Meadowview Intermediate School in Sparta, Wis. Dow gives special thanks to his parents, Melvin and Patricia, for always supporting him.
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 2018 high school football season. Winners are awarded several items and privileges, including a $2,000 donation to the school's football program from the Green Bay Packers, Jack Link's Protein Snacks and the NFL Foundation, as well as recognition of the award on Packers.com, Wissports.net and Wifca.org.
Winning coaches will also take part in the Jack Link's High School Coach of the Week Game Ball Delivery where they will hand the game ball over to a member of the Packers staff or referee prior to a regular season home game.
Nominations for Coach of the Week should be submitted by 10 a.m. every Monday to Ryan Fencl, Football Outreach Specialist, at coachoftheweek@packers.com. Please include the nominee's name, address, school, phone number and reason he/she is deserving of the award.
