‘Hall-of-Fame’ level is what new Beaver Dam coach aspires for

The administration looked within Positively Hoops, a youth basketball program for boys and girls, to hire TJ Julka. Julka, who’s daughter Emma Julka will be a junior, had coached her from third grade up until she got to the high school level.

“I coached that team and I really enjoyed it,” Julka said. “It’s been super rewarding for me to be able to help mentor kids.”

Julka takes over for Brayden Wendt, who led the Golden Beavers to a 21-7 record and an appearance in the WIAA Division 2 sectional final against Pewaukee in an interim role. He took over after Hall-of-Fame coach Tim Chase resigned shortly before the season began. Wendt said his 40-minute commute from Hartford began to take a toll on his family life.

Julka said he likes what he’s seen out of the incoming junior class that included his daughter, Nataya Donaldson, Shea Ashley, Abby Gutknecht, Chloe Lauth and Addison Lewke. He also knows of senior Jaelynn Drzonek.

“I got to know the former coaching staff, really both coaching staffs over the years,” Julka said. “As they left, obviously last year was difficult because of the timing. Really, it’s a kudos to the coaching staff that took over last year on such short notice.”

Julka said he wasn’t eligible to coach on the staff last season as he coached the varsity team in a fall league in Pewaukee before the winter season started.

WIAA rules state that “the person who will be coaching a student in the following school season shall not be permitted to coach that student other than during the designated school season and Board of Control approved coach contact days in the summertime.”

“After some conversations this spring with my daughter and some of the parents and some former coaches, It became clear that this is something I could do a decent job at,” Julka said.

He has already brought on a familiar face, Megan Kaul, who is a 2013 graduate, on as his top assistant and will be looking through more candidates to fill out his coaching staff.

“With the Hall of Fame coaching staff leaving, the program was ready for a bit of a reset,” TJ Julka said. “That’s really what Megan and I have talked about: Starting over a little bit and getting back to some basics while trying to build this thing into hopefully achieving the levels that the Hall-of-Fame coaching staff did at some point.”