The Cleveland-Akron-Canton, Ohio area. According to WIN Magazines November 2010 Article titled “WIN’s Top Ten Wrestling ‘Hot Spots’ in the United States” “Thanks to the influence of the new elite — programs like defending WIN Top 25 champion St. Paris Graham High, located in the western part of the state — this area isn’t everything today, but the area known as “Northeast Ohio” still comes to most people’s minds when the heart of wrestling in Ohio is the topic of discussion. From Cleveland schools West High and West Tech, which established the earliest standards for the sport in the 1940s and 1950s, to the Maple Heights High teams that won 10 championships from 1956 to 1974, to the powerhouse of the current generation, Lakewood St. Edward High, which had state-record title streaks of 10 and 13 straight en route to 25 Division 1 state championships in a 32-year span. Cuyahoga Falls Walsh Jesuit High interrupted St. Edward’s domination in the 1990s, winning eight state titles from 1991-2000 — five in Division 1, three in Division 2 — as well as three consecutive mythical national crowns.
Talent from the area has been critical to Ohio State’s resurgence as a national power this decade and has kept Ohio in second place behind its neighbor to the east, Pennsylvania, in producing the most NCAA champions and All-Americans from year to year.”
Located about an hour and a half northeast of Cincinnati, 3 hours southwest of Cleveland, and two hours east of Indianapolis, and 45 minutes north of Dayton, is St. Paris, Ohio, home to Graham High School (better known as St Paris Graham), one of the nation’s top high school wrestling programs. Mainstays in the National Top 10, with National Championships in 2008, 2010, and 2015, the Falcons have won the State Championship and State Dual Championship every year since 2001.
Graham (St. Paris) Wrestling Overview
Season Result
2001 State Championship
2002 State Championship
2003 State Championship
2004 State Championship
2005 State Championship
2006 State Championship
2007 State Championship
2008 State and National Championship
2009 State Championship
2010 State and National Championship
2011 State Championship
2012 State Championship
2013 State and Dual Meet Championship
2014 State and Dual Meet Championship
2015 State, Dual Meet, and National Championship
2016 State and Dual Meet Championship
2017 State and Dual Meet Championship
2018 State and Dual Meet Championship
The coach of this dominant program for the past 25 years: Jeff Jordan. As a four time Ohio State champion at Graham, Jordan went on to become an All-American at Wisconsin. After coaching at Purdue, it was time for Jordan to return back to his alma mater that had taught him so much. As an assistant under legendary Ohio Wrestling coach Ron McCunn, he helped guide the team to a State Championship in 98. Then in 2001, as head coach, the Falcons returned to the state championship podium and have not looked back since.
Jordan had the prestigious honor of being named the National High School Coach of the Year in 2003, the National Wrestling Coaches Association Coach of the Year in both 2005 and 2009, as well as being honored with a Lifetime Service Award by the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2014. Not bad for a public school kid from a small Ohio town with a population of just of 2,000 people.
Passionate
That is the one word coach Jeff Jordan used to describe the culture of the Paris Graham Wrestling Program. “Graham wrestling is not a sport; it is a way of life” shares Jordan. “These guys growing up cannot wait to wear the black and white singlet. They expect to win here.
I have been coaching at Graham for 21 years. My 1st six was as an assistant coach under Ron Mccunn. He had discipline like Bobby Knight. When I came back and joined the coaching staff, the second week of practice I asked Coach Mccunn, “coach what are your goals here at Graham?”. He said what do you think Jeff? I think within 5 years we have to win a state title. You have to keep the discipline.
I would work out with the team, we did 2 a day practices, and within 5 years we want to win a state title, then put ourselves in position for a national title. The next thing you know, we won the state in 98, got fourth in 99, then won from 2001-present” recalls Jordan.
Discipline
“Foundation of discipline is the whole key” expresses Jordan. “A wrestler does need some athletic ability. The team is everything and you build a culture where you are expected to win and train hard as a team.
A lot of my guys won scholarship money for wrestling. But I do promote football to them. Football is fun. 98% of my guys, 24 of them wrestle and play football. Their number one sport, though, is wrestling. Playing football does not make you a better wrester, but wrestling makes you a better football player.
It is so tough to make my line up in wrestling. Right now, we have 4 guys running track. They are still not missing any workouts. That is their wrestling mindset. These guys are not afraid of hard work.
I believe constantly being with the kids is highly important. It all comes back to one word: relationships. To build that relationship you have to see the guys on a daily basis.
I gave the guys the day off after we won our 15th straight state title on March 9th. 23 of them came to optional weight lifting that day. We lift Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. We keep a hands on approach with them in the off-season. If we want to try to beat these teams, I have stay with them. We never stop lifting during the year. They are back in the gym and on the mat 2 days after the state tournament.
The toughest thing about being a head coach is if you have a break in the relationship with the kid. We shake hands every day after practice. They then touch their national champ banner. We shake hands every day after practice and kids tell me they love me and vice versa.
Every once in a while, the kid disappoints the coach, or breaks his trust, or vice versa. The parents get involved and there is a break in the relationship. I talk to parents and address the break in trust
The crazy thing is I have a second practice, let’s say the 1st day of practice is Nov 9th. From that day on, the second practice is optional. If we beat a big team, we might give them the day off. Of the 26 guys on my team, 20-24, come back for the second practice every night.
During the winter in Ohio, my wrestlers get up in the morning when it is dark out. They go to practice right after school, when it is dark at 5:00pm. They go home and drive back to the high school at 7:00pm to get another workout in. They do this for 4 months, every day. Some people say it is fun. The only thing that makes wrestling fun is when you get your hand raised. In some respects, most of my wrestler grades are better during the wrestling season than the off-season. They have no distractions during season.
