Aaron Gottesman A aron Gottesman was eagerly anticipating the opening day of wrestling practice as the new head coach of two-time NJSIAA Group IV state team champion Jackson Memorial High School. The first day of practice for the 2011-12 season was Nov. 28.
Gottesman, who came into the Jaguars’ program when Doug Withstandley was named head coach four years ago, now succeeds Withstandley, who stepped down after last season.
Gottesman has eagerly responded to his appointment as the Jaguars’ new head coach.
“Once it gets close, the biggest thing is time changes, and you wake up and it’s dark and you come home and it gets dark early, and you know the season is coming,” Gottesman said a few days before the start of practice. “As they say, you get the itch. You anticipate where you’re headed, and I’m very excited. There’s a great group of upperclassmen and a great crop of freshmen.”
The Jaguars will have a couple of wrestlers on their roster who just completed the football season.
“They played football but they also stayed in shape,” Gottesman said. “Will they be rusty? Absolutely. But it’s our job to get them in [wrestling] shape. I always believed that it’s good that they played other sports.”
Among those football-playing wrestlers is Dallas Winston, a state tournament runner up last season with a 40-3 record at 189 pounds. Winston played football for the first time this year after spending the fall season in the past strictly preparing for wrestling.
Winston is ranked No. 14 in the country going into the season.
Gottesman also pointed to Max Sunder, who won 11 bouts at 215 pounds, Mike Lopez, Dylan Harrington, who won 11 bouts at 177 pounds last season, and John Gaboff who wrestled in that class.
The coach commended his team’s offseason commitment and said he expected them to be ready for the start of practice.
“So far it seems that the kids had a good preseason, from what I can tell,” Gottesman said. “They competed for wrestling clubs, with many going into big showcases like the Super 32 held in Greensboro, N.C., over the summer. They are at a point where they are able to compete against the best wrestlers in the country.”
The season will start on Dec. 17-18 when the Jaguars return to the Beast of the East in Delaware, where they finished 11th last season. The Jaguars went on to fashion a 23-5 dual meet season and won the Shore Conference A South Division title in what was regarded as one of the toughest leagues in the state.
Jackson Memorial was the NJSIAA District 21 team champion while earning the No. 1 ranking in the Shore Conference and the No. 3 ranking in New Jersey.
Gottesman expects his wrestlers to perform well again this season.
“We have as good a shot as in the past to be No. 1,” the coach said. “The biggest thing is being healthy and making weight.”
Gottesman said he has high expectations not only for Winston, but for junior Brian Hamann, a fourth-place finisher in the state tournament as a freshman who was 18-5 at 119 pounds last season before being injured and missing the individual postseason tournaments.
The coach also mentioned Brad Royle, who won 20 bouts at 130 pounds and is primed for a big senior season. He also looks to junior Spencer Young, who won 25 bouts at 125 pounds, and junior Alec Huxford, who was 28-10 at 103 pounds.
And there are some prospects coming up from the successful programs at the Goetz Middle School and the Jackson Recreation team that has perennially won the Jersey Shore Junior League.
“The thing is that it’s not the physical preparation, but the mental preparation,” Gottesman said. “They have to buy into the system and believe in that. That helps. The key for Jackson over the years is that we’ve had a good lineup all the way through.”
He said it will not seem that much different than under Withstandley, who is an assistant on the Jaguars’ staff this season.
“He still loves wrestling and he is Jackson wrestling through and through,” Gottesman said about Withstandley. “I asked him to come back and help. He still has a lot to offer this sport.
“[Former Jackson Memorial coach] Scott Goodale and then coach Withstandley were high-strung, and I’m more laid back,” Gottesman said. “I bought into this system, so there will be no huge changes that need to be made.”
But there are some new members of the coaching staff, which Gottesman believes is an essential component to a team’s success.
Tony Compitello is back for his fourth season as an assistant. Chris Rash, who wrestled at King’s College, is new, along with Matt Bradley, who wrestled at Jackson and Rider University. Jack Huxford and Dave Palmese also are new to the staff.
The schedule is also different. Jackson Memorial is not wrestling teams like the Delbarton School, High Point and South Plainfield as it has in recent years, and instead slants its schedule to the south end of the state with matches against Kingsway, Absegami and Buena. There is also a dual meet scheduled with Franklin Township.
The Jaguars will begin the dual meet season on Dec. 21 at Shore Conference A South Division rival Brick Memorial High School in Brick Township.