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Links for Today

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NCAA Working Group Suggests Possible Restructuring Models – It is a very real possibility that the NCAA Division III will be subdivided in the not too distant future, as the division currently has 394 members, though there are just under 100 with wrestling. Here is a presentation from the NCAA (PDF) addressing the possibilities. Starting on page 116, you can see some of the potential realignments.

Ithaca’s Calandrino named to All-District Academic Team – Nick Calandrino, the 5th place finisher at 184 in the 2007 NCAA Championships is the 14th Ithaca athlete on the All-District Team this year. 54 of Calandrino’s 101 career wins came via fall.

Muhlenberg’s Loesch named 2nd Team Academic All-American – Matt Loesch added to his NCAA postgraduate scholarship when he was named to the ESPN the Magazine Academic All-America Men’s At-Large Team. Not to be confused with the NWCA Academic All-American Team, this is a tougher honor to achieve.

UW-La Crosse Wrestler Lulloff also on 2nd Team

Elmhurst Coach Steve Marianetti in W.I.N. Magazine – Coach Marianetti talks about winning the 1995 NCAA DI Championship over prohibitive favorite Lincoln McIlravy. See the match here.

Former Buena Vista Wrestler Jason Black Makes UFC debut – Black was defeated by Thiago Tavares in the second round. Jason Black Picture Gallery

Lycoming Announces 2007 Recruiting Class – 18 new wrestlers will join coach Roger Crebs next season.

Wabash Camp to Include World Team Members – Sam Henson, Joe Williams, and Tim Hartung to appear along with Wabash All-American Chris Healy and Purdue All-American Ben Wissel June 24-28.

Roger Williams Competes in Eastern Europe – Roger Williams took 22 wrestlers to Finland, Russia, and Estonia for competition.

UW-Stevens Point Announces Recruiting Class – 10 wrestlers, including four state runners-up will join the team next season.

Wrestling Variety

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One of the interesting things about Division III wrestling is the variety you see in wrestlers and styles. In Division I, there is also plenty of variety, but you tend to get a lot of homogeneous wrestling as well because the talent is so tightly bunched that the slightest inefficiency can be the difference between 0-2 and All-American. This leaves out some wrestlers with pretty unique styles that toil away in DIII. Of course, at the top of DIII, wrestlers like that don’t find much more success than they would in DI, but I think the sport is richer, and more interesting for their inclusion.

When I think of wrestlers like this, my mind is always immediately drawn to Mike Markovic of John Carroll. He wrestled 149, and graduated in 2002, I believe. He was very tall and his main tactic was to either take a poor shot or force the other wrestler to snap him down. He would then reach up and around his opponents arm and trap it to his own body. Because he was so tall, he could wrap his arm all the way around his opponent’s and capture the wrist as well. He would then sit through to the other side, capture the other arm and work for the fall with his back on the opponent’s chest and his feet toward the bottom wrestler’s head. I have no idea what this move is called. Bobby Gingerich of North Central has been known to do it as well, but he is a much, much more well-rounded wrestler. He pinned Elmhurst’s Tyler Ludwig with it in the consolation finals of the 2006 Great Lakes Regional. In 2001, Markovic very nearly made the NCAA finals with this move. He pinned the eventual 3rd place finisher (who got revenge in the consolation finals), and had the eventual champ (and future 3x finalist) Garrett Kurth of Luther on his back with it. Kurth avoided the fall and went on to win the tournament. That was 2001. In 2002, Markovic was 0-2 at the NCAA tournament, as his secret was most definitely out. I was in his weight class both of those years. I was pretty sure I could stay out of the move, but not so sure that I wanted to try. It didn’t matter how much better than him a wrestler was; he usually only needed to get it once.

As an interesting side note, I traveled to Eastern Europe with a group of wrestlers from Duke University in 2005. We wrestled against a few different clubs along the way, and in more than one country, wrestlers were trying to hit this move on us. One tried on me and failed, but another pinned one of our guys with it. Later on, the winner’s father was speaking with our one Russian-speaking wrestler and called it a “cadet move,” which I imagine roughly translates to “junior high move” in English.

