Coaches react to decision to drop a weight class
The PIAA board of directors approved a proposal Wednesday to reduce the number of weight classes in high school wrestling from 14 to 13, and not many WPIAL coaches seem to be happy about it.
The new alignment keeps all weight classes from 106 to 160 pounds intact, while raising the 170-pound weight class to 172, lowering the 220-pound weight class to 215 and combining the 182- and 195pound weight classes to form the 189-pound weight class.
When the PIAA wrestling steering committee announced the proposal April 29, WPIAL wrestling committee chairman Frank Vulcano said the driving force behind the change was to help cut back on forfeits, which he said have become more prevalent in the sport over the past several years. Switching to an odd number of weight classes also creates a natural tiebreaker for dual meets.
So, why is the move receiving so much blowback from coaches around the WPIAL? Essentially, it all boils down to one word — opportunity.
“I’m never a huge fan of taking an opportunity away from somebody,” said Mt. Lebanon coach Marc Allemang.
Franklin Regional coach Matt Lebe was one of several coaches interviewed who shared the same views on the subject as Allemang.
“I’m always for more participation and giving student-athletes more opportunities to participate, so my initial reaction was hoping that it didn’t happen,” Lebe said.
Ditto for Burrell coach Josh Shields, who watched Buccaneers senior Ricky Feroce place fifth at the 2020 PIAA Class 2A tournament in the now-defunct 182-pound weight class.
“You never want to see opportunities taken away from kids, and that’s what happens when you eliminate a weight class,” Shields said.
Not every WPIAL coach is second-guessing the decision, though. For some coaches at smaller schools that have a hard time filling even half of the weight classes for a dual meet — let alone fielding a full team — the shift is being viewed as a welcome and necessary adjustment.
“I’m not really sure why
anybody would petition against it in the first place,” said South Park coach Tony Di Georgio. “I think it’s good.”
North Hills may be a Class 3A school — and a large one at that — but coach Jose Martinez knows wrestling takes a backseat to football, basketball and other sports at North Hills when it comes to participation and fan interest.
“I think my opinion is that we’ve got to move from the past to the future,” Martinez said. “I feel it’s OK, because the numbers are not there. You can only fool yourself so much.”
Despite coaching at one of the WPIAL’s smallest schools with an average of less than 100 students per graduating class, Freedom coach Jim Covert said he’s lucky to be able to fill most of his weight classes year in and year out.
Covert is in favor of the new weight alignment, though he admitted his situation is different than most.
“We pack the gym. It doesn’t affect me as much as other coaches,” Covert said. “I see other gyms where nobody’s there. I’m blessed to have that Freedom mentality that wrestling is king. But most schools aren’t like that.”
As a Class 2A coach who typically forfeits about two weight classes per match due to a lack of numbers, Di Georgio acknowledged that the move would benefit his team more than larger Class 3A schools such as Canon-McMillan and Franklin Regional, where multiple wrestlers typically compete in practice for the right to represent each weight class.
Mt. Lebanon is a large Class 3A school that doesn’t have many issues with forfeits, and Allemang isn’t happy to see a weight class taken away. But he knows some other schools will feel the effects even more than the Blue Devils.
“You have some programs who are super competitive at every weight class … It’s going to be interesting to see how they adjust,” Allemang said. “There’s going to be really good kids possibly not in their lineup now.”
Although the coaches who are in favor of the new weight class alignment seem to be in the minority, each of them seem to agree that simply reducing the number of weight classes from 14 to 13 isn’t going to help grow the sport and improve participation.
Chartiers Valley coach Bill Evans, who has served as a coach for the Pennsylvania national team and is a member of the Pennsylvania freestyle and Greco Roman wrestling coaches’ board, has been especially outspoken about his feelings on the matter.
“I haven’t been quiet about it, and I’m not ashamed to say that I’m against it,” Evans said. “It takes us out of alignment with the rest of the country. … We’re the best wrestling state in the country, and we’re taking away a weight class?”
Evans took issue with the methodology behind the wrestling steering committee’s initial proposal, which called for the number of weight classes to be reduced from 14 to 12 and for the 106-pound weight class to be eliminated. Some would view the new alignment as a compromise after the initial proposal received immediate backlash, but Evans doesn’t see it that way.
“They said they were going to get rid of 106, and we said, ‘You can’t get rid of 106, it’s the greatest weight class ever,” Evans said. “The administrators caved and were like, ‘Let’s get rid of one of those ones at the top.’ And I’m thinking to myself, ‘That wasn’t even a topic of discussion.’
“For me, I didn’t really understand the logic of why get rid of that particular weight class, because it didn’t fit their original narrative of, ‘We want to get rid of forfeits in wrestling.’”
Evans, Lebe, Allemang and several other coaches agreed that more creative, outside-the-box methods should be explored in order to increase fan engagement and athlete participation, especially when it comes to the dual-meet structure.
“Eliminating one weight class isn’t going to do jack,” said Ellwood City coach John Fleming. “We had dual meets last year where the opposing team had four kids. It’s not going to do much.”
Fleming coaches at one of the WPIAL’s smallest schools, but he may have offered the most passionate critique of all the coaches interviewed about the changes.
“Yeah, it benefits my team, but it doesn’t benefit the sport,” Fleming said. “I’ve always been a proponent of growing the sport. We’re here to grow the sport and educate the kids. We’re not here to shrink the sport.”
Fleming pointed to the potential for losses in scholarship offers for Pennsylvania wrestlers in the upper weight classes because eliminating a weight class also reduces the number of PIAA medalists by 16 — eight in Class 2A and eight in Class 3A.
It’s common knowledge in wrestling circles that anyone who earns a topeight finish at the PIAA individual tournament is all but assured to receive at least some interest from college programs. Even qualifying for the PIAA tournament without becoming a state placewinner is usually enough for a wrestler to appear on college coaches’ radar.
“At the end of the day, it’s just not for this state,” Fleming said. “If you’re talking about a state that isn’t competitive — there’s an article in the USA Today that said, ‘Pennsylvania’s hidden gym is wrestling.’ It’s our No. 1 sport. It makes no sense to remove potential for scholarships from our state. It’s just going to go transfer crazy.
“I came in last year with three kids and ended up with 11. If you want to field a team, go out and field it. I don’t even work in the school district. Just go out and try it.”