After remarkable run, Arrowhead's Kevin Flegner ready for next challenge at Oconomowoc

Kevin Flegner opted for the standard Arrowhead gray polo shirt as he sat in the stands at Fox Cities Stadium in Appleton, watching what he hoped was one last state championship before he departs.

Had circumstances been different, he might have been wearing something flashier, even more so than the 1980s-Astros-inspired uniforms donned by the Warhawks baseball team playing in its first spring state tournament since 1957.

'(Arrowhead baseball coach) Vince Mancuso and I were talking, if Oconomowoc and Arrowhead had made it (to state), I'll have to go down to Mid City (Sports) and get a half purple shirt, half red shirt,' Flegner joked. 'Vince said, 'No I don't think so, your contract runs until June 30, after the state tournament.''

Oconomowoc fell one step short of state, defeated in the final at-bat of the sectional final by a Sun Prairie team that instead became Arrowhead's state-quarterfinal opponent. It could have been a perfect sendoff for Flegner, who now finds himself between the worlds of both schools. He'll officially become Oconomowoc's athletics director when Scott Raduka retires July 1.

Since he arrived at Arrowhead in 2008, Arrowhead has won 24 WIAA state championships in 12 sports, and that doesn't even count dynasties built in downhill skiing, lacrosse and field hockey. The baseball team headed into a June 16 battle with Burlington for what could make that number a tidy 25. It's a borderline insane stretch of success, and he'll head to an Oconomowoc program that has not won a team state title since 1981.

'They're talking about (an enrollment of) 1,800 kids five years out from now,' Flegner said of OHS. 'It's going to be fun. I don't want people to have it in their head that just because the AD is coming from Arrowhead, it automatically (will translate to success). I've said it loud and clear I'm not going there to build another Arrowhead; I'm going there to build an Oconomowoc.'

He'll be part of an OHS program that sits on the precipice of greatness. Arrowhead has seen it first hand, falling last fall in the girls volleyball sectional final to eventual state-finalist Oconomowoc and narrowly surviving a Level 3 football contest at OHS that came down to the wire. Oconomowoc has become the foremost program of the Wisconsin Little Ten, a conference that will evaporate after the next school year and push OHS into the Classic 8, alongside Arrowhead and its current brethren.

'What they've been doing at Oconomowoc has been good stuff; it's been working,' Flegner said. 'I'm looking forward to going over there and work on some of the relationships I built and maybe just tweak some things. This is going to be my fifth stop. I've had a chance along the way to be able to really observe how different systems work.

'One of the draws, obviously, when I was going through the process was my background in the Classic 8. … Oconomowoc has been preparing for the Classic 8 the last five years. (It's the) reason they built facility upgrades. Scott has done a great job getting those coaches to think bigger. The Little Ten is one of the oldest, longstanding conferences and one of the most powerful conferences, but there is a huge disparity now with Oconomowoc (overall athletic success) between some of those other schools.'

He knows the feeling of being the big fish. Arrowhead's unprecedented run of athletics success has been built on a number of pillars, and Flegner is quick to point to the long-tenured coaches on his staff who have made that a reality.

'You obviously need talent to win championships, but I'm a firm believer that great coaches are a huge reason as to why teams win championships,' Flegner said. 'They have to mold these players. You have different attitudes, different backgrounds, different talent levels, lots of parents. … I really believe that Arrowhead is as successful as they have been the last 22 years because of our coaches.'

That includes Tim O'Driscoll, the now-retired baseball coach who led Arrowhead to the 2010 summer baseball title and was also in attendance at Fox Cities Stadium in Appleton to watch the Warhawks try for the spring title. Flegner was part of the process that converted Arrowhead to spring ball, brining in several high-level players who would otherwise have played club ball in the summer. The team has four players already committed to NCAA Division 1 programs.

'It's really a great bunch of seniors (across sports),' Flegner said. 'That senior class this year all the way around just had a lot of leadership. You had a lot of three sport athletes, guys like (Ben) Bredeson and (Johnny) Duranso have been playing since they were freshmen. It's been neat to see their growth and what they've done and what they've accomplished. You really go as your senior class goes.

'Just for the kids to get to an atmosphere like this is phenomenal. I look back and all the years, all the venues these kids have played in at Arrowhead, and it's unbelievable. The Kohl Center, Al McGuire Center, all the holiday tournaments and colleges. The kids are so fortunate, and we sometimes forget how fortunate we are to have the venues we're able to give our kids. Because of our successes, tournaments from around the state and out of state are asking us to please come.'

Flegner said the transition was made easier thanks to his friendship with Raduka. He also acknowledged the many administrators he's worked with at Arrowhead, particularly former superintendent Craig Jefson, who hired Flegner in the summer of 2008.

'I've been very fortunate to work with a guy that just completely 100 percent got it, that academics and athletics go hand-in-hand,' Flegner said.' That support is why we were able to to take it to another level.'

He joked with Arrowhead baseball coach Vince Mancuso that since he was able to come in with a state title, when the girls swimming team won the 2008 fall championship, it would be fun to go out with one as well in the final days of the 2016 spring.

'I've said it every place I've been, 'I want to leave a place better than when I received it,'' Flegner said. '(Former Arrowhead AD) Geoff Steinbach really set the bar high; I didn't think we'd ever (match that). I never imagined how far we were able to take it.'

Pictured: Among the state titles under Flegner's tenure have been the 2010 boys basketball title, the 2015 girls swimming championship and the 2013 football gold ball.