BY JORDON LAWRENZ
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
With years of coaching experience under his belt, Rick Kamps was announced as the new head coach for Pulaski’s varsity boy’s and girls’ track and field programs.
Kamps was a high school track assistant coach for 16 years. On top of that, he combined for six years as the girls’ track head coach at both Bay Port and Green Bay East. The University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh graduate will be taking on his third head coaching job after Kim Noe resigned last season.
Kamps is no stranger to the Pulaski track and field team.
“I served as an assistant coach here last year where I was in charge of hurdlers and then assisted with sprinters and sprint relays,” Kamps said. “So that part of it, me knowing many of the athletes who have participated in track, will be beneficial.”
While Kamps had a great starting point and is looking to expand on it, he knows his job is just beginning.
“With being named the head coach, I believe it is my responsibility to get more athletes involved in track and get the entire program competing for conference championships,” he said.
When it was announced that Noe was resigning, Pulaski athletic director Janel Batten decided to wait to post the opening.
“We waited until fall to post the position so we might have more interest,” Batten said.
One of those individuals interested was Kamps, a man who jumped at the opportunity,
“I had heard the position might be coming open and when it did, I immediately applied for it with the hope that I would have a chance to get in,” Kamps said.
Kamps’ prior coaching experience, his teaching background and relationship with Pulaski’s students set him as the ideal candidate,
“Coach Kamps is a teacher at Pulaski and knows our kids and community,” Batten said, “He also has experience coaching at PHS in football and as a track assistant. Further, coach Kamps has been a head football and track coach in the past.”
Kamps is a technical education teacher, and he doesn’t plan on giving up football either.
“Yes, I will continue to coach football at Pulaski. I enjoy serving as an assistant coach on coach (Jerad) Marsh’s staff, and love the sport of football.”
Batten echoes this statement.
“Good teachers and good coaches go hand in hand, in my opinion,” Batten said. “They build off of each other as coaching track is teaching in an alternate atmosphere.”
Kamps, who lives in Green Bay, will be taking on a very busy schedule. Along with his teaching and coaching duties, he has five children with his wife of 18 years, Lynn. The two have six grandchildren as well.
“I don’t anticipate there being any issues with coaching both sports,” Kamps said. “I think with both sports being in different times of the school year, there won’t be any obstacles to overcome there.”
Kamps is finding a great balance with the sports he is coaching, but there’s no doubt it’ll be a grueling and rewarding yearlong schedule.
Track and football share different athletes and abilities; however, Kamps notices some comparisons,
“I think track is a team sport with individual events in it,” he said. “Everyone on the team needs to do their part in the particular event they are in for the team to be successful. No different than football, where on a particular play everyone needs to do their job for that play to be successful.”
Batten speaks for the entire Pulaski School District in thanking Noe for the time she put in coaching.
“We will miss coach Noe and are grateful for the opportunities she provided for our student-athletes,” Batten said. “We are fortunate that coach Kamps is here to lead our program forward and we are excited for the future.”
Ultimately, Kamps is ecstatic about the future as well,
“My number one goal is to get athletes out for track and field and provide them with the best coaching possible so that they can be successful in their events.” He concludes, “I want to build a program where we are consistently competing for conference championships and qualifying individuals for the state meet.”