Has been beset with controversy over the past few months. Thursday night the school board sought to turn the page by replacing Todd Smith as coach with Jimmy Savage.
This has been a story where its been tough to tell what is really going on. I know several wrestlers in the program have been unhappy with Smith, charges of unprofessionalism and some quit during the season, which is generally not a good sign of health. Nothing substantiated has ever made the papers, and worse charges of mean and denigrating behavior were levied last fall against the football coach and he still has his job (despite going 0-10 and being completely non-competitive in most games). I think a lot of people were unhappy upfront two years ago with the Smith hire because he didn’t wrestle himself in high school in the mid-90s. But a lot of guys coach a sport without ever having played that sport at that level themselves. You can know how to do something and be able to teach it without having the athletic skill to have done it yourself. To my knowledge no one had complained when Smith coached the middle school program (based on performance fairly successfully) the prior couple seasons. And I should say, to the extent I know Todd (I graduated high school with him) I’m not sure I can visualize him being unprofessional. He would certainly be more likely to pal around with the players than be a strict disciplinarian type, and paling around can lead to the perception of favoritism. But I don’t think Todd would ever intentionally hurt anyone.
At any rate, the program moves forward with Coach Savage. I don’t know him, but he has deep ties to Potter wrestling and Potter athletics in general, being basically the driving force behind Potter Sports Online and the ELHSAA website for the past decade+. I hope he is able to build a successful program and put some of this turmoil in the past.
June 13, 2008 at 12:58 pm |
I can also tell you Todd Smith did nothing worng as a coach or a person. A group of know it all parents and a few quiter wrestlers are the reason for all the problems!
September 26, 2008 at 10:25 am |
I grew up wrestling with Todd. I too wouldn’t believe him to act in any kind of denigrating or unprofessional manner. But I have not lived in East Liverpool for many years, so I can’t comment much on these current events.
Coach Savage was the assistant when I wrestled for the Potters in high school. I really wished then that he was named head coach when Nick Trombetta left. Many of the things I’ve heard Todd being accused of definitely happend when Coach Heimstra was there (and might be a reason Todd didn’t wrestle in high school – perhaps Todd made the right choice there).
Coach Savage was a great help to me on and off the mat while dealing with personal and family issues, as well as issues with Coach Heimstra. He is a great choice for head coach and I think this chance for him has come about 15 – 20 years too late. But as they say, better late than never.