Beyond this move, there are others who live and die by the cement mixer as well as 2006 NCAA 133 lb. champ Mike Lopez of Luther who is also a well-rounded wrestler, but he won a lot of moves with what could charitably be called a tight front headlock, but looks a lot like choking the opponent out. It’s legal because he doesn’t cut off the opponent’s breathing, but that doesn’t make it seem any more pleasant. It’s hard to say how much he wore down Augsburg’s Jafari Vanier in the finals, but I have to believe it had an impact in Vaniers inability to ride or escape from Lopez in the tiebreaker.

Finally, there is always a wide range in the physical attributes of the wrestlers. In 2007, Muhlenberg national qualifier Billy Hall looks to be around 6’1″. That’s not remarkable until you realize he wrestled 133 this season. On the other hand, 133 lb. national champion Dave Morgan of Kings is generously listed at 5’2″ on the King’s website. Put that together, and you have wrestlers 11 inches apart at one of the lightest weight classes. The two actually wrestled in a dual meet on January 24th, with Morgan topping Hall 16-6. Both are back for 2007-2008 and could meet again, a match I’d like to see.

Mark Simmonds 4th at World Team Trials

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Alum Mark Simmonds ’05 places fourth at USA Wrestling World Team Trials

LAS VEGAS, Nev. (6/9/07) — Augsburg College wrestling alumnus Mark Simmonds ’05 placed fourth in the 120-kilogram (264.5 pounds) Greco-Roman class at the 2007 USA Wrestling Senior World Team Trials, held on Saturday at the Thomas and Mack Center.

Simmonds is a Damage Controlman Third Class (DC3) in the U.S. Navy operating out of the Mayport, Fla., Naval Station, and is a member of the Navy’s wrestling team.

In Saturday’s challenge rounds, Simmonds opened with a 3-0, 1-4, 1-1 decision win over former Brigham Young University wrestler Brandon Ruiz (Sunkist Kids), then lost a 3-0, 3-0 decision to eventual runner-up Russ Davie (New York Athletic Club), a three-time NCAA Division I tournament qualifier in his collegiate career (Cleveland State, 2000-04). In the consolation semifinals, Simmonds claimed a 5-0, 4-0 decision victory over Kenny Lester (Sunkist Kids), an Arizona State University wrestler who was coming off a title in the 2007 University Nationals. Simmonds finished his competition with a loss in the third-place match 1-1, 4-0 to Timothy Taylor (U.S. Army).

Dremiel Byers (U.S. Army), the 2002 world champion at the weight class, won the competition for the third straight season and seventh time in his career on Saturday, and will represent the United States in the World Championships in September in Baku, Azerbaijan.

A Minneapolis native (Edison HS), Simmonds competed for two seasons at Augsburg (2003-05) after transferring from Southwest State University. He earned All-American honors twice at Augsburg, finishing fourth in the NCAA Division III national tournament at heavyweight in both 2004 and 2005. He also qualified for the Division II national tournament as a freshman at Southwest State in 2001. He finished 102-50 in his collegiate career, including a 68-18 record at Augsburg.

He was a health and physical education major at Augsburg and joined the Navy following his graduation. As a member of the Navy wrestling team, Simmonds finished second in the 120-kilogram Greco-Roman class at the 2007 Armed Forces Championships in Fort Carson, Colo., in March. He went 2-1 in competition at the Armed Forces meet, with his only loss coming to the Army’s Beyers.

Thanks to Augsburg Sports Information Director Don Stoner for forwarding this story.

Interview with 2003 NCAA Champ LeRoy Gardner, Part 3

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Finally, today we have the conclusion of the three-part interview with Naval Academy Prep School coach and 2003 NCAA Division III champion LeRoy Gardner. Part 1 | Part 2

d3wrestle.com: Now that you are at the Naval Academy Prep School in Newport, Rhode Island, what sort of philosophy or strategy do you bring to coaching? What type of technique and training do you focus on, and how do you view your role as a coach for students who plan to attend the U.S. Naval and Coast Guard Academies the next year?

