Any chance anyone can copy and post the Trib Democrat article? I'm guessing I've reached my maximum number of reads on their site, as the article blanks out and it requests that I log in or subscribe.
Shad Benton always knew that he wanted to return to the wrestling mat as a coach.
The 2002 Division II national champion at Pitt-Johnstown and member of the District 6 Wrestling Hall of Fame was just looking for the right opportunity.
Bishop McCort Catholic offers an opportunity like perhaps no other in PIAA history.
Benton was introduced Saturday afternoon as head coach of the Crimson Crushers program that is poised to make an immediate impact in the state tournament next season.
“Shad gives us instant credibility in the wrestling community,” said Tom Fleming, the school’s principal and chief administrative officer. “He’s accomplished a great deal as a wrestler and as a wrestling coach. He brings that experience to the program. We believe he’s the right person to start a program from scratch.”
While the Crimson Crushers are technically a start-up program, they already have some of the state’s top wrestlers roaming the halls of the Johnstown campus.
Anthony Walters was a state runner-up at 170 pounds and Josiah Jones was a silver medalist at 220 pounds while both wrestled for Westmont Hilltop through Bishop McCort’s co-op with the Hilltoppers, which ended at the conclusion of this season.
Benton, who is a teacher at Central School District in Blair County, saw great potential at Bishop McCort.
“I kind of always had been aware and heard some rumblings, maybe dating back a decade or more, of the possibility of Bishop McCort starting a wrestling program,” he said. “I always thought that it could be a good opportunity and a place that success could be had.”
Walters and Jones are each sophomores this school year, meaning they’ll have two seasons wearing Crimson Crushers uniforms. Another classmate, Carnell Andrews, is a two-time state qualifier while Ethan Kelly reached the state tournament as a freshman this season.
Bishop McCort accounted for four of Westmont Hilltop’s five state qualifiers and helped the Hilltoppers finish 11th in the PIAA Class AA tournament.
“Obviously, he has some great kids to start with,” Fleming said of Benton. “We see him for the long haul. He’s an educator and a solid citizen, a very spiritual guy, and we feel he has all of the attributes to lead our new wrestling program.”
Ready for ‘a challenge’
While there is enough talent in the Bishop McCort wrestling room – which was an equipment room until being converted with newly purchased wrestling mats last season – there also could be issues fielding a competitive dual-meet team. The Crushers’ top four of Walters, Jones, Andrews and Kelly can match up with just about any team in the state, but filling a 14-weight lineup is a different story.
Benton’s son Elijah, who will be a senior next year, could end up filling one of those weights. Elijah was a qualifier for the Pennsylvania Junior Wrestling tournament when he was younger but did not compete in high school.
Nine Bishop McCort wrestlers were part of the co-op with Westmont this season, and Fleming is hopeful that interest in the sport will increase with the Crushers’ move to field their own team.
Even so, there could be a wide gap in ability levels between the experienced core of the team and its newcomers.
“It’s certainly going to be a challenge,” Benton said. “I think that if I had to choose between a room full of beginners or average-level wrestlers, or a room that has a lot of beginners with a few kids that are very experienced, I’d choose that room with the very experienced kids. We have to tap into that knowledge of the wrestlers that have had a great deal of experience and hope that rubs off on the newer guys.”
‘Great situation’
Benton has worked with some legendary coaches in his career, including Pat Pecora at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, where Benton won a national title.
After his wrestling career was finished, Benton continued to be a part of the Pitt-Johnstown program while he served as a student-teacher in the Central Cambria School District.
“When I had Sunday clinics, he was a great guy to put in charge of running the clinic, running practice for the clinic kids,” Pecora said. “Very knowledgeable. He has a good knowledge of wrestling. I believe it could be a great situation for him and McCort.”
Benton moved from one hall of fame coach to another, as he took a job as an assistant under Dave Crowell at Nazareth High School near Allentown.
A teaching job and chance to be a head coach lured Benton to State College, but things did not work out well for him there.
The once-proud Little Lions were just 3-11 when Benton was removed from the coaching position before the end of his second season.
Benton declined to discuss the specifics of his departure from State College but said that it was a learning experience.
“There was a disagreement with some team rules,” he said. “It ended up kind of blowing up and getting into a political thing. I always tell people, I felt like I handled things well.
“Looking back, having more experience now, and evaluating it from a distance, I probably could have done things differently. Ultimately, it ended up being a good thing for me. When I was there, it was a situation that I was looking to get out of.”
He returned to Martinsburg and a teaching job at Central, his alma mater. He served as a varsity assistant and head coach of the junior high program before stepping down about four years ago.
The combination of his experience as a wrestler and coach was attractive to Fleming, Bishop McCort Athletic Director Tim Schultz and the members of the school’s athletic committee.
“He’s accomplished a great deal,” Fleming said. “If he can transfer some of his knowledge and enthusiasm to our student-athletes, they’ll certainly benefit from that over the years.”
Facing the best
Putting together a schedule that suits multiple skill levels is one of the challenges that Benton will face.
The Crimson Crushers compete in the Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference, so they’re already locked into nine dual meets against league foes – including an intriguing home-opening match against Westmont Hilltop. Benton is counting on those dual meets as an opportunity for less-experienced wrestlers to get some mat time, and he’s tackling what likely will be the toughest schedule of any local team and one of the most difficult in the state.
