Reinstate Greg Wagaman as Head Wrestling Coach

Can you find a coach or educator at Fallbrook High School who spends more actual time mentoring their charges than Greg Wagaman has? It seems he was never away from the school or the kids. As the Executive Officer of Devil Pups, he saw the value of sending our wrestlers through the program. This has had an immediate and positive impact on our young men (and women), the wrestling program and ultimately the school. Our wrestlers understand personal responsibility. They know that not being early is being late. They understand that they have to take ownership of themselves and the program. They know how to talk to their parents and authority figures. They police themselves extremely well. They do professional reading as a tool for self-improvement. They hold study halls in the wrestling room as required and match up skill levels to facilitate some in-house tutoring.

Fallbrook wrestlers have the most community interaction of any sport at this school. These kids understand service to others and are well-known throughout this community. Misconduct is down, grades are up, participation is at record levels and performance on the individual and team level has increased dramatically. Thanks to Greg, other programs know who we are and respect us. Last year after a dual meet at Westview, their Athletic Director was greatly impressed and forwarded Greg a complimentary note stating that we had a “Very professional program”. We were a topic of discussion at the North County Coaches post-season meeting. Last season was truly a breakout season and the results show we have tough, motivated seniors and juniors and sophomores poised for great success next season. Two of our alumni coaches were actively recruited this year and will be competing for nationally ranked wrestling programs next season.

Greg has been actively advocating for a better facility for years, beginning when he was an unpaid assistant under the former athletic director. He previously relinquished a paid head coaching position at San Marcos to come to Fallbrook as an unpaid volunteer. He established a viable supporting association, a great youth program as a direct feeder to the high school. He has successfully trained and mentored young men and women over the years. He has expended untold hours and thousands of dollars of his own money to continuously move this program forward. In all of his years at Fallbrook, not one staff teacher has offered to help with the team, even though there are several that were former wrestlers. Getting a staff teacher to do the 6th period has never happened…there’s no money in it. With all that has been fought for and accomplished over the years, the plan is to get rid of the guy who has been willing and able to do the hard work; fight the hard fights. And then reward someone else with an established, viable program and probably a new room. Greg has never done anything for his own benefit as it relates to these kids and the program. It has always been about the kids and the program, usually at the detriment of his own family and business time.

The seniors are not getting the opportunities they deserve and have worked so hard for. The ham-handed approach to apply a band aid fix for this season will virtually kill any real chance of success for our wrestlers. They deserve better treatment than that. FHS principal Rod King and athletic director Patrick Walker would never even consider doing something like this to football, basketball or baseball. Let's get Coach Wagaman back in the wrestling room where he belongs asap and get this 2014-2015 season started right.