LeRoy Gardner: I try to pick up something from many coaches I run into when it comes to strategies and philosophies, because I have seen guys do things many ways and be successful, but some of the things I think that hold true over time are conditioning, technique, strength, and a focus on performance instead of results. Conditioning for me is the confidence to be able to dictate the pace of the match and be able to control every position and tie up. I try to facilitate my guys being confident enough in their shape so that they can only focus on challenging the other guy’s shape. There also is a mental aspect to great physical conditioning, not fearing fatigue, because being in great shape isn’t about not getting tired, because if you’re working you will, but rather about being able to still go more when you are fatigued and not quitting on yourself or your technique. Many athletes, when they get tired, give up on their technique and positioning, relying on bad habits or trying to out muscle someone once they have conceded a position or tie up. So for me that is big. But athletes won’t do the work if they don’t believe in the system or plan. I have to allow them to believe in it.

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Cornell College 1947 Team

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Imagine winning the NCAA team championship today with multiple starters who didn’t wrestle in high school. It’s the 60th anniversary of the the Cornell College team that did just that, holding off Northern Iowa and Oklahoma State to win the title

Story of tiny Cornell College will never get old

Interview with 2003 NCAA Champ LeRoy Gardner, Part 2

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We pick up where we left off yesterday with Part 2 of the interview with 2003 NCAA Division III heavyweight champ LeRoy Gardner. Today, he talks about how he ended up at Wartburg, what it meant to wrestle there, and 2007 Wartburg heavyweight champ Blake Gillis.  Click for Part 1

d3wrestle.com: Even though you grew up near Minneapolis and Augsburg College, you attended rival Wartburg in Iowa. How did you make your college decision, what pushed Wartburg to the top, and what other schools did you consider?

LeRoy Gardner: This will provide some background about how I ended up there:

I was very raw coming out of HS; I had only wrestled since my sophomore year. I was varsity two of those three years at a HS that really didn’t have any history of success. I went after it head first, though, with all I had, and I wrestled all year round. Football was my off season. I did FS and Greco with the Storm Club in MN. We went to Jr. Duals, and Fargo.

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Interview with 2003 NCAA Champ LeRoy Gardner, Part 1

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Note: This and all future interviews can be found by clicking the Interviews tag or by accessing the link to the Interviews page found to the left.

LeRoy Gardner was the 2003 NCAA Division III Heavyweight champion for Wartburg College. He defeated future 3x champion Ryan Allen in the finals. Gardner also placed 8th in the 2002 Fila Jr. World Greco-Roman Championships and 5th in the 2002 U.S. Sr. World Team Trials. He is currently the head coach at the Naval Academy Preparatory School in Newport, Rhode Island. He was kind enough to answer some questions for d3wrestle.com, and what follows is Part One of the interview. Part Two will appear tomorrow.

d3wrestle.com: During your senior year of college, you defeated future 3x NCAA Champion Ryan Allen of UW-Lax in the 2003 NCAA finals. Please fill us in on what you’ve been doing since then.

LeRoy Gardner: Long story hold on…this may be the whole interview. It was really a whirlwind time, looking forward to graduation and trying to make plans for post graduation. I debated options for competing still, I looked at going out to the OTC, or ironically joining the armed forces. I had a semester to finish in the following fall for one class. I used that time to look at options. Incidentally in the meantime, in August of that year my wife became pregnant with our son due in March, following my graduation in Dec. after completing my class in the fall semester. This fact and I really wasn’t sure if I wanted to continue training at the level required to be successful at the next level, I started looking for job/career options.
I wasn’t in the position to immediately take Grad Assistant position or volunteer asst position like most of my peers moving into coaching due to my pending familial responsibility. I was looking at Management since I could use my degree in Psychology and still be competitive in that environment. A teammate of mine, Zach Weiglein (’00), was working in this executive management training program at a national chain retailer in distribution. We talked and I passed my resume, interviewed and got the job over Thanksgiving to start Jan 1. I worked at the distribution center for almost two years, and also coached at Wartburg while there.

