Jackson

If Coach Weldon, Karns, would have taken a DQ for the slam call against Science Hill at heavy weight the final score would have been 38-35 Karns and they would have advanced to the next round , instead he choose to continue to wrestling. Great job of doing the right thing and I for one am very proud of him!

This weekend is the first time I have attended a State Dual Meet Tournament since 1995. It was an outstanding treat and worth much more than the price of admission. I liked the atmosphere and never had a problem with finding a seat. The only problem I saw was the lack of courtsey by one Chattanooga team. No one minds folks moving in front of them, but when you stand totally oblivious to the fact that you are blocking the view then that is a whole different situation. The Clarksville folks did an outstanding job!

When will the results be posted?

Karns 47 Wm Blount 29 Karns 47 Maryville 27 Maryville 58 Farragut 15

As a very new coach with a lot of book learning, I was trying to give Pete Stafford a hard time during a match. His comment to me was, "When you learn to coach, I will be a better referee." And he was right. Over the years I can only remember four matches which I still feel the referee did a poor job, and in all four cases they were experienced officials who did a sloppy job of officating in those matches. Two dealt with stalling, one with the official calling a pin while standing and one with a slam.

Justin Tisdale from Karns and Scott Dix from Farragut

Karns-Farragut Results 103 J Harless (K) tf Klonaris 112 J Haynes (K) dec Perez 11-9 119 T Hibbert (K) pin Farinella 3:42 125 Turner (F) pin A Williams2:36 130 M Hittenger (K) pin Scaperoth 2:15 135 Mountain (F) tf Z Vess 140 D Fender (K) pin Leuthold 1:12 145 Layton (F) pin R Andrews 1:01 152 Blankenship (F) pin D Keylon 3:33 160 B Harless (K) pin Grieco 2 :40 171 Knox (F) pin C Lindsey 1:03 189 D Wilson (K) dec S Reveiz 6-2 215 N Reveiz (F) pin J Feigerle 2:34 275 T Grimm (K) dec Lazarus 7-5 Karns 38 Farragut 35

Karns 38 Farragut 35

It is harder to say no to a person. Email can be tossed.

Rigger, Read my post of Dec 13, those are things that have worked in the past. The articles that were in the paper on Friday have been in the works I am sure for at least two or three weeks, because they always do someting about mid season because that is a slow time for them. Current programs are paying the price for coaches, who in the past who did not try to get recognition for their programs. Reporters need to be cultivated just like customers or clients would be. At times over the past 20 years wrestling got a lot of publicity, but recently coaches quit calling in matches and responding when reporters called and asked for preseason write ups about wrestling. After a while the paper decided if we weren't interested in meeting them at least half way, then why worry. Publicity is like anything else you have to work at it. The people to work with are the reporters. One way to make contact with reporters is to look at the by-line of articles about high school sports and call and ask for that reporter. I agree with you it is a shame that more folks are not aware of our great sport. If you look at each of those squibs this past week, they each had a hook. We need to constantly be looking for that hook in every program. It is the only way we will get that recognition. Keep pushing sooner or later recognition will happen

You can complain and gripe and yell at the newspapers all day long, but until you look at what you can do positive then nothing is going to happen. Honey attracts more flys than vinegar. As a coach I did not get all of the publicity I wanted, but I got more than my share.

The News Sentinel will shortly have a new Prep editor. Mark Burgess is being promoted. One of the most important things coaches can do is to make personal contact with the reporter in charge of the Prep pages. Also the News Sentinel uses a lot of, for want of a better term, "contract reporters". It is also a good idea to get to know them. One of the things that wrestling coaches failed to do is regularly call in their meet results. If you regularly call or fax your results in then the newspaper folks know you are concerned about your sport. Even when you loose you need to call the results in. When you are having a tournament you need to notify the sports department that you will be having an event and make arrangements to get the facts of your event out. Ask them if they can send a reporter to cover your finals. At this time it is agood idea to let them know that you will be faxing information to them about the results of the tournament and mske sure it is in a format they can use. Prior planning is very important. If you want publicity for your program, figure out a hook that will make a story about your program attractive to a reporter. Examples, three sets of brothers, a returning champion, a female wrestler who is excelling, etc., we have to create the excitement which get folks out to write about us and in turn get folks out to watch us. Wrestling coaches need to be salesmen of their exciting product. Whether it is recruiting wrestlers within your school or getting your story out to the public. You can complain all day about no publicity, but unless you develop a plan and make it work, then you are wasting your time complaining. In addition to newspapers, call TV stations in your area and ask them to cover your program. Ask them to broadcast live from your location. It may take many repeat calls, but eventually you will get some type coverage. Try to have some human interest story in mind. Not every one is going to have a Kyle Maynard, but I am sure that there are several wrestlers on your team that have a story that would be of interest. This will also work for newspapers. You have to sell yourself and your program. A wrestling coach has to wear many hats; administrator, tutor, money raiser, public relations person, friend and coach. To have a succesful program you have to do all of these.