Best coach in IHSA History

[Uniteordie]

The NCAA has Gable. Who do we have?
Public schools only, eliminating private schools for obvious reasons, who would be the best coach in IHSA history. With the emergence of coaches like Mike Powell and Brian Medlin, I was wondering who's the best?

[Warrior70]

Originally Posted by Uniteordie

The NCAA has Gable. Who do we have?
Public schools only, eliminating private schools for obvious reasons, who would be the best coach in IHSA history. With the emergence of coaches like Mike Powell and Brian Medlin, I was wondering who's the best?

This is a difficult question. Do you mean the best at present, or the best in history? Those answers are difficult to ponder. At present, it could be strongly presented that Mike Powell is the best coach at present. Historically, there is Bill Weick, Chuck Farina, and Ott Bay. I lean toward the coach with whom I spent my high school experiences: Bill "Red" Schmidt. While Coach Schmidt was coaching, he competed against teams coached by Bay and Weick. The Granite City team prevailed over those teams, as well as the best teams throughout the state, by a large margin. While Coach Schmidt was active, his coaching statistics held more than 50 national records and more than 100 records for the state of Illinois. Among those records were the following:
Most dual meet victories
Most tournament victories
Most victories against Illinois teams
Most District (Regional) wins
Most District (Regional) wins in a row
Most Sectional wins
Most Sectional wins in a row
Most points scored in state tournament history
Most times scoring points in the state tournament in history

There were many other records that could be mentioned. Recently at the state tournament, the state honored Coach Schmidt by having his story presented during the Jumbotron video. He competed as a wrestler in the first two tournaments in state history, and has been present in soome capacity (working, coaching, or other) at the state tournament every year since 1947. He was the first coach in the nation to record 400 wins, to record 500 wins, and to record 600 wins. At the time of his retirement, no coach in the country was within 150 wins of the total amassed by Schmidtty. He was the first coach in the nation to win 1st place in more than 100 tournaments.

In addition, Coach Schmidt served as the State Director for Rules Interpretation. He served as a Rules Presenter for coaches and officials for more than 30 years. He was the first high school-level person to serve on the National Rules Committee. He eventually served as the Chair (President) of the National Rules Committee. It is my understanding that Schmidtty was the leader to bring about the current situation where the state champion is determined by a Dual Team format.

Coach Schmidt is the former President of the National Wrestling Coaches Association . . . the first high school coach to hold that position in history. He is a member of the National Wrestling Coaches Hall of Fame, the Illinois Wrestling Hall of Fame, and at least 8 other Halls of Fame. To be honest, he broke the ground for every other high school wrestling coach that has followed since 1947.

There is not room enough to mention all of the accomplishments of this gentleman. At age 90+, Coach is still seen at tournaments throughout the state of Illinois, including the presentation of medals at the state tournaments. What more needs be said?

[Greenskin]

Originally Posted by Warrior70

This is a difficult question. Do you mean the best at present, or the best in history? Those answers are difficult to ponder. At present, it could be strongly presented that Mike Powell is the best coach at present. Historically, there is Bill Weick, Chuck Farina, and Ott Bay. I lean toward the coach with whom I spent my high school experiences: Bill "Red" Schmidt. While Coach Schmidt was coaching, he competed against teams coached by Bay and Weick. The Granite City team prevailed over those teams, as well as the best teams throughout the state, by a large margin. While Coach Schmidt was active, his coaching statistics held more than 50 national records and more than 100 records for the state of Illinois. Among those records were the following:
Most dual meet victories
Most tournament victories
Most victories against Illinois teams
Most District (Regional) wins
Most District (Regional) wins in a row
Most Sectional wins
Most Sectional wins in a row
Most points scored in state tournament history
Most times scoring points in the state tournament in history

There were many other records that could be mentioned. Recently at the state tournament, the state honored Coach Schmidt by having his story presented during the Jumbotron video. He competed as a wrestler in the first two tournaments in state history, and has been present in soome capacity (working, coaching, or other) at the state tournament every year since 1947. He was the first coach in the nation to record 400 wins, to record 500 wins, and to record 600 wins. He was the first coach in the nation to win 1st place in more than 100 tournaments.

In addition, Coach Schmidt served as the State Director for Rules Interpretation. He served as a Rules Presenter for coaches and officials for more than 30 years. He was the first high school-level person to serve on the National Rules Committee. He eventually served as the Chair (President) of the National Rules Committee. It is my understanding that Schmidtty was the leader to bring about the current situation where the state champion is determined by a Dual Team format.

Coach Schmidt is the former President of the National Wrestling Coaches Association . . . the first high school coach to hold that position in history. He is a member of the National Wrestling Coaches Hall of Fame, the Illinois Wrestling Hall of Fame, and many other Halls of Fame. To be honest, he broke the ground for every other high school wrestling coach that has followed since 1947.

There is not room enough tomention all of the accomplishments of this gentleman. At age 90+, Coach is still seen at tournaments throughout the state of Illinois. What more needs be said?

Perhaps, thank you.

[oldpioneer]

I have to nominate Bill Cartwright, Proviso East


At least 2 state champ teams and too many individual medalists to count.
a bunch of 2,3,4th place team finishes.

The reason I say that is a buddy of mine wrestled for him and he swears the 1986 Champs did not have one single kid that wrestled before High School. And this was at a time when the privates were getting Ikwf champs from all over.

Also, he is one hell of a nice guy!

[Greenskin]

To my recollection Summer wrestling, which translated into Freestyle and Greco, really got its foothold in Illinois in the late 70's and early 80's. Back then it was the United States Wrestling Federation. I was fortunate at the time to get hooked up with and coach with a lot of the guys that supported the Summer programs. Their names are probably familiar to many but I doubt that many understand the time and effort they put in to lay the foundation for what is now an national powerhouse in international style wrestling...team Illinois. If you want to think about great coaches and individuals, I would like to throw out the names of some of the guys I got to work with. I was just a "rookie" coach then but they took me in and accepted me as one of the "crew" and I have always been thankful for that and look back on those years as some of the best in my life.

We have guys like Heniff, Cartwright, Shaus, Ewalt, Easter, Gervais and a few others who did it all. Not only did they organize the tournaments and hold clinics, but they coached and organized the teams, officiated the meets, traveled around the county and did it all for the kids and the sport. It was a long time ago but they all deserve a great deal of respect and recognition for helping shape our summer programs into what they are today. I know many have followed but these guys were awesome and I just wanted to give them their due.

[oldpioneer]

Admin, this is a great thread. Can we move it to A and AAA

[daslobo]

Originally Posted by Uniteordie

The NCAA has Gable. Who do we have?
Public schools only, eliminating private schools for obvious reasons, who would be the best coach in IHSA history. With the emergence of coaches like Mike Powell and Brian Medlin, I was wondering who's the best?

Better make sure they're home grown too... for obvious reasons.