Exploring the world of California Community College wrestling at the 3C2A Championships

For the past 20-something years that I’ve covered the world of college wrestling, one system has always been extremely unique and interesting to me, the California Community College Athletic Association. Now branded as the 3C2A, the organization has sponsored a men’s wrestling collegiate championship since 1959. In 1982, the strangest thing about the league came into being - it became a fall sport. So for over 40 years, the first wrestling to kick off each season isn’t the NWCA All-Star Classic or an open somewhere in Michigan, it’s in September in California.
 
So what and who is actually competing out there? I went to find out, seeing some familiar faces along the way to tell some stories about what the athletes and coaches get out of competing in wrestling’s fall season.
 
On this episode, you’ll hear from:
7:40 - John Sachs from Tech-Fall.com
10:50 - Mt. San Antonio head coach David Rivera
13:00 - Fresno City College head coach Paul Keysaw
16:00 - Palomar College head coach Timmy Box
20:45 - Lassen College head coach Lonnie Nalls
25:30 - Mt. San Antonio assistant coach Chris Mecate
32:20 - Cal Poly Humboldt (D2) assistant coach Jim Zalesky
35:30 - Cuesta College head coach Joe Dansby
41:20 - Sacramento City College head coach Marques Gales 

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Short Time Wrestling Podcast: Episode 782 –Recorded December 13-14, 2024

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Whoa, it's the Short Time Wrestling Podcast. I am your host,
Hall of Fame wrestling writer, broadcaster and announcer Jason Bryant.
Today on the show, we've got another mashup as I

(00:22):
am coming back from the California Community College Wrestling Championships
held at Lamore College. Let's see what December?

Speaker 2 (00:29):
What day is it?

Speaker 1 (00:29):
It is the nineteenth as I record this as the
calendar falls. That was the thirteenth and fourteenth in just
south of Fresno, so about forty miles south of Fresno.
Flew into Fresno and the opportunity to work this event.
I did not announce this event. People like why are
you going out there? Mainly because I didn't know much
about it, and like many wrestling fans, the knowledge of

(00:52):
California Community College wrestling is limited almost to nil. It
has been a fall league since nineteen eighty two. It
has been the enigma of college wrestling. Yes, there are
programs in the NCWA, like the Newport News Apprentice School
that are the most unique wrestling experiences in the country.
I've written about that extensively over the years. But the
California Community Colleges as a two year junior college system

(01:15):
is unlike any other. Again, it's a fall league. They
will compete in women's freestyle this year for the first time.
They've been folk style the first two years that is
in the spring. So we have got a league that
kind of bucks the traditional system and a lot of
that probably has to do with staffing. You'll hear from
Marcus Gales, who's the head coach at sach City College
Sacramento City College. He's a teacher at the school. So

(01:38):
we have a diverse background of what roles people play.
Some people are full time coaches, some people are part
time coaches. Some people are high school coaches in the winter,
they'll coach their junior college team in the fall. So
it gives you that flexibility. So on the show today,
John Sachs world renowned photographer from techfall dot com. He's
been shooting this tournament for over twenty years. He lives

(02:00):
up in the Bay area of the Wine Country up there.
He's been close with the Santa Rosa program for a
long time, so him and former coach Jake Fitzpatrick have
traveled around to tournaments and that's where I first met
Coach Fitzpatrick was with John sacks Marcus Gales. I had
met him through coaches conventions. He was coaching out. He's
for a while Division three up at Trinity up in Connecticut.
They're the Bantams. By the way, he's back in California.

(02:21):
He actually went to Santa Rosa before he wrestled at
San Francisco State and Division two. Also on the program,
I'm going to talk with David Rivera, the head wrestling
coach at Mount San Antonio College. They were the team champions.
They won their third title in four years and second
in a row. Catch up with Division one national champion
Paul Keyesaw. He's the head wrestling coach of Presno City College.
We've also got some names you might recognize, like two

(02:42):
time All American from that school in Norfolk, Chris Maccatti,
who's an assistant coach at Mount San Antonio. Timmy Box,
the head coach at Palomar, was a national qualifier at
Northern Colorado. Started his career at CSU Bakersfield. Joe Dansby
Questa College has been coaching there for over twenty years.
Lonnie Knolls the head coach at Last and he was
an assistant during their heyday in the nineties when they

(03:02):
had some monsters coming through and back when Lason was
actually competing in the NJCAA. We'll talk to Lonnie about
that little transition and that era in lass and wrestling,
and I'll talk with one of the other college coaches
that were there recruiting. I saw Bruce Haverley from NYU,
didn't get a chance to really talk with him on
the record. For Jim Zeleski, the multiple time national champion
from Iowa, former head coach of the Hawkeyes and the

(03:23):
Oregon State Beavers, now an assistant coach at cal Poly Humboldt,
which was formerly known as Humboldt State with his brother Lenny,
we'll talk to him about recruiting. Tracked me down in
the hallway first person I see on Saturday, and we start,
I get this two on one tie and it's Jimmy
grabbed me, going, Hey, what are you doing here? And
I was like, what are you doing here? And he
proceeds to tell me a story about Jay Robinson. So
we'll lead into that that on this clip show here

(03:44):
on the California Community College State Wrestling Championships D three
C two A as they call it. I wrapped up
that trip with a flight to Arkansas to announce Little
Rock and Chattanooga. So I was down in rainy but
warm Little Rock. So it was a California Little Rock week.
Things that I don't think I'm doing something new in
my career, like each and every time I do this
type of thing, so I was pleased to be there.

(04:06):
It was It was great to be there. The hospitality
was great, the system was great. Did the food Oh
my goodness, dude, I love Latin food. I love actually
I kind of love food basically from all over the world,
but like Mexican food, and that just oh my goodness.
El Potasalata, which is where like the coaches get together,
was before the tournament. I think I ate there three times.

(04:27):
I also had the opportunity to check out Hanford, which
was where I was staying. It was five miles down
the road. A great little tap room there called Hot Forge.
Flew out of Fresno stopped by a place called Crow
and Wolf. If you're a craft beer snob, I recommend
those two spots if you're in Hanford, California.

Speaker 2 (04:43):
Hot Forge.

Speaker 1 (04:43):
They didn't pay for any of this, although I did
get to meet one of the owners of Crow and
Wolf spent a lot of time there working on the newsletter.

Speaker 2 (04:50):
On Sunday, as.

Speaker 1 (04:51):
I had I had a flu, I had a red
eye to Atlanta to fly to Little Rock, so I
got to meet Matt, the owner there. He hooked me
up with some stickers and you know, they they have
a cell I'm not a Seltzer guy, but they have
a Celsa there that tastes like Baja blast from Taco Bell.
So a lot of different things to experience this weekend.
Right now, you're going to experience multiple things with the

(05:11):
California Junior Colleges, but before you do, you want to
think about multiple things from every level.

Speaker 2 (05:16):
I got you covered.

Speaker 1 (05:18):
The Daily Wrestling newsletter presented by Resulit matt talkonline dot com, slash.

Speaker 2 (05:22):
News or the easier way to get to that too.

