BELMONT — Belmont High School will need a new varsity baseball and varsity boys’ basketball coach this year.
Dave Michalkiewicz, the leader of those programs, is leaving Belmont to become the next athletic director at Fond du Lac High School.
On Monday, July 13, Michalkiewicz was approved by the Fond du Lac School District Board of Education to take over as the new athletic director for Fond du Lac High School. He was one of 36 applicants for the job.
Michalkiewicz, who also taught high school and middle school social studies at Belmont, was contacted about the open position by his high school basketball coach Mark Ziebell, who is now the boys’ head coach at Fond du Lac. Michalkiewicz grew up in Menasha and played high school basketball for Ziebell at St. Mary Central High School in Neenah.
“He reached out to me at the beginning of June to see if I had any interest,” Michalkiewicz said of Ziebell. “I thought any sort of experience interviewing for that type of position couldn’t hurt. The superintendent called me to come up for a meeting. We ended up taking for an hour an a half. A couple weeks later they called me for a second interview and offered me the job.”
Michalkiewicz takes over for Kevin Deering, who stepped down in June to take a position with the Grafton School District. Michalkiewicz’s official starting date is Aug. 3.
“Up until a couple of years ago, I didn’t know if I wanted to go into administration, but I’ve started the process, I’ve enjoyed my classes at UW–Platteville and I’ve enjoyed the athletic director role at Belmont,” said Michalkiewicz. “I’m very excited with the career path I’m on and I’m eager to get started at Fond du Lac.”
For eight of his nine years at Belmont, Michalkiewicz was the school’s athletic director. He was also a varsity assistant football coach for four seasons, the head baseball coach for the past eight seasons and involved with boys basketball all nine years.
During his time at Belmont, Michalkiewicz played a prominent role in revitalizing both the Braves’ boys’ basketball and baseball programs.
He led the Braves to a 87–109 record in eight years as the head baseball coach. Michalkiewicz took over a program that won just seven games in the two years prior to his arrival and posted back-to-back winning records the past two years, going 16–11 in 2014 and 14–11 this spring.
Michalkiewicz had a similar rebuilding process with the boys’ basketball program taking over three years ago after a 1–22 season. The Braves went just 2–20 in 2012–13, Michalkiewicz first year as head coach, but improved to 10–13 in 2013–14 and went 15–8 last winter and finished second in the Six Rivers West at 8–4. The Braves went 27–41 in his three years. He also served as the Belmont Middle School head coach for two seasons and a varsity assistant for his first four years at Belmont.
“Teaching and coaching in Belmont was a great experience,” said Michalkiewicz. “The way I was accepted in the community, as well as the way Belmont accepted my wife Tiff and my kids, was more than I could have asked for. We made so many great relationships here and that’s what made the decision to leave so difficult.
“The toughest thing about the move was calling a meeting to tell all my athletes I wouldn’t be there to coach them this year. But this was the best decision for myself and my family.”
