- Joined
- May 8, 2002
- Posts
- 375,275
- Reaction score
- 43
GREEN BAY – The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay women’s basketball team and its coaches sat together in a row of chairs during the NCAA tournament selection show Sunday night.
The group was the center of attention, the star attraction, for fans who showed up at The Bar on Holmgren Way in Ashwaubenon to celebrate and wait for UWGB’s name to flash across the screen.
But near a wall in the room, away from all the hoopla, was longtime Phoenix assistant Sarah Bronk. It was difficult to see Bronk at times with people standing in front of her, only her head poking out.
If you don’t know Bronk, you might have thought she had gotten mad at the team on the way to the party. If you do know her, you understood it simply was Bronk being Bronk.
She is a big part of UWGB, but she refuses to grab any glory from its success. It’s about the players, and only the players, to her. If she sat there with them, she couldn’t watch quietly from a distance as they celebrated what they earned.
This is not an act. This is not somebody faking humbleness while secretly hoping for praise. The more games that are won, the more conference championships that are captured, the more she just likes to be in the background.
Bronk has been like this every year for the remarkable 18 that she has been at UWGB, serving under three head coaches.
She had a smile on her face after practice Tuesday as somebody approached to talk. When told a story was going to be written about her, that smile turned to a genuine look of horror.
“No, no, no,” Bronk said, almost like she was informed her beloved Minnesota Vikings had just lost another playoff game.
Yes. Yes. Yes.
At least for one day, one moment, Bronk deserves praise.
The players love her. The coaches she works with do, too. It’s finally time for those who don’t know Bronk to learn why.
“She does not care about the spotlight, at all,” UWGB coach Kayla Karius said. “Assistant coaches, I think, tend to fill that role. But nobody embraces that as much as Sarah does. She wants nothing to do with being on camera or getting recognition. Which is totally why I called her out and recognized her on Senior Night and made everybody clap for her.
“Those are the types of people that deserve it most. She still has incredible relationships with everybody she has coached. We were at the (WIAA) state tournament this weekend and ran into a couple alums. They come right up to her, sit down. Right away, (Sarah asked), ‘How is your family?’ And goes right in and rattles off all her siblings' names. She will follow up on birthdays. I’m coming in the morning to the office, and she’s like, ‘Hey, if you have two minutes, text this person, this person, this person, it’s all their birthdays today and it’s their kids birthday tomorrow.’”
Karius took it upon herself to text former teammates about Bronk. She asked what phrases or words come to mind when describing the trusty assistant they all played for at one time.
The phrases and words rolled in.
Selfless. Positive. Servant. Hilarious. Kind. Genuine. Loyal. Thoughtful. Huge heart. Makes people feel seen. Here for a bigger cause. Recognizes what you need, when you need it.
Perhaps one former player summed it up best: One of a kind.
“In high school, everyone loves talking to Bronk,” said senior forward Jasmine Kondrakiewicz, who met Bronk sometime after her junior year at Milwaukee Pius XI. “She is the best recruiter in the nation. She is so great at talking to people, so personable.”
Senior guard Natalie McNeal played at St. Louis her first two years, but in the past three seasons at UWGB, she has discovered what everybody else has about Bronk.
“She seems really shy because she doesn’t want the spotlight, but she just doesn’t want to make it about her,” McNeal said. “She genuinely cares about the name of Green Bay and the program as a whole. She is the definition of we versus me. She has been the most consistent person that has been here.
“I didn’t come to Green Bay right away, but I remember her recruiting me in eighth grade. She has always been the same. Even when I came out of the portal, she has been the most consistent person here. I think it speaks a lot to how long she has been here. … Coaches have the option to pick new staff when they get hired, and how many has she gone through, and what does that say about who she is?”
It would be difficult to argue that Bronk’s road to the highest level of college basketball isn’t completely crazy. Or, as she would put it, straight up divine intervention through the grace of God.
The Minnesota native had no business getting an NCAA Division I assistant coaching job.
After playing softball and basketball at Winona Cotter High School from 1992 to 1995, she was a three-year letter winner for the University of St. Thomas softball team.
Bronk started coaching in 2001 at Dover-Eyota High School (Minnesota) in softball and girls basketball.
She was a middle school geography teacher and a junior varsity coach in 2007, when she received a phone call from Matt Bollant. He had just been hired as the new women’s coach at UWGB after Kevin Borseth left for Michigan.
He asked her if she wanted to join him in Green Bay. He told her he believed she would work hard and could be trusted.
Wait, what?
That’s not the way it’s supposed to work. Getting an assistant DI coaching gig can be as competitive as high school players earning a scholarship.
Everybody wants one.
A middle school teacher? With no collegiate coaching experience?