Speaker 1 (05:24):
Is also mattalkonline dot substack dot com if you're familiar.
The growth of the newsletter has been great, so thank
you those who were pass subscribers that have jumped on,
those who were current subscribers, and who have upgraded to
their paid level because I dropped some stat nuggets each
and every week, multiple times a week. About that ad
free podcasts also within that feed if you were a
paid subscriber. But Matt talkonline dot com, slash news. Sign

(05:47):
up for the daily Wrestling newsletter mostly daily because there
are some days when I travel that I do not
get it out, and if I have to travel out
have to do it. I'll put it out the next morning,
kind of like I did with Little Rock. I was
I had to red eye out on Sunday nights. I
didn't really get that thing going until probably mid morning
that Monday, but I still put that out. So Matt
Talk online dot com, slash News. The cool thing about

(06:08):
using substack is there there's probably five anywhere from five
to five to ten different podcasts about wrestling that I
can put in the Spotify player too. So you're right
there in your email and you see that, you can
just click play and it pops out and you can
listen to that show. So again, I use the newsletter
to promote pretty much everybody out there.

Speaker 2 (06:25):
So got a.

Speaker 1 (06:26):
Show, I know, like the Big Guys had Angelo Ferrari
on this week that was on in the newsletter. So
I can embed the YouTube videos. I got to imped
the Spotify players. I've got the news releases, the Diego
Pavia story which hit that will have impacts through all
college sports eventually. So all that stuff. Each morning Daily
Wrestling News presented by Redslighte matt Talk online dot com,

(06:49):
slash news. You can sign up to get the newsletter
for free. There's a premium ad on if you want
to get the extra and that extra supports me and
what I do and the time it takes. I'm saving
you hours of time each day. That is also a
premium benefit. If I've saved you any amount of time
and you want to feel like that's worth a contribution,
that's how you can do that. Sign up for the

(07:09):
paid add on. They're at mattok online dot com slash news.
That is the substack so works on substack app. You
can share Husker Matt. Those guys have jumped on that,
so their newsletters in there too. So there are things
that the network is pretty cool and how that works.
That being said, I've rambled quite enough. Here are a
bunch of coaches from the California Community College State wrestling
Championships here on the Short Time Wrestling Podcast. As always,

(07:31):
I'd like to thank you for spending your time with me,
because you've always got time for short time. Whoa California
Community College State Championships.

Speaker 2 (07:42):
Look who we found?

Speaker 1 (07:43):
John sachstechfall dot com photographer straordinaire. You've shot Olympics, You've
shot NCAA's. You shoot this tournament every single year.

Speaker 2 (07:53):
You've been doing it for decades.

Speaker 1 (07:54):
What do you love about coming to the California Comunity
College Championships?

Speaker 3 (07:58):
Well, these are my homeboys, people I see all year round,
not only here, but at the college matches and especially
California USA wrestling.

Speaker 4 (08:10):
The valley is the place to be. Presno is not
only the home of.

Speaker 3 (08:17):
Clovis and high school wrestling, it's also one of the
bases for junior college wrestling with Paul Keyesaw and the
Presnoe City Rams.

Speaker 2 (08:30):
But this year, as of like last year, the team
to beat.

Speaker 3 (08:35):
Is Mount Sack. They haven't lost in a couple of years.
They have a strong, deep, experienced squad, good set of coaches,
and they will.

Speaker 1 (08:47):
Be chung to be when it comes to shooting an
event like this. You've got the typically smaller gyms. It's
a lot of them are about as big as some
big high.

Speaker 2 (08:56):
School gyms or even small high school gyms.

Speaker 1 (08:58):
You get to see kids, they're like, oh, I remember
them from high school and they end up wrestling at
at small junior colleges, a little them go on to
for your schools.

Speaker 2 (09:06):
What's the cool thing about this for you.

Speaker 1 (09:08):
To see kids come through that you shot in high school,
then they come through here, then you might see them
later at another national tournament.

Speaker 3 (09:14):
Well, some of them I see here already because I've
been doing this twenty two years. Some of them are
assistant coaches and are working their way to becoming.

Speaker 2 (09:23):
Coaches at this level.

Speaker 3 (09:25):
So but yeah, you see these guys, even great wrestlers
who don't quite.

Speaker 4 (09:32):
Cut it for do you Want? Or even D two
like Jacob Palomino came through here.

Speaker 3 (09:38):
At this programs, you see a lot of great wrestlers
that maybe they don't have the academic skills or they're
getting close to moving on in life and work and family.
So I think the biggest aspect for me is the
family nature that you know. These are people who you
see year in and you were out. I see their families.

(10:02):
If I'm not photographing them, I'm photographing their nieces and
their nephews, and now I'm getting ready to photograph their kids.

Speaker 1 (10:14):
There have been a couple of Olympians that have come
through here. You've shot Jesse Ruiz who wrestled in this league.
They wrestled in the ANAI. They represented Mexico at the Olympics.
So it's not out of the roma possibility that.

Speaker 2 (10:25):
You've got future Olympians competing here today.

Speaker 3 (10:28):
No doubt there are some strong freestyle wrestlers here today,
as you will see, and with just.

Speaker 4 (10:38):
The state of.

Speaker 3 (10:40):
The California USA Wrestling where we bring people through our
programs and onto the best of the college levels and
definitely the Olympic level.

Speaker 1 (10:53):
Following the championships, had a chance to catch up with
Mount San Antonio head coach David Rivera, followed by runner
up Paul Keith saw Fresno City College. They're back to back.
Caught them before they were presenting awards, So not along
drawn out conversation with these two, but first team champion
coach Rivera and then coach Key saw Marga head coach

(11:14):
David Vera, third title. You got one back to back.
Yesterday you had said you just got to keep wrestling,
you just got to keep wrestling.

Speaker 2 (11:22):
You guys kept wrestling. He came in with four chances
in distance from the second place team. How did you
feel your guys wrestle? Well, again, I was.

Speaker 5 (11:30):
Proud of them, how they competed today. You know they
stepped up. You know some things didn't our way, but
we continued wrestle. Like I said, just try wrestle to
our best our ability.

Speaker 2 (11:39):
So a lot of.

Speaker 1 (11:41):
Dominance from the Southern California region. You had a lot
of rematches in the finals, and some matches were closer
this time through. How do you tell your guys to say, hey,
you know you got to maintain. Just because you beat
them last time doesn't mean you're gonna bet a mistoup.

Speaker 5 (11:52):
That's why we tried to leave no doubt, you know,
let them know that you're bad.

Speaker 6 (11:56):
You were he wons.

Speaker 1 (11:58):
Everything else went back to back as you've got four chance,
setting the school record, setting a new new new resident.

Speaker 2 (12:05):
What's that mean for you in your program going into
the future.

Speaker 5 (12:08):
To stand there, stand there so la program alia standards
and can't you be hungry.

Speaker 4 (12:16):
Yeah, we're gonna win time, we're gonna lose them.

Speaker 2 (12:18):
That's wrestling.

Speaker 1 (12:19):
You've got crafty veterans like coach Key Saw. You got
new guys on the scene like coach Gail's up in
Sack City.

Speaker 2 (12:24):
I mean, this is not an.

Speaker 1 (12:26):
Easy time to repeat with given the turnover remain How
have you created that culture?

Speaker 5 (12:30):
Well, I looked up the key saw since I started,
you know, that was one of them persons.

Speaker 2 (12:34):
I looked up Brian.

Speaker 4 (12:35):
Winning on the title, like what is he doing that
needs to be doing?

Speaker 5 (12:38):
And sure enough I just start closing the gap believing
in my program I have, you know, So.

Speaker 2 (12:43):
What was one thing that he was doing that you
know you figured out to your program? He I just
needed believing myself, how to believe in myself? So how
do you get your kids to believe in themselves?

