DELAVAN — Mark Kibler head varsity football coach at Delavan-Darien High School has been named the Packers High School Coach of the Week, the team announced Wednesday.
In his first year as head coach of the Comets, Kibler led the program to its first playoff victory since 2016 after rallying last Friday to defeat Kettle Moraine Lutheran 28-25.
The Comets travel to Racine St. Catherine’s Friday in a Division 4, Level 2 matchup.
After winning only seven games over the past six seasons, the Comets have won seven games this season alone. Delavan-Darien, led by their senior leaders, will look to keep their successful season going this Friday as they compete in Level 2 of the WIAA State Football Playoffs.
According to the news release from the Packers:
“[The seniors] bought in right away. They wanted to be a part of this,” said Kibler. “They’ve held the entire program accountable, and I think they deserve almost all the credit for the change of our culture; I just laid the groundwork. As for the rest of the culture, all but one of my staff are [Delavan-Darien] alumni. They give that sense of community to the program, because they actually care about Comet football. All of them believe in me, and I believe in them… It’s something really special to be a part of.”
The Comets are also driven by their team mantra ‘burn the ship,’ derived from a historical story about discoverers exploring new parts of the world.
“[The discoverers] wanted to go home, but when they reached new land, their leader burned the ships, so they had nowhere to go but forward,” Kibler said. “Anytime we hit adversity or something happens, everyone shouts, ‘burn the ship!’ So, what it means is, no matter what happens, forget it, we’re always moving forward. It has really helped us.”
Kibler has also made it a priority for the program to be involved in the community.
“We helped out setting up at the Bandshell in Delavan, we did a fundraiser for the school district to raise funds for education, and this week the football players are taking the kids of the community out trick-or-treating,” he said. “In the offseason, we plan on doing a lot more, because I feel like some of the success that is happening is because of the community being involved.”
Kibler grew up in Delavan and graduated from Delavan-Darien High School in 2006. He played wide receiver and cornerback for the Comets under head coach Scott Imrie. Kibler began coaching in 2012 with Delavan-Darien as a JV assistant. From 2015-2017, he was varsity offensive coordinator before becoming the offensive coordinator at Clinton High School in 2018. In 2019, Kibler took a break to spend time with his family and coached his kids’ youth sports teams before accepting his current position as head coach of the Comets before the 2024 season.
Kibler is honored to win the Coach of the Week award but quick to give credit to those around him.
“The first thing I think of is my coaching staff. Honestly, without them, we wouldn’t be even close to where we are,” he said. “The second thing is obviously the support from the community, but very specifically the athletic director and my wife. They have been amazing. This isn’t an award for just me, this is an award for all of us.”
Kibler and his staff oversee a program of 47 players with 38 of them suiting up for varsity games. His assistant staff includes Sean Wiese, Michael Moyer, Paul Holden, Justin Cesarz, Ethan Cesarz, Fabias Shipman, John Damrow, Mike Alder, Ryan Genglar, Lanz Lancaster, David Figueroa, Josh Doyle and JayT Greenwald. In addition to coaching, Kibler works at Millennium, a broadband materials supplier in Delavan. He and his wife, Stacey, have one daughter, Evelyn, and two sons, Charles and Beau.