Bollant was an assistant under Pat Bowlin at Winona Cotter when Bronk played for the school. If Bronk could dig deep enough into her countless files, somewhere is a player evaluation Bollant wrote about Bronk.
The two kept in contact after she graduated. When Bollant made that call to her about joining him, she wasn’t sure what to do.
She traveled to Green Bay, had lunch with her old coach and checked out a Kress Center that would open for business that November.
Bollant again asked if she wanted to be part of it.
She was in a good situation in Minnesota, surrounded by family and friends, and working a job she enjoyed.
She’s never chased money or attention, only happiness.
Bronk asked Bollant how much time she had to decide. He told her a week.
She took the week to give him an answer, but on her way home, she knew the town she told herself she never would live in as a Vikings fan was going to be her new residence.
There wasn’t one thing that made her decide to walk away from the comfort level she had at home. Bowlin, a longtime softball and basketball leader, once told her she would make a good coach. That message resonated in a way she never forgot.
“Most high school coaches see a future high school coach,” said Bowlin, who had Bronk as an assistant on his softball team. “That’s what I saw for Sarah, and that’s how she started. Sarah was an excellent coach right from the beginning. She had a very strong technical knowledge. She really got into the why. What is the technique to be a good hitter? What is the technique to be a good thrower of the ball?
“I saw the same thing in basketball with her as well. … She was a very active coach. She didn’t sit on her hands on the sideline. She was up and talking to kids. The other thing people immediately see in Sarah is how well she relates to the players. She cares deeply about them. Wants the best for them.”
Bowlin’s confidence in her helped give her confidence to accept Bollant’s offer. Sometimes, she figured, you must trust people and listen to their wisdom.
Bronk was part of a UWGB squad in 2007 that included an incoming prep star from Sheboygan North, Kayla Tetschlag, now Karius. It wouldn’t be the last time Bronk and Karius joined forces.
UWGB had some of the best seasons in program history during Bollant’s run, including winning 34 games and reaching the Sweet 16 when Karius was a senior in 2011.
Bollant left UWGB to accept the Illinois job a year later.
Bronk had been with him for his five-year run, but there were never any conversations about joining him at Illinois. She understood.
Bronk was informed Borseth was returning to UWGB to replace Bollant after spending the previous five seasons at Michigan. She attended the news conference to announce his hire, and not long after, was packing her belongings to move out of her house.
It was a solid five years with a lot of good memories, but she had to figure out what she was going to do with her life.
While packing, Bronk received a phone call. This time it was Borseth, who she had met on the road over the years but didn’t know that well.
Borseth asked if she was coming into the office. There was a lot of work to do.
She pivoted from packing to making her way to the Kress. The conversation turned to recruits and helping Borseth get up to speed.
Bronk’s second tenure at UWGB had essentially just started. She was part of Borseth’s coaching staff for all 12 seasons of his second stint with the Phoenix.
The cycle started again last April when Borseth announced his retirement.
Being hired or retained by two coaches is difficult enough. Getting to stick around for a third coach is almost unheard of in the sport.
After Karius took the UWGB job, Bronk understood Karius had to do whatever necessary to keep the program moving forward.
Karius had gotten to know Bronk during her playing days with the Phoenix, especially since Bronk helped coach the post players.
When Karius entered the coaching world, she often would see Bronk out on the recruiting trail. The teacher and pupil relationship of the past turned into a more professional one.
Karius wasn’t certain the direction she was going to go when assembling her staff at UWGB.
She went to lunch with Bronk after she was introduced as the new coach.
The two got to talking.
“It was right after that conversation where I just left feeling like Sarah Bronk needs to be on this staff,” Karius said. “I want her in my circle. She knows everything about this place and the success that it has had. The professional side, she gets it. She came highly recommended, by the way, by the last two coaches that were here.
“But then her as a person is what separates her from everybody else.”
Bronk has been part of 12 NCAA tournament appearances. She has helped the Phoenix win 11 Horizon League tournament titles and 14 regular-season championships.
Bronk has worked for three of the four coaches in program history and might end up being here as long as the legendary Carol Hammerle (25 seasons) and Borseth (21 seasons). She's had the same office for 17 of her 18 years, and almost every trinket among the clutter is just as old.
She has stuck around and survived all the changes to be part of the Phoenix for 34.6% of its 52-year existence.
Preble star returns home: Carley Duffney will play for UWGB women's basketball next season
Bronk lives in the moment enough that she doesn’t ponder her future in Green Bay past tomorrow.
She can’t predict anything in a business like this one, but she knows she’s happy here.
And if there is one thing to keep being reminded about with Bronk, that’s what matters most.
The die-hard Vikings fan — close your eyes, Minnesota — now considers Green Bay home.
Divine intervention, indeed.
“Do I want to mess with happy?” Bronk said. “No. Don’t mess with happy.”
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Longtime assistant coach Sarah Bronk serves UWGB with humility, heart
Continue reading...
