DE PERE – On June 30, Jeff Byczek walked out of De Pere High School for the last time as the school’s athletics director.

In a career that spanned 28 years at De Pere, Byczek said he’s going to miss the daily routine, his co-workers and the athletes, coaches and teams that made his almost-three-decade run as a Redbird memorable.

“The upside of the routine is it gives you structure of what you’re doing daily,” he said. “The exciting part is now figuring out what I’ll do next.”

Though not quite sure of his immediate future plans, Byczek — a Norway, Michigan, High School graduate — said he wants to find something in the next chapter of life that he can be a part of.

“I’ve been a part of a group or an organization working toward a common goal for a long time, and when you retire, I think you have to be careful not to get too isolated,” he said.

“It never stops,” he laughed. “There is always the beginning of the next season and the end of the last season, and there are things to work on in between, which is good if you like to grind. Obviously, the biggest challenge in such a position is working a full day at school and then attending games on nights and weekends. If you add it up, that’s a lot of nights and weekends.”

Though he had plenty of help to take away some of that burden, Byczek said any good AD knows the importance of being present as much as possible.

“You also want to be around because it helps your understanding of the program and what you can do to improve things,” he said.

An athletic past

Graduating from Norway in 1985, Byczek then moved on to Northern Michigan University in Marquette.

Finishing up his bachelor’s degree in 1989, Byczek then took a teaching job in Lower Michigan for a year before moving closer to home in the U.P. – spending eight years at Stephenson High School (SHS), where he taught English and math for half a dozen years.

It was also at SHS that Byczek entered the coaching world.

At the young age of 24, he led the football team to its first-ever playoff appearance and was named the regional coach of the year.

“I look back on those coaching years at Stephenson with fond memories,” Byczek said. “After I left coaching at the school, I became the assistant principal/director of athletics for two years before coming to De Pere in 1998 — and I stayed there until I retired.”

For the first six years of his time as a Redbird, Byczek was an assistant football coach, taught classes and was the athletics director.

“That shows you how times have changed,” he said. “When I first came to De Pere in ’98, there were 800 kids in the school — now there are almost 1,500. Being an assistant coach then was already a lot of work, but as time went on, the world of high school athletics changed. It became much more year-round.”

Adding more games and levels to the programs, Byczek said it became apparent to the district that the AD job needed to go full-time.

“If you think about high school athletics in general, from the mid-90s to today, it’s changed drastically,” he said. “A high school athlete today spends a lot more organized time compared to 30 years ago.”

Out of coaching after more than a dozen years of combined experience between SHS and De Pere, Byczek said he missed not being on the sidelines.

“In coaching, that’s where the relationships and bonds with the players and coaches are made,” he said. “Everyone is working toward a specific goal. If you love to compete, then coaching is something you’re always going to miss. Even though I wasn’t coaching anymore, being the AD filled the competitive urge I had — similar to that competitive urge coaches have.”

Byczek didn’t want to single out any specific athlete or team that was the greatest in his tenure, but he said two recent examples show how success can be measured differently.
In comparing the 2023 boys’ basketball Division 1 state title team and the De Pere Voyageurs hockey team’s magical run last season, he said both were special in their own way.

“The basketball team went 30-0, so to watch those boys and coaches grind through an entire year was impressive,” Byczek said. “They had a target on their back every day. With the Voyageurs, they were expected to be improved, but I’m not sure too many people picked them to make it to state. That was new and exciting for the entire De Pere community.”

An emotional goodbye

Retiring from the AD job on June 30, Byczek said one of the most emotional parts of the day was saying goodbye to Kerry Guyette, De Pere’s Athletics Secretary.

“Kerry is my friend and was my advisor and emotional support for so many years,” he said. “She was not only there for me but for so many people within the program. I worked with Kerry for almost 20 years, so it was emotional walking out of school on the last day. I will also miss the day-to-day relationships I made along the way with so many others.”

Now that he has a bit more time on his hands and is away from the daily grind of being an AD, Byczek said you’ll more than likely still see him hanging around the school at sporting events.

“I think back to all the great things about De Pere,” he said. “My kids graduated from high school here, and they benefited from growing up in a great community. I got to live here – and continue to live here — for 28 years. Once a Redbird, always a Redbird.”