DARLINGTON — Being from southwest Wisconsin, Travis Winkers knew he was stepping into a strong tradition when he accepted the position of head football coach at Darlington High School this spring. 

Yet, despite his knowledge of the Redbirds’ past success on the gridiron, he wasn’t fully aware of just what an elite group he had joined when he took over the program until recently when an assistant coach showed him the list of previous coaches written on the wall of the press box at Martens Field.

Upon looking at the list, Winkers discovered he becomes just the seventh head coach in the 93-year history of the Redbird football program.

“That’s crazy. It’s definitely unique and it’s pretty cool to be one of them,” said Winkers.

The previous six Darlington head coaches have combined for the third most victories in state history with their overall record of 578-253-18 the past 92 seasons, and three of his predecessors have been inducted into the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame, including the man he replaces, Scott Zywicki, who announced his retirement in February following 36 years as a teacher and coach at Darlington.

“No pressure there,” laughed Winkers, who also is filling Zywicki’s position as physical education/heath teacher at the Darlington Middle School. 

Zywicki was on the sideline for 300 of the program’s victories while being a part of 21 SWAL conference championship teams, four state championship teams and eight state runner-up teams in his 34 years with the Redbirds. He was on the coaching staff for all 29 of the program’s playoff appearances over the previous 31 seasons.

As a head coach for the last 13 years, Zywicki led the Redbirds to a 108-44 overall record with 11 playoff berths, eight conference titles and four straight state runner-up finishes from 2013-16. Under his guidance, the Darlington made the WIAA playoff field in each of the last 10 seasons.

Winkers brings with him an impressive record of success from his five-year stint as head football coach at Markesan High School, but he wanted to emphasize that it was family — not football — that ultimately brought him to Darlington.

“The attraction of Darlington football was certainly a factor in my decision, but family was the number one reason for the move,” he said.

Winkers and his wife, Trinity, are both graduates of River Ridge High School and had been looking for the opportunity to move back closer to their hometown and their families. When Zywicki’s teaching and coaching position came up it in the spring, it was too good of an opportunity for the Winkers to pass up for themselves and their two children, Isabelle, a third grader, and Beau, who just turned 3.

“We were very happy in Markesan. It wasn’t anything up there. It was just an opportunity to come back home,” stated Winkers. “I like Darlington. It reminds me a lot of Markesan and the town I grew up in. I like small towns and small schools, so that was obviously an attraction to us. And, football is a big deal here.”

Winkers began as an assistant coach at Markesan following his graduation from UW-La Crosse, and he took over the head coach position in 2013. He compiled a 40-13 record in his five years at the school and led the Hornets to four straight playoff appearances, including a program-best Level 4 trek last season which ended with a loss to eventual Division 6 state champion, St. Mary’s Springs.

After changing the offensive, defensive and special team schemes on day one, Winkers led the Hornets to a 4-5 record in his first season at the helm.

With an emphasis on getting stronger in the weight room and faster on the field, Winkers’ Hornets made the playoffs the last four seasons and captured three consecutive Trailways Large titles. 

Winkers led the Hornets to their first playoff appearance in four years during a 7-3 campaign in 2014; and then, after going 8-2 in 2015, he guided Markesan to its first playoff victory in over a decade in 2016 — a 34-28 win over Cuba City — before ending the year at 10-1 with a 41-8 loss to Larry Green’s Pecatonica-Argyle Vikings in Level 2.

Green is now a member of Winkers’ coaching staff in Darlington.

In 2017, the Hornets turned in the best season in program history with 11 victories, including a 44-14 win over Darlington to open the playoffs in what would turn out to be Zywicki’s final game with the Redbirds.

“I joke with the assistant coaches that if I’m here for 30 years I can always brag that I’m 1-0 against Darlington. Not many coaches can say they are undefeated against Darlington,” Winkers said.

The Hornets added wins over Fennimore, 15-7, and Mineral Point, 47-26, to advance to Level 4 of the playoffs for the first time in school history and run Winkers’ record against the SWAL to 4-0 all-time. However, the Ledgers knocked off the Hornets, 21-9, in their state semifinal tilt and went on to defeat Iola-Scandinavia, 35-12, in the D6 title game for the gold ball.

Winkers left Markesan knowing he had set their program up for years to come, so now he has work to do to get Darlington in shape to battle for a SWAL title and a playoff run that could bring him up against his former squad.

“The weight room is where it’s going to start. (Lifting) is not a summer thing, it’s a three or four year thing. I’ll tell anyone that I’m an average coach, but if my kids are stronger and faster than yours I’m going to win a lot of games,” he said.

His first order of business this summer — even before buying a house in town — was to set up the weight room schedule and be there nearly all day every day to keep it open for the students. 

The Redbirds Touchdown Club recently purchased all new equipment in the weight room to further advance the lifting program at the school.

“(The kids) admit they have been slacking a bit with their lifting, but we’ve had good turnout in the weight room so far. What we’ve been doing this summer has been good. We going to keep building on that for future years,” he said.

Winkers works off of advice he received from Lancaster’s Hall of Fame coach John Hoch who stated that every year he had 80 percent of his seniors lifting weights for four straight years, his team made it to Level 4 of the playoffs or beyond.

Last season at Markesan, Winker’s first class of four-year lifters were seniors and the Hornets advanced to Level 4.

“I’m 1-0 in that regard. I know they’ll be really strong and again this year and they’ll have a chance to get to state,” said Winkers about his former team.

In addition to lifting, Winkers will be changing some of the Redbirds’ schemes on both sides of the ball to fit his coaching philosophy. The biggest change will come on offense where the traditional Wing-T attack will be switching to an option-attack he favors.

“It’s what I’m familiar with, which is different from what Darlington’s used to. I’m going to bring a lot of stuff I did (at Markesan) down here, while keeping much of the tradition that they have had here,” Winkers explained. “I have my set of core values that I preach to the kids and base our whole program philosophy on them. It’s not just program values, it’s life values that I talk about as well.”

With high school football practices around the set to start on Aug. 1 and Winkers’ first game at Darlington looming on Aug. 18, the new Redbirds’ coach is rushing to get the team up to speed — and strength — for what should be another tough campaign in the SWAL, who had five playoff teams a year ago.

“I grew up in the southwest part of the state, so I’ve always felt that football, especially small school football, is pretty good down here. I’m looking forward to the competition,” Winkers said. 

Darlington will scrimmage at Lancaster High School on Friday, Aug. 10, starting at 5 p.m.

Winker’s Redbirds open the 2018 season against Glenwood City in a game that will be played at Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau High School on Saturday, Aug. 18. Kickoff is scheduled for noon.