Regional alignments

[coach_stump]

The more this season develops, the more the evident that the powers to be did not do their homework on how to balance the landscape of WV wrestling. My biggest question, when they hire new people to the highest positions that have control of certain sports, do they look for someone with past experience in that sport? Maybe I can hear some insight here but I contacted the office the other day and asked to speak to the person in charge of wrestling and was told Wayne Ryan from Summers County. Am hoping to hear from someone that Mr. Ryan has had some previous experience in the sport we love. Just a concern of many that this retired coach has for the sport.

[coach_williams]

No idea who you spoke to, but Wayne Ryan is the Assistant Executive Director. The person directly over wrestling is Ray Londeree and he has been over it for a long time.

[coach_stump]

Not any more. Guess Mr. Londeree is like me, retired. I was directed to speak with Mr. Ryan.

[Sally]

Coach Stump,
You are correct about Mr Londeree retiring. It happened June 1 I believe when Dolan began.

How do they determine who is in charge of each sport? Great question!! If someone like Coach Stump doesn't know Mr. Ryan, then my guess is he may not be "highly qualified."
But I will bet a bottle of Coke Classic Mr. Ryan has Dr. Welker's cell number in his phone for rule interpretation.

[aacoach62]

Mr. Ryan was a very good girls basketball coach in Summers County. My guess he knows next to nothing about wrestling.

[IndyHart]

No wrestling programs in his home county (Summers). Haven't been in my wrestling life.

[timamos]

Ray Londeree is a great man and was a very good leader for WV Wrestling. He was always approachable and fair. He once gave an off the cuff opinion that a local administrator ran with, when I called him to ask about it he laughed and said "aw Tim, that guy should know to never call and ask me anything before I have had my first cup of coffee", he called the administrator and fixed it. If I had a question he would not only answer it, he would talk about different things that had happened over the years and the way the rule had evolved to address those gray area issues.

In my limited experience Bernie Dolan appears to be cut from the same cloth. Great guy who is willing to sit down, look at a rule, and discuss how it applies to the particular situation.

I do not know Wayne Ryan but I wish him the best, the sport of wrestling could go in a positive direction or a negative direction as this State adjusts to financial and population issues. With Ray Londeree's retirement we need a good leader for the sport at the WVSSAC. Wayne is new and unless he is superman, he will probably make mistakes like we all do when we were new (I've been on my job almost 20 years and I still screw up, I can't blame being new anymore). He is fortunate to have years of wrestling experience in guys like Dr Welker and Ray Londeree at his disposal.

Back to the point of the thread, the WVSSAC takes a lot of criticism around the state for everything from recruiting/transfer issues to the fact that there is a casino and strip joint on Wheeling Island. I don't know what is their fault and what isn't but I think the re-structuring of the regions was the school principals' baby, not the WVSSAC. Before you show up on Route 47 with pitchforks maybe you should ask your school principal what they were thinking. If answered honestly I think your principal will tell you that the realignment was an easy geographical fix by people who were not concerned about wrestling. The next questions are, will they fix it and how?

[coach_stump]

Mr. Londeree and I had a very good working relationship, along with Mr Ray. If I ever needed to have a question answered they were always on top of it and gave me an honest solution. As far as the regional alignments, myself and our administrators at Calhoun County submitted a format for the division of regionals in AA-A only. I shared with several other coaches throughout the state, with their approval. We were told by the SSSAC if we provided feedback, it would be considered. Our proposal was not even close to this. I was told that only a couple of the office sat down and made this decision. Who knows. And right Tim, we know its not good, but can it be fixed? Too late this year.

[coach_williams]

Well if Londeree is retired they need to remove his name from the website as the wrestling director.

Like others have said, I hate to see him go. He knew wrestling inside and out without ever needing to refer to some handbook or look something up. Not once did I call with a question or needing clarification that he didn't take my call and take the time to clarify things for me. WV wrestling will miss him.