Coaching Carousel

This has been a fairly typical year for coaching changes with seven jobs changing hands. While several of the jobs are currently vacant, it is worth recapping what has happened so far this spring and summer. In alphabetical order:

Heidelberg
This will be the second coaching change in as many years for the Student Princes. Assistant coach Nathan Shearer was promoted before the 2010-2011 season when head coach Jason Miller stepped aside to focus on his duties as Assistant AD and Volleyball Coach. After a season that saw him win the Rookie Coach of the Year award, Shearer was recently named the head coach at Washington & Lee University, taking over for longtime head coach Gary Franke. As of today, there has been no announcement of Shearer’s replacement, though interviews have taken place. Long time assistant Joe Hada has been named Interim Head Coach as the school conducts its search. Heidelberg finished 2nd in the OAC last year and sent three to the NCAA Championships in March.

Muhlenberg
This is the most recently announced vacancy, as Mike Kocsis announced his resignation after two years in charge. Kocsis was appointed to position after Tom Schleicher retired following a 13 year stint with the Mules. The team struggled with numbers but placed five in the Centennial Conference over the past two years, scoring a pair of seventh place finishes in the eight team meet. It is a part time position, making it all but certain the next coach will be local to the Allentown area.

Plymouth State
Tommy Prairie is the other coach who has so far moved from one head job to another. He left Plymouth State after four season to take over at Washington & Jefferson. He left the program in the hands of two year assistant Matt Eldredge. Eldredge, a Cortland grad, takes over a program that finished second in the NEWA dual meet championships and fourth in the NEWA Championships, the program’s best finish since 2003. Junior Mike Willey was a 2011 NCAA qualifier and is the top returner for Eldredge.

Springfield
Daryl Arroyo just announced his resignation in the past two weeks after 21 years in charge of the Springfield wrestling program. Arroyo coached the Pride to 303 wins, five NCAA top tens, and ten NEWA championships. He also sent 68 wrestlers to the NCAA Championships and returned with 27 All-American awards. He capped off his career by winning the NEWA one last time in 2011. The job posting for his position includes becoming a faculty member in the Physical Education department and requires a Master’s in PE or a related field.

Washington & Jefferson
After six years at the help, Jay Robison stepped down from W&J and left college coaching. He left a team that finished 6-3 and only graduated two seniors. As mentioned previously, Tommy Prairie has taken over the full time position and looks to continue the Presidents’ upward trajectory in Western Pennsylvania. Prairie will try to overtake Waynesburg and Thiel in the PAC while moving up the standings in the Midwest Region.

Washington & Lee
Gary Franke was one of the elder statesmen in DIII wrestling, having spent 38 seasons as the head coach of the Generals. Now, a new face takes over in Nathan Shearer, formerly of Heidelberg. Washington & Lee is another school that has had issues putting a full lineup on the mat, but Shearer will look to remedy that in the upcoming seasons. Only a single senior graduated from the team, so there is some foundation on which to build, though the team did finish 8th out of eight at the conference meet in 2011.

Wilmington
Mark Lane was the wrestling coach at Wilmington for two years, in addition to his primary duties as a football assistant. Now, Chris Wiederhold has taken the reins with hopes of building the program up to be competitive in the OAC. The Quakers were winless in 2010-2011 and finished 7th in the OAC.