*Coachs' Tip

[Ibleedpurpleandgold]

Ok, first of all, I was just simply makin a lil' suggestion, and second of all, I've never been in RB's wrestling room (so go blow yourself), third of all I wasn't takin anything from anybody I was basicly predictin the future, forth of all I'm from VA not PA, so all of you should really take the dip out of your mouths when you talk to me.

 

I've never been more entertained by someone with such sub-standard intelligence.

 

First of all, I think every wrestling coach in this state knows what they're doing and doesn't need any "omniscient" advice from Mr. Virginia, so before you go demeaning the programs here in the great state of Tennessee, check your facts.

 

Second, just about every person that has replied to you on this thread has proven you incontrovertibly wrong. Now, boys and girls, let's put our deductive reasoning skills into action and note that the aforementioned fact I have pointed out would indeed indicate that these people, as well as many others, are more educated than you in this area, and countless others. You further proved your ignorance with your dip comment, but that one should be self-explanatory.

 

So, PennMan, I have a little suggestion for you: do your research before you go attempting to insult my state, the sport I love, and the well-run programs here in Tennessee (in case you missed it, you insulted the sport I love by being an moron and discussing something you clearly don't understand). I would love to hear your reply and challenge you to a battle of wits, though I feel I must give you fair warning, you will lose. So please, take your attitude and inaccuracies back to Virginia, if you don't mind, and stop insulting our state and wrestlers with your very presence.

[Jackson]

I have followed this thread and the one about how do we keep wrestler out, with a great deal of interest. I am a retired coach who started out knowing absolutely nothing about wrestling and 99% of my wrestlers had never seen a wrestling mat until they got to high school, they came in looking for the ring ropes. I coached in a school where the football and baseball coaches did not want their athletes to wrestle, and the basketball coach got first look at all athletes. I got the athletes no one else wanted for whatever reason too small, discipline problems, and poor grades. I took the left overs and like Roosevelt Greer, sorted them out until I found what I needed.

 

The smallest number that I ever had at the end of a season was 28 and the most was 55. I averaged 40-45 wrestlers each year. Some years I had an assistant and some years I was by my self. I got a CDL so I could drive the bus where ever we went and we traveled from to Carbondale, IL, Rockmart , GA, Cincinnati, OH, Nashville, Clarksville, Greenville, and Chattanooga . Some years we wrestled more in Chattanooga and Nashville than we did in our home region because of the competition. When we went to a meet I took everyone with us, and would try to get matches for as many as we could. If we couldn't get matches for many, at least, we sometimes had more people at the meet than some of the teams we were visiting. Any where we could find a tournament for our JV and freshman we either took them or sent them. Each team had warmups and unifroms and were expected to look like a team. Every morning starting in October we ran at 6 am, ate breakfast together, and did any home work that needed to be taken care of and went to class. From October through the state tournament we were a family.

 

Since I started with very little knowledge, I learned from books, other coaches, (Turner Jackson, JIm Morgan, Gordon Connell, Steve Henry, David Hollowell, AL Miller to name a few), taking wrestlers to camps, and when UT had a team, getting UT wrestlers to sign up for class room experience at my school. Every year I took anywhere from 20 to 35 wrestlers to camps, sent groups of 4 to 8 to elite camps, and brought in outstanding coaches from TN and GA to conduct workshops. Eventually I started running my own camps with folks like Jim Morgan, Steve Henry, and Turner Jackson. I could get more of my wrestlers to attend these camps, because I could control cost.

 

I learned very early as a coach that I either had to go to strong competition or bring in strong competition ie Parkview, McCallie, Baylor, Soddy Daisy, Father Ryan, Franklin, and Bradley Central, if we were going be competitive. I have beaten some of the best coaches in the state either in tournaments or head to head. We could not have not done that if we had not had good competition. There were also times when we came home all beaten up but we used those occassion to learn. When you have just lost miserably to Red Bank you can get back to Knoxville in a hour and fifteen minutes and be ready to run for an hour the next morning at 6 am. We qualified for the state dual meet tournament four times in the last five years I coached, finished fourth, fifth, eighth, and got snowed out the last year, so we will never know how that team would have done. My last two teams were ranked 7th in the state in the final rankings each year.

 

My point is not every coach knows what to do, but he can learn; to have an oustanding team you have to wrestle the best competition you can find, wherever you have to go; you can get the numbers to fill weight classes and have depth, but coaches have to work at it.

Edited January 4, 2007 by Jackson

[thelightsareon]

I have followed this thread and the one about how do we keep wrestler out, with a great deal of interest. I am a retired coach who started out knowing absolutely nothing about wrestling and 99% of my wrestlers had never seen a wrestling mat until they got to high school, they came in looking for the ring ropes. I coached in a school where the football and baseball coaches did not want their athletes to wrestle, and the basketball coach got first look at all athletes. I got the athletes no one else wanted for whatever reason too small, discipline problems, and poor grades. I took the left overs and like Roosevelt Greer, sorted them out until I found what I needed.

