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It is a combination of things. Topper was not an assistant coach very long. He was there sometimes and not others from what I have found. How to put together a team in difficult times takes experience. He had a nice group of studs to center on last year and should have been more successful. This year he has been rocked by injury, but the kids do not look basic and sound as in the past.

The rules have hurt too. Not being able to move kids hurts a lot. Kids like Brandon Weyandt could have moved up 2 or 3 weights an won last year, but were not allowed as before.

Wrestling is tough, too tough for most kids. It is dropping off in many areas.

I would only like to dispute one thing that you say wrasslerfan: your last statement about Jr. High and Varsity coaches. A good coach needs to be charismatic. He needs to be able to attract kids to his program and once he has them, he needs to be able to keep them. Howard Hinish was better than anyone I have every seen at attracting kids to his Jr. High program. He built such great teams that he would have to refuse to put his HWT on the mat just so he wouldn't score 100 points on a team (he found it to be disrespectful). He won numerous league titles and always had a successful dual meet record. Year in and year out, his teams were filled from top to bottom with wrestlers. However, probably less than 50% of these kids continued to wrestler more than a couple of days in varsity. Coach Droz is a great coach, but he doesn't have the charisma and likability that Hinish has, making what Hinish provided to the program useless.

score 100 points? i could be wrong, but 14 weight classes mulitplied by the maximum points per class is only 84 points is it not? unless im missing something here...

4him was talking about the junior high program...in jh there are 18 weight classes...

4-him i agree with what you are saying but that is why i said a good jr.high coach will also teach them to love the sport. then they wrestle for the love of wrestling and not necessarily for the the varsity coach. a good varsity coach is very important .i would say in the example you gave those boys that quit loved the jr. high coach and not necessarily the sport. and to go back to my original statement, i just wondered if bedford has to take a look at their younger program. it is not like them to be down 2 years in a row and i don't think things will be much better next year.you know the sacrifice wrestling requires and if a young man is not taught to love the sport he will quit when even more sacrifice is required at the varsity leval.

ok, makes sense now, thanks cube

Ah, very good point wrasslerfan. I would agree that those wrestlers had a love for the coach...maybe, also, a love for the companionship of the other wrestlers, but only a minute passion for wrestling. To be honest with you, I don't believe that too many people truly have a love for wrestling. I believe most people's love for wrestling is conditional. Probably, only 1 or 2 wrestlers on every team truly love the sport. Most kids could take it or leave it and some are there for some other reason. I don't believe that too many people love it to the extent that they can't keep it out of their life. Some of us, as much as we hate it at times, can't bear to get rid of it...from wrestler to passionate spectator to coach.

At that point there was only 17 (possibly 16 at some point), but none the less: 17x6=102

i am still waiting for an answer from the boys who bleed blue and white.does bedford have a good program at the power grades[only you wrestling aficionados from bedford know this answer] and has bedford's enrollment dropped.remember this is your post and you are looking for answers

sorry ,that is supposed to be lower not power grades