Speaker 4 (12:55):
Warking Omar work Omar.

Speaker 2 (12:57):
So it's called he saw second place team finished. He
had two champs and you had the all anyweight final.
Let's start there.

Speaker 7 (13:06):
How difficult is it to coach two of your guys
going for the same thing. Oh, that's really hard to
sit and watch. It's a great that both of them
made it. It's wonderful that we get to take twelve
to the postseason.

Speaker 8 (13:17):
You really loved to having an opportunity like that.

Speaker 9 (13:20):
But sit in the stands and watch that and sit
in the corners, it's not really easy.

Speaker 1 (13:25):
No, Also, you had a repeat champion a year between,
but his performance was pretty solid.

Speaker 2 (13:30):
How do you sum up his performance?

Speaker 9 (13:33):
Well, I think he definitely showed some guts and some
heart out there. You know, the first couple of periods
didn't necessarily go our way, and I think we used
some leprechauns in that match, but I think the better
kid won and and I think he persevered towards the
end and showed what kind of a calibery wrestler he is.

Speaker 1 (13:51):
See a lot of weird things in the wrestling matt
and running for the trash can is is one that's
list as a coach, what.

Speaker 2 (13:56):
Goes to see your mind when you're in your athletes
in a real tough position like that. I wasn't really
quite serious started yelling for a garbage can.

Speaker 4 (14:04):
I thought he needed as a tailor.

Speaker 9 (14:05):
I wasn't quite sure, but when he said he need
a garbage can, I started.

Speaker 4 (14:08):
To get a little nervous.

Speaker 9 (14:11):
And I did tell him after the match back there
in the back room, I said, you know, you threw
up about five hundred and seven hundred and fifty people,
and not many people.

Speaker 2 (14:17):
Do that, So you got a title out of it. Now,
as far as your team performance. You came in here.

Speaker 1 (14:22):
They expected to be a two team race between Mount
Sack and you guys. You know, you guys have been
the cream of the crop in this league the last
several years. You've won a ton of titles here. What
makes Mount San Antonio College and tough fote for you guys?

Speaker 2 (14:35):
They got a lot of good wrestlers.

Speaker 9 (14:36):
I mean you saw back and I they have some
really really good wrestlers and you know, credits to Mount Sock.
They got a great team and they performed. You know,
we don't think have the greatest performance.

Speaker 4 (14:46):
But you know we showed up. We gave it a run.

Speaker 2 (14:49):
Touris your career coaching here?

Speaker 1 (14:51):
You've been out here a long time, You've won a
lot of titles, You've sent a lot.

Speaker 2 (14:54):
Of kids to the next level. So what is it
then you get out of this still right now?

Speaker 9 (14:58):
I love helping kids. I love seeing their success. I
love watching them a striculation go forward and live their
dreams out. I love being part of their lives coachually
in a positive way.

Speaker 1 (15:09):
You know, you got a lot of good coaches in
this league. Some of them have more accolades than others.
The obviously you've won the big title at the Division
one level. And you know there's guys that are on
coaching staffs that are doing very well that never did
anything in college. What is it about this unique system
out here that gets the most out of kids.

Speaker 9 (15:29):
You know, I just think it's uh, just grassroots community people.

Speaker 8 (15:33):
It's just found to hurt.

Speaker 9 (15:35):
You know, your local community, you know your local college.
I think it just shows the depth of college wrestling
and the depth of wrestling, and I think this level
provides an opportunity for games you are skilled enough or
as started late or a little late in the game
to have an opportunity to go to college and compete
and trying to change their lives.

Speaker 1 (15:56):
And you could kind of hear there at the end
of that interview he was called to the head to
to present awards. So Coach Rivera and coach Keesaw, congratulations
on your one two performance. The number three performance, though,
as you heard John Sachs allude to that the team
race for third would be interesting. That ended up being
Palomar College out in the Southern California region. Timmy box

(16:17):
Head coach there, coaches with his dad Mike, who was
his assistant coach and prior to this interview, I was
waiting to get coach Box and they were doing some awards. God,
I got some things to present.

Speaker 2 (16:27):
Well.

Speaker 1 (16:28):
They did the Assistant Coach of the Year which his
dad won, and then followed by Timmy getting the head
Coach of the Year. So he shared embrace with his dad,
which was really cool to see and just to know
these two guys are coaching together. Coach will your dad?

Speaker 5 (16:43):
You know?

Speaker 1 (16:44):
I talked to the Beeg wrestling guys, Zach and Wayne
Beaver about what I like about their podcast. It's like
it's a dad and son getting a spending time around
things that they love and sport of wrestling. This is
the same thing in terms of this is a dad
and a son who get to coach together at the collegiate.
So here's here's coach Timmy Box from Palamar College. Palamar

(17:04):
Coach Timmy Box. Do you go by Timmy and no hours?
Tim Timothy?

Speaker 2 (17:08):
You know how about Coach of the Year Box?

Speaker 4 (17:11):
That's a nice ring to it.

Speaker 2 (17:12):
It's nice ring to it. So you've been here at
Palomar a couple of years.

Speaker 1 (17:15):
You guys had a very strong third place finish, two champs,
first time since twenty sixteen.

Speaker 2 (17:20):
You've had multiple champs. First Champs is twenty seventeen.

Speaker 1 (17:23):
You had said earlier that this is the first time
you actually got to coach in the finals that you've
been there, and you know, I guess put a bowl
on the season right now.

Speaker 4 (17:31):
Yeah, I mean, I can't say I have good things
about our guys.

Speaker 10 (17:34):
You know, they came together, especially the second day, you know,
really just turning their out ofitudes around.

Speaker 4 (17:39):
Even since regionals. You know, we got third in the region,
but to get third in the same it.

Speaker 10 (17:43):
Takes a little bit of extra effort, especially with so
many good coaches and teams, And I'm just really proud
of the guys for stepping up when it mattered, and
you know they'd deserve all the credit.

Speaker 1 (17:52):
Got a team trophy, you got Coach of the Year,
and your dad assistant coach of the Year. That's that's
a moment that is not on too many people's coaching list.

Speaker 2 (18:00):
Let let's win in awards with my dad. Yes, what's
that feel like right now?

Speaker 4 (18:04):
I'm amazing.

Speaker 10 (18:05):
You know, it's like we've been together every step of
the way, and you know, competing coaching together for a
long time.

Speaker 6 (18:10):
Now.

Speaker 10 (18:10):
I mean, it's just It's something special that I'll cherish
for the rest of my life. And you know he
deserves it, right. I mean, he puts so much work
in and has helped me my whole career.

Speaker 2 (18:17):
You know, droughout college.

Speaker 10 (18:19):
He made it basically every single tol me, every single
competition that I ever wrestled in, and he'spent my biggest
sporder since day one.

Speaker 2 (18:25):
So I'm happy for him.

Speaker 1 (18:26):
When it comes to your coaching career, you know, you're
a guy that went the D one route right out
of it, but you came through California, so you are
aware of this league existed, this system existed. So when
it came time to coach, why was this the best
fit for you?

Speaker 2 (18:37):
Sure?

Speaker 10 (18:38):
Yeah, Well, I mean I was always aware of Bakersfield
College and they were right down the street. I grew
up in Bakersfield, and I spent a lot of time
in there as a kid and got a lot better.
And I have a lot of respect for that program
even now.

Speaker 11 (18:49):
You know this.

Speaker 10 (18:50):
This guys are great, and you know, Palomar was the
closest to where I moved down.

