Oliver's departure a blow for two Middleton sports
Middleton boys basketball coach Kevin Bavery was nervous.
So was co-head football coach Tim Simon.
It was April and Wisconsin men’s basketball coach Greg Gard had opted not to renew the contract of assistant coach Dean Oliver.
Oliver’s son, Isaiah, just happened to be Bavery’s starting point guard and a star wide receiver for Simon’s football team.
Following months of uncertainty, it appeared the two-sport star would be back at Middleton for his junior year after Oliver played the first two football games of 2024. Just before school began, though, the Oliver family moved to Iowa, where Dean grew up and recently landed a new job.
Isaiah is now enrolled at Northwest High School in Waukee, Iowa, a school of 1,427 students. In his first game with his new school last week, Oliver hauled in touchdown receptions of 27 and 22 yards.
“It’s a blow,” Bavery said. “No doubt about it. And not just because Isaiah’s a great player, which he is. But he’s also just a terrific kid.”
Simon agreed.
“He’s a great, great kid,” Simon said. “He’s a tremendous football player, but he’s humble, has a 4.0 grade point average. Again, just a great kid.
“I felt pretty good that he’d be with us this year when we got to the start of the season and then he played in the first two games. But I get it. You have to do what’s best for your family.”
Oliver played quality minutes off the bench as a freshman on Middleton’s 2023 Big Eight Conference championship basketball team that went 25-2 overall.
Last year, Oliver became the Cardinals’ starting point guard and earned honorable-mention all-conference honors. Oliver was second on the team in scoring (9.9) and first in assists (3.0) and steals (1.6). Oliver was also fifth in rebounding (3.0), shot a respectable 44.2% from the field and made 15 3-pointers — the second most on the team.
“Isaiah has a relentless motor that never slows down,” Bavery said at the end of last season. “He is driven by winning.”
With 7-foot center Will Garlock, a University of Wisconsin recruit, along with Oliver, honorable-mention all-Big Eight player Marquis Walker and a handful of other key contributors back this winter, Middleton was expected to be one of the state’s top teams. The Cardinals should still be formidable, but losing a gifted point guard like Oliver will be tough to replace.
Oliver was a standout on the football field, as well.
Oliver was second on the Cardinals with 26 catches in 2023 and added two receiving touchdowns. In two games this year, Oliver had six catches for 92 yards and three touchdowns.
He was also a dynamic return man who Middleton’s coaches were considering playing some cornerback in the Cardinals’ biggest games.
“He’s just so athletic,” Middleton co-coach Joe Poehls said of Oliver at the start of the season.
Dean Oliver, a native of Mason City, Iowa, was an all-Big Ten guard with the Hawkeyes. He joined the Badgers as an assistant coach in April, 2017, and coached at UW under Gard for seven seasons.
Dean Oliver was recently hired to be a coach at Iowa United Prep, an AAU program.
