State wrestling association honors Fort Atkinson coaches Gerber, Graziano

By Chris Spangler

Contributor

Two Fort Atkinson High School wrestling coaches are being honored by the state association representing their peers.

Members of the Wisconsin Wrestling Coaches Association have selected Ryan Gerber as Head Coach of the Year and Abe Graziano as Assistant Coach of the Year, both for District 6. 

District 6 consists of 71 high schools throughout south-central Wisconsin.

Gerber just completed his tenth year as head wrestling coach, having served as assistant coach in Fort Atkinson for the prior four years.

He holds a 93-63, or .596-percent, record, which places him second in all-time wins (behind Frank Weiss’ 118) and winning percentage (behind Herb Ostrand’s .637 percent).

Gerber started coaching in the 2003-04 season as a volunteer assistant at Fort Atkinson Middle School under Sam Rodriguez and then made his way up to the high school when Rodriguez left that position. He was an assistant under Weiss for four years before Weiss made Gerber co-head coach.

Gerber’s nominator for the WWCA award called him “the definition of a team-first coach.

“Fort Atkinson finished the season with almost 40 wrestlers, despite many teams struggling to fill rosters in this COVID year,” the nominator wrote. “Fort Atkinson finished the season undefeated in Badger Conference Duals, third at Regionals and seventh in the very tough Mukwonago Regional and Sectionals.”

Gerber accomplished all of that “in a high school that did not compete in fall sports …,” according to the nominator.

It was noted that Gerber is not only invested in the success of the Fort Atkinson High School wrestling program, but he is actively involved in creating an award-winning wrestling program for the community. Gerber works with the Fort Atkinson youth and middle school wrestling programs, and serves on the WWCA Board of Directors as secretary. 

“Ryan Gerber is an excellent leader, role model, coach, teacher and is well deserving of this award,” the nominator concluded.

Gerber said he is very thankful for being thought of in this way and to be given this honor.

“It means a lot to just be recognized for doing a good job, but to be recognized by my peers for this award is truly special,” the coach said. “I think above all else though, this is an important day for Fort Atkinson wrestling and I’m most happy about that. Anytime our program can be viewed in a positive light and be given credit for the great work that’s being done here, that, to me, is most important.

“I’m happy for our kids, our coaching staff, and our administrative team,” Gerber continued. “I share this recognition with all of them because nobody does this and is successful on their own. It starts with the kids and their efforts — going through the grind of the season and being willing to be coached. None of the coaches are out there scoring points, grinding for wins or spending even a minute on the mat; it’s the kids that are doing the hard work and without them, I wouldn’t be recognized.”

Gerber noted that he has said for a long time that he has the best staff in Fort Atkinson, across all sports, and that especially is true this year.

“No one person can do this job alone; you need to surround yourself with the best people, and I recognize that the success we have had is a reflection on our current and past coaches,” Gerber said.

“Finally, there are a lot of programs in Wisconsin that fail to make the jump to success simply because they don’t have administrative support to back them,” he added. “We are really lucky to have the support staff that we do here in Fort Atkinson. That starts with our athletic director, Steve Mahoney, who is like another coach on staff — he gets wrestling, he supports it, and wants us to be successful.”

Gerber also lauded the office staff at the high school, under the leadership of principal Dan Halvorsen, who “does a great job listening and being supportive of our kids and program,” along with the high school office, training and maintenance, staff who “find a way to make us look good and stay on track every single day. This recognition is shared with all of them, as well.”

The coach said that he always considered Fort Atkinson a “sleeping giant” when it comes to athletics.

“The community has seen great individual successes, but just hasn’t broken through on the team side of things,” he noted. “We’ve done a lot to really build our brand and sport in this community and I think people are starting to take notice. Athletics are important — the things our student-athletes learn through sport are things that are going to make them great men and women later, that will make them great members of their communities and will make them terrific employees in whatever their future endeavors are.

“Our community has what it takes to be successful in sports; we just need to embrace it completely, because when we do, this community is going to take off,” Gerber added. “The wrestling program has come a long way over the last 20 years and I’m excited to see where we can take it in the future.”

Abe Graziano, meanwhile, has been teaching and coaching wrestling at Fort Atkinson High School for eight years. 

He said he is proud to do what he can to help Coach Gerber and of the fact that the athletes were able to go 14-4 last year and 6-1 this season. 

This marks Graziano’s first coaching position. He wrestled while a student at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville.

His nominator for the award wrote that Graziano “is the assistant every head would want on his staff. 

“He works tirelessly to help promote the vision and culture that we’re hoping to establish, he spends countless hours working with student-athletes to find ways to improve as both wrestlers and as people, and dedicates his time to being prepared for upcoming situations and opportunities,” stated the nominator.

He noted that during the season, Graziano coordinates Trackwrestling needs by handling the technical aspects of running anywhere from four to six events in Fort Atkinson each year.

“He has been a driving force behind our move to hosting two weeknight JV events, which eliminate unnecessary Saturday tournaments for our kids and keep our kids wrestling in their home gym,” the nominator wrote. “He also assists in our scouting of teams and events throughout the year in order to provide our wrestlers with the best possible plan for upcoming competition.”

