By Greg Bates
Correspondent
SEYMOUR – Ryan Goltz has made a name for himself as a basketball coach at high schools around Green Bay.
After 10 years of stints at Green Bay West, Green Bay East, Green Bay Southwest and Ashwaubenon, Goltz is ready for his next challenge.
He recently took over as the Seymour girls’ basketball coach, replacing Derick Denny, who was in an interim role last season.
The 33-year-old spent the last three seasons as the West girls’ basketball coach.
In a few weeks on the job in Seymour, Goltz said he’s already experienced tremendous community support and girls who are ready to put in the time and effort to bring the Thunder program back to its successful past.
“I’m excited,” Goltz said. “I can tell after a couple of times in the gym with the girls they’re excited. They’ve been playing together since third grade, so they know each other. It’s nice to know all the kids in the youth program are going to go to the high school – you don’t always get that in some of the inner-city schools.”
In 2020-21, Seymour had its third straight losing season after four straight winning seasons.
“They’ve struggled a bit the last two years, but we’ve got lots of returning players," Goltz said. “I think we’re going to have a bounce-back year and keep improving.”
Goltz, who graduated from West in 2006, is enthusiastic about having some good pieces back from last season.
Goltz was able to meet with his players in spring and chat with them.
Lots of his players also helped out with a youth camp the second week in June, so he was able to get to know the kids better.
“I gave them an introduction of who I was and where I came from,” Goltz said. “The first meeting was about a week after I got the job, so I wanted to have a face-to-face with the girls and get familiar with everybody – lay it out what expectations for the summer were and how we’re going to move on from there.”
With five contact days at his disposal in the offseason, Goltz is planning to use a couple of days before his players compete in the Ashwaubenon summer league.
He’d like to install some of his systems so the girls can run them in the league.
It will help Goltz will be able to coach Seymour’s summer league team and during tournaments.
He’s hoping his girls can have a good grasp of what he’s about before the winter season.
“We are working on building individual skills,” Goltz said. “It’s nice these girls have played together since third grade, so they’re familiar with each other on the court, which is going to help with what we’re trying to do.”
Goltz said he doesn’t necessarily have a set offensive ideology – he’s flexible and plays to his players’ strengths.
He said he's also a hands-on coach.
“I try to bring as much energy as I can and have the kids build off that,” Goltz, who lives in Green Bay and works at Liberty Title & Abstract, said. “When they see they have a coach who’s going to back up his players, you’re going to play harder for your teammates and yourself.”
Goltz has been aided early on by Seymour boys’ basketball coach Bobby Kuchta.
He coached the Thunder girls’ program for four seasons before taking over the boys’ program last season when Jon Murphy retired.
Kuchta has relayed information to Goltz about the background on girls in the program, how the youth program works and other various tips relating to the program.
“Communications with Bobby have been great,” Goltz, who coached against Kuchta for two years while at West, said. “He’s helped out lots, and we’ll work well together.”
Coaching against him in the past, Kuchta said he knows Goltz will get his players to work hard and compete at their highest ability.
“He is passionate about the game, enjoys working with the girls to improve their skills and enjoys building relationships with the athletes,” Kuchta said.
As Goltz tries to mold the Seymour girls’ basketball program into a perennial winner again, he said he believes it will be a quick transition.
“My expectations every season are going to be to play hard, play as a team, build each other up and go from there,” he said. “With a program like this, the wins are going to follow.”