Speaker 4 (18:55):
In San Diego, you know, moved down close to my folks.

Speaker 10 (18:57):
And just happened to go in there and roll around
and just kind of fell in love with with the league.
You know, it's a great group of it's a great
age group and a period of their life to coach,
I think, And it's just it's really fulfilling in it,
and I don't want to go anywhere else.

Speaker 2 (19:11):
I want to coach this league for a zone.

Speaker 1 (19:13):
As again, when you talk about the difference in levels
and such, there you get to the division wide level.

Speaker 2 (19:18):
You know, this is an athlete. There's there's only so
much more you're going to learn as an athlete. Here,
there's a lot more these guys can learn.

Speaker 1 (19:24):
So where do you tap into your knowledge and your
your natural ability to coach and teach these kids?

Speaker 4 (19:30):
Yeah?

Speaker 10 (19:30):
Well, I mean I think the biggest thing is just
finding out which each person needs to develop in.

Speaker 2 (19:36):
And you know, I really see it as not our.

Speaker 10 (19:38):
Goals obviously, you know, we want to win matches, we
want to win trophies and stuff, but the main goal
is to develop each person as they come through a
program and in whatever ways that they need.

Speaker 2 (19:46):
To develop in.

Speaker 10 (19:47):
And some people at school, some people that's just basic
life skill. Some people it's wrestling. And I you know,
love being able to do that, and I love figuring
it out for each person. And I just care about people,
you know, and it's it's nice to to be able
to help somebody along in a crucial part of their story,
their life story.

Speaker 1 (20:05):
When you talk about building programs and at two year school,
that's really hard because the turnover is there, I mean
some of it.

Speaker 2 (20:11):
You got to look around where you're at. You're in
a pretty wrestling rich area in southern California.

Speaker 1 (20:14):
But you know what David Rivera has been able to
do at Mount San Antonio in a short time, and
of course they called Keyesau's developed a winning system.

Speaker 2 (20:20):
In Presboe City for years.

Speaker 1 (20:21):
Culture, What is going to be your key to challenging
those guys for you know, not just a team trophy
but first and second in the future.

Speaker 10 (20:28):
Yeah, well, I mean there's a lot of things that
need to happen. You know, we need to get some
we need to give a new wrestling room, right, That's
the one that's something that people care about. Some other
things need to happen at the school that you know,
I think in due time they will. But as for me,
you know, I'm just going to keep going and doing
what I'm doing. You know, I'm doing clinics. I I'm
going to tournaments and recruiting. You know, I'm getting out
there with the Beach the USA Beach Wrestling World Team
and going overseas and you know, putting us on the

(20:50):
map in different ways.

Speaker 4 (20:51):
And I'm just going to stay.

Speaker 2 (20:53):
Full seen ahead.

Speaker 1 (20:54):
So you've heard from the top three finishing coaches. You've
heard from Coach Revere, You've heard from Coach Kiesaw, You've
heard from Coach Box. But what do you really know
about California? So let's roll this back a little bit.
We're going to go next up with Lonnie Knalls Alonso. Lonnieknalls,
he was a junior college runner up back in the
day at Triton and had been coaching at Last and
during those monster teams as I alluded to in the nineties,

(21:15):
came back to take over the program a couple of
years ago back in the northern California. That Tahoe area
a beautiful part of the country, and Lassen he's trying
to build it back up. It's a slow, bitsteady climb,
but here's Lonnie talking about the history of Lasson and
what he's doing back with the program Last and.

Speaker 2 (21:32):
Head coach Lonnie Knolls back in Lasson. You spent some
time there about twenty some years ago.

Speaker 1 (21:37):
You've had a lot of experience in this league and
coaching junior college kids wrestling in junior college level.

Speaker 2 (21:42):
What's it like to be back at Lasson again.

Speaker 6 (21:44):
Oh, that's great.

Speaker 12 (21:45):
You know, I planned on retiring there anyway, and I
had an opportunity to come back, and then you know,
the a jopposite of itself, and so I took it
and it's been a good experience so far.

Speaker 1 (21:58):
A lot of people know Lasson from the era when
you guys were competing in the NJCAA and now you're
back in the California community college system. Just a little
primer on what that was like, what that era was,
and why last was in the NJCA at that time.

Speaker 12 (22:10):
Well, our travel time to get everywhere, you know, it
was pretty much the Simmons that would be going all
over the country, so we decided to make that move.
And you know, there's not a lot of difference between
the two except for the seasons. There's some pretty good
wrestling that goes on here at the community college level

(22:30):
in California. But the NJACAA was a whole different thing
as far as competing all over the country.

Speaker 1 (22:38):
Now back here within the league, it's been probably ten
fifteen years since lasting's been back full time. You know,
the way this league works is kind of an enigma
to college wrestling fans. If you could sum up what
this league is in California, community college wrestling is to
like the d one fans. We look at it, me like,
what's this wrestling going on in the fall? How would
you describe it?

Speaker 12 (22:56):
Yeah, it's very different, you know. I mean, it's taken
some getting used. This is my third year back in it.
I'm a winter guy, and it was an adjustment. But
you know, for the fans, it's an opportunity to see
some good wrestling, I mean, and have an opportunity to
see it earlier than everybody else.

Speaker 6 (23:13):
Starts would like to see us change our season to
compete with everybody else.

Speaker 12 (23:17):
It gives us a better opportunity to expose our kids
to the upper levels.

Speaker 1 (23:22):
You talk about your travel time For those who are
who don't know geography.

Speaker 2 (23:25):
Last you guys are up there, like in that Tahoe area.

Speaker 12 (23:27):
So we're in northeast California. We're about three hours from
the Oregon border. So it's a five hour.

Speaker 6 (23:33):
Trip anywhere we go. I think Shack Cities and Sierra
College is the closest tournament that. Actually, no Shasta, they're.

Speaker 4 (23:40):
Two hours away, But everything else is it's a.

Speaker 6 (23:43):
Five to six hour job.

Speaker 1 (23:45):
Yeah, pretty country up there. But you know, explain how
it's like to bring kids to campus in such an area.

Speaker 12 (23:51):
Well, it's definitely a culture shop for a lot of them.
But you know, the way I sell it is like, hey,
you're only here for two years. You come to wrestle,
when you come to.

Speaker 6 (23:59):
Go to school, great place to train, a great place
to get a good education, and then move on.

Speaker 1 (24:04):
When you look at the junior college system, the idea,
get them their associates degree, get them onto a four
year school. Some of them it's like, Okay, I need
the associates to get that job placement or something like that.
Well where do you sit with where you're putting your
kids when they get done with you at last?

Speaker 6 (24:18):
Well, I'm a big vocation guy.

Speaker 12 (24:20):
So I have kids that are taking like welding classes,
auto classes, and they just want to go to the
work workforce and maybe finish a couple more years of
wrestling and then I have, you know, another group of
kids that are looking to get their associates and move
on and continue to wrestle at the next level.

Speaker 1 (24:34):
You know, I have an experience in both the NJCA
level as an athlete and a coach, and then now
back here with the California Community college system. I mean,
the benefits of this league for the kids in California
seeming mess.

Speaker 6 (24:45):
Yeah, I mean I mean the cost wife.

Speaker 4 (24:49):
I mean, you go to school up for free.

Speaker 12 (24:50):
You repulate from a California community to California high school,
so you go to school for free. So I mean
very cost effective for our kids to go, you know,
get another couple of year years or maybe move on.

