As Howards Grove seeks 5th-straight state volleyball title, coach Brett Damrow continues ‘watering the roots’

HOWARDS GROVE — How does a high school volleyball program go 40 years between WIAA state championships and then win five titles in seven seasons, including the last four Division 3 crowns?

The how is complicated, but the who and what are easy.

The Howards Grove Tigers, under the 18-year guidance of coach Brett Damrow, have built one of the greatest dynasties in Wisconsin volleyball.

The small-town Wisconsin community has developed such a rabid interest in the sport that spectators have to park along a side road to the school on a Monday night for a non-ranked, non-conference opponent because the parking lot is full.

That same community of fewer than 300 high school students has also sent multiple players to NCAA Division I programs.

Culture is an overarching term, but it’s impossible to explain the success of Howards Grove volleyball without it.

Under Damrow, the Tigers have developed a culture of curiosity, competitiveness and community. This is the backbone of their success.

‘I’m on my lawnmower thinking how I can get better.’

Damrow has a voracious appetite for knowledge. It's how the former four-sport standout and 1993 Howards Grove alum became a student of volleyball after college, despite his only previous experience with the sport coming in gym class.

He went to an open gym and fell in love with the sport, deciding he would do everything he could to learn more.

“I’ve always been a curious learner,” Damrow said. “I get very, very curious, and I was all in. I have to be the best learner in the gym.”

After a year as a volunteer assistant at Sheboygan Lutheran in 2003, Damrow took over the program of his alma mater the following season, although he wasn’t hired until a week before the season began.

The Tigers began a steady progression over the next four years, going from fourth, to third, to second — until tying for the now-defunct Central Lakeshore Conference title in 2007.

“I don’t know where the culture started, but it snowballed,” he said.

Dayton (Moenning) Vandiver, a 2009 Howards Grove alum and member of that 2007 team, feels the culture starts with a drive to improve.

“He saw something in me, believed in me,” Vandiver said. “I went to serve during our first scrimmage and slammed the ball into the pole. He just laughed a little to break the ice and told me I’d do better next time. I did terrible, but he never lost that belief I would get better.”

Failure, Damrow said, is not a bad thing and is something to be embraced for the opportunities it brings.

“We look at losses as exciting because it means we have things to learn,” Damrow said.

Damrow’s oldest daughter and 2015 graduate, Autumn (Risch) Williams, says having a coach who isn’t opposed to mistakes makes winning easier.

Williams was a member of the 2014 team that reached the state tournament for the first time since Howards Grove won the Class C championship in 1976.

“He lets players feel comfortable failing because that’s how you get better, how you find that 1% extra every time you’re in the gym,” Williams said. “It’s not about being perfect but having a willingness to be coachable and desire to improve.”

That team will always hold a special place in Damrow's heart.

“One of the most special teams,” Damrow said. “Group of athletes who bought in and thought, 'Oh my gosh, we can do this.' I told people this is not the best we’d be.”

The quest for knowledge is never-ending, according to Damrow, much like the question of how much time he puts into the program.

“It’s indefinite, it’s infinity,” Damrow said. “I was watching the new Top Gun movie last year and got two things out of it for our state championship speech. I’m on my lawnmower thinking about how I can get better.”

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‘We don’t ever focus on winning.’

To say Howards Grove has been competitive is like saying water is wet.

The Tigers have won the WIAA Division 3 state championships in 2016 and 2019-22. They also have a 63-match winning streak in Big East competition dating back to 2017 and haven’t lost a set to a conference opponent since 2018.

That success comes because Damrow and Howards Grove are more invested in the little things than whether there’s a "W" or "L" after a game's final score.

“We don’t ever focus on the winning,” Damrow said. “Just try to be the best version of ourselves. Focus on watering the roots every day and we’ll have fruit for a long time.”

Ali Schueler, a 2015 graduate and senior on the 2014 team, said the process was beginning to sprout even if the team didn’t win a match at the state tournament that season.

“Things don’t happen overnight, but I could definitely feel that change,” Schueler said. “He showed us we could do things we didn’t even think we could. You think you’re playing your best, but he shows you another level.”

Much like her coach, she saw the benefits in defeat.

“When we got to state as seniors, we knew (Howards Grove) would be back,” Schueler said. “We were hopeful for those below us and grateful we got to help set that standard. It’s satisfying, that small bit of you got the ball rolling.”

Howards Grove has built the type of program where every single player on the roster knows they might be called upon.

What makes the Tigers' conference winning streak so impressive is not the end result, but the process. Damrow is quick to rotate in as many players as possible because the more experience the bottom of the roster gets, the better everyone gets.

