The Green Bay Packers have announced that Chris Greisen of West De Pere High School in De Pere, Wis., has been named the Packers High School Coach of the Week.
In his fifth year as the varsity head coach of West De Pere, Greisen has the Phantoms sitting at 7-1 after a massive conference victory Friday night that clinched a share of the FRCC-North title. Entering the final week of the regular season, the Phantoms – ranked sixth in the state in their division by wissports.net – are looking to secure the conference crown outright before making a push to Camp Randall. Coach Greisen attributes much of the Phantoms' success to his program's strong culture.
"A number of years ago, we refocused our culture. We wanted to be a football team that had some grit," said Greisen. "When we started that [new culture], we had a leadership council full of our players, and they came up with the acronym. The four words that define G.R.I.T. are grind, responsibility, intensity and trust...That's really our mantra over these past couple of years in everything we do. Grind is doing ordinary things in an extraordinary way. Responsibility is everyone knowing they have a job to do, and they have to do that job to the best of their ability. Intensity is when it's game day and it's time to step on the field, you better flip that switch. Then trust is playing for each other, not just with each other. Those are really the four staples of our program. The kids have done a great job of buying in, believing and trusting in the coaches."
The program also emphasizes players serving as positive role models for kids in the De Pere community.
"We believe very strongly in representing our community in a very good light," said Greisen. "We talk to our players all the time – especially when it comes to the youth in our community – about being the men that all these little kids think you are. We believe our program is not just varsity, junior varsity and freshman, but also 7th and 8th grade and the children at Syble Hopp, a school where kids born with disabilities go to in our district. We hold and host a football camp for them every year. Our players get matched up with a student [at Syble Hopp] that wants to play some football. It's so joyful, so fulfilling, the kids love it and our football players love it."
Greisen attended Sturgeon Bay High School where he played quarterback and safety for the Clippers. After graduating in 1994, he went on to play quarterback at Northwest Missouri State University, leading the Bearcats to the 1998 NCAA Division II national title. Greisen was drafted in the 7th round of the 1999 NFL Draft by the Arizona Cardinals and spent time with the Cardinals, Washington Commanders, Dallas Cowboys and several teams in the AFL and NFL Europe over his 14-year professional career. Greisen began coaching in 2003, assisting Notre Dame Academy, Green Bay Southwest High School and Freedom High School in various capacities before becoming the head coach of West De Pere in 2020.
Greisen is honored to win the award but quick to share it with those around him.
"It's a humbling honor," said Greisen. "One person gets it, but it's really about our whole coaching staff, team, community, administration and so many other things that go into it. I'm awfully proud to accept it on their behalf. It's an honor."
Greisen and his staff oversee a program of 132 players with 84 of them suiting up for the varsity games. His assistants include Marty Jenkins, Chad Kaster, Sean Riesenberg, Kegan Wirtz, Dustin Gresen, Matt Hansen, Chad Federman, Gerard Ambrosius, Jim Beining, Pete Baganz, Ben Reichel, Jimmer Sell and Shawn Abts. In addition to coaching, Greisen is a teacher at West De Pere High School and has run the Chris Greisen Quarterback Academy for over 20 years. Greisen and his wife, Shannon, have four daughters, Michaela, Hannah, Catherine, and Margaret, and two sons, Patrick and Andrew.
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 2024 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, Wissports.net 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.
