Wausau West names Foster as football coach

WAUSAU - Jason Foster grew up cheering for the Wausau West football team before playing for the Warriors and later becoming a member of the coaching staff.

The Wausau native will now be heading the Warriors.

Foster, who graduated from West in 1991, was named the Warriors football coach Friday morning. He had been the defensive coordinator on Kevin Grundy's coaching staff the past four seasons.

"It is a life-long dream. A lot of things that I learned as a student-athlete at West, I have carried with me throughout my professional life and my family," said Foste, who was a linebacker and a tight end/wideout during his playing days at West. "Having the opportunity to come full circle and coach where I went to school and in the community where I grew up is really exciting. I am very blessed for the opportunity and thankful to the administration at Wausau West for providing me with it."

Foster takes over for Grundy, who stepped down at the end of last season after a decade with the Warriors program.

"I feel very good about our selection and have confidence he will be great for our kids, our school and give us the best chance for football success," Dan Hein, West's activities director, said in a media release announcing the hiring. "We begin a new era in Warrior football with high expectations and great excitement."

Foster's coaching career began in 2002 as a defensive coordinator at Northland Pines under Ken Biegel. Foster was named Biegel's successor four years later, and led the Eagles until moving on to Wausau West as an assistant coach in 2012.

Foster, who is a special education teacher at West, said both programs provided him an education for him as a coach.

"I took over as the head coach (at Pines) after having really only coached for four years. By no means did I know everything I needed to know at that time, and I learned a lot over those five years," Foster said. "I made a lot of mistakes, but I feel like I proved a lot as well. I had good coaches and great players in that community as well.

"But I think it was really an important step for me to come back and coach defense at a bigger school, especially looking at the conference opponents (West) plays week in and week out," Foster said. "With the competition level and the things you see both offensively and defensively, and the coaches I have been able to work with here, my growth has been great. I owe a lot to the coaching staff I worked with under Coach Grundy, and, yeah, I definitely feel more prepared this time around and really excited about (the opportunity)."

Foster, who also is an assistant coach with the West boys basketball team, will have an initial meeting with the West football team on Monday. The Warriors are coming off a 3-6 season and missed the WIAA postseason after qualifying the past two years.

"Last year was a disappointment for all of us, the entire coaching staff and the athletes. We all had higher expectations and it felt like we underachieved," Foster said. "We all took some responsibility and ownership of that, from the top all the way down."

Foster's focus has been defense during his time with the Warriors, but he is unsure how far he will step back in coaching that side of the ball now.

"That is the million dollar question," Foster joked. "It's too early to tell, but I will certainly play a role on both sides of the ball. There are a lot of decisions to be made coming up here in the near future. We are meeting with the team on Monday after school and then will be meeting with the coaching staff and talking about roles then."

Tim Johnson can be reached at 715-845-0731 or at timothy.johnson@gannettwisconsin.com. Find him on Twitter @timmyjo11.