3 Michigan Leaders Earn NFHS National 'Coach of the Year' Honors
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
January 18, 2022
Three Michigan high school varsity coaches have been recognized among 23 National Coaches of the Year for 2020-21 by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NHFS) Coaches Association.
Ann Arbor Pioneer girls swimming & diving coach Stefanie Kerska, Bronson volleyball coach Jean LaClair and DeWitt football coach Rob Zimmerman were selected by a committee including representatives from all eight NFHS sections – Michigan is part of Section 4 with Illinois, Indiana, Iowa and Wisconsin.
The following brief bios includes an excerpt from each honoree’s coaching philosophy, which nominees were asked to submit after being identified as candidates for the awards.
Stefanie Kerska took over both the Ann Arbor Pioneer girls and boys swimming & diving programs during the 2014-15 school year, and she has led the girls to the last two Lower Peninsula Division 1 Finals championships; her 2020 team doubled up the runner-up’s score with 368 points, and this fall’s team climbed even higher with 405.5 points at the season-ending meet. She also led the girls team to a runner-up Finals finish in 2019 and the boys team to last season’s LPD1 Finals championship. Kerska previously served as an assistant coach at University of Michigan from 1997-2012 and on the USA Swimming national team staff from 2008-16. She remains active with USA Swimming, the FINA Swimming Development Team and as a presenter for the Summit for Empowering Women in Swim. She was named the Michigan Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association Coach of the Year for both Division 1 girls and boys during the 2020-21 school year.
“Athletics starts with a belief in belonging and making every team member feel safe and valued. Teammates should depend on coaches and each other for support, guidance and motivation to be the best they can be. Athletics should create an environment where effort, attitude and dependability are valued and required for success. It is often said that athletics builds character. I, however, believe it reveals it.”
Jean LaClair ranks fourth in Michigan high school volleyball coaching history for varsity victories with a record of 1,289-398-99 having led Midland Dow from 1988-90, Pinconning from 1997-99 and Bronson beginning with the 2000-01 winter season. She’s coached Bronson to five MHSAA Finals championships – including four straight in Class C/Division 3 from 2015-18 – and her last two teams have reached the Division 3 Quarterfinals and Regional Semifinals, respectively. She is a longtime executive board member of the Michigan Interscholastic Volleyball Coaches Association and has served as president, and was a 2017 inductee to the Michigan High School Coaches Association’s Hall of Fame. She also serves as Bronson’s athletic director and has received both the MHSAA’s Women In Sports Leadership Award and Allen W. Bush Award.
“High school athletics should be a lifelong, fun experience for our student-athletes where they learn what it takes to be a part of a team, what it means to work hard for the team. Those who play competitive spots in high school demonstrate more confidence, leadership and self-respect. They learn to set goals and manage their time! They have a better appreciation for diversity and a more developed sense of morality. These are all reasons why athletics are important, and I love working with our kids to make them better leaders for the community and world.”
Rob Zimmerman led DeWitt to the last two Division 3 championship games and the Panthers’ first MHSAA Finals title to cap the 2020 season with a 12-0 record. He’s built a 241-67 record coaching DeWitt’s varsity since 1999 after previously coaching the varsity at Cedar Springs from 1996-98. He also has served as a head varsity track & field coach and middle school wrestling coach during his tenure in school sports, and he has served as both a regional director and on the executive board for the Michigan High School Football Coaches Association. His teams total have played in six MHSAA Finals, to go with 19 league, 14 District and 12 Regional titles during his 23 seasons at DeWitt. He has five times received statewide Coach of the Year recognition from The Associated Press, and in 2020 was named the state Dream Team Coach of the Year by both the Detroit Free Press and MHSFCA and state Coach of the Year by the MHSCA and Detroit Lions.
“In an ever-changing world that poses more social and emotional challenges for young people than ever before, systems that can provide a foundational support and teach high levels of collaboration, discipline, accountability and relationships are more important that ever. Athletics provides young people the opportunity to foster and cultivate these key traits that are crucial for their development. For future success, students need to be equipped to handle a variety of diverse situations and work with a variety of diverse people. This is sports at its core.”
Rockford wrestling coach Brian Richardson was honored in Section 4 after leading the Rams to the Division 1 Semifinals and a 20-4 record.
The NFHS has been recognizing coaches through an awards program since 1982.
Menominee Caps Powerful Ford Field Return with 1st Championship Since 2007
By
Scott DeCamp
Special for MHSAA.com
November 30, 2025
DETROIT – Menominee’s football program has been known a long time for its single-wing offensive scheme, which certainly has served the Maroons well over the years.
The secret to their success goes way deeper than that, however, and it has nothing to do with X’s and O’s. Call it grit, tenacity, resolve – the Maroons have built their program around those characteristics – and now they’re back on top.
Menominee defeated Schoolcraft, 34-6, in the Division 7 Final on Sunday at Ford Field, where the word “grit” has been stamped into the fabric of the Detroit Lions by head coach Dan Campbell.
With a comprehensive effort, Menominee (14-0) captured its first Finals title since 2007, the fourth in program history, and the first for an Upper Peninsula 11-player football team since Ishpeming claimed the Division 7 championship in 2015.
“Just grit and just hard work. I mean, you saw it out there, we’ve got 30 guys on our sideline. Growing up in Menominee, you’re going to have 30 guys on your team, if that,” said Menominee senior Tanner Theuerkauf, starting quarterback and safety.
“You look at our offensive line, we have our guard, he’s 150 pounds – you don’t ever see that, and he just does his job and all those guys do their job in the trenches. … Our want to win is just something you don’t see.”
