August 18, 2011 at 2:29 p.m.
Rhinelander tabs new wrestling coach
Paul Ellenbecker plans to increase numbers, achieve success quickly
By Jonathan Bailey-
Ellenbecker was officially hired as the new wrestling coach at Rhinelander High School Monday. He replaces Jim Kreitlow, who resigned abruptly on March 14 after five years at the helm.
RHS activities director Charlie LaHam said Tuesday that the hire just made sense, given Ellenbecker's previous coaching background and the situation that the program finds itself in.
"He took a program that was suffering and really started to bring it back," the RHS AD said. "He's got a vision. He already has a plan in place and when he laid his plan out, I loved what I heard."
Ellenbecker's first challenge will be getting the numbers up in the program. For the past several years the Hodag wrestling team has been fluctuating around 10-15 wrestlers, a number that he immediately hopes to grow to 25.
"One of the things that I did well at East was building the program, getting kids out, getting kids excited and getting the community excited about it," he said. "I am hoping here in Rhinelander with the type of kids that I've met so far through the football team, some of the parents and boosters that have been involved, I'm just pretty confident that we're going to have some success and we're going to have success pretty quick here."
In just a short time at Wausau East, Ellenbecker turned the Lumberjacks into a winning program. Under his direction, East went 6-11 the first year, 9-11 the second and 15-6 in his third and final season as head coach.
He left the following year to pursue his master's degree, but continued to help out as an assistant coach. After completing his degree, he wanted to get back into coaching and found the Rhinelander position especially attractive.
"I wanted to go to a smaller school," Ellenbecker said. "I'm from Athens originally and I wanted to be a head coach again. This is a great opportunity here in the Northwoods and the Great Northern is a good wrestling conference. It's still close enough to the big-dog wrestling schools where we can get a chance to mix it up."
While numbers at Rhinelander are not where Ellenbecker currently wants them to be, he does take over a team with a considerable amount of talent. Last year, the Hodags sent five wrestlers to sectionals, only two of which graduated.
Throw into the mix a strong youth program and Ellenbecker believes Rhinelander can be a force to reckon with in the upcoming years.
"There's some kids coming," Ellenbecker said. "Obviously everyone knows about Connor Johnson and Richard Klaver, but there's guys like Bryce Bilogan and some of the other football guys that I've seen that are going to be pretty tough kids.
"I really think Rhinelander is kind of a sleeping giant when it comes to wrestling," he added. "I think there's a big future here."
Ellenbecker expects a larger coaching staff this season than in past years. Tyler Ruppert, who was hired by the School District of Rhinelander to teach math at the high school, is expected to be an assistant coach. He also said that Kreitlow may continue to help out and that he's trying to bring in a guy from Lakeland.
He also hopes to have some kids who graduated last year come in and volunteer, which includes Curtis Rich of Lakeland and Alex Bessette of Wausau East.
"I'm trying to build up as many people as we can," Ellenbecker said. "You're only as strong as your weakest man. You want to get that going. The more people you have, the more support you will get, the better off you'll be."
In addition to being the head wrestling coach at Rhinelander, Ellenbecker is an assistant coach with the varsity football team and a full-time teacher within the district. He was hired in June to be a special education teacher at the high school, replacing Sarah Schirra, who recently retired.
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