Tosa West Finds Head Coach Close at Hand

Fans and players alike were shocked when Wauwatosa West High School boys basketball coach Mike Landisch was not given a contract extension following one of the team's most extensive playoff runs in recent history.

From the moment Landisch informed the team he had kidney cancer in January 2010, the players rallied behind their coach and did not stop until the final buzzer rang in the sectional semifinal game against Whitefish Bay on March 20 at the Al McGuire Center. Whitefish Bay defeated the Trojans and went on to win the state championship.

The Trojans, while experiencing highs and lows in that 14-month stretch, were coached by both Landisch and assistant coach Chad Stelse. Stelse will now be taking the reins of the team as the head coach, following the decision made by the administration at the end of May.

Wauwatosa West Athletic Director Nathan DeLany said that the position change was thought about long and hard. Time was also taken into consideration.

"Having someone in place before summer was best in order to work out kinks and such that come with any coaching position," DeLany said.  

Stelse, who filled in for Landisch near the end of the 2010 season as interim head coach, has been with the program at Wauwatosa West for six years as an assistant coach.  

"(Stelse) earned the position after being an assistant here for that long," DeLany said. "He has the stability and leadership qualities that make him qualified."

The team, despite its remarkable success last season, will be facing an uphill battle of rebuilding after losing nine seniors to graduation. Stelse said the team will be counting on players from last years' junior varsity team to step up and make an immediate impact.  

While a few of last years varsity players have yet to make a final decision in regard to their return to the team, the Trojans should not have a shortage of depth come winter. Senior Stuart Vandervelde and sophomore Ricky Landers are among the group of returning players.  

"Landers is our lone returning rotation player, and we expect big things from him," Stelse said. However, the coach said that it is unfair to put too much pressure on a young player such as Landers.

Since the varsity experience of the team will be a factor, the Trojans will need to focus on the fundamental trait which carried it so far last year, and that is playing as a team. Both Stelse and Vandervelde made this a clear objective.  

"The goal for next season is to first develop a strong sense of teamwork and play together," Vandervelde said.  

The team will need to work vigorously this off season and into the next to develop the chemistry that defined their success in tough moments last season. Stelse also said that being one of the youngest teams in the area will make things challenging. Despite all of that, he is looking ahead.  

"How much work our guys put in this summer will go a long way in determining our success next season and beyond," Stelse said.  

Throughout all of this, Landisch and his accomplishments in his time at West will not be forgotten. Nor will the gleaming 2011 Regional Champion trophy – the teams’ first since 1996 – in the case that sits outside the gymnasium at West.

The school administration has stayed very closed about just why Landisch wasn't kept on after building a successful program. Rumors and hard feelings still surface. But for Stelse and the student athletes who have elected to play basketball for Tosa West, that's just one more hurdle to put behind them.

After all, the adversity that confronted Landisch and the Trojans following the news of his cancer in turn defined their success in following games. Stelse said that the team can build on the great job Coach Landisch did in the second half of last season.

"He kept emphasizing moving the ball and playing as a team," Stelse said. "If you do that, anything can happen."