The Green Bay Packers have announced that Neil Seering of Luxemburg-Casco High School in Luxemburg, Wis., has been named the Packers High School Coach of the Week. The program is presented by Buffalo Wild Wings.
In his fourth year as varsity head coach for Luxemburg-Casco, Seering has the Spartans one game away from heading to Camp Randall Stadium and their shot at a Division 3 WIAA Football Championship. Standing in their way this Friday will be the Catholic Memorial Crusaders at Kewaskum High School. Before taking over as head coach in 2020, Seering had been contemplating stepping away from coaching. However, after seeing the challenges his players were facing during the pandemic and their requests for him to stay, Seering made the decision to accept the role as full time head coach. In his first year, Seering implemented his "Brotherhood of Belief" mantra into the program, with the purpose of stressing the importance of the relationships between coaches and fellow players. As part of the brotherhood, Seering has his players not only bettering themselves, but also bettering the community. One way the team gives back is through coaching and refereeing Luxemburg-Casco youth football program skills camps and games.
"To give back and to be a servant leader is an important characteristic to show kids these days," said Seering. "We have these young kids who are seeing these guys who play on Friday nights that are bigger than life. It's nice for the players to remember what it was like for them 10 years ago when they would just play football, reminding them of the fun aspects of the game when it's not about the wins and losses. For me it's about teaching [the players how] to build relationships and to know that wins and losses will come and go, but those relationships with those kids will last forever."
Seering graduated from Brillion High School in 1996. As a member of the Lions, Seering participated in football, basketball, track and baseball. Seering played fullback, linebacker and kicker under WFCA Hall of Fame Coach Pete Kittel. Following high school, Seering went on to graduate from UW-Stevens Point in 2001. After playing one year of football in college, Seering began his coaching career for the P.J. Jacobs Junior High football program in Stevens Point in 1998, while continuing his undergraduate studies. After graduating, Seering took over as the head coach for Gillett High School in 2001. After four years at Gillett, Seering took a position at Luxemburg-Casco where he continued to work his way up, from coaching their middle school program all the way up to the varsity level.
Winning the Coach of the Week Award is an honor for Seering, but his decision to continue coaching has been far greater than any award.
"It means a lot because of the kids and the coaches that I'm with, and I wouldn't be here without them. I was very thankful four years ago that people trusted me enough to lead them and to be a positive light in their lives when a lot of stuff around that time was not easy. These kids mean the world to me and the coaches, they are all a part of my family. It's been the best four years of my life coaching. I've known [the players] since they were in third grade, so it's very rare for someone in my case to know kids for ten years of their young life. It just means a lot for me to be a small part of their life journey."
Seering and his staff oversee a program of 65 players with 40 of them suiting up for varsity games. His assistant staff includes Justin Tlachac, Mike Snowberry, Dean Smerchek, Lane Trimberger, Ethan Whitmire, Walt Tenor, Jack Stephan, Greg Klaubauf, Trevor Hawkey, Cody Willems, Ryan Scanlan and Blake Yagodinski. In addition to coaching, Seering is a physical education teacher at Luxemburg-Casco Intermediate School. Seering and his wife, Sarah, have one daughter, Grace, and one son, Grant.
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 2023 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, Buffalo Wild Wings 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 Ryan Fencl, Football Outreach Manager, at coachoftheweek@packers.com. Please include the nominee's name, address, school, phone number and reason he/she is deserving of the award.