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New Photos

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There is now a slideshow of photos from the Wheaton College 2006-2007 season available in the Photo Gallery.

If you have numerous photos of a DIII team from this past season, please let me know, and d3wrestle.com can put a slideshow of those photos in the Gallery section as well.

NWCA Cultural Exchange

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Teague Moore, coach of Clarion University, is leading an NWCA Cultural Exchange trip to Turkey and Bulgaria. He has sent back his first update to Intermat. There are several Division III wrestlers on the trip as listed below:

Lakeland College: David Copp and Paul Hartt
Plymouth State: Shawn Mosely
St. John’s: Jon Shellenberger and Minga Batsukh
Williams College: Nic Miragliuolo

Teague Moore’s NWCA Cultural Exchange Trip Updates

UPDATED 6/7/07: The information above was taken by InterMat from Teague Moore’s MySpace Blog.  Find that, with more updates, HERE.

All-Americans by Home State

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For the 2007 NCAA Division III Championships, this is the breakdown of All-Americans by home state. No surprise that Iowa takes the top spot here with the most qualifiers and total All-Americans coming out of the IIAC. Wrestlers from 16 different states appeared on the awards stand this year. South Dakota and Kansas were among the states with a single All-American, but both of them were champions from Luther College (Hansen and Pyle). As long as Wartburg, Augsburg, and UW-La Crosse stay at or near the top of Division III, Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin will have heavy representation on this list.

State # All-Americans
IA 14
WI 12
MN 9
NJ 8
NY 8
PA 6
MI 5
OH 5
IL 4
IN 2
MD 2
CO 1
KS 1
MA 1
SD 1
VA 1

Cement Mixer

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With Division III wrestling concentrated mostly in the eastern part of the country, most wrestlers have seen or can execute this technique born in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley, even if they have different names for it. Some call it a Special, Twister, or Ventriloquist, and I’m sure I’m missing some other terms.

Regardless of the terminology, the move generally involves a front headlock and underhook, followed by rolling to the underhook side and catching the defensive wrestler on his back. Some wrestlers will step over and hook both legs, while others stay out to the side. The highest percentage method for scoring with the cement mixer also includes reaching under the opponent’s chin with the front headlock arm and capturing the opponent’s wrist to keep him from posting out to the rolling side. However, it’s not entirely necessary if executed properly. Whether coaches want to teach it to their athletes is up to the individual coach. It is imperative, however, that every wrestler knows to watch for it when his opponent has the front headlock and underhook.

While I’m not an expert on this technique, I do think I could teach it, however, it might be better to watch some wrestlers execute it in competition. Below, you’ll find five different video examples covering many different levels of competition from youth wrestling up through the NCAA finals. Hopefully, these videos can help you see how to execute the technique. Finally, for a few more examples, check out this website.

UPDATE:  I’ve been informed that there is a cement mixer around the 30 second mark in this video (unfortunately, the ref is in the way, but you get the idea).

[MYPLAYLIST=1]

Highlight Video

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The Messiah College Wrestling 2006-2007 highlight video is now on the Video page.

Messiah 2006-2007 Highlights

If you have an NCAA Division III team highlight video or other video that might be interesting to the readers of this site, please contact me.

Luther Photo Gallery

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There is a link (and a few examples) to a photo gallery from the 2006-2007 Luther College Wrestling season in the Photo Gallery.  The link, along with another showing the Luther wrestling facility is also included below.

Luther Wrestling 2006-2007 Photos

Paul Solberg Wrestling Complex

What Makes a Successful Coach

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Note: For the rest of this article, anywhere I use the word “coach,” you can probably interpret it just as accurately as “coaching staff.”

