Marsh puts emphasis on team

WC coach enters 11th season

Over the past 10 years, Wilmington College head wrestling coach Jim Marsh has helped put Wilmington College on the national wrestling map. National Champion Jimmy Wallace. Fourteen All-Americans and a similar number of Academic All-Americans. Impressive numbers that grow virtually every year.

Entering the 2005-06 season, WC's head coach is hopeful that an ambitious schedule will help show his squad what it takes to accomplish at the team level what the Quakers have already done as individuals.

"Over the years, we've had a multitude of successes at the national level on individual accomplishments," Marsh said. "When you look at the Ohio Athletic Conference, other than John Carroll there's not too many teams that have had more All-Americans in the past 10 years than Wilmington College. To better serve our individuals, we are now starting to gear ourselves toward the team national accomplishments. That's how we're trying to put that schedule to use."

Marsh took an unconventional path to the wrestling mat. For 19 years he has coached collegiate football, the past 13 at Wilmington College, where he has been the offensive coordinator for 10 seasons. In recruiting, Marsh often comes across student-athletes who also are on a non-traditional journey to collegiate wrestling.

"I seem to have a knack for getting the non-traditional kids," Marsh said. "Sometimes kids come out of high school and decide to take a different path. What I look for is maturity in a kid, because that's mainly what it's going to take to be successful at this level. Not having a wrestling background, I believe, gives me some advantages. Wrestling has a lot of issues that are cumbersome — the weight issue and things like that. These things really affect athletes, and some coaches are very persuasive and sometimes force athletes to weights that are unhealthy. That's something I have never done, and that has helped us to have a comfortable program. Maybe it hurts you sometimes in a weight class, but the overall health of the program is better off because your kids are not cutting weight, they are physically and mentally stronger."

Although wrestling is often a sport that spotlights individuals, Marsh is attempting to emphasize the team concept more emphatically than ever at WC. Not only do better individuals make for a better team, but a strong team can also make for more competitive individuals, he said.

"Wrestling has given me another passion," Marsh said. "Everybody in life wants to have one passion. I've always had football. But when wrestling came along, it was clear to me that it is a totally different sport. I've grown to have great passion for it."

CONTACT INFO:
Athletic Dept. phone: (937) 382-6661, ext. 250
Wrestling: Jim Marsh, (937) 382-6661, ext. 308

Coaching information:
Head Coach: Jim Marsh
Alma Mater: West Virginia Tech University (`86)

Assistant Coach: Jeff Rulon