Takedown Report

Coaching Retirements

Kocher Announces Retirement After 45 Years With UChicago Wrestling
CHICAGO – It’s an end of an era for University of Chicago wrestling as head coach Leo Kocher has announced his upcoming retirement after 45 years at the helm for the Maroons.
“I cannot imagine a more rewarding professional and personal adventure than the one that has been provided to me by my years at the University of Chicago,” said Kocher. “The opportunity to work with the amazing student athletes who, while handling the most psychologically and physically grueling of intercollegiate sports, at the same time earn a degree from a college which is unsurpassed in its ability to deliver a demanding and extraordinary education.”
Kocher will leave UChicago as the most tenured of all head coaches in the department’s history. He has coached one NCAA D-III champion, one NCAA D-III outstanding wrestler, 32 All-Americans, 144 individual University Athletic Association (UAA) champions, and has led the Maroons to 18 UAA team titles with the last coming in 2023.
Kocher continued by saying, “I am also very grateful for the support and warm friendships shared with so many of my colleagues in Chicago athletics, as well as our college students and university professionals who impacted the lives of my wife Joy and me in our seven years as resident heads in the college housing system. Speaking of Joy, she earns enormous credit and my undying love for her dauntless management of the challenges the spouse of an intercollegiate athletic coach must face.  This includes instances of unassisted minding of our three children, competition’s many late evenings and road trips. For the past four decades Joy has dealt with it all with grace and enviable competence.”
Kocher received the school’s John T. Wilson and Norman Maclean awards during his time at the university to go along with several inductions into wrestling hall of fames, numerous Man of the Year and lifetime service awards, and other various recognitions from associations and publications over the years. … story at … UChicago.edu/Kocher-announces-retirement-after-45-years-with-uchicago
And …

CMU’s Tom Borrelli Set to Retire After NCAA Championships
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – Central Michigan’s Tom Borrelli, one of the most respected figures in college wrestling, has announced his retirement at the conclusion of the 2023-24 season.
One of the sport’s all-time winningest coaches and an iconic name among his peers, Borrelli led the Chippewas to a first-place finish in the Mid-American Conference Championships over the weekend at Kent State. It was CMU’s 17th such title, the 15th under Borrelli. Including regular season crowns, the Chippewas captured a remarkable 30 MAC championships during Borrelli’s reign. He was named the MAC Coach of the Year for a record 15th time on Saturday.
Borrelli will officially step down after the NCAA Championships on March 23, bringing to an end a career that began in 1979 as a high school coach at his alma mater Goose Creek High School near Charleston, S.C. and continued at Riverwood High School near Atlanta.
Borrelli, who joined the college ranks as an assistant at Clemson in 1984, plans to remain heavily involved with the program that he has been instrumental in building and maintaining since coming to CMU from Lake Superior State in 1991. “The program is in a good spot, I think we’re going to have a good team next year, but I think it’s time for maybe a little different direction, some new enthusiasm – just a younger, more energetic person to lead the program,” said Borrelli, who amassed a 414-204 career dual meet record, ranking fourth in victories among active college coaches and second to Oklahoma State’s John Smith among those leading NCAA Division I programs. … story at … Getsomemaction.com/CMUS-tom-borrelli-set-to-retire-after-ncaa-championships
And …

Central Michigan’s Tom Borrelli Took Unconventional Coaching Path
Tom Borrelli will retire as the head coach of Central Michigan after the 2024 NCAA Championships, but his journey was not without challenges.
Mar 13, 2024 by Kyle Klingman
Tom Borrelli still doesn’t know why he was put in charge of his high school wrestling team as a junior. He was only 16 and competed at 98 pounds — the lightest weight class.  It was a week before the South Carolina state championships and most of the wrestlers who had qualified were juniors and seniors at heavier weights. The head coach had to leave practice Borrelli became the interim coach for an hour.  Nervous and more than a little shocked, Borrelli warmed up the team and put them through a series of drills. After the first set, he noticed that the team was goofing off.  That did not sit well with Borrelli. He stopped the entire practice and ripped into the team.  “I don’t know what you guys are thinking but I want to do well in the state tournament and I want to finish strong at the end of the year,” Borrelli told the team. “I’m going to practice hard. If you want to practice hard then practice hard. If not, you probably don’t need to be here.” 
Borrelli watched as practice resumed. Everyone was working hard. Everyone listened. Everyone responded to the smallest wrestler on the team. “It was the first time I ever had the feeling that I might be able to motivate people someday,” Borrelli said. “That was the first time I ever experienced that I guess.”  Experience is something Borrelli had little of when he took his larger teammates to task in 1974. He started wrestling in 10th grade and didn’t place at the state tournament the previous season. He eventually finished second as a junior and third as a senior for Goose Creek High School — but Borrelli admits that South Carolina wasn’t a national wrestling power, either. 
As it turned out, Borrelli was never destined to be a wrestler. He was destined to be a wrestling coach.  Because his high school didn’t offer the sport until he was a sophomore, Borrelli had to rely on instruction from his father — a former Pennsylvania state champion who served in the Navy for 24 years. His high school wrestling coach was the football coach who understood that wrestling would help the football team. 
The elder Borrelli would ask his son what he learned in practice and then they would go out in the yard and work on moves. Remember, this is South Carolina so the snow wasn’t a factor during the winter.  Tom learned to execute moves and would return to practice and explain the technique. The coach eventually discovered that Tom’s father was a former wrestler and invited him to be an assistant. … story at … Flowrestling.org/Central-michigans-tom-borrelli-took-unconventional-coaching-path

April 2, 2024 - Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized