Daniel Gratz takes over as athletic director at Beloit Memorial

BELOIT — Daniel Gratz says family brought him to Beloit as the new athletic director at Beloit Memorial High School.

He had a terrific job as Player Development Director for a Power 5 softball program at the University of Texas.

But the Longhorn State is a long way from where his parents live in Oregon, Wis., and southern Wisconsin where his extended family calls home. With children ages 3 and 1, he agreed with his wife that moving back to Wisconsin closer to family was a good idea.

“Teaching was originally what I was going to stay in before coaching and then the athletic administration in Austin came along,” Gratz said. “I let my family back in Wisconsin know to be on the lookout for something. This position came up and I had three different family members text me about it within two days.

“I really think everything happens for a reason.”

Gratz, 34, said his eyes are wide open to the many issues his predecessors have wrestled with as AD at Beloit Memorial. He succeeds Jon Dupuis, a former Purple Knight athletic standout many thought would be the long-term answer for a position that has been more of a revolving door than rock of stability.

Dupuis left to become an athletic director/physical education teacher as well as interim head varsity football coach at Sturgeon Bay High School. While he preferred not to discuss any other reasons he had for choosing to leave, it’s obvious Dupuis was disappointed he was not able to complete his mission to revitalize Beloit athletics.

Now Gratz takes up that mantle.

“I know how to ask the hard questions,” he said of identifying the major concerns. “I officially started a week ago today. Unofficially, I was here a few weeks before that talking to coaches trying to determine what this community needs and what this school needs. I was fact finding, but also laying some groundwork for what is going to come in the next couple of months. I am kind of stubborn when I think I can help.”

Gratz has a varied resume. He competed in multiple sports at Oregon High School and was a wrestler at Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa, graduating in 2012 with bachelor’s degrees in both psychology and kinesiology. He completed his master’s in leadership business management from Hannibal-LaGrange University in 2016.

He served as an assistant softball coach at both Mount Vernon High School (2010-2011) and at Cornell College (2010-2012). He became the head softball coach at Cedar Rapids Kennedy High School in Iowa and over three seasons from 2013-16, he led the 5A program to a 92-32 overall record and three straight top 12 final 5A state rankings. During his final campaign in 2016, Gratz was named the 5A Coach of the Year after leading Kennedy to a Mississippi Valley Conference title and a No. 1 state ranking.

Gratz’s career then took a turn as he became the Director of Softball Operations at the University of Iowa (2016-17). He oversaw office operations and all travel for the coaching staff and student-athletes, served as the liaison for the team with the director of compliance, helped coordinate recruiting activities, assisted in the coordination and execution of camps and clinics, maintained game/practice statistical records and oversaw daily video editing, coordinated on development of an alumni database and served on a special event committee for marketing events.

Gratz left Iowa to become head softball coach at North Iowa Area Community College (NIACC) in Mason, Iowa, from 2017-21. He coached six NJCAA All-Americans and had 22 players earn all-region accolades while leading his squad to a national ranking during each season. His teams also earned 14 Academic All-American and 39 Academic All-Region honors.

While at NIACC, Gratz was in charge of overseeing all aspects of the Trojans’ program including budget management, travel coordination, recruiting and student-athlete development, compliance, camps and coaching recruitment and mentorship. He also served on the NFCA/NJCAA Division II All-American Committee, the NJCAA Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee and as a NIACC Professional Salaried Staff (PSS) Committee Chair.

University of Texas head softball coach Mike White hired Gratz as Director of Player Development Sept. 9, 2021.

Now his career takes another turn to high school administration.

“Putting your coaches and programs in the best place possible to succeed is definitely the primary mission in my job,” he said. “It’s a question of how do I fight for what I think we need and how can we give back to the community? I need to infuse the school into the community and infuse the community into the school.

“Internally with our booster club I am going to create some committees as well as a community liaison position to help determine what the community needs and reach out to alumni to reconnect with the school.”

He knows his budget will be a challenge with a school that is strapped financially.

“There are certainly different levels to spending,” he said. “I am looking at the basic things first. Do we have the safety equipment we need? Do we have enough football helmets and pads? Can we play in the facilities we have? The lights not working (at Jacobson Field) definitely fell under that and they have been replaced.”

Gratz said increasing participation as well as improving feeder systems are also on his agenda.

“Our hope over the next few months is to establish quality feeder programs with the Boys and Girls Club, the city and YMCA,” he said “We need to put our heads together. We need the numbers in youth sports for us to be successful at this level.”

Participation is key, he said.

“My grand vision is to have full teams in every sport,” he said. “The facilities will take care of themselves. If sports are good the community will want to support that. For now we have to have athletes.”

Gratz is a firm believer in the value of athletics.

“Sports can dictate the culture in schools and in cities,” he said. “If our sports teams are good everything else kind of falls in line. You will have good education. Kids go to class because they’re going to do what they need to do to stay eligible. I saw that in Texas in particular. Texas might be the best sports state in the country because they invest a lot into youth sports. They feed into the high schools and the hard things solve themselves a bit. My goal is to see what works for us here and put those pieces in place.”

He said he’ll demand his coaches are on the same page.

“We have some phenomenal coaches internally,” he said. “I know what they look like. More so than ever before you have to be more than just an on-field coach. If you’re one of those now you’re probably a better assistant. For head coaches, the role is so much different. It’s a fund-raiser, counselor, recruiter and at the very end, you coach. You either adapt to it or you find a new job.”

Gratz said he wants to see the Knights taking advantage of what they do have.

“We have one of the best weight rooms in the state and we have people in the community willing to help,” he said. “Kyle Weaver is a good example. He wants to infuse his knowledge from playing college and professional basketball back into the community. We have facilities. We have tennis courts. We have a pool. We need to make sure they’re being utilized efficiently.

“Winning is hard to make happen. It takes a lot of things. Getting to .500 and being competitive is really the next step for a lot of our sports. We need kids to make a commitment. It helps when you feel competing for your school is something special. We need Beloit Memorial to feel important to people and not just for sports. Fine arts. The band. All of it matters and we need to remind people of that.”