Don’t know if it is the other team members or coaches that keep them accountable. They know that they have to be there to train. They don’t want to be the team that loses their first state title in 15 years” shares Jordan.
Wrestling is a Privilege
Jordan reveals “I am going to punch in at 715. I can look at the job in two separate ways; 1. punch in at 7:14 or show up at 7:00, excited to go to work. I want the guy that enjoys wrestling and the hard work, that has that passion. The guy that shows up at 7:05, ready to go. The guys that don’t make it are those who are dragging to get here.
I tell them it is a privilege that you are on this wrestling team, it is not your right. The athletes just know it. Coach Mccunn passed away in 2006 of cancer, he was the Bobby Knight of wrestling. I have his definition of discipline on the banner on the wall: doing what needs to be done even when you don’t want to do it.
We wrestle Friday and Saturday. Guys still come in after and go intense even though they don’t want to do it. It is difficult, but they stay positive. All my coaches have a rule: you have to say every kid’s name 3 times per day and something positive about him. If you say a kid’s name 3 times in practice with something positive, they will succeed. Nice take down, great job, great job, don’t be negative with the kids.”
Expectations
“We have some wrestlers on our team that have the ability to win a state title. I tell them “you have some talent and we will make every effort to help you succeed.” On the other hand, I am not going to give false goals to a young man if he doesn’t have the athletic ability to win a state title. Our whole goal is to make it to the state tournament or make the varsity line up.
If the individual does his job and reaches his individual expectations, then the team can meet their goals. Have to mesh the individual as well as the team. We may have to bump a guy up or down to score some more points and not get pinned by a guy.
I had a kid last spring that was a sophomore. We were lifting weights. One of the kids introduces me to this kid. He then says I want to go out for wrestling. I said why. He said he want to get tough. I said you know what, you are never going to make the varsity line up at Graham. He said I like the wrestling culture and just want to get tough. I told him we have 3 rules: 1. no cussing, 2. tuck your shirt in, and 3. work hard. If you do those 3 you are going to fit in. The kid won 6 matches this year” shares Coach Jordan.
Culture and Strategy
“The culture is crucial. It has not changed in the 15 years I have been coaching. I stay current on all strategy but know hard work equals success. Strategy would never come before hard work. If you don’t work hard it doesn’t matter what your strategy is” reveals Jordan.
Teacher and Coach
“I am a combination of both. I used to be strictly a teacher. I would teach them the strategy and technique in the beginning. I have changed a little, because these guys have been with me so long now, I now get to do more coaching” expresses Jordan.
Mental Toughness
Jordan recalls “My brother once said, the amount of confidence you have is directly related to how hard you work. I have a guy that says I want to be a state champion as a freshman. I tell him “the more important that goal is to you, the harder you will work, the more confident you will become. The more mentally tough you are going to be at that point. Just go grab the guy and find a way to score 2 points.” Setting goals and working hard toward them. This gets the snowball going in the right direction.
I try to take care of the little things, because sometimes bigger more important things are going to happen. If I get in a fight with my wife I can’t be as good of a coach. I try to minimize distraction. If you get in trouble, make fun of kid in school, girlfriend problem, etc, then you are distracted. These little distractions can affect your ability to put your focus where it needs to be to reach your goals.”
Dealing with Entitlement
“I have had a returning state champ that could not make my team. His parents called me, I told them “you don’t like it and I don’t like it.” I told them “right now he cannot make varsity. We have a wrestle off and the best kid starts.”
Now a days, some of the kids feel it is a privilege to wrestler here and some don’t. I think the times have changed since back when I was in high school. A lot of the kids feel it is their right to be on the team and it is their privilege. What I have found in last 20 something years of coaching is that most people would take the easy way out if they could, which is usually the wrong way. I can’t make practice today because got homework, that is the easy way out.What is hard is getting up at 5 am on a Saturday or Sunday morning for practice. In the wrestling room, on the mate, practice does not lie” shares Jordan.
Values
According to Jordan “We haven’t had a cuss word said in the wrestling room in the last 11 years. We have had one in last 15 years and we ran sprints until pretty much everyone hyperventilated. At the end of practice one of my wrestlers always says a prayer. We shake hands with every athlete at the end of every practice.
We try to mold the athletes for life. We try to teach them discipline, hard work, to respect other people, to be a good citizen, to learn and use good citizen skills. Some coaches just want to win, they don’t care about the kid as a person. In high school, you try to teach these values and mold the kids with these values.”
The Graham Commitment
Jordan reveals “In the youth program we have 50-60 kids that start at 5-7 years old. Of those 50-70, it is down to 10 in junior high. In high school, might be 4-5 that want to continue. The Graham commitment. This is a way of life and it is a long haul. These kids are in it for life. So many parents start kids at that young age, and think their kids are going to be state or national champs. They then lose in a state tournament and quit the sport.
No college coach has ever called me up and asked how many state and national titles kids had when they were 7 or 8 year old. We are in this for the long haul, you are going to lose some matches here and there.
Dan Gable, once said “you have wrestled…everything else is easy.” I think once you have worked hard in the sport of wrestling then everything else in life is easy.
As long as you build a foundation for hard work in life, how can you not be successful. I had a 3-time state champ, who was a 2 time NCAA runner up. He had 13 surgeries on his knee. He would have won multiple national titles, but he is now in med school. He made it based on hard work. Here is somebody that one would not have thought would have been a doctor, but through his hard work, now he is an orthopedic surgeon. His mom built into him an ethic of hard work and discipline where the sky is the limit. Wrestling was the perfect sport for him to cultivate this further.”
Thanks for reading!
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