After Coaching Jake Woten for the past 4 years I feel it is only fitting that I comment on this topic.

First I want to start off by saying that our program does not condone what happened this weekend. I do however; think that the punishment was a bit harsh. I do realize that rules are rules and that we do have to live with the consequences of our actions. I feel that the main problem here is consistency. I have witnessed on several occasions this same type of behavior from many athletes and witnessed it several times Saturday after the fact. Maybe I was looking extra hard for it but who can blame me there. I also noticed other actions (some mentioned in pervious posts) that seem worse that what our athlete did and have seen ejections overturned in years past.

Wrestling is probably the most emotional sport I have ever been involved with as an athlete and a coach. It is sometimes hard to keep the emotions in and after the state semifinal’s it is really hard.

After having a couple of days to reflect on this I become angrier about the situation for a few reasons. Number one, it ended a kid’s career without him even knowing it was coming. He never had a chance to prepare for his last wrestling match ever. Also, I feel bad for his parents who have supported him in this sport for the past 8 years and didn’t get to prepare for the last match of his career. I feel bad for his teammates/friends that had to deal with this and try to compete at their best for the rest of the state tournament and for everyone that invested time in making him a better athlete/wrestler over the past 8 years.

I know there have been comments about how this young man may appear on the outside. I will say this about him. For those of you who want to hold an opinion of this young man, I am sorry you didn’t get a chance to know him like I have. I won’t say that he hasn’t caused me my share of grey hairs over the past four years but I am glad I had the chance to coach him and better yet get to know him as a person. He is extremely competitive and he sometime lets that show but that is no reason to hold an opinion. He is only a 17 year old kid. I think some of us forget how we were then. I have no doubts that he will learn from this situation and go to do good things.

Thanks for the memories Jake!!!

Coach Larson