Who will they hire?

It might be a dream but Coach Denny from UNO??? Might as well reach high!

If the rumors are true he may have found a gig!

What are the rumors? Where?

I agree. The rumor that he has already landed a new job may be true. I really do not know. But if not true yet, Benedictine College should talk to Coach Denney. Atchison would be closer to Omaha if that is important to Coach at this time in his life and career. It certainly would be a home run hire for Benedictine. If he could bring a lot of the current UNO wrestlers there with him, it could be worth it to Benedictine to start next season a year earlier than scheduled if possible. He would be a great coach to start that program.

I heard some of the top six candidates are not from Kansas

No doubt they will look out of state. They always do. When they hire the flavor of the month out of stater and by-pass about twenty worthy Kansas guys, don't be real surprised when a lot of people out here in public land are less than enthusiastic about their program. These are not wrestling people that are making these hires, they don't have any. Maybe the young and talented Kansas guys have given up on schools in this area I don't know. It is a shame though.

Coach Westfahl:

I know I will not change your mind on this issue and I am not trying to but I want to make a few points.

Bethany College recently hired a young Kansas man to be their first coach.

Also I am pretty sure that Penn State and probably the entire wrestling community in Pennsylvania is pretty happy that Penn State recently hired Cael Sanderson an out of state person to be their coach who led them to the NCAA D-I championship this year.

I would bet there are numerous examples like that in college wrestling of out of state hires in probably about every state in the United States that has wrestling.

Benedictine College is under no obligation in any way to hire a Kansas native to be their coach. They just need to hire the best person for the job.

I think about every organization in America is free to hire outside of their state with the possible exception of some state government positions.

Bethany College was probably smart in getting a younger guy too, several programs nationwide are getting too old and have a disconnect with youth.

Not to start anything, but I think it would be wise to get Beau Vest back to a Kansas college program. If he would be interested that is. If i were an NAIA AD in Kansas I would start there.

There are some people that are roaming around Kansas now that have college experience in coaching:

Richard Fergola was at Dana (they did well) and some junior college in Iowa.
Matt Stoval was at Newman (Catholic School).

How would they be as options?

I agree that some Lindenwood wrestlers may be transferring to new schools due to the moratorium on post-season competition during their transition to DII. It won't be only Midland who benefits from this.

Mark Stovall was the former Newman University wrestling coach!

No Vince, you will not change my mind. Hey if they want to make a run at Cael then maybe we would be talking apples to apples here. These are entry level jobs in the college market. Good for Bethany. That makes a grand total of ..... one. Klint go ahead and start something. Never be afraid to do that. I will not apologize for advocating the hiring of good Kansas coaching candidates for these good entry level college jobs. Believe me, what ever Penn State did is not relevant to me in this regard.

As a dad/coach with a kid who is starting to look where he might wrestle in college...I want Benedictine and all programs to hire the BEST COACH they can find and get to agree to their terms. I really don't care if that is a KS native or not. I guess I do care and if all things are tied then go with the KS native but this is the real world. The best candidates get the job period. There are several factors that go into what is the best candidate. The type of situation, do they know and care and can recruit the type of kid that fit that school, do the have ties in the area the school is in (that would favor a KS guy), what experience do they have. Why did they leave the previous places they were at?

I personally think there are some awesome HS coaches that could coach at a college like Benedictine. Beau Vest a KS guy but one with college experience at a similar school would be on my short list. I would look at a guy like Charbonneau or similiar. College wrestling experience and has build and maintained a program over a long period. I would also look to someone outside the area that has college coaching experience and experience building a program. And then I would turn to younger guys that were college wrestlers. My only question of them would be do they have the business experience to build a program. I would not doubt the wrestling part, but that is a small portion these days. But again I want the best candidate regardless of where they are from. Coach Denney of UNO for example would be a better candidate than a KS guy just because of his connections and proven experience. If you can't get him you move down the line.

Bottom line is I think you try to hire a KS guy if he is the best you feel for the position, but if a guy comes along from somewhere else that blows you aware, hire him and worry about hurt feelings later. 4 years from now people won't care where the coach was from only is he building a program and mentoring their kids.

I agree with Hurla that Beau has a good wrestling situation at Midland. I just would rather have him coaching in Kansas is all, plain and simple. I think having good capable young coaches coming back to their home state helps bring energy to the entire wrestling community.

I am so glad that Beau did great and that after Dana collapsed that he and his team had an alternative place to go and their doing great at the national level is a testament to Coach Vest and his fortitude.