Speaker 1 (25:01):
As far as the competition goes here this weekend, you know,
you got the two horses at the top.

Speaker 2 (25:05):
What was your team looking to accomplish this weekend?

Speaker 12 (25:07):
We actually wanted to try. I wanted to try to
break into the top ten this year. I have a
lot of young guys that are you know, but my
older guys kind of came through you know and placed,
you know, last year. The same two guys that I
have in right now, they placed last year. But I
was hoping to get another couple of guys in and
this spot into that top ten. As a third year

(25:29):
building a program, you know, from what it was to
where it is now. I think we've we've we've made
some leaps, but we still.

Speaker 2 (25:35):
Got some work to do.

Speaker 1 (25:37):
So a little bit like hopping in a DeLorean going
back to the nineties with coach Knowles, because he was
there and the heyday. Those are the names that a
lot of you that are familiar with last community college
know tying that together with the previous generation. And now
he's back to coach that program. And now here's a
name that a lot of people might know. And from
recent memory, two time All American Chris maccatti coaching at

(25:57):
Mount San Antonio College with coach d with Rivera. He's
fighting MMA. So he's bouncing his MMA career and a
coaching career with a school that actually has a lot
to do with his upbringing. So here's coach mccatti as
we also share that bond to being from that school
in Norfolk, which neither of us will ever give any
more credit to. So there there's my obligatory shade yield
Alma Manor. But here's Chris talking about coaching at Mount

(26:19):
san Antonio College. Mount San Antonio assistant coach Chris mccatti,
two time Division one All American at that place in Norfolk.
We will give them any credit for that. But you've
been out here coaching for a couple of years. You're
California native. You guys are well on your way for
another repeat state championship. And you know, what's this experience
like for you getting to coach at Mount san Antonio.

Speaker 4 (26:39):
It's awesome. It's actually funny.

Speaker 2 (26:40):
It's where it's.

Speaker 13 (26:41):
Where my parents met, so you know, it's an old
neighborhood story. But yeah, Mount Sack, it was cool. I
came back to California twenty nineteen after coaching at that
unnamed school and then Rivera Verdoz in town. He offered
me a He said, hey, you want to come coach.
I know you're going to be fighting, but can come
coach in the meantime make some money while you're doing it.
So I took him up on his offer, and it
was It's actually a great coaching experience and a teaching

(27:02):
experience for me, just because it's almost like I feel
like what wrestling has done for me and the debt
to pay it back and a lot of these kids
are great kids haven't wrestled as long they weren't, didn't
grow up wrestling, so I can try to give all
my wisdom experience to them that I've had over a
longer period than they have. So it's awesome to watch
them come in not really achieve what they wanted, most
of them in high school, but still want to compete
and have that fire, and we kind of keep that

(27:23):
flame blazing and then send them off. We have a
few guys in division on right now. We got an AIAD,
two guys wrestling, so we got guys from our school
all spread over, and that makes me just awesome. Makes
me happy to see guys come in and we get
them better and we send them off. So that's what
I'm most proud about. The state championships. Love that love
winning too, but seeing them move on to four years
and chase their dreams and makes me happy.

Speaker 2 (27:43):
You know, you didn't go that route.

Speaker 1 (27:45):
You went right to Division one, had a really good career,
wrestled at the national championships four different times, and.

Speaker 2 (27:49):
You know stood on the podium. You know what that's like.

Speaker 1 (27:51):
So how do you translate that experience to the experience
of these kids. They don't know that experience yet. Yeah,
some of them may go D one. But at the
same point, you've got to do a lot of teaching
here as well, a lot of actual hands on coaching
as versus having the cream of the crop and say, okay,
we can tweak.

Speaker 4 (28:05):
This absolutely, and I like, you know, it's funny.

Speaker 13 (28:07):
Our assistant coach, Robert Umguez talks about habits, a lot
of habits, and when I really think about it, and
I'm like, man, some of the guys who have bought
in and done well or wrestling Division one they had,
they change their habits instead of oh.

Speaker 4 (28:18):
I'm not going to go to packte I don't feel good.

Speaker 6 (28:20):
Now you're going to packtice every day.

Speaker 13 (28:21):
Little things like that and correcting their habits to things
I remember doing when I was wrestling. Still not looking
back at the time, I was like this is crazy,
but looking back, it was what's expected to compete, like
you said, and make the podium twice, so like getting
up at the right time, eating the right foods, extreme
levels of discipline, and the guys who have kind of
bought into that on.

Speaker 4 (28:40):
Our team tend to do well.

Speaker 13 (28:42):
Ten to win these tournaments and then tend to go
on and wrestle the four years, so, you know, building
habits for them, and then to me, the technique's easy.
I could teaching technique is the easiest part out of
the mental and discipline part on the side. So the
mental is the biggest jump I think for these guys.

Speaker 2 (28:55):
What about you?

Speaker 1 (28:56):
We talked off camera before yesterday, like, hey, hey, am
I saidding too much like Steve Mark. No, it's like
your coaching mannerisms, because you and David Rivera have slightly
different mannerisms in the corner, what have you learned about
yourself and what you've learned from coach Martin and your
days in college.

Speaker 13 (29:10):
That a lot of the things that we would complain
about me and my teammates about man Steve's crazy, Steve
does this?

Speaker 2 (29:16):
Why is he yell at us?

Speaker 13 (29:17):
And then I literally find myself doing the same exact thing.

Speaker 4 (29:20):
So Steve, You're right, that was my bad.

Speaker 10 (29:22):
We were.

Speaker 13 (29:22):
Yeah, I didn't realize how much stress you have to
deal with as a coach, so I'd get some of
the mannerisms. But yeah, like it's funny because I do
catch myself, you know, mostly in matches and being very vocal.
But I asked Jason Bryant, am as bad as Steve yet?
And he said no, I can receive across the gym,
Rob Moore maybe math side. So but yeah, the intensity
yelling at my guys, you know, and it's because we

(29:42):
expect a lot of them, because they train hard, and
I'm trying to remind them, Hey, go out there and
push the pace. You trade for this, you work for this,
you rustle like this, good things will happen, scholarships, championships.
So it's more of me young at them to remind them, Hey,
what we're out here to do is dominate, and anything
less is you're selling yourself short.

Speaker 4 (29:58):
So so yeah, but I guess obvious sounds like Steve,
I love you, Steve.

Speaker 1 (30:03):
What about the you know, the value that this California
Pete College system has. You know, growing in California, you
had a lot of high school teamates, I mean club
kids and value you grew up with. They went this route,
they went this route, and you know they had success.
They got their two year degrees, some you know, as
you say, they went on to get their four year degree.

Speaker 2 (30:18):
The value in a very.

Speaker 1 (30:20):
Unique fall league for the kids in California where there's
not that many next level opportunities right now, just.

Speaker 13 (30:26):
Because you know, like you said, the next level opportunities
we don't have as much as other states, and our
next level opportunities I mean are Stanford. They're not the
easiest schools to get into. I mean, the academic bar
is very, very high. So if you didn't have that
support system growing up, whether it's athletically and academically, but
your heart was in it, but you didn't have the
right people around you to kind of make sure, we
need to have a four point zero, we need you

(30:47):
to do extra study, we need to take in the.

Speaker 4 (30:48):
Club practice, private coaches.

Speaker 13 (30:50):
A lot of kids didn't have that, So I think
the system we have is great for kids who have
the fire but maybe didn't.

