In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, Lucas and Oates remember Jerry Petitgoue, who passed away at the age of 84. Jerry is the winningest coach in Wisconsin high school basketball history, achieving a staggering 1027 wins in his career. Most of those wins were made in Cuba City, where he coached for over 50 years. He was a giant, Oates says, and his record will likely never be beat. Petitgoue was a flexible coach, which you have to be when you coach for over 50 years, and took home a handful of state championships. His championships spanned decades, winning in 81, 91, and 98, and each team was a little different. He developed a lot of great talent and knew how to adapt to the talent that he had. But aside from just coaching, he also taught history in Cuba City for over 30 years. Petitgoue dedicated his life to the development of young people both on and off the court, and his name will be remembered statewide and, maybe more importantly, in Cuba City, where he is remembered fondly and helped foster a love of basketball across town. 

On other topics, the finances of college sports are changing. A judge has ruled that colleges can only share around $20 million with their athletes every year, effectively putting a salary cap on all college sports. Now, NIL still needs to be discussed, and the lawyers are still going to be very happy padding their pocketbooks with future litigation, but it’s finally a step in the right direction. Maybe. How will that $20 million be distributed between teams? $9 million for football, $9 million for basketball, and scraps for everything else? Just look at how many medals UW Madison’s Track and Field team is bringing in, how much are they entitled to? While there will be more lawsuits in the future, at least it’s the beginning of some guardrails and hopefully they do it right. 

Moving to the NFL, Jaire Alexander is gone from the Green Bay Packers. There is a lot of good and a lot of bad with that. When he’s healthy, he’s one of the best cornerbacks in the league. But he needs to be healthy, and since 2021 he’s only played in about half of the games. The Packers are going to be a bit shaky in the cornerback position this season, Lucas thinks. Even if their starters are alright, what happens when one of them gets hurt? Do you bring out Bo Melton? Finally, Aaron Rodgers finally has a team to play for this upcoming season: the Pittsburgh Steelers. They got him for a steal too at around $13 million base salary. They’ve had a rough few years with at their quarterback position, so they better not squander the fantastic deal they just got. Rodgers can still throw, and his football brain is still there. While he might not be as mobile as he once was, he’s still a threat. We will see how much of a threat he really is when the Packers play them in Pittsburgh though… 

The Wisconsin Sportscast with Lucas & Oates is a Cap Times podcast produced by Nate Wegehaupt. Find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.