The group was the center of attention, the star attraction, for fans who showed up at The Bar on Holmgren Way in Ashwaubenon to celebrate and wait for UWGB’s name to flash across the screen.
But near a wall in the room, away from all the hoopla, was longtime Phoenix assistant Sarah Bronk. It was difficult to see Bronk at times with people standing in front of her, only her head poking out.
If you don’t know Bronk, you might have thought she had gotten mad at the team on the way to the party. If you do know her, you understood it simply was Bronk being Bronk.
She is a big part of UWGB, but she refuses to grab any glory from its success. It’s about the players, and only the players, to her. If she sat there with them, she couldn’t watch quietly from a distance as they celebrated what they earned.
This is not an act. This is not somebody faking humbleness while secretly hoping for praise. The more games that are won, the more conference championships that are captured, the more she just likes to be in the background.
Bronk has been like this every year for the remarkable 18 that she has been at UWGB, serving under three head coaches.
She had a smile on her face after practice Tuesday as somebody approached to talk. When told a story was going to be written about her, that smile turned to a genuine look of horror.
“No, no, no,” Bronk said, almost like she was informed her beloved Minnesota Vikings had just lost another playoff game.
Yes. Yes. Yes.
At least for one day, one moment, Bronk deserves praise.
You must be registered for see images attach
The players love her. The coaches she works with do, too. It’s finally time for those who don’t know Bronk to learn why.
“She does not care about the spotlight, at all,” UWGB coach Kayla Karius said. “Assistant coaches, I think, tend to fill that role. But nobody embraces that as much as Sarah does. She wants nothing to do with being on camera or getting recognition. Which is totally why I called her out and recognized her on Senior Night and made everybody clap for her.
“Those are the types of people that deserve it most. She still has incredible relationships with everybody she has coached. We were at the (WIAA) state tournament this weekend and ran into a couple alums. They come right up to her, sit down. Right away, (Sarah asked), ‘How is your family?’ And goes right in and rattles off all her siblings' names. She will follow up on birthdays. I’m coming in the morning to the office, and she’s like, ‘Hey, if you have two minutes, text this person, this person, this person, it’s all their birthdays today and it’s their kids birthday tomorrow.’”
Karius took it upon herself to text former teammates about Bronk. She asked what phrases or words come to mind when describing the trusty assistant they all played for at one time.
The phrases and words rolled in.
Selfless. Positive. Servant. Hilarious. Kind. Genuine. Loyal. Thoughtful. Huge heart. Makes people feel seen. Here for a bigger cause. Recognizes what you need, when you need it.
Perhaps one former player summed it up best: One of a kind.
“In high school, everyone loves talking to Bronk,” said senior forward Jasmine Kondrakiewicz, who met Bronk sometime after her junior year at Milwaukee Pius XI. “She is the best recruiter in the nation. She is so great at talking to people, so personable.”
Senior guard Natalie McNeal played at St. Louis her first two years, but in the past three seasons at UWGB, she has discovered what everybody else has about Bronk.
“She seems really shy because she doesn’t want the spotlight, but she just doesn’t want to make it about her,” McNeal said. “She genuinely cares about the name of Green Bay and the program as a whole. She is the definition of we versus me. She has been the most consistent person that has been here.
“I didn’t come to Green Bay right away, but I remember her recruiting me in eighth grade. She has always been the same. Even when I came out of the portal, she has been the most consistent person here. I think it speaks a lot to how long she has been here. … Coaches have the option to pick new staff when they get hired, and how many has she gone through, and what does that say about who she is?”
Sarah Bronk has unexpected college coaching career
It would be difficult to argue that Bronk’s road to the highest level of college basketball isn’t completely crazy. Or, as she would put it, straight up divine intervention through the grace of God.
The Minnesota native had no business getting an NCAA Division I assistant coaching job.
After playing softball and basketball at Winona Cotter High School from 1992 to 1995, she was a three-year letter winner for the University of St. Thomas softball team.
Bronk started coaching in 2001 at Dover-Eyota High School (Minnesota) in softball and girls basketball.
She was a middle school geography teacher and a junior varsity coach in 2007, when she received a phone call from Matt Bollant. He had just been hired as the new women’s coach at UWGB after Kevin Borseth left for Michigan.
He asked her if she wanted to join him in Green Bay. He told her he believed she would work hard and could be trusted.
Wait, what?
That’s not the way it’s supposed to work. Getting an assistant DI coaching gig can be as competitive as high school players earning a scholarship.
Everybody wants one.
A middle school teacher? With no collegiate coaching experience?
Bollant was an assistant under Pat Bowlin at Winona Cotter when Bronk played for the school. If Bronk could dig deep enough into her countless files, somewhere is a player evaluation Bollant wrote about Bronk.
