Seven Super Coaches in Traverse City

Meet the TC coaches who are training the next generation of star athletes

By Art Bukowski | Sept. 6, 2025

If you’re a long-time reader of Northern Express, you know each fall we profile a slate of exceptional athletes to watch throughout the year. Well, this time we’re also going to profile the coaches who help them shine! Going forward, we’ll focus on a different area in northern Michigan and get to know the coaches hard at work behind the scenes. First up: Traverse City.

As the 2025-26 school year gets underway, we spoke with a few of the TC area’s standout coaches to find out what makes them tick and what they’re most excited about for the year ahead.

1. Emily Wilbert, Traverse City Central Volleyball

Emily Wilbert is one of a handful of local coaches who once played for the programs they now coach. It adds just a bit more to what is already a rewarding profession.

“Being a part of the TC Central volleyball program as an alum is something truly special. My older sister also played volleyball [at Central], which means I’ve been connected to this program in one way or another for over 25 years,” she says.

Even now, she feels a “wave of nostalgia” in the gym and hallways, often glancing up at the conference championship banner her team won during her playing days in 2005. But this nostalgia doesn’t mean she’s stuck in the past. Wilbert is quick to bring up the most recent championships in 2022, 2023, and 2024 that came after she took over the program, the first since that 2005 banner.

“It’s been really exciting to see actual progress,” she says. “And it’s not just in wins and losses. It’s just a different program. The culture is totally different. We’ve set really high standards, and I feel like the kids have really responded to that.”

The expectations are high after the last three years, and Wilbert and her team are ready despite graduating some key players.

“I think this team may have like the highest ceiling that I’ve had, meaning the most potential this point in the year, but I feel we’re more green than last year’s team,” she says. “I have quite a few new players.”

2. Matt Bocian, Traverse City West Baseball

Matt Bocian has been coaching Traverse City West baseball since 2009. He’s driven in part by a passion for baseball itself, which he says teaches more than you’d expect.

“First off, it’s the love of the game, and second is being able to teach the young people of today and incorporating life lessons through the game,” he says.

Patience, for example. Perseverance. Hard work. It’s all out there in America’s pastime, which is not as fast-paced as other sports.

“It tests your mental toughness because if you’re having a bad day, there’s a lot of times where it’s just you and your thoughts,” he says. “So you have to face adversity and you have to overcome it.”

In terms of other challenges, travel is a big one, something that can be particularly tough for northern Michigan schools.

“It's kind of run like a small college [program] where kids have to do their homework on the bus,” he says. “We have a two-and-a-half hour trip, and then we’re not going to get back till 11 or midnight, and we still have to go to school and work the next day.”

3. Julie Duffing, Traverse City St. Francis Cross Country and Track

Julie Duffing coaches both cross country and track at St. Francis. She’s been coaching for almost 30 years and has logged 13 of them at St. Francis. She’s also a teacher, but when push comes to shove, one is definitely better.

“I’ve talked about retiring from teaching, but I don’t think I could ever stop coaching,” she said. “I’ll stay on until I die.”

Duffing loves being a part of each student athlete’s life in a meaningful way.

“I really enjoy mentoring kids and working with them and seeing them grow from their freshman year to their senior year and seeing how they’ve matured,” she says. “I like nurturing and maximizing those physical skills and mental skills, and the Three C’s we have at St. Francis: character, commitment and compassion.”

She’s excited about not only the upcoming season, but for the next several years as she develops young athletes.

“Our girls are pretty solid for cross country season … The boys are very young, and I’m looking forward to watching this very young team get better,” she says. “I look forward to that for the next few years, taking these ninth and tenth graders we have and turning them into stud runners.”

4. Chris Givens, Traverse City Central Hockey

Last season was Givens’ 30th at the helm of Central’s hockey program, so he’s an elder statesman of sorts in local coaching circles. He touts one state championship, nine regional championships, and 15 conference championships during his tenure.

But, like most good coaches, he’s less focused on the trophy case and more on his players.

“What it really is for me is just building the relationships with the kids and then just watching them progress in two ways,” he says. “One, obviously, as a hockey player…but also watching them develop as people, as young men. How they are the first day they walk into the locker room in November after they’ve made the team, and how they are in late February. It’s just a really neat progression to watch.”

