Tom Carr leaves Land O'Lakes after one season. Interviews to find his replacement likely will be this week.
By FRANK PASTOR, Times Staff Writer
Published August 30, 2005
LAND O'LAKES - Tom Carr saw firsthand the dedication his wrestlers showed in and out of the wrestling room during the past year. So, when he realized he could no longer match their level of commitment, Carr decided it was time to leave the program.
Seven months after he helped Scott Mays to a state championship, Carr resigned after one season at Land O'Lakes, his first head coaching job.
"It's a great situation and a great place to be a coach," Carr said. "Unfortunately for me, I need to move on with my career."
Carr, 25, who had been working toward a masters degree in exercise physiology, decided in June to take his career in another direction. He said he plans to work for two years before pursuing a masters in business administration. He'd like to stay involved in wrestling as a graduate assistant and interviewed for jobs in South Dakota and Pennsylvania.
"On one hand, it's exciting," Carr said. "There are a bunch of unknowns for me. I get to make my place in life, discover a lot about myself. On the other hand, I'm going to miss the guys tremendously."
The application deadline passed on Friday for the Land O'Lakes position, which does not include a teaching job. Athletic director Chuck Moehle said he hopes to set up interviews this week and hire a replacement possibly as early as next week. County wrestling coaches will receive a supplement of $1,922 during the 2005-06 school year.
Carr said he will miss the relationships with his wrestlers, including Mays, whom he helped to the Class 2A 215-pound state championship in February to cap Mays' senior season. Moehle said Carr deserves at least part of the credit.
"Scott's just such an outstanding individual and he had so much experience at a high level, I think a lot of credit does go to Scott as an individual," Moehle said. "But Tom probably helped him out in conditioning and types of practices so Scott could be in the best condition he could be in before he went to regions and states."
Carr's fondest memory is watching Evan Stack rally from a five-point deficit in the final 90 seconds to beat Mitchell's Gregg Steiner in the 145-pound consolation final of the region tournament.
"When he got the points to go ahead, I jumped out of the chair and went about five feet in the air," Carr said.
For now, Carr leaves the program in the hands of assistant coaches George Clark, Wayne Robinson, Jake Crouch and Steve Weiss. He said he hopes one of them gets the job.
"They know what the kids have been doing and how to work with it," Carr said. "Some people applying outside the program would do a good job, too, so I know they're going to be in good hands."
