MHSA(Q&)A: Frankenmuth softball coach Brad Walraven
May 31, 2012
By Brian Spencer
Second Half
Brad Walraven initially wanted to coach baseball. And he planned on staying in his first softball job, at Bay City All Saints, just four seasons – long enough to coach his younger sister through her graduation from the school.
But though the last 33 seasons weren’t part of his original plan, there’s no question they’ve worked out well for hundreds of athletes who have come under his leadership.
Walraven has won four MHSAA softball championships and is among only six high school coaches in his sport nationwide with at least 1,000 career wins, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations. Walraven achieved that milestone when his Frankenmuth team swept Essexville-Garber 7-2 and 7-0 on May 21.
The victories made the Eagles 27-4 this season – and Walraven 1,000-276 in 33 seasons total, including the first 30 at All Saints. In MHSAA history, his career wins total is behind that only of Warren Regina’s Diane Laffey, who has a 1,048-395-3 record heading into this week’s District tournaments.
Walraven also has won 25 District and 16 Regional championships, and taken 10 teams into MHSAA Finals championship games – including the Eagles last season in Division 3. Frankenmuth now is 32-4 this spring, heading into Saturday’s District on its home diamond.
You started out coaching with the plan of sticking in it for four years. What about the game of softball and coaching it has kept you around for 33?
My priorities in coaching and philosophies have changed (over the years). In my fourth year of coaching, my sister was a senior. That year we turned the program around and started winning games. They were competing. The competition has had me coming back since, along with learning more about the game.
Did you always want to coach softball? If not, what did you want to do?
No; the funny thing is that I graduated from Bay City All Saints after I won a state championship in baseball. After I graduated, I wanted the baseball job at Bay City All Saints, but they said I was too young to coach baseball. However, they did want me to stick around, and they gave me the softball job.
In your 33 years of coaching, what has been the most important piece of advice you’ve been given?
I read this somewhere; if you just keep working hard, good things happen to good people. Though my philosophies have changed, this philosophy has been pretty solid. I’ve also had girls come back from playing with me that say how I had taught them discipline, and that they have carried that with them to the next steps in their lives. As a coach, hearing that from past players is very rewarding.
Are there specific seasons or teams that stick out more than the rest? If so, why?
In 1999, we won states at Bay City All Saints. We set the state record with a 44-3 record. This record I believe is still intact. (All Saints’ 44 wins that spring is now tied with the 2007 White Lake Lakeland team for the most in one season.)
Last year (2011), Frankenmuth got to the Finals and lost in Battle Creek (to Clinton, 4-2 in the Division 3 championship game). It was the first time Frankenmuth had been there since 1991.
What piece of advice can you give to aspiring coaches?
Listening is an important skill. Learn from other coaches. If you think you know it all, you don’t. Every time you go to clinics, you pick up something and learn something new. You must be able to adapt. Every season is different, as you get a new set of players and personalities to deal with.
How long do you plan on coaching?
This is a very open-ended date. I was actually going to quit three times in my career for various reasons, but I’m glad that I stuck it out. Given that my health stays good and I continue to wake up every morning excited about coaching, I would love at least another five years in Frankenmuth.
PHOTOS courtesy of The Frankenmuth News.
Century of School Sports: Connection at Heart of Coaches Advancement Program
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
November 19, 2024
As we believe that educational athletics are an extension of the academic classroom, it’s important to recognize as well that coaches – similar to teachers during the school day – are another first point of contact for more than 170,000 high school athletes and thousands more who play middle school sports in Michigan.
For two decades, the MHSAA’s Coaches Advancement Program has served as an avenue to provide our coaches with a variety of tools to assist in working through issues they encounter daily while building up their teams and building these relationships.
Past Executive Director John E. “Jack” Roberts, when writing about the CAP program in 2017, noted “the thousands of dollars and hours that the MHSAA devotes to CAP demonstrates this organization’s belief that nothing – absolutely nothing – is more important in the process of educational athletics than the quality of the coach-athlete connection.”
That commitment and dedication to the coach-athlete connection continues as the MHSAA moves through its 100th anniversary year.