Speaker 4 (30:55):
Have all the right the tools needed to make it
to that. Because me going to the I.

Speaker 13 (31:00):
Mean I had all hands on deck, father, mother, family, support,
great coaches, and that was just to get into Division
one on top of the other stuff to actually compete
when so that's a lot to ask for a family.
So kids who didn't have that, I'm glad we saw
opportunities for them to go and compete and get with
good coaches and kind of you know, like I said,
get that flame fired up again and then watch up Blaze.
But it's a great opportunity and then it's done in full.

(31:22):
So then Christmas break and if a school wants to
pick him up for eligible to wrestle as a Blaze
and ID one D two D three. So if they're
ready to go and they get picked up and a
school needs a we don't have a one ninety seven.
We saw you compete, we'll pick you up. So we
have some guys right now who might compete in January
for a Division one.

Speaker 2 (31:36):
So yeah, how would you describe the quality of competition here?

Speaker 4 (31:40):
I think it's awesome.

Speaker 2 (31:41):
I think, you know, you'll get all above and below, you.

Speaker 13 (31:44):
Know, kids like I said with Russell two years in
high school who still wt to compete and have to
fire compete. And then we have guys on our team
who are world team members for IRAM you know, wrestling,
and Yanni's bracket and probably would have beat him. He
got hurt, sorry Johnny, but so we have all the despairity.
I mean there's a lee level guys who he came
to America one opportunity to get his education in America
and we have.

Speaker 6 (32:02):
Opportunis for him.

Speaker 2 (32:03):
You got to undo that locked hands have it.

Speaker 6 (32:05):
Yeah, he did it.

Speaker 13 (32:05):
He's been in America for five years now, so he's
very good at letting go of the Hams. But yeah,
but we have opportunities for all those guys to Russell
to compete, so.

Speaker 4 (32:12):
It's very good.

Speaker 6 (32:13):
And then yeah, the quality, we have high quality.

Speaker 13 (32:16):
We have kids who have Russell that long and then
they all get to mix it up and see who's who.

Speaker 4 (32:19):
So it's a good opportunity.

Speaker 6 (32:20):
I love coaching.

Speaker 1 (32:21):
M JUCA gonna bring in one of those college coaches,
the one of the four year schools that was there
in attendance scouting. Of course, I had mentioned Bruce Haveley,
but jim's Aleski, his brother Lenny, is the head coach
at cal Poly Humboldt which is formerly again known as
Humboldt State back in the day when they were a
pretty solid program at the Division two ranks. So Jimmy

(32:41):
was there recruiting, looking to fill the coffers there in
their first year of a revived program there in Humboldt, California.
So here's jim's Aleski talking about recruiting and also talking
about his experience with the California community colleges as a coach,
kind of launched by Jay Robinson, who coincidentally, if you
did not know, Jay Robinson wrestled at Bakersfield College in
the California community college systems before going to Oklahoma State.

Speaker 4 (33:04):
Did you know that?

Speaker 2 (33:05):
You probably didn't. Hey, look who we found.

Speaker 1 (33:07):
Jim's Aleski assistant coach at cal Poly Humboldt. For those
of you that might have grown up in California, it
was formerly known as Humboldt State.

Speaker 2 (33:14):
But you're back out with coach with your brother Lenny.

Speaker 1 (33:17):
You'd spend some time coaching at Oregon State and then
in Jamestown, where as you joke, they named the city
after you.

Speaker 2 (33:22):
Yeah, it was.

Speaker 6 (33:23):
It was.

Speaker 1 (33:24):
Even the mascot was was the Jimmy. So you're you're
back in California here recruiting. What do you like about
this California junior college system.

Speaker 14 (33:32):
It's like, you know, it's great to you know, get
get get gives opportunities. But then when you're here, you
know you can see the emotion on the other flight
for that championship, especially this morning in semis and finals
and fund to be fund of lots to night, so
just a good support the junior colleges here and uh,
you know, we're trying to get kids into our program,
build our.

Speaker 8 (33:49):
Program, so then we all support to these guys too.

Speaker 1 (33:52):
You know, this is where a lot of the wrestlers
back when when at Chigo State, humbold State, where powers
in their respective divisions in California. They came from the
level you've told me before coming in the Jay Robinson
sent you out here for the first time thirty.

Speaker 2 (34:04):
Eight years ago.

Speaker 14 (34:05):
It's only been thirty eight years since I've been here,
so Jay sent me out here my first This is
my first actually as a coach because the coach returning.

Speaker 8 (34:12):
This is the first term I ever went to to recruits.

Speaker 2 (34:14):
I've spent thirty eight years.

Speaker 14 (34:15):
But it's it's still a fun term to watch when
when you're looking for a type of kid.

Speaker 2 (34:19):
This fall season kind of helps you out a little bit.
You see, you get to see him.

Speaker 1 (34:23):
You don't take time away for your team as much,
even though your season has started and you don't What
do you like about the uniqueness of this division?

Speaker 2 (34:29):
Oh, it is like you said early, you know they're
done right now. This is their championships for us. You
get to watch them then follow up.

Speaker 14 (34:35):
September, October, November, then we come to the Championship. We
have this weekend off. You get to come to the
Championship and watch and yeah, few of Jim's guys that
can compete at the next level.

Speaker 2 (34:44):
When it comes to your program, you know, what's what's
the like coach with your brother now again? Well, it's
just fun.

Speaker 14 (34:49):
You know, we've you know, he's still big brothers in
me Offen you know now and then because he's got
that you know, head title.

Speaker 2 (34:54):
But it's fun.

Speaker 14 (34:55):
It's been a fun experience so far. And you know,
we're looking to bring the program back. Said I got
dropped in ninety one. It was a great program back
on at the seventies eighties. And also it's it's fun
to help bring it back.

Speaker 11 (35:07):
You know.

Speaker 1 (35:07):
As far as the California wrestling community, how they responded
to so y'all's arrival, y'all's return, but.

Speaker 14 (35:12):
I think I know Lenny's been coaching at UC Davis
and a Baptist for twenty years in California. When I
was O State, we recruited California heart. So it's good
to get back around this get you know, the cuboll
teams rob here, the high school teams, and there was
a great competistioning out of here, and there's a lot
you know, there's twenty one.

Speaker 8 (35:29):
Thousand y'all stupid rustlers there.

Speaker 2 (35:31):
They got to find a place to go.

Speaker 1 (35:35):
Until this point, I'd basically talked to people that I
had known before. But Joe Dansby's name has been in
my email list for a coaching contact for twenty something years.

Speaker 2 (35:46):
Been at this for a while. But again I had.

Speaker 1 (35:48):
Stated I'd never been to this, this league's championships, didn't
know much about it. I knew nothing about Joe Dansby
other than research told me he was a two time
Division on qualifier cal Poly back in the early nineties.

Speaker 2 (36:00):
So what do I know about Joe Dansby? Nothing.

Speaker 1 (36:03):
Let's learn about QUESTA college head coach Joe Dansby. Shall
we QUESTA college head coach Joe Dansby over two decades
there in the beautiful slope, beautiful beaches. You know, that's
probably a good recruiting pitch to get people to come
wrestle for you.

Speaker 15 (36:18):
It is a nice little lotion there. It's a beautiful
than Lear's for sure.

Speaker 2 (36:23):
You spent a lot of time there.

Speaker 1 (36:24):
Obviously you wrestle at cal Polly, but you've been coaching
this California Comunity College system for over twenty years and
it's the most unique wrestling league in the country.