 

The smallest number that I ever had at the end of a season was 28 and the most was 55. I averaged 40-45 wrestlers each year. Some years I had an assistant and some years I was by my self. I got a CDL so I could drive the bus where ever we went and we traveled from to Carbondale, IL, Rockmart , GA, Cincinnati, OH, Nashville, Clarksville, Greenville, and Chattanooga . Some years we wrestled more in Chattanooga and Nashville than we did in our home region because of the competition. When we went to a meet I took everyone with us, and would try to get matches for as many as we could. If we couldn't get matches for many, at least, we sometimes had more people at the meet than some of the teams we were visiting. Any where we could find a tournament for our JV and freshman we either took them or sent them. Each team had warmups and unifroms and were expected to look like a team. Every morning starting in October we ran at 6 am, ate breakfast together, and did any home work that needed to be taken care of and went to class. From October through the state tournament we were a family.

 

Since I started with very little knowledge, I learned from books, other coaches, (Turner Jackson, JIm Morgan, Gordon Connell, Steve Henry, David Hollowell, AL Miller to name a few), taking wrestlers to camps, and when UT had a team, getting UT wrestlers to sign up for class room experience at my school. Every year I took anywhere from 20 to 35 wrestlers to camps, sent groups of 4 to 8 to elite camps, and brought in outstanding coaches from TN and GA to conduct workshops. Eventually I started running my own camps with folks like Jim Morgan, Steve Henry, and Turner Jackson. I could get more of my wrestlers to attend these camps, because I could control cost.

 

I learned very early as a coach that I either had to go to strong competition or bring in strong competition ie Parkview, McCallie, Baylor, Soddy Daisy, Father Ryan, Franklin, and Bradley Central, if we were going be competitive. I have beaten some of the best coaches in the state either in tournaments or head to head. We could not have not done that if we had not had good competition. There were also times when we came home all beaten up but we used those occassion to learn. When you have just lost miserably to Red Bank you can get back to Knoxville in a hour and fifteen minutes and be ready to run for an hour the next morning at 6 am. We qualified for the state dual meet tournament four times in the last five years I coached, finished fourth, fifth, eighth, and got snowed out the last year, so we will never know how that team would have done. My last two teams were ranked 7th in the state in the final rankings each year.

 

My point is not every coach knows what to do, but he can learn; to have an oustanding team you have to wrestle the best competition you can find, wherever you have to go; you can get the numbers to fill weight classes and have depth, but coaches have to work at it.

 

So you did this all by yourself? Coaches can learn and they do normally work at it. My point is that with out the support structure most will drown. If we want to be competive across the entire state we need to support one another as well. Market the sport and build it up.

Edited January 4, 2007 by thelightsareon

[Jackson]

I had parents who helped, but I was the one who recruited wrestlers in my school, kept them interested and planned what would be done. One of the greatest problems that I see young or inexperienced coaches having is that there is no one for them to rely on to help with organization skills. You can be a great wrestler, but if you can't teach or organize you are wasting your time. Obviously I had a lot of support from some very good coaches, but I sought them out. I also bought a book which came out about the time I started coaching and I can't remember the title, but it covered everything you could want to know from recruiting to how to clean mats.

 

I did not wrestle in either high school or college. My total experience was a year as assistant to Gary Walker at Carter High School. Then I became a head coach starting a brand new program at a school where the only wrestling they knew was WWF. If it had not been for books and coaches who were willing to help and parents who knew nothing about wrestling but were willing to help a coach whose wrestling knowledge was severly limited then I would not have been successful.

 

Just like wrestlers who work and sacrifice to win, coaches must do the same. A good coach can't be afraid to admit that he doesn't know something and needs to ask for help. Maybe a good idea would be to organize some seminars for coaches just like we have camps for wreslters. Coaches need to have continuing education for their craft the same as any other professional.

Edited January 4, 2007 by Jackson

[dad45]

You know it's great to get all this support for Tenn. wrestling programs . Just maybe other than the off hand comment about dipping we can thank Pennhead I mean Pennman for getting us fired up for something we are committed to and put so much time into developing . As a parent probably like every parent that has read or posted on this board has put as much time and effort in the programs as they can possibly afford. Jackson you and your teams are what makes this sport so great . Every coach and wrestler has to start somewhere ,learning as a team brings everybody closer together.

[noonesfool]

I can vouch for Jackson that he did everything by the book and all that he wrote is accurate except for 1 thing and he would never say it. He was the program and he carried it on his back and at the same time was committed to the Growth of wrestling in Knoxville and East Tn. Here's one to you my friend who did it the right way.

Thanks for a great tournament that is really still continueing at another school now.