Hildebrandt, Burt have shined as winning coaches at Skutt

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BY RYLY JANE HAMBLETON / Lincoln Journal Star

It’s not that Brad Hildebrandt and Jon Burt take winning state championships for granted.

They just get a great thrill out of the process. The journey is as invigorating as the destination.

Hildebrandt, who has guided the Omaha Skutt Catholic wrestling team to 10 straight state Class B titles, could certainly have become blasé about the hardware.

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Jon Burt, left, and Brad Hildebrandt, right, pose for a portrait in the Skutt Catholic gym in Omaha on Wednesday. Burt, Skutt's boys basketball coach and Hildebrandt, Skutt's wrestling coach, were named the Journal Star's coaches of the year. (Michael McNamara)

Jon Burt, left, and Brad Hildebrandt, right, pose for a portrait in the Skutt Catholic gym in Omaha on Wednesday. Burt, Skutt's boys basketball coach and Hildebrandt, Skutt's wrestling coach, were named the Journal Star's coaches of the year. (Michael McNamara)

“It would be easy to say, as successful as we’ve been, that championships are great but they’re not everything,” Hildebrandt said. “But I really think that’s true. The lessons that you learn, the relationships you build over the years with the kids and the ones the kids build with their teammates are invaluable for teaching them how to cope with surprises in life.”

Burt guided Skutt to back-to-back state boys basketball championships, but it is his history with the state tournament that guides and shapes his philosophy.

“The state tournament is still the highlight of my athletic

experience,” said Burt, who played his high school ball at Lincoln Pius X, as did his five brothers. “I still have vivid memories of 1981, when my brother, Charlie, was playing at Pershing and down at Devaney.

“I was 5 years old and I think that ingrained itself in my imagination more than anything else. I share that with my players. You have to have vision and you have to imagine the great things.”

Hildebrandt and Burt are honored today as the Journal Star Boys Prep Coaches of the Year.

Certainly, Burt has seen both sides of state championships. Brothers Charlie, Dave, Tom and Mark all played on teams that lost in title games. Steve’s teams didn’t reach the final. Jon was the only one of the Burt boys to win a title, following in the footsteps of his father, Don, who played on two Lincoln High championship teams.

“I respected my coaches tremendously and still do. I had great coaches and I think I understood that while I was being coached by them,” Burt said. “Russ Uhing, Ray Forycki and Tom Seib are all proven winners, great teachers and great men, humble men, who know how to win and lose and to carry it off graciously.”

Burt is joining a select group that includes all three. Seib was named coach of the year in 1992 after winning state with Jon Burt leading the way. Forycki was honored in 2000 after another Pius X title and Uhing earned the honor in 2003 after a Lincoln High championship.

“They were great role models. I try to go about it the way they taught me and just imitate them,” Burt said. “I also have a great teacher in Brad. He is way more creative than I am in a lot of his motivational strategies, getting the kids fired up and excited about playing.

“My excitement still tends to be focused on wanting to get to that highest point. Not necessarily because of the accolades, but because once you get in that environment, you want to get back into it. There is a magic to it that is tangible.”

Both coaches’ achievements are remarkable, but the combination of championships in the same school year from a Class B school makes them even more impressive.

“Both of them are great motivators and they care so much for the kids, they want them to succeed,” said Mike McMahon, Skutt athletic director. “Athletics is our most prominent face to the community, although we do have some great academic achievements.

“But the amount of success we’ve had in athletics has had a great impact on advertising our school and the impact on our kids has been tremendous.”

Hildebrandt, an Omaha firefighter, has been the wrestling coach since Skutt opened in 1993. In his 14 years at the helm, he has helped wrestlers to 36 individual state titles, including four-time winners Kasey Kohl and Todd Meneely.

He comes by his love of athletics naturally. His father, Fred, was the athletic director at Griswold, Iowa, where Brad was a multi-sport standout. Brad was a three-time all-American while wrestling for Mike Denney at Nebraska-Omaha.

“I just grew up in athletics and I had some unbelievable coaches. The guy who got me started wrestling was a national champ from my hometown, Darl Weaver,” Hildebrandt said. “He was way ahead of everyone with the mental game. I took little pieces from all my coaches, and of course Coach Denney.

“The family atmosphere and the team-building things I learned from Coach Denney.”

Hildebrandt said it’s a simple philosophy, but hard to execute.

“You came into Coach Denney’s program and you felt like you mattered. He’d give you a big handshake and wrap his arms around you,” Hildebrandt said. “He knows not only about your strengths and weaknesses on the mat, but he knows your strengths and weaknesses off the mat. He knows about your mom and dad, he knows about your hometown.

“I have tried to incorporate that. That’s the way my dad was, too. You know about your kids and that will lead to figuring out how you can motivate them. That takes a lot of work and it takes a lot of energy. But I think to be a great coach, it’s one of the things you have to do.”

Hildebrandt said he sees that passion in Burt.

“When he first came in, I would shuffle into practice every now and then and just watch. It was very evident that Jon had a vision, he had a plan and he wasn’t going to let anything stop him,” Hildebrandt said. “I had motivation, because my son plays for him. I knew that was a great place for Ryan. I feel fortunate Jon came along when my son was going to be playing basketball.”

Both coaches gave Skutt athletic trainer Jeremy Moore a slice of the credit.

“He has been a huge piece of our success. He has centralized our efforts,” Burt said.

“In the past, our strength program was handled by each coach and we weren’t doing a very good job of conditioning our athletes,” Hildebrandt said. “We needed to get someone to make a difference every day and Jeremy has.”

Wrestlers and basketball players don’t always get along, but the SkyHawks have found peace.

“Brad agreed to let the basketball boys in to a few of their sessions in the fall and we’ve had some good competitive days,” Burt said.

Hildebrandt puts his wrestlers who aren’t out for a fall sport through a weekly trail run.

“One time, I had 25 guys and about 25 of Jon’s kids. There were 50 kids on this wooded trail, running as hard as they could, competing with each other,” he said. “There was no backbiting, but working together. It blew me away because it was awesome.”

Burt said the willingness of his players has made the task easier.

“I don’t think our programs are about a person at the top just dragging everyone else along. I feel extremely pushed by my players to become as good of a coach as I can be,” Burt said. “Our summer stuff started today and I walked into the gym at 6:15 and I had 25 kids there. They were ready to go.

“A lot of credit has to go to them. It helps my energy level and my coaching staff’s level.”

Ryly Jane Hambleton at 473-7314 or rhambleton@journalstar.com.