Losselyong named new Gillett football head coach

GILLETT — Gillett Secondary School announced the hiring of Nick Losselyong as the varsity football head coach.

Losselyong takes over for Jesse Witcraft, who served as the head coach for the past three years.

Losselyong has been on the Gillett football coaching staff the past two seasons, serving as the junior varsity head coach and a varsity assistant. He’s also been a track coach at the high school and middle school levels for three years.

When applying for the varsity head coach position, Losselyong was intrigued with the athletes that were in the program.

“We have a lot of talented athletes on our squad, and I believe that with some progressive and innovative schemes this group can be very successful,” the new coach said. “With the help of my assistant coaches, I think that we can collectively build a program that not only breeds success athletically, but also help our student-athletes grow as individuals.”

While Losselyong said winning is important, he also noted that there’s more to the game. He and the team’s other coaches get the opportunity to teach players life lessons

“This team will be built on commitment, strength (both physical and mental), selflessness and passion,” Losselyong said. “I believe that if every athlete practices these four words daily, they will not only become better football players, but better individuals as well.”

Losselyong is hoping to guide the varsity team to successful, winning seasons while building up the Gillett football program as a whole.

Along with spending the previous three seasons as the Gillett head coach, Witcraft also served as an assistant coach for a season. Before that, Witcraft was the junior high coach for three years.

“I have had other personal commitments come up in my life, in which I had to step away from coaching for the time being,” said Witcraft of his departure from the program.

When asked to pick his most memorable moment while serving as coach, Witcraft couldn’t name just one thing. “From the spaghetti dinner nights, to the wins and losses. I guess if I had to give one memorable moment, it would be to difficult to say because there were so many.”

Witcraft said he’d like to get back into coaching again someday and that he’ll miss the energy of Friday night football games and trying to strategize a way for his teams to be successful each week.

He thanked the school board and administration for giving him the opportunity to lead teams over the past several years, along with the community, boosters and parents who supported him and the team.

Gillett finished 3-6 during the 2019 season, having to deal with numerous injuries throughout the season. The Tigers had five wins in Witcraft’s other two seasons.

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