College wrestling coaches have a multitude of roles to play during any given season, or even any given day or week. The best coaches are able to deftly move between roles and be exactly what the team needs at any given moment. There are, however, many different ways to accomplish this and run a team. No two coaches are alike, and you will find significant contrasts of style between the coaches of any two teams. However, the following five areas are important for any coach who has winning as his goal. There is more than one way to pull each of them off, but ignoring one will surely have negative consequences. I want to make sure I don’t say “this way is best,” because every coach is different and success can come from a lot of different directions. Click to read more.

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All-American Trivia

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Most of the information in this post was cleaned from this document (PDF), which can be found at the indispensable WrestlingStats.com.

Schools with more than 100 All-Americans 1974-2007
1. Augsburg – 154
2. TCNJ – 131
3. Brockport – 127
4. Wartburg – 122
5. John Carroll – 101

Top Schools per Qualifying Tournament
Centennial – Ursinus – 12
Empire – Brockport – 127
Great Lakes – Augsburg – 154
Iowa – Wartburg – 122
Metropolitan – TCNJ – 131
Midwest – Delaware Valley – 51
New England – Springfield – 21
Ohio – Mount Union – 38
Wisconsin – UW-La Crosse – 62

Existing Teams with 1-5 All-Americans
Bridgewater State, Dubuque, Johnson & Wales, Lakeland, Lawrence, Millikin, MSOE, MIT, Muhlenberg, Roger Williams, Scranton, Washington & Lee, Waynesburg, Wesleyan, USMMA, UW-Eau Claire

Existing Teams with Zero All-American
Centenary, Concordia-WI, Johns Hopkins, Maranatha, Rose-Hulman, Stevens Institute, SUNY-Maritime, Southern Maine

Keep in mind that some of these schools are more recent additions to DIII than others.

Longest Tenured Coaches

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These are the top ten coaches in DIII in terms of tenure at their current schools. The teams at these colleges have had remarkable stability over the past quarter century or more, and each of these coaches has influenced hundreds of wrestlers over the years.

1. Steve Eldridge – USCGA – 41 Seasons – Eldridge has hosted the NCAA Championships twice, served twice as the NWCA President, and has had 8 All-Americans.

2. Ned McGinley – King’s – 38 Seasons – McGinley was a 2x NCAA qualifier at Wilkes University and has over 350 dual meet wins at Kings. This past season, he had two All-Americans, including National Champion David Morgan.

3. Don Murray – Brockport – 36 Seasons – Murray’s Brockport teams have won five national championships (most recently 1992) and he has coached over 100 All-Americans on his way to nearly 300 wins.

4. Gary Franke – Washington & Lee – 34 Seasons – In addition to coaching W&L’s first wrestling All-American in 1989, he coached the men’s tennis team to the 1988 National Championship.

5. Bob Del Rosa – Case Western Reserve – 32 Seasons – The head coach for the past 32 years, Del Rosa is actually in his 45th year at Case. He has had three national champions and 12 All-Americans since 1980. He also was the captain of the 1958 University of Cincinnati football team.

6. Dave Icenhower – TCNJ – 31 Seasons – Like Murray, Ice has won five championships, the most recent in 1987. He has over 400 wins, over 130 All-Americans, and has never finished outside the top 20 at the DIII National Championships.

7. Don Parker – UW-Eau Claire – 29 Seasons – Starting with six wrestlers, Parker built a team that has had 12 All-Americans. He was also a two time national champion wrestler for the University of Northern Iowa.

8. Leo Kocher – University of Chicago – 28 Seasons – Kocher has had 21 All-Americans, 2 National Champs, and four top 15 finishes. He also is heavily involved with helping to save college wrestling programs by attempting to change the interpretation of Title IX and bring awareness to the issue.

9. Bob Gaudenzi – Hunter – 27 Seasons – A Hunter alum, Gaudenzi has been at the helm of Hunter’s team for 27 seasons. This year, he had two All-Americans, including champion Terry Madden. This earned Hunter its first top ten finish in the program’s history.

