Evil Empire

• 123spring

  way to go wadsworth on knocking out the death star
• 222

  A new death star?
• USMCdevil05

  

  Great Job Grizzleys!
• 1_beast

  

  excellant...i think Wadsworth only graduates 2 seniors
• Bitterrunner-up

  1_beast wrote: excellant...i think Wadsworth only graduates 2 seniors

  Bart Randolph, Caleb Busson and State Champions Louden Gordon, Brad Squire and Ben Buzzelli graduate this year for Wadsworth. They'll have a lot coming back, but so will St. Edward with Heil, Bright, Martin, VanCuren, Abounader, Walz and Kuhar all sophomores or freshmen. Come 2012 the Eds team will be very, very good.
  
  But tonight is all about the Grizzlies. It's rare that you get to watch the culmination of a life's work. Coach Gramuglia set out to achieve this specific goal 25 years ago. He surrounded himself with the right assistants and his school, student body, parents and community baught in big time. Back in the late 80s, before Wadsworth as Wadsworth, Coach G truly believed this was possible and set things in motion that have lead to what we saw tonight. Countless people deserve credit for the success of this program, but it all starts with Coach G. Those kids will run through walls for him. It's a real family atmosphere over there, and that's by design.
  
  On a personal note, I was in 8th grade when Coach G took the helm of the Wadsworth wrestling program. I competed for a rival school, and we battled on the mat for four years, but he was always kind to me and made me feel welcome in his room in the off-season. Wadsworth was always a place you knew you could go to get a great workout with hard-nosed kids who were well coached. I was a bit of a trouble maker back in the day, and Coach G would make a point to stop a talk to me at tournaments and set me straight. He always treated me with respect and I always admired him a great deal. It's nice to see all of his (and his team's) hard work pay off.
  
  
  Congratulations Wadsworth Grizzlies, you earned it.
• USMCdevil05

  

  Great words bitter! He is a really nice guy!
• said_aouita

  

  Awesome stuff Wadsworth! I think a lot more wrestling fans were willing to wait until 215 and HWT just for the D1 team race. The crowd went nuts after Wadsworth took a half point lead with one weight class left.
• Coach_Simpson

  

  Bitter - You nailed it. Coach G is a classy guy, and he has done a phenomenal job. Its nice to see the culmination of 26 years of hard work pay off for him.
  
  I would love to see more programs follow the Wadsworth model of success. I interviewed him for an article for my State page, and he laid out the model right there. I encourage any and all to check it out. You can go to my 2010 State Championships Page, look down the left hand panel. You'll see it.
  
  -Randy
• dwccrew

  

  Good interview Coach Simpson.
• Coach_Simpson

  

  I agree, DW, and that's all because of Coach G. He made it a great interview by giving me such great, detailed info on how he built the program. Fascinating stuff. As I mentioned above, I'd love to see more programs do this. If that happened, you wouldn't have near as many kids wanting to leave their school to go elsewhere.
  
  One of the most important points he made - Coach G gets around to every level and relates well to every level of athlete. Those young wrestlers in 1st grade know him and like him - as do athletes all the way up the line. You have to have that, in order to truly build. And you have to put good people in charge and give them the support to do their thing.
• dwccrew

  

  Coach_Simpson wrote: I agree, DW, and that's all because of Coach G. He made it a great interview by giving me such great, detailed info on how he built the program. Fascinating stuff. As I mentioned above, I'd love to see more programs do this. If that happened, you wouldn't have near as many kids wanting to leave their school to go elsewhere.
  
  One of the most important points he made - Coach G gets around to every level and relates well to every level of athlete. Those young wrestlers in 1st grade know him and like him - as do athletes all the way up the line. You have to have that, in order to truly build. And you have to put good people in charge and give them the support to do their thing.

  I also thought this was a great point. In the community I live in, the football coach of one of the local high schools has built a monumental program. He has won 7 of the last ten league titles, 8 out of ten playoff appearances and two state title appearances with one championship (loss was by 1 point). He does the exact thing with the football program that Coach G has done to build his wrestling program.
  
  Coaches around the state in every sport should read that interview and take notes IMO.