Speaker 2 (36:32):
What do you like about coaching in this system?

Speaker 8 (36:35):
Oh, well, you know, it's just a good slot for kids.

Speaker 15 (36:40):
Not sure where they want to go yet, not sure
if they're ready to wrestle the next level. So get
to the opportunity you can see if it's for them
and if they really want to continue in college and with.

Speaker 8 (36:50):
The college love a cricket as well.

Speaker 2 (36:53):
In terms of how people come to the school system,
it's like you've.

Speaker 4 (36:56):
Got a lot of schools.

Speaker 1 (36:57):
There's almost one hundred and seven schools in the system,
twenty two at wrestling. So how does someone that's at
high school student.

Speaker 2 (37:04):
Come to Questo.

Speaker 8 (37:06):
Well, we've at the state championships.

Speaker 6 (37:09):
We set up a booth in an informational section for them.

Speaker 8 (37:12):
So we're at the state championships.

Speaker 2 (37:14):
We got a booth.

Speaker 15 (37:15):
They can kind of put their name on the list
in what colleges are interested in California and the coaches
give them a call.

Speaker 4 (37:22):
That's a good way to.

Speaker 2 (37:23):
Do it in terms of like the school's districts.

Speaker 1 (37:25):
There's also usually a community college within the high school
school district area, so you've got a pretty good local
draw there too.

Speaker 8 (37:31):
Yeah, we had a good vocal draw.

Speaker 2 (37:32):
My particular area.

Speaker 15 (37:33):
We only have ten schools and are kind of like
the near area half hour north in south of US
that have wrestling. But if they're fortunate enough to be
in southern California, there's there's a few more junior collegems
to wrestle at, and then in Fresno and West Hills.

Speaker 4 (37:47):
In the Valley.

Speaker 1 (37:49):
In this league, as a coach, there is a lot
of actual coaching. You're still coaching. You're teaching kids, you know,
sometimes you've got to remove bad habits. Sometimes you've got
to amplify what they already know. Right, what is it
about you're coaching? You love here well?

Speaker 15 (38:02):
In the junior college syst So, I think we kind
of utilize the kid's strengths, see.

Speaker 8 (38:06):
What they come in with, and then just try to
work on their major weaknesses. I think that's we get
the most thing for our buck that way.

Speaker 2 (38:14):
When it comes to putting a kid to the next level,
you know, some of them need a.

Speaker 1 (38:17):
Two year degree to get that that certificate. Some of
them want a two year degree to go onto a
four year school. What is your goal as a coach
at your school is just to.

Speaker 15 (38:26):
Bridge that gap completely? You know what some kids are
getting do they want? They're not sure if they want
to wrestle at the college level. Some kids have my
expirations to wrestle Division one, but maybe maybe I don't
know how hard it is yet at that level. And
then some kids smart the opportunity to wrestlenia and I
think that gives the kid when they wrestle junior college,

(38:47):
that gives that intensity level picks.

Speaker 9 (38:49):
Up, the.

Speaker 15 (38:52):
High higher level caliber of wrestling picks up, and that's
when they kind of can choose.

Speaker 2 (38:57):
When it comes to the coaching perspective, you're not just
a coach. What else do you do at the school?

Speaker 8 (39:03):
Yeah, well, you're the father figure as well. A lot
of times in the California and JC at least, they
don't come with their.

Speaker 2 (39:10):
Parents all the time.

Speaker 15 (39:12):
They're not local, they're out of talent for the first
time on their own, so you're their contact person as well,
but your mentor.

Speaker 1 (39:21):
You're you're mentoring them all the way through and dive
into the dynamics of the schools are very different. Some
people have, you know, they've got the part time coach who.

Speaker 2 (39:29):
Lives closed, who might help out a high school. Some
of our professors on campus. Where do you fit in
that world?

Speaker 15 (39:35):
I am part time for sure. I'm a middle school
teacher full of time. I also coach at the high school.
And then you know, I mean I dabbling the junior
colleagues and head coach, So I mean your guy that
had the experience at the Division one level, you've been
coaching here for decades.

Speaker 2 (39:52):
There's more programs being added.

Speaker 1 (39:54):
You know, Meno and Vanguard have reclassified a Division two.
Humboldt is bat Now are those opportunities for your is
How excited are you for that Division two opportunity to
arise even more.

Speaker 2 (40:04):
With like the rise of Humbolt coming back.

Speaker 8 (40:05):
Oh that's great.

Speaker 4 (40:06):
I mean it was. I was a little nervous there
in there.

Speaker 15 (40:09):
You know, I've gotten here for twenty years, like you said,
over twenty years, and to see programs, good Division one
programs lost, there was a scary moment.

Speaker 8 (40:17):
Especially with COVID. But now I think the California JC
is growing, wrestling is.

Speaker 15 (40:22):
Growing, again, especially with women and now with the colleges
opening up trestling in California, it's.

Speaker 8 (40:28):
For a good place.

Speaker 2 (40:29):
And now for you it's helping out with the high
schools and stuff. This fall season seems to work for you,
then does it works great?

Speaker 15 (40:35):
Yes, that's the only way we can do it again.
I fall season for junior college. The girls coach at
the high school, which is mainly Winner, So we start
next Monday, and then right after that.

Speaker 8 (40:49):
I do middle school.

Speaker 1 (40:50):
So if you had to sum up the quality of
competition for those who don't understand this league, how would
you describe it.

Speaker 4 (40:56):
It's a mixed back.

Speaker 8 (40:58):
It's really a mixed back.

Speaker 2 (41:00):
California is huge.

Speaker 8 (41:01):
So it's a lot of good wrestlers in California.

Speaker 15 (41:04):
But you have some kids that you know have been
out a couple of years and they want to get
back into it.

Speaker 8 (41:09):
You have some kids that are coming right out of
high school in the state paysers, and then you.

Speaker 2 (41:13):
Have some gut peopling up and look at his brand new.

Speaker 15 (41:15):
Kids that you smart you're filling their rooms and stuff
like that. But it's definitely a mixed bag and it's
a big.

Speaker 8 (41:21):
Spot to be to see where you want to go.

Speaker 1 (41:24):
You want to talk about coaches at coach for decades,
Dave Pacheco at Sex City was one of those guys.
So when it was time for him to say, you
know what, I'm going to kind of kind of be
done with this, he brought in Marcus Gailes from out
of east although Marcus is from California, wrestled in the
California Community College system before going Division two, got the
coaches ranks, went up to the Northeast, and then when
come time for coach Pacheco to say, I'm about to

(41:45):
hang these things up, Marcus Giles is coming on in
and going to assume the rain. So Marcus is now
the president of the California Community College Coaches Association, so
he's their rep for the NWCA conventions and such. And
Marcus talks about, you know, his return to the league,
what he got out of it, what he's looking to
do for his team, what he's doing for the sport
and the league in general, and of course trying to

(42:06):
shoe his wrestlers away. He kept trying to like photo
bomb this interview. So good job maintaining your composure of
their coach Gales. But here's Marcus Gales from Sax City.
As we wrap up this episode of Short Time, Sacramento
City College head coach Marcus Gales, Now, you're back in California,
to California in a couple of years.

Speaker 2 (42:21):
Now you six year six. This is here at six years,
I'm six. It feels like it just happened. I mean,
has Dave Pacheck Oben had of coaching that long?

