I sent this out to all High School Coaches and thought it would be good to post on here to gain interest as well.

One of my duties as Vice President of the Kentucky Wrestling Coaches Association is to promote wrestling in Kentucky and develop new ways to help the sport grow. Over the past 11 years, wrestling has grown in the State of Kentucky in both participation numbers and the number of teams. Since 2000, participation has increased by 35% and the number of teams that now participate has increased from 66 to 91 which is a 38% increase. These numbers are great to see. Over that time, we have also seen some teams drop their programs for different reasons. Those teams include Oneida Baptist, East Carter, Millersburg Military, Webster County, Campbellsville, McLean County, Shawnee, Waggener, Ballard, Henderson County, Frankfort, and Covington Holy Cross. That is 12 teams since 2000.

To guarantee that we continue to grow as a sport in Kentucky, I am asking for help with something that has become alarming to me. We currently have 10 schools that are in jeopardy of losing their program if they do not find a coach. I am asking that all coaches, High School, Middle School, Youth, etc. try to help with this problem. If you know anyone that may be interested in Coaching one of these teams, please let me know or the Athletic Director of the school know. It could be an assistant that is looking to move into a head coaching role. It could be a MS coach that is ready to move up. Maybe you have a friend or colleague that is interested. Maybe it is a past wrestler looking to coach.

The teams I see that are still in need of a coach are (if a team has hired a coach, I apologize):

Anderson County

Bishop Brossart

Seneca HS

Valley

Davies County

East Ridge

Graves County

John Hardin

Lawrence County

Letcher County Central

Please lets work together to keep these programs this year and continue to see the sport we all love grow. Thank you for your time and support.

Chris McCoy

KYWCA Vice President

Head Wrestling Coach - Louisville Male

FYI

Ballard has made several announcements over the PA for interested parties to sign up for the wrestling team.

How does Seneca not have a coach? They were always a top 15 team just a few years back. Seemed like they always had a couple of little guys battling for a state title. It would be sad to see a program like this not continue on. Did coach Reed quit?

Yes, Coach Reed resigned to focus more on his business.

And John Hardin has a coach now. I believe he was previously their MS coach.

What happened to Coach Castle at Anderson County?

Coach castle is at Scott co.

I know from experiance you want to find a coach. It wasn't highly publicized but Fort Campbell nearly lost their program a couple years back. The AD knew even before the previous years state tournament that Coach Lowe was going to step down and had chosen not to even announce there was a job opening. None of the wrestlers had any knowledge of this, I myself only found out when talking to Coach Lowe on the first day of school. Throughout the fall and even up to what was supposed to be the start of practices there were no coaches and only a token search for coaches. A couple parents confronted the AD who allowed a parent (my mother) to sit in on practices as the 10 returners practiced and desperately recruited on their own. Eventually the AD asked at a teacher meeting if anybody would like to coach the wrestling team, settling on an office worker (Mrs. Gusse). About two weeks before our first dual of the season two soldiers that parents found agreed to help the team. Even after that every year would begin with rumors that they were finally going to cut the team. I was put on a gag order by the AD and threatened with suspension if I spoke out about the coaching issue.

Thankfully through the efforts of those committed to the program we were able to save it, but it was almost to the point that the wrestlers were going to seek wrestling for other schools. I don't want any other school to go through what we did, or even worse losing their program. So please if you know anybody get them to the programs in need.

Looks like Seneca, John Hardin, and Daviess County all have found a coach. I heard Anderson County and Valley have a coach but nothing has been confirmed.

Valley has a coach. We met him at "Character First" in Jefferson County.

It looks as though Madison Southern will have a team this year. I do not know the name of their new coach but I was told that they would be competing this season. I'm assuming they will be added in to Region 7.

Looks like Madison Southern is for sure adding a team and will compete this year. I have heard rumblings of Covington Catholic as well as Lexington Christian Academy starting clubs this year to test the waters. That is great news for the sport of wrestling as it continues to grow in KY.

Spencer County is adding a program this year as well. I have been e-maling back and forth with their coach. I think it's important to help out these programs (the new programs this year and the programs who are just now finding coaches) to find meets, get acclimated into the wrestling community, etc. Please, if you're a coach of a program and in charge of scheduling for your team, take the time to visit the KHSAA website and look these coaches up. Send them an e-mail welcoming them to the Kentucky wrestling community and extend them an invitation to a Saturday tournament you might be hosting or invite them to a Wednesday meet. It will make their transition that much easier.