June 5, 2020 at 11:52 a.m.
RHS fills coaching vacancies
Matt Nichols to lead tennis program, Jim Povolo named head volleyball coach
RHS fills coaching vacancies
"We're getting pretty late right now into the summer so we knew we had to get going here, especially for the fall season," RHS activities director Brian Paulson told the River News.
Nichols, who will be entering his second year as a teacher in the School District of Rhinelander, was already on the tennis staff, having served as Heideman's assistant coach for the boys' program beginning last year.
Nichols was also scheduled to serve as the boys' program's interim coach this summer after Heideman announced his resignation last month after 36 years with the program.
"There's definitely big shoes to fill coming in after coach Heideman," Nichols said. "He's built the program up to be very strong. Rhinelander tennis has a very strong tradition of excellence."
The school moved quickly to lock in Nichols after Heideman stepped down.
"We nailed it. I'm extremely happy. I think the tennis program is going to be in good hands," Paulson said. "Obviously, it's not going to be the same, but it has a great potential to be as successful."
Nichols, a science teacher at James Williams Middle School, will have a familiar assistant coach when he takes over as he will be joined by his younger brother, Ben, who was hired last month to be a math teacher in the district.
Povolo is entering his second year in the district as a physical education instructor and served as a volunteer assistant coach with the program last year.
Povolo comes to the Hodags with a lengthy coaching background, having served as the head coach at Cudahy High School in the Milwaukee suburbs from 1999-2005 and head coach of Service High School in Alaska from 2015-2017.
Povolo replaces Brianna Scheuermann, who stepped down following a pair of one-win seasons for the program in 2018 and 2019.
"One thing that's going to be important coming in is experience as a head coach," Paulson said. "We haven't had that. We were lucky that he was on staff, having experience as a head coach."
Both Paulson and Povolo said the plan will be to take a more holistic approach with the program, especially in practice, to make the varsity and subvarsity squads feel like one cohesive unit, rather than separate teams under the same umbrella.
"There's always something you can do, I think, that makes everybody feel a part of the program," Povolo said. "Once we have buy-in to everybody's equal and we're all a part of this whole thing, that's where I think you have the long-term growth."
Paulson noted that Dan Wolter, the team's JV coach, also applied for the head coaching position and would remain on the coaching staff going forward.
Matt Nichols was also an assistant volleyball coach the past two seasons.
Paulson confirmed Nichols took his name out of consideration for the volleyball head coaching position, when the tennis position became available.
The River News will feature in-depth conversations with Povolo and Matt Nichols in upcoming editions.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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