Area Wrestling Coach of Year: Northwestern's Crabtree

Jacob Crabtree, Northwestern coach. Staff photo by Marshall Gorby

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By Kermit Rowe, Staff Writer Updated 7:16 AM Monday, March 22, 2010

SPRINGFIELD — Rookie head coach Jacob Crabtree feels strange that he would be getting any credit for the success of this year’s Northwestern High School wrestling team.

Never mind that he rose through the peewee coaching ranks with many of the Warriors’ current wrestlers. Or that he led them to their highest conference tournament finish since 1989 with a runner-up finish at the Central Buckeye Conference Championships and had seven wrestlers with 25 or more wins, four of which advanced to the district tournament. Or that this season’s success led to him being named the 2009-10 News-Sun All-Area Wrestling Coach of the Year.

“I felt I got my hand raised 278 times, which is the number of wins our team had as a whole this year,” he said. “But I didn’t get one takedown. You have to attribute that to the hard work the kids have done.”

That excites Crabtree, who is assisted by former Greenon standout Sean Christensen.

“Who is with you in the room is a key to building that strong individual talent,” he said. “We had a group of seven freshmen coming in and they built a strong bond, and the upperclassmen really took them in. And the parents were very close, and very helpful.

“Even now, the boys run around together on the weekend. They really are starting to build that camaraderie. I haven’t seen that in quite a while.”

Crabtree wants victories. But he’s after a higher ultimate goal.

“The big thing is wrestling is not about wins and losses,” he said. “It’s about trying to build young men.

“We had a little guy, Brian Cruz, who won a couple of matches this year, but he improved so much. He was just as happy as the guys who went to districts.

“When they get that good, moral hard work, that’s the key to all of it. Some of them buy into it and some of them don’t. You see the results in the ones who do and the consequences of the ones who don’t.”

Crabtree feels a strong responsibility to work harder himself. “I’ve really got to up my game to help these boys, to improve and move up to the next level,” he said. “They were a little disappointed in how we finished (in the postseason). Getting them to believe in themselves is really the first step to turn the program around.”

But he stresses success is in the eye of the beholder.

“There’s different levels of success,” he said. “I believe that Northwestern will be a program that is a solid, state-known program sometime soon.

“I see the potential. I see the potential of positive change in so many young men’s lives. That’s beyond above any scholarships and colleges wrestling. It is going to be a lot of fun.”

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