Hello all-- bit of news here-- Patricia and I just found out that I have been selected as one of four finalists to be named as the official Olympic team coach for the Beijing Olympics (for women's wrestling). There are four coaches named that vie for the 1-2 spots. The other finalists are 5x World Champion Bill Scherr, Oregon State wrestling coach and NCAA Champion Troy Steiner, and Tadaki Hatta. The final selection will be made in a few weeks after a few rounds of telephone interviews.
Quick word-- don't get your hopes up... While it is flattering to be selected as a finalist for the Olympic team position, the committee holding power had little choice but to include me in the final four because I have strong support from the resident team in Colorado. However, I have few allies on the Coach's selection committee, and the politics are staggering. Suffice to say, I am not optimistic that I will get to be the US representative for this position. I'll keep you posted.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Because my reporting on this topic is so shoddy, I am posting the official story posted on themat.com. The facts herein are a little more accurate.
-Levi
-----
Hatta, Scherr, Steiner, Weikel-Magden named finalists for U.S. Olympic Team Women’s Coach positions
Gary Abbott Gary Abbott
11/02/2007
USA Wrestling has chosen four finalist candidates to serve as coaches for the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team in women’s freestyle wrestling.
Named as finalists for the volunteer women’s coaching position for the U.S. team that will compete at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China are:
• Tadaaki Hatta of Elyria, Ohio
• Bill Scherr of Glenview, Ill.
• Troy Steiner of Corvallis, Ore.
• Levi Weikel-Magden of Colorado Springs, Colo.
The four finalists were selected by USA Wrestling’s Women’s Coach Selection Committee.
One of these four volunteer coaches will be selected to serve on the coaching staff at the Beijing Games, along with USA Wrestling’s National Women’s Coach Terry Steiner.
Three of the finalists have served as official Women’s World Team Coaches at recent World Championships: Hatta (1991), Scherr (2005, 2006) and Steiner (2007). Weikel-Magden has been on the coaching staff of a number of U.S. World Teams.
Hatta was a coach for the 2007 Pan American Games team, as well as a number of U.S. age-group World Teams.
Scherr was a member of the 1988 U.S. Olympic freestyle team as an athlete, winning a bronze medal at 100 kg/220 lbs. He also won four World medals in his career, including a 1985 World gold medal.
Both Hatta and Steiner were finalists for the Olympic Coach positions for the 2004 U.S. Olympic Team.
Complete biographies of each of the finalists are below.
All four finalists will be given a formal telephone interview with the Women’s Coach Selection Committee. After the interview process, the Women’s Coach Selection Committee will select the two coaches which the committee recommends for the Olympic coaching positions.
USA Wrestling’s Executive Committee will then meet to approve the selections of the Women’s Coach Selection Committee. The decision of the Executive Committee will be forwarded to the U.S. Olympic Committee for final approval as USA Wrestling’s nominees for the Olympic Coach positions.
USA Wrestling expects its Olympic Coach selection process to be completed by late-November.
Tadaaki Hatta, Elyria, Ohio
Hatta served as Pan American Coach for the 2007 Pan American Games team, which competed in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The U.S. won medals in all four weight classes, including individual champions Sara McMann and Kristie Marano.
He was the head coach of the 1991 U.S. Women’s World Team that placed fifth in the World Championships in Tokyo, Japan and featured two medalists.
He was the coach of the 2006 World University Championships in Ulan Batar, Mongolia, where the United States placed fourth in the standings, with two medalists. Hatta was also the coach of the 2005 World University Games team in Izmir, Turkey, where the U.S. team placed fourth, led by four medalists.
He was on the coaching staff for the women’s team at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece. He was a finalist for the Women’s Freestyle coaching position for the 2004 U.S. Olympic Team.
He served as the Assistant Coach of the 2003 U.S. Women’s World Team that placed second at the World Championships in New York, N.Y., and featured seven individual medalists, including champion Kristie Marano.
Hatta was also a member of the 1988, 1992 and 1996 U.S. Olympic team coaching staff in men’s freestyle wrestling. He was also a coach of the 1968 and 1984 Japanese Olympic team, as well as the 1972 Mexican Olympic team.
Hatta was also head coach of the Women’s 1999 Cadet World Team, the 2001 and 2002 Women’s Junior World Team and the 2002 Women’s University World Team. He was also the boy’s Cadet World Team coach in 1998. Hatta served on the coaching staff for numerous men’s freestyle World Teams prior to concentrating on the women’s program.
He is a USA Wrestling Gold Certified Coach. Hatta was a leader within USA Wrestling Ohio for many years, previously serving as Director of Wrestling Development and Coaches Education Director. Hatta is also an M-1 referee within USA Wrestling.
Hatta is a coach for women wrestlers with the New York AC. He also coaches with the All-American Wrestling Club, a youth club in LaGrange, Ohio. Hatta previously was a coach with the Dave Schultz WC and the Sunkist Kids.
Hatta was active as a coach on the high school levels in Ohio, serving 20 years (1978-98) in positions with Oberlin High School, Ravenna High School, St. Edward High School and Walsh Jesuit High School. He also served nine years as the rugby coach at St. Edward. Professionally, he works as an art teacher for Ravenna High School.
He competed for Oklahoma State Univ., where he was a 1965 NCAA champion and third in the 1966 NCAA Championships. Hatta also won two Big Eight titles for the Cowboys. He was a national runner-up in freestyle three times. Hatta has received a Master’s degree from Northwestern Univ.
Bill Scherr, Glenview, Ill.
Scherr served as a World Team coach of the 2006 U.S. Women’s World Team, which competed in Guangzhou, China and placed seventh in the World Championships, led by two medalists
Scherr was a World Team coach of the 2005 U.S. Women’s World Team which competed in Budapest, Hungary, placed third in the team standings and featured four medalists, including World champion Iris Smith.