Theuerkauf and some of his teammates were part of Menominee’s Division 7 runner-up squad two years ago, when the Maroons battled powerhouse Jackson Lumen Christi but fell just short, 34-30.
In last week’s Semifinal, Menominee showed great resolve in erasing a two-touchdown deficit in the fourth quarter and securing a 32-28 victory over Pewamo-Westphalia in a matchup of teams ranked Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, in the final regular-season Division 7 poll.
“Different mentality this year with these seniors,” said fourth-year Menominee coach Chad Brandt, who coincidentally did his student-teaching at Schoolcraft starting in 1996. “Times that I’m not around and they’re running to the locker room and grabbing the footballs and I drive by and they’re out there. That means a lot. And we have linemen that text me, ‘Can we have extra weight-room sessions?’ and those kind of things.
“It takes a lot of work, and these guys have put it in and I just couldn’t be prouder of this group of guys and for our town and for our school of Menominee because they deserve and they appreciate it and they support us in every way possible.”
Menominee senior Clayton Miller helped set the tone Sunday with his hard-nosed running. The 5-foot-11, 190-pounder scored the first three TDs of the game for the Maroons, who took a 7-0 lead on his five-yard run less than four minutes into the contest, went up 13-0 on his two-yard run midway through the second, and led 20-0 on his 31-yard sprint four minutes into the third quarter.
Miller finished with a game-high 112 rushing yards on 25 carries.
“He’s the greatest running back that I’ve ever played with. He’s one of the greatest in Menominee history,” Theuerkauf said about Miller. “He’s not the biggest guy in the world, but he just runs so hard – he runs through guys. … Just for him to want to win, he shows so much energy out there. He’s not the most talkative guy, but he gets the job done and I love that.”
Several Menominee players got the job done, but senior Maverick Geniesse was another who stood out. With Menominee leading 7-0 late in the first quarter and Schoolcraft threatening to score, Geniesse intercepted a pass at the 1 on a Schoolcraft first-and-10 from the 12 to snuff out the Eagles’ opportunity.
Menominee embarked on an 18-play, 79-yard drive that chewed up 8:17 of the clock and was capped by Miller’s second TD run as the Maroons took command with a 13-0 lead.
Geniesse also got into the scoring act, catching a two-yard TD toss from Theuerkauf early in the fourth quarter for a 28-0 Maroons lead. Junior Jackson Myszak capped the Menominee scoring with an eight-yard TD run with 2½ minutes left.
“It feels great. I mean, I’ve dreamed about stuff like this. The ultimate goal is to just be the best team player I can and help the team in any way I can,” Geniesse said. “Of course, the interception, that got our morale going the other way; and the touchdown (reception), it felt pretty good.”
Schoolcraft (11-3) got on the board midway through the fourth quarter on senior TJ Luteyn’s four-yard scoring run.
Both teams displayed offensive balance – Menominee was just more effective throughout the game. Menominee tallied 358 total yards (198 rushing, 160 passing), while Schoolcraft totaled 248 (100 rushing, 148 passing).
“Good, physical team,” Schoolcraft first-year coach Dan DeVries said about Menominee. “Their scheme is a challenging scheme. They can hit the edge hard and you’ve also got to watch for something up the middle and their quarterback can throw as well, so a lot of dimensions to their game. I think they played a fantastic game today. They didn’t make mistakes and we did, and that certainly showed in the score.”
Theuerkauf completed passes to six receivers and finished 7-of-11 for 160 yards. Schoolcraft junior QB Jack DeVries was 12-for-26 for 148 yards.
Schoolcraft seniors Evan Feller and Dane Ostlund paced all defenders with 12 and 11 tackles, respectively. Junior Nathan Nelson notched nine tackles to lead Menominee.
Going back to the late-1980s, Schoolcraft has been a small-school football power, but Sunday marked the Eagles’ first Finals appearance since 2001. They’ve made seven Finals appearances overall and captured titles in 1988, 1989, and 2001.
“Just to see the support and what it means to the town and stuff like that after 24 years – I mean, that’s a long time to not make it back after we’ve had a history of having good football teams and stuff like that,” Jack DeVries said.
“It’s great to do it with the group of seniors we have. Great group of guys – been playing with them for as long as we can remember. (We’ve been) talking about (Ford Field) since we were kids, and getting to go do it was a special thing.”
Sunday signified Menominee’s seventh Finals appearance overall as well. The Maroons also seized championships in 1998, 2006, and 2007 under legendary coach Ken Hofer.
This Menominee teamed restored some of that “UP Power” that Maroons and others north of the Mackinac Bridge take such great pride in.
“That does mean something when we head back across that bridge and it’s ‘UP Power’ and we’ll go through other towns and they’ll be honking horns or happy out on the street …,” said Brandt, a Gladstone native, who spent 20 years as head coach at Stephenson in the UP.
“The UP is someplace special, and it means something.”
For Theuerkauf, this one was a bit personal, too. His older brother, Trevor Theuerkauf, was the starting QB and a two-way standout on the Menominee team that made it to the Finals in 2023.
“He just told me, ‘Go out there and play (your) game. (You) don’t have to worry about anything else,’” Tanner Theuerkauf said. “I kind of had the edge on some of these guys because I’ve been here before. I played in this game – didn’t go our way, but today, come out and get the job done, it’s just the greatest feeling of my life.”
PHOTOS (Top) Menominee’s Brayden Daigneau (73) hoists a teammate into the air Sunday as they celebrate their team’s Division 7 title. (Middle) Tanner Theuerkauf (3) follows Clayton Miller (15) around the edge. (Below) The Maroons’ Jackson Myszak (6) puts pressure on Schoolcraft quarterback Jack DeVries.