Through the end of the 2023-24 school year, coaches had completed 41,167 sessions within the eight-level program since its creation for the 2004-05 school year. Counting this past weekend’s CAP 1 and 2 courses taught at Detroit Henry Ford, another 1,167 sessions have been completed since the start of the 2024-25 educational year.
The CAP program is broken into nine levels, each addressing a set of topics:
- CAP 1: Coaches Make the Difference, The Coach as Teacher, Sports Medicine and First Aid.
- CAP 2: Effective Communication, Legal Responsibilities, Psychology of Coaching.
- CAP 3: Additional Coaching Responsibilities, Effectively Working with Parents, Managing Time and Energy.
- CAP 4: Understanding Athletic Development, Strength and Conditioning, Preparing for Success.
- CAP 5: Healthy Living, Teaching Emotional Toughness, Resolving Conflicts in Athletics.
- CAP 6, 7, 8 & 9: Current Issues and Topics in Educational Athletics.
Those who complete the program receive a level of certification after their first 12 hours (completing CAP 1 and 2). Through this past school year, 2,295 individuals have advanced through CAP 5 – earning them themselves CAP Masters Certification. From that group, 476 have advanced through CAP 6, 100 through CAP 7 and 87 through CAP 8, with the first class to complete that module in 2015-16. CAP 9 was created this fall.
Perhaps just as notably, 20,960 individuals have completed CAP 1 over the last two decades. Completion of either CAP 1 or CAP 2 became a requirement for first-year varsity head coaches beginning with the 2016-17 school year, and predictably numbers have climbed since that time with 12,515 completing CAP 1 over the last eight school years.
The program is constructed and coordinated by MHSAA Assistant Director Kathy Vruggink Westdorp, who joined the MHSAA staff in 2004 after several years as a principal, athletic director, teacher and coach in Grand Rapids and Forest Hills public schools. She lives the program’s philosophy of providing CAP training “anytime, anywhere” across the state, and over just the last five months CAP 1 alone has been delivered at 19 schools plus during 14 dates at the MHSAA office in East Lansing. Flint Kearsley isn’t on the list of CAP 1 hosts this year, but instead welcomed in 45 students for a CAP 5 session in early August.
Additionally, colleges and universities in Michigan are licensed to present up to five levels through their undergraduate or graduate studies, and eight are scheduled to do so again this school year.
The faculty for 2024-25 includes well-known leaders in Michigan educational athletics, officiating and sports medicine. Instructors include past and present athletic directors, principals, officials, coaches, college professors, athletic trainers, leaders from the Michigan Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (MIAAA) and MHSAA staff.
For more information, see the Coaches Advancement Program page.
Previous "Century of School Sports" Spotlights
Nov. 12: Good Sports are Winners Then, Now & Always - Read
Nov. 5: MHSAA's Home Sweet Home - Read
Oct. 29: MHSAA Summits Draw Thousands to Promote Sportsmanship - Read
Oct. 23: Cross Country Finals Among MHSAA's Longest Running - Read
Oct. 15: State's Storytellers Share Fall Memories - Read
Oct. 8: Guided by 4 S's of Educational Athletics - Read
Sept. 25: Michigan Sends 10 to National Hall of Fame - Read
Sept. 25: MHSAA Record Books Filled with 1000s of Achievements - Read
Sept. 18: Why Does the MHSAA Have These Rules? - Read
Sept. 10: Special Medals, Patches to Commemorate Special Year - Read
Sept. 4: Fall to Finish with 50th Football Championships - Read
Aug. 28: Let the Celebration Begin - Read
PHOTOS Clockwise from top left: (1) Former Ypsilanti Community and current Wayne Memorial boys basketball coach Steve Brooks (far right) celebrates with a trophy-winning team. (2) Brighton girls lacrosse coach Ashton Peters raises the Division 1 championship trophy in the spring. (3) Pontiac Notre Dame Prep volleyball coach Betty Wroubel applauds during pre-match introductions. (4) Trenton baseball coach Todd Szalka (middle) huddles on the mound during last season's Division 2 Semifinals. (5) Past Calumet athletic director Sean Jacques (left) passes the Class C championship trophy to his girls basketball coach in 2015. All five have received levels of CAP certification.