SOUTH WAYNE — After 15 seasons, seven trips to the WIAA state tournament, two runner-up finishes and one gold ball at Black Hawk, Mike Flanagan is turning in his clipboard.
Flanagan told his family and players of his decision before turning in his official resignation letter to the school board earlier this week. The Black Hawk Board of Education will officially approve the resignation and begin the hiring process for a new coach at its next meeting, scheduled for July 12.
He said he began thinking about his future in earnest after the team’s season ended this past February after losing in the state semifinal game in La Crosse. He said he wanted to give it time, to see if he was truly ready rather than just turning in his papers on a whim.
“Once we got to the summer, the thought started creeping back up again,” Flanagan said of stepping away. “It’s not a decision to be made lightly. After a lot of consideration and talking with my family, I made the decision about a week ago.
“I was actually mowing the lawn and I came inside and told my wife ‘I’m done.’ She said, ‘Yeah, I know, I heard the mower turn off,’” Flanagan joked.
The Warriors went 309-71 during Flanagan’s tenure. During this past season, his team had reached the second-longest winning streak in state history (75 games). He was the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association co-coach of the year for the 2019-20 season, which was cut short at the state tournament as the undefeated Warriors appeared poised to repeat as state champions.
“The teaching part of the game is what it is all about. Regardless of the success, at the end of the day, I love teaching the game,” Flanagan said. “I always said that when I was done, I wanted people to say that we made our kids better. Whether it’s Bailey Butler or a role player — we wanted to take those kids and help them reach their ceiling.”
Flanagan brought a speedier, more endurance style of basketball to southwest Wisconsin. His teams were known for high-pressure, full-court defensive play. In just his third season at the helm, the Warriors went from bottom half of the conference to the state tournament.
“I’ve tried to be a student of the game. I like to believe that we always adapted to our personnel; that we utilized our platers to the best of their capacity,” Flanagan said.
Natalie Leuzinger, a 2020 graduate that now plays for the University of Wisconsin, said that change was evident to her from an early age.
“When I open-enrolled in seventh grade, he said he knew our class would be successful, so he started game-planning and changing up some of the things we would do” to fit the players’ skillset, Leuzinger said.
That’s when the program went from not good to great, but from great to other-worldly. The 55 run and jump defense became a staple in the Black Hawk gym. The players worked hard in season and out to build their endurance, and when the time came to match up on the court against another team, the Warriors forced turnovers using their pressure and made their opponents bend to their will.
In Leuzinger’s first season, the Warriors went 21-1, with the only loss coming after Leuzinger sustained a hip injury. The next year, Flanagan’s Warriors barreled through its schedule to the state championship game, where a historically low shooting percentage from his team led to a loss to Bangor. The team averaged nearly 70 points per game but scored just 29 in the final and shot 19.3% from the field and 9% on 31 3-point shots after averaging 44% and 37% from each during the rest of the season.
The next year, Black Hawk steamrolled every team it faced — several of which state contenders in larger divisions — and winning the state championship by 15 points. In 2020, Black Hawk again went unbeaten but the WIAA canceled the state tournament just hours before the Warriors could take the court due to outbreak COVID-19 at the beginning of the pandemic.
This past season, after graduating Leuzinger and several others, Black Hawk reached the state tournament again, only to fall in the semifinal to Three Lakes.
Over his final five seasons, Flanagan’s squads were 124-3. The Warriors hold 14 team records at the state tournament.
Three of Flanagan’s players have gone on to play NCAA Division I basketball — a rare feat from one of the smallest schools in the state. Leuzinger is entering her second year at Wisconsin. Jen Wellnitz, now the head coach at Argyle, played at UW-Green Bay, which is where 2021 graduate Bailey Butler will play this fall. Butler was also the WBCA selection for Miss Basketball this past year.
“He really built that program up. It will be different without him,” Bailey Butler said.
Reactions abound: Surprise, shock
“It was a surprise to me,” Leuzinger said upon hearing the news July 7. “I was not expecting that.”
Bailey Butler, the program’s leading scorer and one of three Butler sisters to play under Flanagan, said she found out July 6.
“I was at the summer league watching my cousin. Afterwards the team had their usual huddle, and when they came out of it, everyone was crying. I asked my cousin what happened, and she said, ‘Flan’s gone,’” Bailey said. “I told him congratulations.”
Now at UW-Green Bay, she said she has had a smooth transition because of a key skill she learned under Flanagan: Fundamentals.
“He was really big on fundamentals, and Green Bay teaches them heavy as well,” Bailey said.
