Bellwood grad and former Tyrone Vocational Education teacher Mike Cherry was recently hired as the new head varsity wrestling coach at Tyrone High School.  The Eagle Eye interviewed Coach Cherry about his new position and his goals for the future of Tyrone wrestling:

EE: Congrats on the head coach job. Why did you choose to apply for the job?

MC: Thanks. I decided to apply for the job for several reasons. I really enjoyed wrestling when I was in school and I enjoyed my teaching experience at Tyrone as a vocational instructor. It just seemed like a natural choice then to coach wrestling. I was also concerned that if the program couldn’t find a coach, that the wrestling program could be dropped. I didn’t want see kids that were in the sport lose the opportunity to continure wrestling at Tyrone.

EE: Can you tell us about a bit about your wrestling career ?

MC: I wrestled at Bellwood from 2nd-12th grade, lettered three years in junior high and three  years in senior high.  I also wrestled freestyle in the off-season and was a member of the Pennsylvania Junior freestyle team.

EE: Can you tell us a bit about the rest of your staff?

MC: Varsity Assistant Coach Bill Dixon, wrestled at Tyrone. Head Junior High Coach Terry Albright, wrestled for Tyrone. Junior High Assistant Coach Jarred Beckwith, wrestled last year for Tyrone.

EE: One of the challenges that the team has had in recent years is the lack of numbers. How do you plan to address this?

MC: This seems to be a challenge in many schools and I don’t think there is just one specific solution to this problem. Recruiting these kids and convincing them that wrestling can provide them with many opportunities can work to some degree. Finding more success with the wrestlers that are out could draw more kids into it also.

EE: Who do you think will step up this year?

MC: I think it’s to early to say. There are certainly several kids at Tyrone that could shake things up at their weight classes, but some have not made the commitment yet to wrestle this year. I, along with the current team and the Tyrone wrestling fans, hope they step up and bring their talent to the mat.

EE: What is your gameplan for this year?

MC: My gameplan for this year is to stick to the fundamentals. The years of experience that our kids have have varies a lot. Practice and drill fundamental moves a lot, focus on good  execution as well as really being well conditioned.

EE: What are your goals for this year?

MC: Several basic goals would be to have a full lineup and a winning season. I want to try to keep all of the kids that come out at the beginning of the season to remain on the team the whole season. More kids in the room translates into more competition which will make the team better.

EE: What else would you like to do to improve the team?

MC: I believe for the team to improve, they need to spend more time in the off-season wrestling in tournaments and going to camps to learn more advanced techniques and training, and lifting weights or strength training year round. Working with the kids in the off season will ultimately make future teams better.

EE: What does getting this job mean to you?

MC:  Getting this job means a lot. Tyrone has a great wrestling tradition. Coaching here means that I have become part of that tradition. I want to have a positive effect on the program. Success does take time but I believe that as the wrestling program at all levels reorganizes and refocuses it’s efforts. The wrestling team at Tyrone will improve.

EE: As a Bellwood grad, what will the match with them mean to me?

MC: On one hand it will just be another match where you want your kids to go out and score points, wrestle hard from the start to finish and see how things end up. But on the other hand, I’m a competitor, I’d love to see Tyrone’s kids win. If you want to see what this match means to me, show up at the match.