He is a coach for the women wrestlers with the Sunkist Kids, which won the 2007 U.S. Nationals team title and placed five athletes on the 2007 U.S. World Team.
Scherr was an assistant coach at Northwestern Univ. last year, which placed fourth at the NCAA Championships, its highest finish in school history. He currently coaches the Wildcat WC freestyle wrestlers and is a volunteer with Northwestern Univ. program.
He was an assistant coach at Indiana University for five years, from 1984-89, working with coach Jim Humphrey. The team was 2-17 the season before his arrival and had a 15-0 record his final year with the program. Scherr is also a widely respected clinician, working numerous camps and clinics around the nation.
Scherr was one of the greatest wrestlers in U.S. freestyle history. He was a 1985 World champion and a 1988 Olympic bronze medalist. He ran off an amazing five-year run of consecutive World-level medals for the United States from 1985-89. He was also a 1986 and 1989 World silver medalist and a 1987 World bronze medalist. His five consecutive World-level medals is one of U.S. wrestling’s greatest feats.
Bill Scherr was a two-time World Cup champion, a Pan American Games champion, a World Grand Masters champion, a Goodwill Games champion and a four-time U.S. Nationals champion. In 1992, he made a late comeback to the sport, winning the U.S. Nationals title and making the finals of the Olympic Team Trials where he placed second. He is a Distinguished Member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.
Scherr was a 1984 NCAA champion at the Univ. of Nebraska, where he starred alongside his twin brother Jim. He was also a two-time high school state champion from Mobridge, S.D.
He is a leader in the effort to bring the 2016 Olympic Games to Chicago, serving as chairman of World Sport Chicago as well as serving on the Board of Directors of Chicago 2016.
Professionally, he is a Vice President with Goldman Sachs & Co.
Troy Steiner, Corvallis, Ore.
Steiner served as World Team Coach for the 2007 U.S. Women’s World Team, which placed fifth in the team standings and featured three individual medalists in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Steiner has coached a number of U.S. teams in international competition and has participated in Women’s Team USA training camps. He was selected as a finalist for the U.S. Olympic Team women’s wrestling coaching position in 2004. He is the twin brother of USA Wrestling National Women’s Coach Terry Steiner.
Steiner enters his second season as an assistant wrestling coach at Oregon State Univ., where he helped head coach Jim Zalesky lead the Beavers to the Pac-10 title in their first year there. Steiner worked the two previous seasons as an assistant coach under Zalesky at the Univ. of Iowa.
He also served as an assistant coach at Wisconsin from 1997-2001 and Minnesota in 1996-97 and at Oregon State under Joe Wills for the 1995-96 season. Steiner also owned and operated the ADVANCE School of Wrestling in Madison, Wis., for four years.
Steiner was a four-time all-American at Iowa from 1990-93 and a NCAA champion in 1992. He won three Big Ten titles at Iowa, compiling a 148-13 career record at 134 and 142 pounds. He was part of three national and four Big Ten championship teams. Steiner shares Iowa’s school record for best season winning percentage for the 42-0 record he compiled during his junior season.
He was a top freestyle wrestler, winning gold medals at the 1992 World Cup and the 1996 Pan American Championships. He was third in the 1992 and 1996 U.S. Olympic Team Trials, and fifth in the 2000 U.S. Olympic Team Trials.
A native of Bismarck, N.D., Steiner was inducted into the North Dakota Hall of Fame in 1998.
Levi Weikel-Magden, Colorado Springs, Colo.
Weikel-Magden served as coach for the 2006 and 2007 U.S. Women’s World Cup team. In 2006, the U.S. placed third in the tournament held in Nagoya, Japan, led by champion Sally Roberts. In 2007, the U.S. team placed fifth in the tournament, held in Krasnoyarsk, Russia, led by champions Sara McMann and Patricia Miranda.
He was on the coaching staff for the U.S. team at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece. He has served as a member of the U.S. World Team coaching staff many times, assisting the team at the 2000, 2002, 2003, 2006 and 2007 World Championships
Weikel-Magden currently assists coaching the women freestyle wrestlers at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., working daily with the resident athletes there.
He is a club coach for the Sunkist Kids, and previously coached with the Dave Schultz WC and the Gator WC. The Sunkist Kids won the 2007 U.S. Nationals team title and placed five athletes on the 2007 U.S. World Team.
Weikel-Magden is the coach for 2004 Olympic bronze medalist Patricia Miranda, who has also won three World medals.
He has coached numerous U.S. women’s teams on international tours during the last seven years.
Weiken-Magden served as a club coach and volunteer assistant coach for the Univ. of Virginia for three years.
He competed at Stanford Univ., where he was an NCAA Championships qualifier, two-time Pac-10 placewinner and four-year starter for the Cardinal team, serving as the team captain his senior year. Weikel-Magden was a three-time state placewinner for Riverside High School in Oregon. He competed nationally in freestyle for the Dave Schultz Wrestling Club. He is a graduate of the Univ. of Virginia Law School
Tadaaki Hatta was selected as the Olympic Team coach for 2008. While I do not believe the decision is overturnable, there seems to be some impropriety in the selection process. Hatta was overwhelmingly rejected by the national team athletes who were asked for imput prior to the voting (the OTC athletes and most of the number one ranked athletes living elsewhere). Hatta also contacted each of the committee members independant of the formal review process with the intent of securing votes. The coach's selection committee is being very tight-lipped and vague regarding the reasons for their voting, but the reality seems to be that the likely Olympians' desires were not at all weighty in the decision process.
Post a Comment