The two kept in contact after she graduated. When Bollant made that call to her about joining him, she wasn’t sure what to do.
She traveled to Green Bay, had lunch with her old coach and checked out a Kress Center that would open for business that November.
Bollant again asked if she wanted to be part of it.
She was in a good situation in Minnesota, surrounded by family and friends, and working a job she enjoyed.
She’s never chased money or attention, only happiness.
Bronk asked Bollant how much time she had to decide. He told her a week.
She took the week to give him an answer, but on her way home, she knew the town she told herself she never would live in as a Vikings fan was going to be her new residence.
There wasn’t one thing that made her decide to walk away from the comfort level she had at home. Bowlin, a longtime softball and basketball leader, once told her she would make a good coach. That message resonated in a way she never forgot.
“Most high school coaches see a future high school coach,” said Bowlin, who had Bronk as an assistant on his softball team. “That’s what I saw for Sarah, and that’s how she started. Sarah was an excellent coach right from the beginning. She had a very strong technical knowledge. She really got into the why. What is the technique to be a good hitter? What is the technique to be a good thrower of the ball?
“I saw the same thing in basketball with her as well. … She was a very active coach. She didn’t sit on her hands on the sideline. She was up and talking to kids. The other thing people immediately see in Sarah is how well she relates to the players. She cares deeply about them. Wants the best for them.”
Bowlin’s confidence in her helped give her confidence to accept Bollant’s offer. Sometimes, she figured, you must trust people and listen to their wisdom.
Bronk was part of a UWGB squad in 2007 that included an incoming prep star from Sheboygan North, Kayla Tetschlag, now Karius. It wouldn’t be the last time Bronk and Karius joined forces.
UWGB had some of the best seasons in program history during Bollant’s run, including winning 34 games and reaching the Sweet 16 when Karius was a senior in 2011.
Bollant left UWGB to accept the Illinois job a year later.
Bronk had been with him for his five-year run, but there were never any conversations about joining him at Illinois. She understood.
Bronk was informed Borseth was returning to UWGB to replace Bollant after spending the previous five seasons at Michigan. She attended the news conference to announce his hire, and not long after, was packing her belongings to move out of her house.
It was a solid five years with a lot of good memories, but she had to figure out what she was going to do with her life.
While packing, Bronk received a phone call. This time it was Borseth, who she had met on the road over the years but didn’t know that well.
Borseth asked if she was coming into the office. There was a lot of work to do.
She pivoted from packing to making her way to the Kress. The conversation turned to recruits and helping Borseth get up to speed.
Bronk’s second tenure at UWGB had essentially just started. She was part of Borseth’s coaching staff for all 12 seasons of his second stint with the Phoenix.
The cycle started again last April when Borseth announced his retirement.
Being hired or retained by two coaches is difficult enough. Getting to stick around for a third coach is almost unheard of in the sport.
You must be registered for see images attach
After Karius took the UWGB job, Bronk understood Karius had to do whatever necessary to keep the program moving forward.
Karius had gotten to know Bronk during her playing days with the Phoenix, especially since Bronk helped coach the post players.
When Karius entered the coaching world, she often would see Bronk out on the recruiting trail. The teacher and pupil relationship of the past turned into a more professional one.
Karius wasn’t certain the direction she was going to go when assembling her staff at UWGB.
She went to lunch with Bronk after she was introduced as the new coach.
The two got to talking.
“It was right after that conversation where I just left feeling like Sarah Bronk needs to be on this staff,” Karius said. “I want her in my circle. She knows everything about this place and the success that it has had. The professional side, she gets it. She came highly recommended, by the way, by the last two coaches that were here.
“But then her as a person is what separates her from everybody else.”
Sarah Bronk makes Green Bay her home
Bronk has been part of 12 NCAA tournament appearances. She has helped the Phoenix win 11 Horizon League tournament titles and 14 regular-season championships.
Bronk has worked for three of the four coaches in program history and might end up being here as long as the legendary Carol Hammerle (25 seasons) and Borseth (21 seasons). She's had the same office for 17 of her 18 years, and almost every trinket among the clutter is just as old.
She has stuck around and survived all the changes to be part of the Phoenix for 34.6% of its 52-year existence.
Preble star returns home: Carley Duffney will play for UWGB women's basketball next season
Bronk lives in the moment enough that she doesn’t ponder her future in Green Bay past tomorrow.
She can’t predict anything in a business like this one, but she knows she’s happy here.
And if there is one thing to keep being reminded about with Bronk, that’s what matters most.
The die-hard Vikings fan — close your eyes, Minnesota — now considers Green Bay home.
Divine intervention, indeed.
“Do I want to mess with happy?” Bronk said. “No. Don’t mess with happy.”
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Longtime assistant coach Sarah Bronk serves UWGB with humility, heart
Continue reading...
