SCHUYLKILL HAVEN — When John Cooper became the director of athletics at Penn State Schuylkill 16 years ago, he was responsible for two sports — men’s basketball and women’s volleyball.
With the addition of women’s soccer and the recent announcement of wrestling, both for next year, the Penn State University branch campus will field 11 teams.
“I just want to make it so it gets successful, gets off the ground,” Cooper said of the fledgling wrestling program. “We want to have a good coach. I’m using the baseball program as a protocol.”
That Lions team, under head coach Grant Yoder, not only posted a winning record, 17-15, but also advanced to the semifinals of the Penn State University Athletic Conference before falling to the eventual champion, Penn State Greater Allegheny.
Cooper also said at least four baseball players have transferred from other schools to Penn State Schuylkill for the 2015 season.
Visions of similar success for Penn State Schuylkill wrestling may be premature, but Cooper said the momentum toward a wrestling team has shown quick progress.
“I’ve already heard from four or five kids that say they want to wrestle,” Cooper, who supervises the weight room on campus, said. “A couple of them are from Schuylkill Haven and Blue Mountain. They were thrilled when I told them just before Christmas.”
Cooper said he has received two inquiries to a job posting for head wrestling coach that was put online.
Cooper said the program
was the suggestion of Penn State Schuylkill’s chancellor, Kelly M. Austin, a member of the PSUAC’s executive committee.
Austin had learned about the rapid success of wrestling at another PSUAC member, Penn State Mont Alto. That squad now has 17 members, and Cooper said Penn State Mont Alto’s athletic director, Marty Ogle, told him, “The program basically now runs itself.”
“I said, ‘Well, we’d be the only game in town,” Cooper said about Austin’s suggestion. “‘The kids can stay local and have their parents watch them wrestle.’”
He said the Penn State Schuylkill athletic budget was adjusted to account for the start of both women’s soccer and wrestling. While using the wrestling program at Penn State Mont Alto as a guideline for start-up costs, Cooper said he plans to repeat his path for women’s soccer for the development of the wrestling team.
“I’m hoping to get a coach in the next month so he can do some active recruiting during the high school season,” Cooper said. “We did the same thing with women’s soccer. I gave the coach a two-month stipend so he could get out and do some recruiting.”
Cooper said that paid off with commitments from at least seven girls.
Providing space for wrestlers will be a challenge, Cooper admits. The campus’ Health and Wellness Building accommodates the men’s and women’s basketball teams and there is no dedicated room for wrestlers.
“We’re blessed with good coaches who are able to work with each other with scheduling,” he said. “I haven’t gotten that far yet. Let’s say the gym has a lot of down time during the day. It’ll be a challenge, but we’ll get it figured out.”
Penn State Schuylkill joins Penn State Beaver with new wrestling programs in 2015-16. Both will compete in the PSUAC with Penn State campuses at DuBois, Mont Alto, Greater Allegheny and New Kensington.
All are members of the United States Collegiate Athletic Association.
Its administrators include PSUAC commissioner John Fritz. The former NCAA Division I champion and Penn State head coach helped to obtain the use of Penn State University’s Rec Hall for the USCAA National Wrestling Invitational, scheduled this year on Feb. 9.
That event has double-elimination brackets in 11 weight classes and would be the pinnacle of Penn State Schuylkill’s wrestling schedule.
“It would be good to get one or two national champions,” Cooper said.