Albany head coach Derik Doescher is assisting Flanagan for the Six Rivers All-Star Game, which was scheduled to be played July 9 at Barneveld. Doescher knew of the plans before Flanagan told his players July 6, and before it was publicly announced July 7.
“He let me know on the Fourth (of July),” Doescher said. “It’s an honor to coach with him.”
The beginning of coaching
While his decision to leave coaching came while cutting the grass, getting into coaching came about differently. Flanagan loved the game, and while teaching at Monroe Middle
“It gave me a glimpse of what it would be like to run a program. I learned so much from Pat,” Flanagan said. Murphy retired five years ago and will enter the WBCA Hall of Fame in August.
Flanagan said that he decided, on a whim, to put in his application to coach at Black Hawk. At the time he didn’t envision how long he would even continue coaching if he got the job.
“I gave it four, maybe five years or so,” Flanagan said. “Basketball is a passion, and at times it was an obsession.”
Black Hawk’s girls program had a 13-24 combined record the previous two seasons, but in his first year at the helm the Warriors went 14-10 and were regional champs. In his second season, Flanagan’s Warriors came within one win from reaching the program’s first state tournament, a feat that would be accomplished in Year 3.
There was public speculation that Flanagan may jump ship to Monroe following the 2009-10 season, when Hall of Fame Monroe girls coach Kevin Keen stepped away. At the pep rally following the state championship, Flanagan assured the Black Hawk players and supporters that he would be staying long term.
Legacy more than just the wins
Leuzinger, a 2020 graduate, ranked second all-time in program scoring, said it was quite an accomplishment for any program to reach the state tournament four years in a row — a mark Flanagan’s teams did over the past four seasons.
“He’s one of the best coaches in the state,” Leuzinger said. “And he was a better coach because he cared about us. He made it fun.”
Doescher said that he has used his second time around in coaching to mirrored Flanagan — not in the sense of wins, but in the rest of the game. Doescher coached the Albany boys team for years, but after a break in coaching, returned to take on a scuddling girls program.
“From a basketball standpoint, there’s a speed they play at that you try to emulate,” Doescher said. “From a non-basketball standpoint, I changed the way I look at things: Coaching the game using life lessons, like a teacher.
“It’s not just about the wins. Are you creating young people that will be successful in off the court? Are you preparing them for life? At the end of the day, it truly is just a game.”
Doescher and Flanagan have mutual respect for each other that goes back many years. This past season, Flanagan’s team punched its ticket back to state after a grueling win over Doescher’s Comets.
“He is ‘the bar’ — and not just in the Six Rivers, but in southern Wisconsin. He’s the guy you want to build your program like,” Doescher said. Learned skills like effort, sportsmanship, focus and fundamentals were more important than natural talent and winning, and Doescher recognized that in Flanagan’s coaching style early on. “He’s the leader of that program, and it’s what you strive to be.”
Doescher said that, upon reflection, he feels honored to coach in the Six Rivers East Conference. He said if there is a Mount Rushmore of girls basketball coaches from the Six Rivers East/Stateline League, Flanagan is right there with Jim Myers of Barneveld and Mitch Wainwright of Pecatonica. Myers is one of the winningest coaches in state history with multiple state titles. Wainwright led Pecatonica for 15 years (1987-2002), reaching the state championship game five times with two titles.
“How awesome is it to have those coaches in our league? I feel pretty lucky,” Doescher said.
What’s in store for the future?
Flanagan has a young granddaughter, and said that becoming a grandfather was a real game-changer for him. He also said that his son, Michael, is finishing school and is interested in coaching. Michael spent last year as the junior varsity coach at Belmont.
“I want to be there for him,” Flanagan said. “Over 15 years I’ve missed a lot of things, like my boys’ basketball games because I was coaching. Those sacrifices were worth it, with trips to state and our success, so I have no regrets, but I want to be there for him.”
Doescher said he’s hopeful that this is just a pause in Flanagan’s coaching career.
“I think he will be back again — he’s too much of a competitor. Be it boys or girls, whether its as a head coach or something else, he loves the game too much. I think he’ll be back in some capacity in the next few years — or at least I hope he’ll be back,” Doescher said.
Flanagan himself even indicated the possibility of return to coaching in the future. He said he expects to continue his roles in the WBCA and running the Six Rivers All-Star games, as well as counselling other coaches.
“I would definitely not rule (returning to coaching) out. It’s a wait-and-see approach right now,” Flanagan said. “I have talked to other coaches that have stepped away as well and then came back.”
Flanagan also said he would not want to partake in the hiring process, nor speculate of who the school should hire. He did say he would make himself available for questions or advice to the new coach and their staff.
“I’ll continue to be a supporter of Black Hawk basketball,” he said.