I lived in the Omaha area and saw how the UNO coaching tree sprouted coaches at all levels and enhanced the high school,kids and college programs there. That is the biggest negative side of the UNO debacle, I am still physically ill over that.







.

My bringing up Cael Sanderson being hired by Penn State as an example of a very good hire of an out of state coach is very valid. Penn State hired the person who they felt was the best NCAA Division I coach available regardless of what state he was a native of. I am saying that if I am the President or Chancellor of Benedictine College I would expect my AD to hire the best NAIA wrestling coach that can be hired regardless of the state that coach is a native of. If I own a company I would expect my managers to hire the best people for the jobs in my company no matter what state they are from. It is easy for an outsider to say that the criteria should be to hire a Kansas native and not the best person available when it is not your job that potentially could be on the line if you make an incorrect hiring decision. You and I do not have anything at stake here in this decision, the people who actually have to make the decision on this hire do have some skin in the game.

You may consider this an entry level position but I bet that is not how the managers responsible for this head wrestling coach hire at Benedictine view it. They may have a goal of developing a top tier NAIA wrestling program at Benedictine College. I would be surprised if that was not a goal for them. In my opinion a head college wrestling coach at any level is not an entry level job. I would consider entry level in college to be more at the graduate assistant or possibly assistant coaching level.

I also agree with badbo that as a parent the state that the coach is from would not at all be a factor in my advice to my son in picking what college or university he is going to attend as a student and wrestle at. For the wrestling part of that college decision as a parent my recommendation to my son would be more influenced by the coaching experience and coaching skills than the state the coach is from.

And this statement of yours is not correct:

I know of at least two others and there are possibly more. I am not sure what are the native states of the current head coahes at Neosho, Labette, Newman, Colby and NWKTC. It would not surprise me if of one or more of those five schools are Kansas natives.

Josh Carroll Head Coach of Pratt Community College wrestled at Olathe North.

Chas Thompson Head Coach of Fort Hays State per their website wrestled at Parson HS and was a native of Parsons, KS.

I want to see young Kansas natives become head college coaches if that is their goal. I am glad that several of our Kansas colleges and universities do have current Kansas natives as head and assistant wrestling coaches. However I also want to see all these Kansas colleges and universities with wrestling programs succeed too. I only want to see our Kansas colleges and universities hire a Kansas native for the head coaching position if they believe he is the best person available for the job. If these schools have successful wrestling programs we will have more young Kansas athletes wrestling in Kansas colleges and universities in the long run.

Benedictine College may decide that a Kansas native is the best person to become their first head wrestling coach and that would be great as far as I am concerned. I just believe that it is their right to choose the best person for the position no matter where they are from.

There are 5 Kansas natives who are coaches at a Kansas institution. All of them are Kansas State Champions.

NWTC: Steve Lampe of Colby
1965 1 (All) Lampe, Steve Colby 95
1966 1 (A-B) Lampe, Steve Colby 103
1967 1 (A-B) Lampe, Steve Colby 112

NCC: Wayne Petterson of Beloit
1975 1 (2-1A) Petterson, Wayne Beloit 119
1976 1 (2-1A) Petterson, Wayne Beloit 119

LCC: Joe Renfro of Labette County
1995 1 (4A) Renfro, Joe Labette County 142

FHSU: Chas Thompson of Parsons
1997 1 (4A) Thompson, Chas Parsons 125

PCC: Josh Carroll of Olathe North
2000 1 (6A) Carroll, Josh Olathe North 215
2001 1 (6A) Carroll, Josh Olathe North 215

Add Marrs to that list above too.

My old friend Ricky Bobby came thru with the information. Thanks, Ricky Bobby.

That is a very impressive list of good Kansas college wrestlting coaches and now with Jacob Marrs at Bethany we will have six of the nine Kansas college and universities with Kansas natives as their head wrestling coaches next year. Marrs and his new assistant Garcia come to Bethany having wrestled under a great coach and program at UNO and that should serve them well at Bethany. I wish them the best of luck in building that program. I also wish Benedictine College the best of luck in choosing their new head wrestling coach.

I think it is very exciting that we are definitely in a growth cycle with new college wrestling programs in Kansas. I hope that keeps up and it should make for some good rivalries going forward and it definitely gives more opportunities for Kansas wrestlers going forward. I would think it should help some to control expenses since their now should be more dual opportunities within Kansas thus reducing travel expenses.