In several games, even when the set might be on the verge of being lost, he'll leave an underclassman in to get those high-intensity reps.

"You can’t win a state championship with one player," Damrow said. "When it comes to the big moments, you need everyone.”

Current University of Dayton sophomore and 2022 Howards Grove alum Karissa Kaminski spoke about how talented the team was her senior year in 2021.

“Our bench would have been an all-conference team if they had the opportunity,” Kaminski said. “We played against some of the best players every day in our own gym.”

Kaminski said Damrow runs his program like it's an NCAA Division I program, not a high school in the second smallest of four divisions in Wisconsin.

“To be honest, I tell my Dayton teammates this is just how it was at Howards Grove, it's just a little faster now,” Kaminski said. “Players just want to be great. It started with the classes before us. We’re doing anything to win.”

Winning, though, has to be done right.

“What’s the culture? Compete like a son of a gun but compete the right way,” Damrow said.

After every state championship, Damrow said the team has listened to Tim McGraw’s "Humble and Kind" to remind his players gold trophies can lose their luster but kindness toward others never fades.

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Community is about shared sacrifice

A program like Howards Grove’s doesn’t happen without personal sacrifice from every single person involved.

It's not just Damrow spending as much time as possible learning to improve, the players doing the same, but also parents and the community generously giving up time and their money to support the team in ways big and small.

“The program can’t be what it is without the athletes, parents and community,” Damrow said.

Almost every single game, no matter the opponent, the Acuity Fieldhouse is packed to the rafters to show that support because Howards Grove sees how much effort Damrow and the players put in.

“I think it's the hard work Brett has put in as a coach,” said Romy Godard, a lifelong Howards Grove resident and 1975 graduate. “We’ve had some very good talent along the way.

“The number of Division I talent this program has turned out of this program is a tribute to Brett," Godard added. "They’re talented, but also the hard work he puts in with him. Brett really believes in it and has his heart and soul in the game.”

Diane Drossel, a family and consumer ed teacher in Howards Grove from 1973 to 2010 and one of Damrow’s former teachers, agreed.

“He has done a good service to our community with the time he has put in,” Drossel said.

Schueler added seeing something like this accomplished in a community the size of Howards Grove is special.

“For a town of just 3,000 people to do this, it's pretty cool to see,” Schueler said.

Nikki Kapellen, Karissa Kaminski's and current Tigers’ senior Kamryn Kaminski's mother, was the freshman team coach almost 15 years ago and said the volleyball program is a beacon for all of Howards Grove.

"I think it's the pride of the community," Kapellen said.

The players, Karissa Kaminski said, are returning the dedication Damrow shows them on and off the court.

“It’s his personality,” she said. “When he walks into the room, he owns it, he has the respect. He cares for us beyond volleyball. We buy into his values.”

‘I plan on staying here as long as I possibly can.’

Howards Grove will begin the postseason next week with the goal of becoming only the second program to win five-straight state championships.

Waupun won state championships from 2001 to 2005.

Kapellen said nothing is guaranteed.

“I hope we’re at the point the community still appreciates how much hard work that takes,” Kapellen said of seeking a fifth-straight title. “You start to take it for granted when you win it year after year.”

Current freshmen Isabella Baierl and Addison Kennedy both have older sisters on the team, so they’re familiar with the tradition they’ll be in charge of continuing.

“The first time that I remember Howards Grove winning state I was so excited and wanted to be more involved in the program,” Baierl said. “I feel more involved because I grew up with the Howards Grove Tigers.”

Added Kennedy, “I definitely feel in my heart there is some pressure, but I know if we have a good mindset the pressure will just go away.”

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Whether Damrow will be around when Kennedy and Baierl are seniors is cause for consternation among the Tigers' faithful.

As Romy Godard, the lifelong Howards Grove resident and 1975 graduate, said, “I hope he doesn’t leave the program because Saige (Damrow's younger daughter) is in college now and it's hard to be at both, but I hope he sticks it out and stays on.”

Damrow is quick to point out he’s had a daughter play collegiate volleyball before and it hasn’t been an issue, although he admits he’s not as young as he once was.

Saige graduated last year and is now a member of the Wisconsin Badgers, having committed to the school in eighth grade.

“Told my AD when I got hired I’d give him 20 years, sort of joking, but it's been 18 so far,” Brett Damrow said. “I still enjoy it, but I am getting tired. When I can’t give 100%, that’s when I’ll step away. I plan on staying here as long as I possibly can.”

Contact Tom Dombeck at 920-686-2965 or tdombeck@htrnews.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @Tom_Dombeck.

This article originally appeared on Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter: Howards Grove volleyball driven by coach Brett Damrow, winning culture