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Abbotsford, Abbotsford Falcons, College Football, Friday Night Lights, Galesburg, Galesburg High School, High School Basketball, High School Football, High School Hoops, IHSA, Knox College, Knox College football, NCAA Division III football, Prairie Fire, ROWVA/Williamsfield, ROWVA/Williamsfield Cougars, Wisconsin
By Matthew Wheaton
ONEIDA — There’s no doubt about it, Garrett Rau will always have fond memories of his time in Knox County.
And after seven years in Illinois, Rau is headed to “The Badger State” to coach, reside, and teach, and he’ll do so once the 2022-23 school year concludes.
The 25-year-old has been named as the head varsity boys basketball coach for his high school alma mater in Abbotsford, Wisconsin, and he will serve as the defensive coordinator for the Falcons’ varsity football team.
Rau, a 2016 AHS and 2020 Knox College grad, is excited about returning to his hometown, and he’ll be building from the ground up. In the 2022-23 season, the Falcons went 2-23 overall and 1-15 in Marawood (North) Conference action on the hardwood under the guidance of Brent Faber.
“There’s a really good history in the basketball program up there. I played on the last conference championship team. I played on the last regional championship team. We lost in triple overtime in the sectional game,” said Rau, who played baseball, basketball and football in high school. “All those memories I still look back on all the time today. To be able to go back and create more of those memories, hopefully, is special.
“They haven’t had a whole lot of success lately, so the big thing is getting them to buy-in, and trust that the work they’re putting in is going to pay off,” Rau added. “We play in a really really competitive conference. I would argue that it’s the best small school conference in Wisconsin.”
Rau has never called all the shots on the varsity level, but he has plenty of coaching experience.
For two seasons, Rau served as Galesburg High School’s sophomore boys basketball coach. Ryan Hart was the Streaks’ varsity coach his first season (2020-21), and Chad Thompson was in the second (2021-22). This winter, Rau, a science teacher, was ROWVA/Williamsfield’s sophomore boys coach, and he served as the defensive coordinator for the Cougars’ football team.
Rau worked under former Streaks football coach Michael “Wash” Washabaugh in the 2020 season, which was pushed back into the spring in 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic. Rau was Galesburg’s freshman coach, and on the varsity level, he worked with the defensive backs, wide receivers, and served as the Streaks’ special teams coordinator.
In 2021, Aaron Willits hired Rau to coach the Prairie Fire’s defensive backs. In his collegiate playing career, Rau was a three-year starter in the defensive backfield and handled the punting duties for Knox. A captain his senior year, Rau was selected as an All-Midwest Conference performer as a defensive back in 2018 and 2019. He also received All-MWC honors as a punter in 2017, 2018, and 2019.
“I always tell people I like both the same, but growing up I always considered myself a hooper. Until my senior year of high school, I really didn’t have any interest in playing college football,” Rau said. “I had offers to play both (basketball and football) coming out of high school, and I just told myself that I was going to pick a school and then whatever that school wanted me to play is what I would play. I ended up choosing Knox, and they wanted me to play football so I played football.
“Basketball is my first love,” Rau added. “If I had to pick one, I would say basketball is my favorite.”
What’s Rau’s coaching style? What will be the Falcons’ game plan?
Rau takes a laid back approach when it comes to his coaching style, and Rau values the bonds with the student-athletes he encounters.
“I want to be somebody that they come to when they need help,” Rau said. “I want to be the person they look up to. Being able to be that person has been really fulfilling so far.”
Rau has already been working on the X’s and O’s and knows what he wants from Abbotsford’s hoopers.
“We’re going to be a pressure man-to-man team. I would love to be able to press people. Offensively, we’ll be a little bit newer aged,” Rau said. “We’ll put our big guy in the high post. We’ll run a little bit of offense through him kind of similar to what the (Denver) Nuggets do with (Nikola) Jokić, and what the (Milwaukee) Bucks do with Giannis (Antetokounmpo) — where your big is handling the ball to try to engage those defenders a little bit farther away from the basket and create a little bit more space.
“As a (football) defensive coach, I really try to keep it as simple as I possibly can. I just let the kids read and react and play fast,” added Rau. “I really stress the little things in every thing that we do — being fundamentally sound. I don’t blitz a whole lot. I like to see what the offense is doing and react to it.”
Rau’s taken things from all his bosses
Along his journey as an assistant coach, Rau has learned from everyone he’s worked under, and Rau will take a little bit from everyone of them with him.
“Wash is very very organized, and he’s very good with getting everybody in the program to move in one direction. Hart was a very much go with the flow kind of guy. Working for those two at the same time was kind of interesting, because they are kind of opposite on how they go about things. Learning how to adjust, especially during that COVID year, was something that Ryan taught me,” Rau said. “Willits taught me a lot about program building. Chad is another guy who is super organized, and he’s very similar. He was a younger guy who came back to his hometown to be the head basketball coach. I’ve actually talked with him a fair amount about how to handle some of those situations.
“(ROWVA/Williamsfield boys basketball) coach (Bob) Anderson is a legend around this area, and he’s so prepared all the time. I’ve never met a coach that is so prepared for everybody, every thing and every moment. The scenarios that he puts in during practice in order to prepare them for a game is something that is really special and it allows him to do so many different things in the course of a game,” Rau added. “(Cougars football coach Grant) Gullstrand is a really good program guy. I’ve learned a lot about training, strength and conditioning and running a program. He did a good job this year at letting me make mistakes as an assistant. Being able to make mistakes and learn from them was a really big thing.”
Departing thought…
“I’ve been in the Galesburg-area for seven years now, and I’m going to miss it a ton to be honest with you,” Rau said. “It’s been a big part of my life and a true home away from home kind of feeling to it.
“I’ve met a lot of amazing people. I’ve been able to work with and for a lot of great people. A lot of them will be friends for the rest of my life,” Rau added. “I am really grateful, and I’m going to miss it a lot.”
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