Coaching changes have been numerous as the county's winter sports season approaches.
However, until recently those changes have been limited to hardwood - Dave Allenson to the Eisenhower boys, Mike Logue to the Eisenhower girls and Jeff Labesky to the Sheffield girls.
The wrestling rooms will not go unaffected.
While veteran coaches Glenn Baldensperger of Warren and Kris Black of Eisenhower will return to guide their teams, both the Sheffield and Youngsville programs will be under new leadership during the 2011-2012 season.
That being said, both coaches are not strangers to the teams they will be guiding.
Scott Ishman is the new Youngsville wrestling coach while, across the county in Sheffield, Jack Rice is the new man in charge of the Wolverines wrestling program. Both were assistants during the 2010-2011 campaigns and Rice actually served as a co-head coach at Sheffield.
Ishman spent eight years developing young Eagle talent in the school's K-12 youth program. For the past two seasons, he was a junior high coach for Youngsville and assisted at varsity matches under former Eagles coach Greg Barnett - now the head man at Corry Area High School.
Ishman thinks his familiarity with many of the team's current varsity wrestlers will help make for a smooth transition to the varsity level.
"It certainly helps knowing the kids as well as I do," Ishman said. "I've had most of these kids since first or second grade so I've been working with them a long time. I thought it was important for the kids to have a coach they know and trust. That's one of the big reasons I applied for the job."
Ishman's team contains a couple of members from Youngsville's 2011 10-1 Region 2 champion football team. The new coach hopes that winning attitude and spirit carries over into the wrestling room.
"We're hoping to live up to the standards set by the football team," said Ishman. "A few of those guys are on this team and hopefully that winning attitude will carry over into other sports. A good winning season is the ultimate goal, as well as getting as many guys to districts and regionals as possible."
Rice is also no stranger to coaching. The Cranberry graduate was the head coach at Maplewood from 2003 to 2005 and has volunteered at various schools since, including Sheffield in 2010-2011. Last year, Rice guided the Abraxas wrestlers competing on the Wolverines squad while Eric Schotts guided the Sheffield wrestlers.
This year, Rice leads the whole program.
"I'm going to have a very young team again this season, but I have a strong core with some very talented Sheffield kids," said Rice. "We should be able to field a whole team this year which will help tremendously. A lot of the lighter weight classes are filled by Sheffield kids and many of those that have signed up at Abraxas are bigger kids."
Rice thinks that a full lineup - along with hard work and dedication - can help the Wolverines improve on their win totals from recent seasons.
"I think we won nine (dual) matches last year," he said. "I'd love to get to 13 or 15 wins this season. That may be a bit of a stretch, but I really think we will have the team to do it. We have a great deal of talent in the Sheffield kids and a lot of the Abraxas guys we will have actually have wrestling experience. It's kind of a perfect mix."