Nicolet coach sees adversity uniting team

Glendale — There's a Nicolet assistant football coach who lives in Whitefish Bay who's still laughing about and who is still grateful for the "presents" that were left on his lawn recently by his friendly rivals and neighbors, the Blue Dukes.

"I know Brian (first-year Knights coach Sommers) was a little reluctant to call me even though he worked for me in the past," said Bay coach Jim Tietjen. "So I called our supplier one day and after practice one day we sorted our stuff that we store by the pool deck and we took over 16 shields and (tackling) dummies and put them on his (the assistant's) lawn.

"He's a friend of my son's (Bay assistant Joey Tietjen), and the guy initially thought that this was a prank. No, it wasn't, we just thought we'd help out."

Equipment destroyed

And help is welcome in the camp of the Knights, as their equipment was ruined by the July 22 rainstorm which flooded Nicolet High School, inundating the locker room and destroying the gym floor among millions of dollars of other damage that occurred at the school.

As of this week, staff and students were still not allowed in the building and the football team has been using a large circus tent and semitrailer located on their practice grounds as locker facilities. Film is shown in the tent on a dry-erase board and there is no access to the weight room or to training facilities.

Taping and other electronic equipment were destroyed and any football equipment with absorbent qualities (such as dummies, pads, helmets and shoulder pads, much of it less than two years old) had to be tossed because of the influx of sewage from the storm that dumped up to 8 inches of rain in some sectors of the metropolitan area in about two hours.

"We turned in 52 tackling dummies (to our supplier) for restoration, but we were able to only get 12 back," Sommers said.

As Nicolet Athletic Director Kirk Krychowiak has noted with some sadness, the football team wasn't the only victim of the flooding (the NSC championship girls volleyball team has been practicing at University School and the girls swim team is over at the Schroeder Aquatic Center just to name two), but it was the most prominent.

"With no way to escape the heat either," Krychowiak said. "I can't imagine working under those conditions."

And yet the Knights carry on.

A recent practice saw a lot of whooping and hollering and a great deal of fast play. But there was much seriousness going on as they gathered for the team huddle leading into the break. Team leader and running back Nick Corley spoke of "focus" and of "coming together."

Trying to build a winner

Sommers, who has close to 20 years of assistant coaching under his belt including stints with powerhouse Homestead, Bay and also at Nicolet, is working with an encouraging total of 50-some varsity athletes this fall.

He is also working hard to build a winning reputation for the Knights (they have not had such a campaign since 1989), and he knows he is a man working both ends of a very thin tightrope.

As a coach, he loves the optimism and the energy he's seen so far, especially in the face of such adversity, but he knows he has to fight that losing tradition. Pour on this Biblical-scale deluge and you'd think someone was trying to tell him something.

There was even a tornado warning in the area at one recent practice, though fortunately, nothing came from it.

But Sommers is not buying into any negative talk. He's had T-shirts made up saying (very tongue-in-cheek) "Nicolet football: Ride the wave."

"The most encouraging thing so far, is that the kids have taken some ownership of this (the program)," Sommers said. "The biggest aspects that we're working on are developing leadership and ownership. Taking pride in what you're doing.

"We're not sitting back and waiting for things to happen, and the kids have not complained. Not once."

The Knights, who as always, will have to work on their physicality and line play to be competitive in the North Shore (Sommers is looking for people to step up on the offensive line), will have one slight advantage as they look to improve on their 1-8 record of a year ago The start of school has been pushed back to Sept. 13 and they'll have more available practice time.

They'll try to use their speed (Nicolet always has that) to their advantage, running out of a wing-T with a veteran quarterback (Brandon Kappel) and using a Homestead-style 4-4 set on defense (with three-year linebacker Sufdar Rizvi paving the way).

And they'll try to use every advantage they can to reach some ambitious goals.

"Yes, we have problems that others don't have, but we are battling," said Sommers. "My goal is to try and win more than we lose. We're fighting that (the losing mentality) but we're not going to hide from people. I want them (the players) to take pride in what they're doing."

"It's challenging because of the history, but we're trying to teach them how to become leaders. Develop them as young men."

And a little rain can't stop that process.

WATERPROOF

Nicolet will open the season at Waukesha South

UP NEXT: Nicolet will visit the Blackshirts at 7 p.m. Friday as the 2010 season gets under way. The Classic 8 Conference Blackshirts had a similar season to the Knights in 2009, going 0-7 in league play and 1-8 overall so Sommers and Nicolet have an opportunity to make their opener a happy one.