By Rich Palzewic
Sports editor
ASHWAUBENON – Ashwaubenon High School head football coach Mark Jonas resigned Nov. 9 after 10 years at the helm.
The Jaguars, who have made the WIAA state playoffs for 21 consecutive seasons, lost in the WIAA Level 1 playoffs this past season to Marshfield, 34-14. They ended the year with a 5-5 record.
Jonas will continue his role as English teacher at the high school.
“I’ve been a head coach for 25 years and 34 years in coaching overall,” said Jonas, who in 102 games at Ashwaubenon, was 64-38 overall. “I’d like to still coach, but with all the stuff that goes along with being a full-time head coach and teacher, sometimes it’s just time to step back.”
Jonas began his coaching career at Reedsville and then moved to Hilbert and Oconomowoc. Most recently before his Ashwaubenon gig, he was the head coach at Kaukauna.
“The Ashwaubenon job is a really good job to have,” Jonas said. “There are a lot of really good kids coming up through the ranks that work hard and understand the aspect of winning. I hope whoever takes over the job would need at least an assistant at the junior varsity level because I’ve got two kids that are coming up – my own son and a stepson are both freshmen. I’d love to coach them. Being here for 10 years, once a Jaguar, always a Jaguar.”
Jonas coached a lot of good teams over the years, but the 2010 and 2013 teams stand out in his mind because they were undefeated Fox River Classic Conference champions.
“That 2010 team had about 15 kids that probably could have been captains just because of their leadership, hard work and academics,” he added. “We happened to run into a Cedarburg team with Logan Lauters on it and came up a field goal short of maybe going to state with those kids. That was a super class – they were fun to be around and easy to coach.”
In that Oct. 30, 2010, playoff game against Cedarburg, Lauters rushed for 330 yards on 40 carries with four touchdowns. The Jaguars fell 31-28, as Cedarburg kicked a field goal with 2 seconds remaining.
Jonas also told an interesting story about his first year as head coach at Ashwaubenon when the Swine Flu went through the school.
“That year, I gave a lot of credit to Green Bay East athletic director Brian Nast for letting us play our game with them on a Saturday instead of Friday,” Jonas noted. “Had he not let us do that, we might not have made the playoffs. We ended up winning the game.”
Jonas also had the opportunity to coach some outstanding players, with three possibly moving on to the professional ranks within the next three years.
“Kicker Emmitt Carpenter from the University of Minnesota is getting letters from pro teams, James Morgan at Florida International University is a top-15 quarterback in the country right now and Airon Servais is the starting center for No. 13-ranked Syracuse,” he said. “If we get those three kids in the NFL all at the same time, how absolutely wonderful would that be for our community.”
In a statement from Ashwaubenon activities director and associate Principal Nick Senger, it was noted that a search to hire the next coach will begin immediately.