Speaker 11 (42:29):
Yes, yes, he's a fish sat in the area and
he still helps out solumnick connects and things like that.

Speaker 4 (42:33):
But he's he's a great mentor and do a great.

Speaker 2 (42:35):
Massive of the sport.

Speaker 1 (42:36):
All right, we'll talk about your program. I mean, it's
been a great tradition there at sax City. A lot
of national a lot of state championships. It feels like
a national tournament when you come here. But your experience
you wrestled in this league coming through then you went
Division two at San Francisco State coach to the junior
college coach of v Street.

Speaker 2 (42:53):
Why did you come back to California.

Speaker 4 (42:55):
Leos California and junior cause is my roots.

Speaker 11 (42:58):
So started off in the Center Rosa junior colle for
two years before San Francisco State.

Speaker 2 (43:02):
Like you said, went over to.

Speaker 11 (43:03):
The East Coast for nine years, three years at Springfield
College Division three and six years at Trinity College as
a head coach there. So love my experience out there.
Love Division three.

Speaker 6 (43:13):
It's a great.

Speaker 11 (43:13):
Atmosphere, great competition, the biggest largest division in all of
college wrestling. Had a great time, but it was had
a great opportunity to come back and take over as
a head coach and professor of kinesiology, a second mensage
of college. It's a blessing to be able to be
back and do what I love teaching and coaching and
close to home as well. So enjoyed the East Coast.
My wife's actually from New York. She went to Courtland

(43:36):
swimmy Courtland. His classmates is Aljamaine Stirling, UFC champ Division three,
All American. But it was great to have that experience
and then come back home and apply what I learned
out there to hear.

Speaker 2 (43:46):
So your experience is similar to these kids.

Speaker 1 (43:48):
I mean you went through the junior college system here
and the opportunity to then go to a four year school.
You stay close obviously at wrestled for Lars in San
Francisco State, but the opportunity now you've gone through this,
You've lived this life life with them.

Speaker 2 (44:00):
How does that help you coach these kids.

Speaker 11 (44:03):
It's a unique lifestyle. It's California junior colleges. We don't
have scholarships. We don't have athletic scholarships like the n
j c A or other other divisions and college wrestling,
so a lot of a lot of people grind, a
lot of people commute far to to go to school
and compete. We're one semester sport, so you really have
to make the most of the opportunities in the spring

(44:23):
semester wrestling, freestyle on your own, going to open tournaments.
So it's a it's a very unique experience, so very
h A lot of differences between the four year levels
and the n j c A level. So I did
it for two years and got to see the differences
wrestling or coaching Division two and Division three. But it's uh,
there's a there's a lot of positives that you get

(44:43):
out out of this level as well.

Speaker 1 (44:45):
You're the president of the Coaches Association out here, so
they add more hats for you to wear. It's like
how many hats, So welcome back, Let's put you to work,
you know, what are some things that you have to
do to be an advocate not just for you know,
your school, for the kids.

Speaker 2 (44:58):
You're recruiting and then that are in the area that
are going to.

Speaker 1 (45:00):
Come to Sac City, but the school as a whole
and the role of California Community colleges in the world
of kyleege wrestling.

Speaker 11 (45:07):
That's a good question. There's a lot. Like you said,
there's a lot of hats to where. One of my
goals when I started started my tenure as the president was.

Speaker 2 (45:15):
To give us sport more visibility.

Speaker 4 (45:17):
So start, we started a social.

Speaker 11 (45:19):
Media page, we got we made some highlight videos, put
the results up on social medium at a rankings committee.

Speaker 4 (45:24):
We just do a lot to get the sport out there.

Speaker 11 (45:26):
We helped grow women's wrestling, so we're up to sixteen
intercollegiate women's program.

Speaker 4 (45:31):
So at the start of it, it was an emerging sport.

Speaker 11 (45:35):
So we had to convince athletic directors that all the
schools that are interested that this is support you should act.

Speaker 6 (45:39):
But Tustin Kart did.

Speaker 11 (45:41):
A lot of leg work with making a PowerPoint and
spreading out to athletic directors. We had meetings with different
ethlector directors and presidents to get to kick the ball rolling.

Speaker 6 (45:51):
But it's going well.

Speaker 4 (45:52):
But we see the numbers are up across the board
with rosters.

Speaker 11 (45:55):
Men's and women's and some other hats include just just
getting off the coach. Just community came with all the coaches,
started committees and just keeping everybody up on the same page.

Speaker 4 (46:03):
And we want to get to the We want to
get to be on the same page.

Speaker 2 (46:07):
Is what they do at the four year level.

Speaker 11 (46:08):
So I took my experience from Division III and try
to apply a year and make things go well here.

Speaker 4 (46:14):
So we're getting there.

Speaker 1 (46:16):
You don't have to live here to know to read
the papers and understand that. You know, the budget out
here in California is what it is and it's always
going to be a fight, and you guys kind of
fall under that being you know, public schools, public community colleges.
So how do you go about convincing other athletic directors,
other coaches and schools. You'd be like, hey, we need
to bring wrestling back. You know more part brought it back,

(46:37):
not that long ago. College of the Redwoods just brought
it back. Had a finalist tonight, first time since nineteen
eighty two. So to get that number above twenty two,
to get that creep into thirty to forty like it was,
and it's heyday.

Speaker 2 (46:48):
What needs to happen.

Speaker 11 (46:49):
A lot needs to happen, But we're on the way.
We got to build value in the sport. We have
to We have to show that it's a sport that's
worth invested in. We have to show that we're cost effective.
We have to show that we could be a little
bit self annimal. We could, we could, we could fund raise,
we could bring fants, we could bring fans to our events. Uh,
we just we just need to keep promoting the sport,
whether it's growing in the off season where whether it's

(47:11):
taking being a part of beach Wrestling, or getting more
guys at freestyle Termerus, or taking advantage of our non
traditional season where we compete in our off season.

Speaker 4 (47:18):
We gotta we gotta take a part of that. We
gotta take full advantage of that. So have confidence we
can get it done.

Speaker 11 (47:23):
I know there's a school, Imperial Valley College that's looking
to add men's and women's next year, similar to how
College of Redwood's added last year, and we're looking at
continuing to grow women's wrestling is the fastest growing sport
next to the flag football, I think, and I just
think that, you know, it just shines the great light
on the sport, men's and women. So we just need
to keep doing we need to do to grow, grow

(47:45):
and allow the sport to keep developing.

Speaker 1 (47:48):
Yeah, because we got the Fall League with the man
the women wrestle in the spring, adding another wrinkle to
the wrestling landscape.

Speaker 4 (47:53):
Yep, oh, yeah, definitely.

Speaker 11 (47:54):
So we also have opportunities to wrestle in your off season,
so the men could get three days in the spring
where they could wrestle against other community college teams. So
we just haven't taken advantage of it in the past.
We're setting up some freestyle and greco events, just try
to get these kids competing in organized events more and more,
and same with the women in the Fall. So we're
just gonna keep on doing that and promoting on social

(48:15):
media to follow cccw c A Underscore Wrestling, You want
to check us out, so we do. We do a
pretty decent job of promoting on social media, and we
just want to keep on doing it more and more.
So we have some sponsors we worked with this year
us there for special Warfare the United States Marines. We're
looking at building our sponsorship list to be able to

(48:35):
do more more with the.

Speaker 2 (48:36):
Sport Coach Gails, thanks a lot, appreciate it man, Thank
you very much.

Speaker 1 (48:42):
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