Among Givens’ greatest challenges is finding a way to get the most out of his group of kids in a given year.

“Taking 20 guys with 20 different personalities and 20 different skill levels and bringing them all together in November, the task at hand is to get them all to gel into a cohesive unit that can go out and support each other and work through some struggles…get everybody pulling in the same direction,” he says.

Central hockey is coming off a regional championship last year, and Givens is eager to see what he has with this year’s squad.

“We graduated some really good players that provided us with some really good leadership, but we do have 15 coming back off of that team, and there’s some good young players coming up that will make the team for the first time this year as well,” he said.

5. Josh Sellers, Traverse City St. Francis Football

Josh Sellers considers himself extremely lucky to follow in his father’s footsteps. His dad, Larry Sellers, coached the Gladiators from 1974-2002.

“I was blessed to not only play for my dad, but then coach for my dad and then take over the program from my dad and continue that success he had built for almost 30 years,” Sellers says.

And he’s had his own success, with St. Francis always very competitive in football. Sellers has two state championships under his belt, along with other accolades. He loves the idea of each year’s team being a one-of-a-kind entity with its own personality.

“As a coaching staff, we stress the fact that this team is unique and is only going to be around for one year, and while there may be some players who will carry over to the next year, it’s a whole different deal,” he says.

As for the 2025 Glads, Sellers sees lots of upside despite a young team. There are several very tough games on the schedule, he says, so he’s hoping his team comes together and performs.

“I feel like we’re talented, but we’re not very experienced,” he says. “We’re kind of green. So we’ll have to grow up pretty quickly.”

6. Amy Kudary, Traverse City Central Skiing

Amy Kudary, who coaches boys and girls on varsity and junior varsity alpine ski teams, loves to coach a sport that capitalizes on the natural beauty and climate of the region. Getting kids outside in the winter is something that jazzes her up every day of the season.

But, like these other coaches, she’s eager to teach more than how to carve the hill in the quickest fashion.

“They’re focused on the skiing, but at the end of the day, we use that to teach some of the other things in life that are very important,” she says. “And they don’t always get that until several years later, when they come back and say, ‘Oh, gosh, you know, you really made me think about being on time to things, carrying my own equipment, saying pleases and thank yous, helping to clean up at the end, supporting each other.’ Things like that.”

Her kids miss a lot of school for competition and even practices, which are way over in Bellaire. She is impressed with their dedication.

“The kids have to get out there, get their gear on, train for an hour and half or two hours, then get all their stuff off and get back home,” she says. “It’s a big, big deal, and they really have to be careful with time management.”

Even with winter still months away (we hope), Kudary is fired up for the coming season.

“I had a big crew graduate last year, these awesome seniors that I’d been with a long time, so while that’s going to be hard, I’m really looking forward to some of these young kids getting an opportunity to step into leadership positions to see what they can do,” she says. “These are super great skiers, super great kids. They’ve had these older kids around for a little while, and now is their time to shine. So I’m just really excited.”

7. Matt Griesinger, Traverse City West Boys Soccer

Matt Griesinger is only the second soccer coach in West history, taking over for current West Athletic Director Jason Carmien in 2015. He hasn’t lost a conference title since he started, so the team is doing great under his watch.

Griesinger, an “educator at heart,” loves talking about the journey that is high school sports.

“I love getting to be a part of each individual player’s high school journey. You try to win as many soccer games as you can, but more important is guiding the journey for each player,” he says. “Some of them just want to have a lot of fun and play soccer. And others, it’s their lifelong dream to play college soccer. And I get to be this middleman who gets to shape that journey for all of them.”

Griesinger has two young boys at home, so time away from family is tough. It’s a common theme with these coaches, who often log long hours on the road. “It’s a balancing act, but it’s an awesome balancing act,” he says. “I’m really lucky that I have a wife that fully supports it and loves having the high school boys around my boys.”

His upcoming team is ready to make some noise, Griesinger said, at least in part because they are hungry and humble.

“This team is probably the closest, most tight-knit group of guys that I've had since 2015,” he said. “There are no egos, there’s no prima donna, there’s nobody who is putting themselves over the team.”