The guest on today’s Coach and Coordinator podcast is Joel Nellis, assistant coach and offensive line coach at Brookfield Central High School (Wisconsin). Nellis has coached for the past eleven seasons. During his time at Brookfield Central, the team has made three trips to the state finals game. Most recently, the team went 13-1 in 2017, losing in the state finals game. Nellis has also sent several offensive linemen on to play college football.

As a player, Nellis was a walk-on tight end for the University of Wisconsin. After working his way to playing time as a senior, Nellis went on to write about his and many other’s experience as a walk-on in Power 5 college football. His book, “Walk-On This Way”, includes his story and stories from former Wisconsin walk-ons like JJ Watt and Jared Abbrederis. Along with coaching at Brookfield Central, Nellis also is a teacher and head of the physical education and health department at BCHS.

On today’s show, Nellis and host Keith Grabowski talk about being a walk-on at a Power 5 school and preview Nellis’s new weekly segment with the Coach and Coordinator podcast talking about managing coaching and family.

Show Notes

1:47 Experiences in playing and coaching football

3:58 Ideas behind the book “Walk-On This Way”

7:31 Making the decision to walk on to a program

11:18 Striking a balance between home life and coaching football

13:56 Format for the “Home Team” podcast

17:41 Preview of the first four “Home Team” podcasts

21:43 How to contact Nellis