Former West De Pere football star Kegan Wirtz is Phantoms' new coach
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Jack Batten started coaching Kegan Wirtz at West De Pere when Wirtz was a sophomore on the football team in 2010. He also had him in his physics class.
Wirtz was a gifted athlete and a brilliant student.
“An honest to God true leader of the school,” said Batten, who was the Phantoms’ defensive coordinator from 2006 to 2013 and the head coach from 2014 to 2019. “Everything he did represented high character, integrity, honesty.
“When you have your best football teams, your best football players are also your hardest workers and your highest character kids. That was certainly the case with Kegan and his classmates. He is a really special kid. I have to quit saying kid. Young man.”
Wirtz will get the opportunity to run his own football program after being named West De Pere’s coach. He replaces Chris Greisen, who spent six years with the team.
Wirtz was the defensive coordinator and a special teams coach for a West De Pere squad that beat Green Bay Notre Dame in the WIAA Division 2 state title game in November.
The Phantoms limited the Tritons to 14 points, the fewest they scored all season.
Kegan Wirtz was a leader for West De Pere during his playing days
Wirtz was one of the best defensive backs in the area during his time at West De Pere.
He was a second-team all-state selection by The Associated Press and an all-state pick by the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association as a senior in 2012. He also was a finalist for the Jim Leonhard Award, which is given to the best senior defensive back in the state.
Wirtz was a part of a Phantoms squad that won back-to-back D3 state championships in 2010 and 2011.
In the state title game against Wisconsin Lutheran his junior season in 2011, he had two tackles and broke up two pass attempts.
The Phantoms almost made it back to the title game his senior season in 2012, before their metro area-record 39-game winning streak was halted with a D3 semifinal loss to Waupaca.
The defense was dominant that season, allowing no more than 16 points in any game and allowing 7.1 a contest.
It was one season after the unit allowed 58 total points and posted eight shutouts in 14 games on the way to that state title win over Lutheran.
“It’s definitely the way we practice,” Wirtz said during his senior year. “We practice an hour-and-a-half, two hours a day. We get everything done fast. We practice exactly how we play.
“We have great coaches who are going to get us our technique. Once we have our technique, we get a real good game plan.”
Wirtz played collegiate football at the University of Minnesota Duluth, where he developed into a full-time starter by his junior season.
Batten spoke to Wirtz when he still was in high school about becoming a coach. Even at such a young age, it was obvious he had everything it took to become successful in the profession.
“He would have three, four, five hours of film watched by Sunday night,” Batten said. “When he went to Duluth, he would still get our films from West De Pere. There is a thing on Hudl that will keep track of who is watching what film. Well, he would be watching three, four hours of our film as he was playing up in Duluth.
“He loved football. He loved studying the game. I had him come back and coach a 7-on-7 and the kids instantly took to him. He is the kind of guy that can disagree without being disagreeable. He has the ability to hold people accountable, maybe unlike me, without yelling and screaming. He’s just got a knack of demanding the best out of people and getting it.”
Kegan Wirtz gets an opportunity to lead his alma mater
Wirtz became an assistant coach soon after he graduated from college. Batten named him his defensive backs coach after Wirtz was hired as a science teacher at West De Pere.
Batten knew he wasn’t going to be in that role forever.
“He was going to be able to run a defense that was better than anything I did,” Batten said. “There are approaches in the classroom, but in the classroom all you have got to do is get a kid to know something. Athletically, you have got to get him to know it, and then you have got to get him to perform a task.
“Where Kegan was really, really good, was he would design schemes where he would put kids in position where, No. 1, they would know what they are doing but, No. 2, they had the physical ability to do it. He knew enough football so that he could always find a scheme that would work with the talent he had. That started at an early age and has just progressed.”
Batten pointed out that his former pupil has been part of the West De Pere program for every trip to the state title game. He was a player in 2009, 2010 and 2011 and a coach in 2018, 2022 and 2025.
Wirtz has found himself in the the top spot for the Phantoms, which could come with some pressure.
Batten was in a similar situation when he took over for legendary coach Bill Turnquist in 2014.
Batten is a 1984 West De Pere graduate who was given the keys to the team he played for years earlier, just like the 2013 West De Pere graduate Wirtz is now.
“I didn’t think of it as pressure,” Batten said. “I just thought of it as an honor to be part of the West De Pere community and the West De Pere football program.
“There are some unique characteristics to our community. It’s a physically tough, mentally tough community. It’s hard-working. It’s kind and caring. The Pink Flamingos (nonprofit organization) is always giving back to the community. When you get in the position of head football coach at West De Pere and you were there, it’s a great feeling to know that you have the opportunity to give all those things back. … I just thought I was the luckiest guy in the world, and I’m sure Kegan feels the same way.”
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Kegan Wirtz replaces Chris Greisen as West De Pere football coach
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