10. Bill Racich – Ursinus – 26 Seasons – Racich’s teams have won the last five Centennial Conference championships and nine overall. Racich achieved his 400th career win in 2007 and has had 15 All-Americans. His Ursinus teams have never had a losing record.

Division III All-Decade Team

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This is one man’s opinion on the top wrestler at each weight class for the years 2000-2007. Those dates fit nicely with the new weights, as the first full season with seven pounds added to the previous weights was 1999-2000. Feel free to disagree (and comment), and if I’ve left out any obvious candidates here, please let me know. Also, if a wrestler’s career started before 2000, they are still eligible, and I considered their career before the 1999-2000 season
125 – Zac Weiglein – Wartburg – Finished 1st, 1st, and 3rd; won three IIAC championships. Won the 1999 NCAA title with a broken hand. Bonus points in my book for spending his entire career in DIII.

133 – Mark Matzek – Augsburg – The only repeat champ at this weight in this decade. 129 wins on a tough Augsburg schedule, placing 4th, 1st, and 1st. Probably not the absolute best at this weight, but we’ll get to that guy next.

141 – Jesus Wilson – Upper Iowa – Won titles at 133 and 141. Not your traditional college student as a he placed sixth in the 1993 World Championships before defecting from Cuba the next year. Hinschberger has more titles, but Wilson was a better wrestler who made the Olympic trials final in 2002, taking a match from Eric Guerrero. Watching him in DIII, it was clear how much better he was than everyone else. It’s tough for Hinschberger being one of the few 3x champs, but sharing this weight with a guy like Wilson.

149 – Ben Shane – Wartburg – Won titles in 1998 and 1999, defeating Cagle of Augsburg for his second championship. He beat Cagle when it really mattered, though this was a close call. Ratel of Montclair State is probably third here, just ahead of Pyle from Luther. Shane beat Cagle, Cagle beat Ratel convincingly, and Shane won two titles to one each for the other guys. Pyle did win two himself, but never seemed as dominant as the three I have ahead of him. This was a tough weight to call.

157 – Marcus LeVesseur – Augsburg – A tough weight to call is followed by the easiest. The only four time champ in DIII, he finished his career undefeated to boot. A superb athlete who was rarely out of position. During his career he defeated several DII champs and won the University Freestyle Nationals, beating Tyron Woodley and Keith Gavin on the way to Outstanding Wrestler honors. All extraneous information aside, he was a joy to watch when he really turned it on.

165 – Dominic Dellagatta – Montclair State – May be a controversial pick, but he did win at 157 in 1999 and at 165 in 2000. Another great athlete who may not have been in the greatest shape, he did seem to win when it mattered. Weber of Wheaton was a D1 athlete at D3 school, and South of Luther placed in the Midlands, but I think Dellagatta is the pick, but you might be able to talk me out of it.

174 – Joe Moon – Augsburg – Two titles and a 3rd, and he avenged his loss to Koenig of UW-Stevens Point. He also beat the very talented Aliakseynka of Montclair State in the finals. Seems like a pretty clear cut choice, though Chelf of UW-Lax could thrust himself into this discussion if 2008 is anything like 2007.

184 – Duane Bastress – York – Two time champ who beat a defending two time champ in the finals. York’s first national champ was a good wrestler. In watching him, I was taken with how in control he alway seemed. Even in his dogfight of a match with Carter of Wartburg in 2006, he never panicked, and that was key to his success. He has to be one of the more mentally tough wrestlers I’ve seen.

197 -Akeem Carter – Wartburg – The most accomplished of the champs at this weight, Carter was also a high school NHSCA Senior Nationals champ. Two time champ at 197, coupled with the 2nd place finish at 184 mentioned above, he was very tough, moving down as a senior for the sake of the team, which did win the national title in 2006. Though not really in the competition for best of the decade, it’s worth mentioning Johnson of Delaware Valley and his impressive 2006 tournament with a tech fall followed by three first period pins, including the final in 1:28.