Bishop McCort already has committed to wrestle in the Walsh Ironman tournament outside of Cleveland and the Escape the Rock tournament in suburban Philadelphia. Benton also is eyeing the Beast of the East tournament in Delaware. All three tournaments are consistently ranked among the top 10 in the nation, as is the POWERade event in Canonsburg, which Bishop McCort hopes to join at some point.
Most start-up programs wouldn’t have a chance to compete in such high-profile events, but the pedigree of Bishop McCort’s wrestlers opened doors that would otherwise have been closed.
“My philosophy is we’re willing to compete anywhere that is going to provide a very challenging level of competition for us, whether it be at Greater Johnstown High School or at the Beast of the East,” Benton said. “We certainly don’t feel we’re above any level of competition. We have to have the attitude that any time we step on the mat, that’s going to be the most important match we’ve ever wrestled. We’re willing to wrestle in any event that will make our kids better.”
‘The right way’
Benton understands that the job does come with some potential pitfalls. As the head coach at the only private school in the Johnstown area to offer wrestling, many of Benton’s coaching peers may worry that Bishop McCort will draw the top wrestlers from public schools in the region.
“It’s certainly something that I’m aware of,” Benton said of possible resentment. “I have thought a lot about it. I think what it boils down to is the only thing I can do and we can do as a program is be our best, day in and day out through our process. Try to run a program that does things the right way, make sure our wrestlers are good people off the mat. That’s all we can control. The part we have to worry about is the things that we can control. We can’t control what people outside the program think.”
Benton said that recruiting for athletic intent – whether to private or public schools – is prohibited by the PIAA, so he doesn’t see an issue there. The difference is that that Bishop McCort is not limited by geographic boundaries, while public schools are.
Pecora, who still serves as a mentor to Benton, doesn’t see a reason for other coaches in the area to be concerned.
“He’s not going to be out recruiting,” Pecora said. “He’ll do it the right way. Whoever comes his way, he’ll coach.”
Other coaches in the region told The Tribune-Democrat during the season that they were not interested in the Bishop McCort position because of the animosity that the person who was hired would face from others in the wrestling community.
“I haven’t talked to any other local high school coaches, but obviously I’ve spoken to Coach Pecora,” Benton said. “But, I also would like to add that I know a lot of the guys that are coaching locally. I’ve always had phenomenal relationships with the local high school coaches. I have a lot of respect for them as men and as coaches. I’m looking forward to keeping that positive.”
‘One tough cookie’
For Benton, turning to Pecora for advice was a natural choice.
“I can’t overstate the impact that coach Pat Pecora has had on me, as a person, foremost, and as a wrestler,” Benton said. “He really was and is a guiding light in my life. If I need advice, I still talk to him.”
Pecora coached Benton to his greatest success on the mat. After winning three PIAA medals – including a state runner-up finish in 1994 – Benton wrestled at Penn State, where he saw some time in the lineup as a true freshman. By his second season, he realized that his prospects of becoming a full-time starter “weren’t that great” and he ended up leaving the university.
Benton was close with John and Jody Strittmatter, Cambria Heights graduates who each won Division II national titles at UPJ, and enrolled at the Richland Township campus.
“In retrospect, it was the best thing that could have happened to me,” Benton recalled.
He was an All-American in each of his three seasons with the Mountain Cats and won the 157-pound championship in 2002.
“Shad was one tough cookie on the mat,” Pecora said.
Building for the future
Benton’s wife, Tara, is a registered nurse who accepted a job in Richland Township during the winter. At about the same time, he noticed an article in The Tribune-Democrat regarding the launch of the Bishop McCort wrestling program.
While he plans to keep his job as a social studies teacher at Central, Benton said he and his family are planning to relocate to Westmont, and he will commute from Martinsburg during the school year.
Benton’s youngest son, Jacob, who is 9, has never wrestled. But Benton said the fourth-grader plans to try the sport as part of the Johnstown Catholic Crusaders, the elementary and junior high program that Bishop McCort started in 2015 to serve as a feeder system for the varsity squad.
The Crusaders could play a key role in determining the long-term viability of the Bishop McCort program. In order to have sustained success, the school likely will need to be able to develop young wrestlers in its parochial schools.
“One of my primary objectives is going to be not only investing time and energy in the varsity program, but planting a foundation for a very strong feeder program and a junior high program as well,” Benton said. “We can get the kids in the parochial system the opportunity to compete in wrestling just like they have in other sports.”
Benton does not yet have a varsity assistant coach, but he said that he hopes to retain the coaches who have been helping with the Johnstown Crusaders program.
The school is moving forward with plans to upgrade its wrestling facilities, which gives Benton confidence that the school is committed to the program.
The way Benton sees it, the parochial program for younger wrestlers combined with better facilities at Bishop McCort can lead to student-athletes joining the sport who otherwise might not have, which could strengthen the area’s already solid reputation in the sport.
“We really hope to not only build Bishop McCort wrestling, but we think that the addition to Bishop McCort of wrestling – not only to the Johnstown area but to central Pennsylvania – adds to the wrestling flavor that we have here locally,” he said.
“As we try to get competitive and improve throughout the years, we hope it benefits everybody, all of the schools locally.”
