SOUTH WAYNE — While the Black Hawk-Warren football program is under new management, recently hired head coach Desi Breadon is well versed in the Warrior ways. Breadon served as an assistant coach with the program the past two seasons — both of which ended with a state championship.

At the March 9 school board meeting, Black Hawk approved the hiring of Breadon — a fifth-grade teacher at Black Hawk — as the next head coach of the Warriors’ football program. He replaces Cory Milz, who stepped down as head coach following 18 seasons and back-to-back state titles. This past season, Black Hawk-Warren defeated Edgar 6-0 in the 2019 WIAA Division 7 state championship.

“Taking over a Warrior program that has won back-to-back state titles and has four state appearances in the last seven years is a lot of pressure, but it also has a lot of positive aspects,” said Breadon, who has spent the last two years of his 16-year coaching career as an assistant coach and head junior varsity coach at Black Hawk. “Coach Milz has done an incredible job setting and maintaining a winning culture. Already having that culture established is a positive, instead of having to create a culture.”

In Black Hawk’s 55 years as a football program, the team has had only two previous head coaches, and those two have combined for 352 victories and a .734 winning percentage at the rural school. 

“Obviously, there are high expectations of the program from the school, the community, the alumni, the players and the coaches. I have always had high expectations of myself, my coaches, my players and the teams I’ve coached,” Breadon said. “Again, I see those high expectations as a positive, even though it comes with a lot of pressure. I think it’s amazing that a school as small as Black Hawk has had the success it has had and I’m thrilled to be taking over the program.”

Milz posted a 126-60 record in his 17 seasons as Black Hawk’s head coach, and then led Black Hawk-Warren to a 14-0 finish in the co-op’s inaugural season. He retires with a 140-60 overall record (.700). He led the Warriors to their second-straight state title and the third title in the school’s five state final appearances — all of which he was a part of with one runner-up appearance as an assistant coach in 1998 and state titles in 2013, 2018 and 2019 and a runner-up finish in 2017 as a head coach.

Hall of Fame coach Dennis Murphy posted a 212-123-4 record in his 37 years at Black Hawk before stepping away from the program in 2002 and handing the reins to Coach Milz, who is likely destined to join Murphy in the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

“I’m humbled and honored by being able to step into this role. Coach Murphy and Coach Milz are legends, so following them I have big shoes to fill,” Breadon said. “Even though a majority of things are going to stay the same, there will be some differences. (Edgewood coach Al) Minnaert and Coach Milz have been great mentors the last four years and have helped make me feel prepared to step into this position. I’m really proud to be named the third coach in this program’s history. I’m also proud of the program’s tradition and its connection with alumni, former coaches and the community.”

While the X’s and O’s of the game are important, helping the players grow and bringing the communities together are intangibles that take more of a human touch.

“We’re excited about Desi. He has experience, No. 1. The nice thing about Desi is he has experience as the head coach of a co-op. He knows what that entails. He’ll be great for the community,” Milz said. “He’s a good person; he’s a good human being. He brings a wealth of experience. He’s a team player all the way and he’s able to listen, and to adapt.”

During Breadon’s travels over the past two decades, he spent time as an assistant at New Glarus-Monticello, Madison Edgewood and Black Hawk. He was the head coach at NGM from 2012-15, briefly taking over for Jeff Eichelkraut. His teams went 17-21 overall and made the postseason three times in four years.

Milz said Breadon was already on his radar about two decades ago when he was coaching track.

“He was just a kid, maybe just out of college. He had his own gym, and you could just see he wanted to help people get better,” Milz said.

Breadon then went back to school and got a teaching certificate, then was hired as a fifth-grade teacher at Black Hawk.

Breadon — who with his wife, Tara, have two children Mia, eight, and Callum, three — started off his coaching career as an eighth-grade football coach in Monroe in 2004. 

He became head freshman coach at New Glarus in 2005 and served on the Glarner Knights’ coaching staff over the next six seasons before taking over the head coaching duties for four seasons from 2012 through 2015.

Breadon was an assistant coach and defensive coordinator at Madison Edgewood High School in 2016 and 2017, and then joined the Black Hawk staff in 2018. 

Breadon has plenty of coaching experience on both sides of the ball having served as quarterback coach, running back coach, receiving coach and lineman coach on offense, while coaching linebackers and defensive backs on defense over the past 16 seasons.

Those experiences should serve him well as he transitions into the role as head coach of the Black Hawk-Warren co-op, which graduated 17 players from last year’s 14-0 squad including 10 All-Conference players, two two-way All-State selections and another All-Region pick.

The seniors went a combined 40-1 in three varsity seasons for the Warriors with a school record three Six Rivers Conference titles in a row, a silver ball and two gold balls added to the school’s trophy case.

Milz said he trusts Breadon to take care of the program, regardless of what changes might happen.

“I’m not going to be looking over his shoulder or anything; he’s going to do a great job with that program. He knows where I am and that my door is always open,” Milz said.

The start of Breadon’s coaching tenure has been hampered by the coronavirus/Covid-19 pandemic outbreak, which has forced the closing of schools and has kept athletes from training together in school facilities. 

Black Hawk has been well known for the all work the team puts into weight training, so closing the weight room has been difficult for the athletes and coaches.

“It’s definitely made things more challenging in a variety of ways. We were having really good weight room attendance and now players can’t get into the weight room at all, so we have to try and adjust to home workouts doing push-ups, pull ups, etc.,” said Breadon. “…One thing we’ve seen in this program and in my own coaching career is the weight room is the starting point for creating and/or keeping culture, mindset and connection to players. It’s also affected being able to attend off-season coaching clinics and for players to attend clinics/camps.”

With the “stay-at-home” rules keeping students away from schools to help prevent the spread of Covid-19, WIAA spring sports have been postponed with no clear idea of when or if they will start up. And, with the possibility of those rules extending into the summer, it is unknown how summer contact with football coaches will be affected.

“I do think it will affect summer contact with the team. I think a lot of the passing leagues and tournaments are going to be cancelled this summer. I’m hoping it does not impact the start of our summer weight lifting, but I could see us having to limit the number of players in the weight room at a time,” Breadon said. “I also wouldn’t be surprised if the WIAA cancels our five summer contact days. Hopefully by May things are somewhat back to normal and we can proceed as usual.”

The Warriors are scheduled to open the 2020 season with a nonconference game at Westby on Friday, Aug. 21.

— Adam Krebs contributed to this story