In addition to his in-season responsibilities, Graziano coordinates the offseason program, which consists of a team-run Wrestling Club coached by members of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, and runs a training camp featuring both instructional opportunities and wrestling duals. 

“Named ‘Fortitude,’ the training camp has proven to be successful in getting kids to buy in and show up for workouts while also enhancing the team culture that we’re working to cultivate,” the nominator wrote. “This program has been incredibly important in helping our athletes close the gap, as many of our athletes don’t have the resources to attend ‘private academies.’”

Keeping efforts local and cost-efficient is important, it was noted.

“These efforts are a lot of work as they require a ton of prep, coordination and organization to secure clinicians, work with other programs and establish a culture of wrestling in the offseason for our kids,” according to the nominator.

In addition, Graziano serves as club treasurer, a role that keeps him involved at all levels of the program. He works with the club’s fundraising arm, as well as with the coaches and families of the youth and middle school teams. 

“In short, there really isn’t a part of our K-12 program that Coach Graziano doesn’t have some involvement with,” the nominator concluded.

Graziano said he was pleased by the WWCA district recognition.

“I have thoroughly enjoyed my time so far coaching at Fort Atkinson,” Graziano said. “I’ve gotten the opportunity to work with a ton of great student athletes. We haven’t been a program who gets a ton of blue-chip wrestlers coming in, so it’s been a lot of fun seeing guys go from being very inexperienced/having no experience to becoming high-quality and very successful wrestlers and athletes by their senior year.

“It’s also been very satisfying to see some of the great senior classes we’ve had come through and lead the way for the next group of athletes,” Graziano added. “I’ve had the privilege of coaching guys who put the team first and set a great example for the next group of athletes to come through.”

He said that the WWCA district award speaks to the importance of the team.

“I have a great opportunity to coach a lot of great high-schoolers and I get to work alongside Coach Gerber plus the rest of the staff,” Graziano said. “It’s nice to know that coaches in our district recognize what Fort Atkinson has been able to accomplish.”

He said he especially is proud of Coach Gerber and the fact that he was named District 6 Coach of the Year. 

“He’s been coaching at Fort for 18 years and to see him get some of the recognition that he deserves is exciting,” Graziano said. “I see how hard he works and the amount of time he puts in. There’s no one more deserving.”

Fort Atkinson High School athletics and activities Director Steve Mahoney also said that the two local wrestling coaches are very worthy of the district honors.

“Ryan has been an outstanding head coach in the Fort Atkinson Athletic department,” he said of Gerber. “He embraces our mission and vision and developing student-athletes into championship people is his priority.”

Mahoney noted that Gerber was selected as the Fort Atkinson Athletic Department Coach of the Year in 2019-20.

“Abe is one of the top assistant wrestling coaches in the State of Wisconsin,” Mahoney said. “He is a great teacher and technician of the sport. He has been instrumental in running our high-level tournaments in Fort Atkinson.

“Together, Ryan and Abe with their assistants are fantastic,” he added. “They bring high-level energy every day to our student-athletes and are a pleasure to work with!”

The WWCA is expected to formally recognize the 2020-21 award winners on its website at https://www.wwca.org.

The WWCA honors an individual from each state district — the same seven districts as the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association plus the collegiate coaches as District 8 — in Wisconsin.

The individuals are nominated by a member of the WWCA within each district, and then all district members cast their votes for their preference. Each district winner then is placed on a ballot for all members to vote for State Coach of The Year.

The winner of the State Coach of the Year will advance to a ballot for National Wrestling Coach of the Year through the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA).

In addition to Fort Atkinson High School, District 6-South-Central of the WWCA include: Arrowhead (Hartland), Badger (Lake Geneva), Beaver Dam, Big Foot (Walworth), Burlington, Cambria-Friesland, Cambridge, Campbellsport, Catholic Central (Burlington), Central Wisconsin Christian (Waupun), Clinton, Columbus, Deerfield, Delavan-Darien, Dodgeland (Juneau), East Troy, Edgerton, Elkhorn Area, Faith Christian (Williams Bay), Fall River, Fort Atkinson, Green Lake, Hartford Union, Horicon, Hustisford, Jefferson, Johnson Creek, Kettle Moraine (Wales), Kettle Moraine Lutheran (Jackson), Kewaskum, Laconia (Rosendale), Lake Country Lutheran (Hartland), Lake Mills, Lakeside Lutheran (Lake Mills), Living Word Lutheran (Jackson), Lomira.

Also, Markesan, Marshall, Mayville, Milton, Montello, Mukwonago, Norris (Mukwonago), North Fond du Lac, Oakfield, Oconomowoc, Palmyra-Eagle, Pardeeville, Poynette, Princeton, Randolph, Rio, Slinger, St. John’s Northwestern Military Academy (Delafield), Union Grove, University Lake School (Hartland), Waterford, Waterloo, Watertown, Watertown Luther Prep, Waupun, Wayland Academy (Beaver Dam), West Bend East, West Bend West, Westfield Area (Westfield), Westosha Central (Salem), Whitewater, Williams Bay, Wilmot Union, Winnebago Lutheran Academy (Fond du Lac), Wisconsin School for the Deaf (Delavan).