The Green Bay Packers have announced that Ryan Scherz of River Falls High School in River Falls, Wis., has been named the Packers High School Coach of the Week. The program is presented by Buffalo Wild Wings.
In his second year as head coach, Scherz and the Wildcats continued their playoff run last Friday, Oct. 28, with a 36-21 win over Marshfield in the second round of the Division 2 WIAA Playoffs. The win brings the team to an overall record of 10-1 ahead of their quarterfinal match-up with West De Pere High School. Scherz knows that to have a successful high school program, it is important for his players to give back to the community and grow football at the grassroots level. To do this, Scherz has his players volunteer at River Falls youth football games as officials and run a spring football camp every year.
"We want to build a connection between the varsity and the younger groups," Scherz said. "We've done a really good job of finding ways to get those kids in front of our players. The officiating is part of it, and we do a preseason camp for those kids that's a free camp for a couple of hours then do a picnic. Our youth football association works with us really well to make that something that's really fun for kids and makes them want to be Wildcats. Our kids are just really good at connecting to the community. We had a seventh grader that had a hip surgery and all of a sudden, I found out that a bunch of our kids were reaching out to him and wishing him good luck. We invited him on the field, and we just look for different ways where we can make it bigger than just wins and losses."
Scherz grew up and graduated from Northwestern High School in Maple, Wis., where he participated in football and baseball. As a member of the Tigers, he played fullback and linebacker under coach Ray Kosey. Following high school, Scherz played baseball at UW-River Falls where he graduated in 2004. Scherz then went on to receive his law degree from the University of Minnesota Law School in 2007. Scherz's coaching career began as assistant coach under his father, Dennis Scherz, at Northwestern High School in 2007. In 2017, Scherz took an assistant coaching position at River Falls and last season, Scherz was named head coach of the Wildcats.
For Scherz, the Coach of the Week award is one he shares with both the community and his staff.
"Since I've come here, the community has been incredibly supportive of the football program," Scherz said. "I view it as a community award and a coaching staff award. Our coaching staff, I'd put it up against anybody. It's one of the best in the state and it's certainly not just about me. We have outstanding individuals who really care about kids and also really know football. I certainly wouldn't be in a position to win an award without those guys."
Scherz and his staff oversee a program of 105 players with 60 suiting up for the varsity games. His assistant staff includes Eric Tarasewicz, Mike Miller, Matt Smith, Jack Haskins, Bill Forster, Jack Stoffel, Zach Turpin, Mario Massa, Paul Haskins, Max Haskins, Ben Tauchen, Ryan Pechacek, Theron Drier, Charles Conley, Carter Kirk, and Storm Jepsen. In addition to coaching, Scherz is also a special education teacher at River Falls High School. Scherz and his wife, Vicki, have two daughters, Reagan and Harper.
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 2022 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.
