March 4, 2021 at 8:11 a.m.
Ellenbecker steps down again from RHS wrestling
Ellenbecker steps down again from RHS wrestling
Ellenbecker, who has been the program's head coach for nine of the last 10 years, went public with his decision in the team's end-of-season wrap-up video, which was published to YouTube on Sunday.
The video, which was produced in lieu of a season-ending banquet, included a roughly five-minute segment in which Ellenbecker discussed his time with the program and his reasons for moving on, which he said in a subsequent interview with the River News, came down to a lack of motivation.
"I think as a head coach you need to be stressed out," he said. "You need to be worried about it. If not, your heart's not in it. That was probably the telling sign to me. I went to bed the night before competitions and I slept normal. It was a totally different vibe than it used to be as far as competitiveness. That's a sign to me that it's time to be done."
Ellenbecker said he had leaned in this direction much of the season and informed administration - which included activities director Brian Paulson, RHS principal Shane Dornfeld and district administrator Eric Burke - of his decision prior to the release of the video on Sunday.
"Like he said in his video. He's done. He's tired," Paulson said. "He doesn't feel like he can build the whole program back up and we're looking for someone to get in there and help build that youth program up to have strong wrestlers again."
Ellenbecker accumulated a 101-47-3 dual meet record over his two stints as RHS head coach, including a 32-13 record in Great Northern Conference duals. The Hodags won four team GNC championships during his tenure and Rhinelander had 30 conference champions, 16 regional champions and 16 state qualifiers during Ellenbecker's tenure.
Ellenbecker first resigned following a 2017-18 season that saw the Hodags send five wrestlers to the WIAA Division 1 state meet, three of whom placed in the top six of their respective weight classes. Nathan Piasecki took over the program in 2018, but was suddenly dismissed by the district weeks before the 2019-20 season and Ellenbecker was renamed the head coach.
At the time, Ellenbecker was described as the "interim" head coach. He admitted that he never envisioned his return leading the program being a long-term solution. The challenges brought forth by the COVID-19 pandemic made this season even more difficult, he added.
"It definitely makes a difference," he said. "I'm not going to say that if it had been a perfect year and everything was normal, I wouldn't have been done anyway, but the COVID stuff, it was just a good time to get out. COVID is COVID, but it did wreck a lot of things for a lot of people this year and really hurt our program big time."
"He helped us coming back. We're so appreciative of that," Paulson said. "This was kind of a fill until we thought we had somebody we could move to, have somebody in house and try to get more wrestling coaches. We're always looking for quality coaches to coach any program. He's got some assistants who have helped him out and he feels now would be a good time for a possible change."
Ellenbecker minced no words in advocating who the next face of the RHS wrestling program should be, strongly recommending first-year assistant Scottie Arneson for the job.
"They should hire Scott Arneson immediately, if they're smart, and they shouldn't drag their feet with it. He's an elite young coach that will do an awesome job," he said. "He's one of the best young coaches I've been around. He's committed to Rhinelander and they need to commit to him ASAP and not drag their feet with this. I think they will. I think they know what they have and I think they can hit a home run here with this next hire. It makes it a lot easier for me to step down when I know we're going to be taken care of."
Paulson said Arneson, the son of former Rhinelander state champion and longtime Merrill coach Scott Arneson, would certainly be considered for the position, should he apply.
"We'd love to keep Scottie here. We hope that he's interested in this position, but it will be open to everybody," he said. "That's what we do as a district. It opens up and we encourage people to apply and keep our minds and our ears open."
Paulson added he expected to position to be posted within a week.
"We'd like to get moving on it, feeling that we need to get some things done over the summer, get some things organized, who's going to be in place," he said. "This time around, we're going to need to move a little bit quicker."
Whoever takes over will be looking to rebuild a program that has waned a bit from its run of success in the early to mid 2010s. The Hodags have finished below .500 in the GNC each of the last three seasons. A lack of numbers due to injuries and COVID hurt the team's chances this past season.
"As far as the club goes, financially we're sitting well. We have a lot of pieces in place," Ellenbecker said. "We don't have to buy any equipment. We're a pretty decent program that way. We just need to get more kids out. Our middle school numbers are pretty decent. We just need to wrestle more."
As for Ellenbecker, while stepping down as head wrestling coach, he does not envision getting away from coaching entirely. He's still an assistant coach for the RHS football program and did not rule out taking on some role within the wrestling program next year, depending on who is hired as the new head coach.
"I don't know how far away I'll be next year," he said. "When I quit the first time, I separated from the program for a whole year. This time, I don't think I'm going to separate. I think I'll still be helping out. It depends on how things work out next year, when they hire the new guy, if I get along with the guy and he wants me back. That's kind of the plan."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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