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Tigers' wrestling coach steps down
by Tim Bondy
Mountain Home News
Mountain Home High School's long-time high school wrestling coach Lynn Knudson has decided to step down as the wrestling coach for the upcoming school year.
He retires following a career spanning 25 years so he can spend more time with his family.
After two years as the assistant and 23 years as the head coach of the high school's wrestling team, Knudson said this was a good time to step away from wrestling. With the upcoming marriage of one of his sons and a desire to spend more time with his wife, he didn't think it would be fair to the wrestlers or his family to continue on as the coach.
"With my son's wedding, I would miss 'camp'... all of it, and that wouldn't be fair to the kids and the other coaches," said Knudson, who explained that the yearly summer wrestling camp is one of those crucial week-long strength and endurance training periods that puts the kids into the right frame of mind for the coming season.
The camp is also an extremely important team building time, and teamwork is everything in the program, he added.
While no decision has been officially made as to who will take over the wrestling team, Knudson said his long-time assistants, Scott Maderious and Patrick Starkey, are extremely qualified to take over if asked. He added that the school district hasn't asked him for his recommendation on who will move into that head coaching position.
Knudson wanted to make it extremely clear that he is not retiring from teaching at the high school.
"I am retiring from coaching sports, and I think after 25 years of coaching, it's fair to use the term 'retiring' even though I will still be teaching for about another five years," Knudson said.
Over the past 25 years, the coach, along with the help of many others in the community, built and maintained a top-notched wrestling team. He credited Kevin Bish, Scott Mederios and Stan Brown, who have been with the wrestling team almost from the beginning, for the success of the program.
During his time with the Tigers, the team racked up an impressive list of accomplishment on the mats. Among them are:
* A 306-144 overall dual record
* A 102-63 conference dual record
* Six state trophies, including a four, third place finishes
* 15 individual state championships
* Two district team championships
* Three District III Coach of the Year awards
* Two state coach of the year titles
As the wrestling program expanded over the years, there were many people who contributed to the success of both the wrestlers and the program itself, Knudson said. Chief among those people he mentioned were Scott Sessions, Steve Cardiel, Dave Abrahamson, Nate Herrboldt, Kevin Muilenburg, Johnny Nunez, Ben Knudson, Chris Knudson and Colby Lord, but he added there were many others on that list.
Knudson said the high school wrestling program was built around the concept of pride, heart and the expectation of winning. That philosophy turned out to be the basis of a great program, he added.
As with almost all long and illustrious careers, his time with the wrestling team had its tradeoffs. Without his family's support over the years, his coaching career might have turned out differently.
Knutson wanted to thank his wife, Dawn, who never told him "no," but instead always supported his decisions, who was always there to support him and help with banquets, stat girl gifts, dinners for coaches meetings and many other things.
High school athletic director Mark Cotton summed up what Knutson meant to the Tiger's wrestling program. He said the coach truly transformed the culture of the Tigers' wrestling program and has served as a mentor to thousands of student athletes as wrestling coach and a football coach.