Behind the two thin-rimmed lenses of his glasses, Tom Pummill, wrestling coach, furls and unfurls his brow as he observes the boys of the wrestling team. Behind his brow lies decades of wrestling experience, including winning State as a high school student at Fox and coaching the LHS and MHS wrestling teams.
After Bret Marshall, who was initially going to be the new head coach, resigned for family reasons in October, a last minute search for a coach began. The search ended with Tom Pummill.
“We approached Pummill because he has a wealth of experience and knowledge in wrestling,” Activities Director Mark Linneman, said. “He’s coached for MHS before and we thought it would be great if he did it again.”
And he did. After what Pummill said was a series of very long talks with Linneman and Jim Kremer, the new assistant coach, he made the decision.
“Coach Kramer and I used to coach together and so we sat down and talked about it for quite a while,” Pummill said. “Kremer said, ‘If you do this, then I’ll do it too.’ And so we both decided to step in again as coaches.”
Pummill said he left the sport more than 10 years ago because it was so time consuming and he needed to spend time with his family. He said the amount of time that needs to be put into coaching wrestling just comes with the nature of the sport.
“You have to be passionate about what you’re coaching,” Pummill said. “Any really good coach in any sport has to have passion, and with that passion work ethic, and with that work ethic lots of time. With wrestling, a coach has to work to teach high percentage wrestling: center the focus on all of the moves that have the most success against opponents.”
For each match seen on the mat, Pummill said, there’s hours of hard work and strategy behind it. Pummill said his experience with wrestling helps him with this aspect of coaching.
“[My experience] gives me an edge in coaching,” Pummil said. “Knowing the sport helps you get ahead of your opponents because you can often anticipate their moves and teach the wrestlers what to do as soon as that opponent makes that move.”
Matteo Perla, junior, said Pummill pushes his wrestlers every practice to help build their skills.
“He makes us work really hard,” Perla said. “I like that about a coach. It helps us improve.”
A coach with a lot of experience in wrestling can translate into a lot of success with coaching, Perla said.
“He’s no stranger to winning,” Perla said. “And winning is a great thing to have experience in for a team.”
Pummill said stepping back onto the coaching scene has been a difficult task in some regards, but not others.
“Dealing with all of the coach management stuff and all of the paperwork and new MSHSAA regulations has been a little overwhelming,” Pummill said. “But as for the wrestling itself, it’s very much like that bicycle analogy: You may forget how to put your feet on the pedals and get yourself set up, but once you’re going again, it’s all just natural.”
Pummill said he will strive to be the very best coach he can be for this organization. Referencing Fred Ross, the head coach he worked under at LHS when the team placed sixth, third, second and first in State over a five year span, Pummill said he’s seen how great coaching works and he knows the ins and outs of it all.
“You learn a lot if you have a good mentor,” Pummill said. “[Ross] was a man who knew the sport, who worked with the wrestlers, and who talked to the parents about it all. He knew coaching. That’s the type of strategy I’m going to bring here.”
Linneman said he’s anxious to watch the season get under way.
“For Tom Pummill to come back into coaching just excites me,” Linneman said. “I’m really excited to see what he does for the wrestling team.”
Pummill said he intends to meet those expectations.
“I am going to give everything I possibly can to these kids,” Pummill said. “Because they deserve it.”