285 – Ryan Allen – UW-La Crosse – The second easiest pick after LeVesseur, Allen won three titles after placing 2nd as a freshman. Built like a basketball player, he was extraordinarily athletic and kept the nearly as good Gillis of Wartburg to only one championship by defeating him three times in the NCAA finals.

Those are just my picks. I’d be interested in any feedback. This is exactly the type of thing where disagreements are welcome.

NCAA Regulations

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I often hear people asking questions about eligibility, transfers, seasons of competition, and other procedural issues. Most questions can be answered by taking a look at the NCAA Division III Bylaws, which can be downloaded and searched here. Additionally, you can find the wrestling rules at this page.

How They Fared – New Coaches in 2006-07

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Here’s a recap of how the season went for each team that had a new head coach in 2006-2007. Obviously, these teams were built mostly by the previous coach, or, in two cases, the coach before that.

Centenary – John Garriques, preceded by Douglas Fink – Garriques came from New Jersey high school power Philipsburg to take over a Centenary program that had finished 3-9 the previous year. 2005 national qualifier Mike Gummerson was the top returning athlete, and he again qualified for the NCAA tournament in 2007, finishing 1-2. Centenary improved to 6-6-1 in 2006-2007 and returns Gummerson and all but one other wrestler for 2007-2008.

North Central College – Kevin Bratland, preceded by Eric Keller – Bratland come from Ohio Northern and took over a team with two returning All-Americans, but the potential for turmoil existed, as Keller himself had only been at North Central for one season before returning to Wartburg. Nevertheless, a strong freshman class coupled with repeat performances by the returnees led to a top ten finish in 2007 with four national qualifiers and two 3rd place individuals. With three returning qualifiers, 2007-2008 looks promising.

University of Scranton – Al Russomano, preceded by Jim Morgan – Moving up from Scranton High School, Russomano took the reigns from Jim Morgan, who was at Scranton for just 2005-2006, compiling a 2-12 record. The 2006-2007 Scranton team finished 0-7, but did advance 149 lb. senior Donnell Young as a wildcard selection to the NCAA tournament where he went 1-2. For 2007-2008, the team returns everyone except Young.

Trinity – Keith Poloskey, preceded by Michael Gaydos – Springfield graduate Poloskey stepped up from his assistant role to lead Trinity in 2006-2007. The team finished 9-16-1 in 2005-2006, and was hit hard by graduation, including All-American heavyweight Mike Blair. In 2006-2007 Trinity struggled to a 1-24-1 record with a young team that will return all but one wrestler this coming year.

Waynesburg – Charlie Heard, preceded by Dave Thomas – Waynesburg finished 1-13 in 2005-2006, but former Olympic alternate Heard stepped in from Belle Vernon High School for the 2006-2007 season. Taking to the mats with his young team, Waynesburg finished 1-10 with a team dominated by freshmen. Two wrestlers placed in the Midwest Regional, but the entire team returns for 2007-2008.

UW-La Crosse – Dave Malecek, preceded by Nate Skaar – Malecek came from national power Wartburg to take over the LAX program that had finished 2nd at the 2006 NCAA tournament and had seven All-Americans. He was coming to a team with designs on a national title in 2007. While LAX failed to win, they did finish third and feature NCAA champion Josh Chelf. While they lost some firepower to graduation, the 2007-2008 team will return four national qualifiers, including Chelf.

As you can see, the type of season a new coach has depends almost entirely on the work of the previous coaches. While a new coach could probably mess things up in a year, it would be hard to see dramatic improvement in a coach’s first year. It almost makes the Rookie Coach of the Year an award for the previous coach. Watch these coaches for the next four or five years before making any judgments about their success or lack thereof.

Photos

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On the right sidebar, you’ll see a random image that is different every time you visit the page. If you have photos of NCAA Division III wrestling that you would like to see posted here, please contact me and I will add them to the random image gallery or, if appropriate, post them separately.

Also, the beginnings of a Photo Gallery can be seen by following the link to the left.

Update 5/25/07 at 10:30pm – The gallery has a lot more pictures now.

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