MADISON, Wis. (WFRV) – After winning gold in Madison with Reedsville, Head coach Ron Prochnow became just the third high school basketball coach in Wisconsin to win a boys and girls state basketball championship (Reedsville boys, 2026 – Augusta girls, 1996).
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I chatted with Ron shortly after he hoisted the gold ball at the Kohl Center. Click the video above to listen to my full conversation with Reedsville’s Head coach.
TRANSCRIPT:
FOWLER: Coach, state champions. When you hear that, what does that mean to you?
PROCHNOW: Very special. Very special for the regional community and everything about it that way. Special for these kids as well. They’ll always be champs, you know. Not everybody gets a chance to be here, much less play two games and win it. And to do it with my family, with my two sons—that’s very special.
All these guys are so tight. I’ve been with them since third grade, coaching them through all the youth stuff—Saturday mornings, Sunday mornings. On a personal note, to win a boys title is exciting for me. I was here 30 years ago coaching girls, and we won the ’96 girls title.
To be here 30 years after that—I was 27 then and I’m 57 now—I feel very fortunate to stay in the profession, stay healthy, and still be excited to keep doing it.
FOWLER: The mantra was “go 1-0, then go 2-0, then go 3-0.” Did you envision yourself playing on this stage when you were racking up regionals and sectionals?
PROCHNOW: A little bit, because we talked it backwards. When we started practice before regionals, we started with what would have been game seven. I told them, “That seventh game is nuts. There’s a light show, you’re going to get a ball.”
Then we worked backwards. Game six—you’re playing to get a ball. That was yesterday’s mantra. Game five—you’ve got to get to the sectional final. And we kept going all the way back to game one.
I told them, you’re not allowed to talk about anything other than game one, because you can’t get to game seven without winning game one. I thought the kids did a really good job staying grounded and not looking too far ahead.
And honestly, I think we were losing in all four of these last games. We were down today, down against Lutheran, down at half against Tigerton, and Elkhart Lake jumped on us early. So we just had to keep playing, find a way to come back, and get it done.
FOWLER: Going off that, you were down in every game. Talk about the adversity your team faced and how resilient they were to overcome it.
PROCHNOW: Yeah, absolutely. I think our regular season helped us. We played a really tough schedule—Darlington, Reedsville, Manitowoc Lutheran, Howards Grove—traditionally strong programs.
Those losses helped us. There’s no way we were going undefeated with that schedule. We faced adversity throughout the season, and it exposed some weaknesses—especially defending in the post.
Even this weekend, points in the paint were against us. But in transition, we were really good. I think we only gave up two transition points today and maybe none yesterday. We didn’t give up easy points, and we created a lot ourselves. That’s a big reason we ended up where we did.
FOWLER: After winning 27 games in the regular season, what was it like coaching in these two state games?
PROCHNOW: It’s strange because they’re totally different. For the semifinal, we had four or five days to prepare for Sheboygan Lutheran. I did a little work on the other teams, but most of the focus was on them.
Then we win that game, and within less than 24 hours, we have to prepare for a new opponent. We finished around mid-morning, and by noon we’re figuring out a whole new game plan for an 11 a.m. tip the next day.
So one game you have five days, the next you have less than one. Totally different situations. But I thought all the games in Division 5 were great. Everyone played hard, and we did enough to win two of them.
FOWLER: You mentioned your mantra: “play hard, have fun.” Where did that come from, and how has it helped your team?
PROCHNOW: It actually came from the kids. We’ve always had something posted above the locker room doors—one for practice, one for games. This year, they chose “play hard, have fun.”
They said they’ve been doing that since they were little, so why stop now? And they’ve stuck with it.
We’ve got four seniors, so they’re mature. They’ve been through the ups and downs, and they’ve done a great job leading the younger guys. We had a few sophomores who played a lot this year, and the seniors really brought them along.
I’m not going to worry about next year yet. I’m going to enjoy this one for a couple of months, and then we’ll turn the page in June.
FOWLER: You said it means a lot to coach your sons. How special is it to win a state championship with them?
PROCHNOW: It’s very special. I even brought my youngest along—he was our water boy. Just to have him be part of it.
Winning a state championship is always special. But when your sons are on the team and contributing like they did, it makes it even more meaningful.
I’m not just doing it for them—I do it for the school and all the kids. I hope I’ve helped everyone along the way. I’ve been coaching 34 years, and I had kids later in life, so instead of coaching my kids in my 30s, I’m doing it in my 50s. That’s just how it worked out.
FOWLER: If you had one word to describe this team, what would it be?
PROCHNOW: Special.
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