The Clackamas print., February 27, 2019, Page 5, Image 5

SPORTS
SU
Rhoden has led the CCC wrestling program to top 8 national finishes every year since he arrived at the college, Including
one national championship title. CCC was also the runner up in three of the last four seasons.
gonna d o ,’ ” R hoden said. “ They h adn ’t
had a coach for that month and a half and
we were just trying to keep those core guys
together. We got a chance to talk to four or
five of them and we got a couple more on
and I think we had 15 guys that first year.”
Out o f the 15 wrestlers on th e 2006-
2007 team, seven qualified for the national
cham pionship and the Cougars finished
fifth at nationals — the best finish since
1995-
“ It was crazy because there were a lot o f
tumultuous ups and downs. I’m wrestling
and coaching ‘cause I’m young enough at
that tim e. I’m w restling every day, I’m
coaching every day because I’m the assistant,
I’m the head coach, i ’m everything. It’s
come alo n g way since th en ,” Rhoden said.
‘ In 2008, Clackamas landed two big time
recruits in Brett Sanchez from Clovis High
School in California and the No. 1 recruit in
the country, heavyweight Tyrell Fortune.
W ith that recruiting class Rhoden felt like
he was finally gaining some traction towards
his goals and in Recruiting.
“ [2007} felt pretty good, but then once
we got tot start a full recruiting cycle with
bur guys, that were our dudes, that started
m ak in g all th e d ifferen ce. W here the
comfort level became, ‘Hey I can do ih is.’
W hen I felt like I was going to make it at
this level was probably 08-09. ”
The 2008-09 team finished third a the
NJCAA National Cham pionships, ma, dng
the highest finish for the program since
1987‘when Clackamas finished second in
the nation. The next year Rhoden redshirted
the 2008 recruiting class for the 2010 season
and it paid off.
. Five years after debuting as head m an,
R hoden led C C C to its first W restlin g
National Cham pionship since 1971 in 2011
and Rhoden won N ational Coach o f the
Year.
“ Then it becam e sustaining it, trying to
keep up with the Joneses,” Rhoden said.
“ Getting to the top is hard, don’t get me
wrong, I think it’s harder to stay at the top,
there’s no question. ”
The National Championship marked the
beginning of Clackamas’ dominance in this
decade as Clackamas has won- seven straight
National Dual M eet Cham pionships, six
straight West? D istrict Ch am p io n sh ip s,
produced 118 national qualifiers, 68 A ll-
A m erican s, 20 n atio n al-fin a lists, nine
national champions and 94 Academ ic A ll-
Americans.
“ I knew all along I wanted to set it apart
athletically, but not just that, I was thinking
how can we be different academically than
[other programs] we’re seeing. These guys
aren’t graduating kids, not sending kids on,
lads are leaving programs and transferring,
so to see all that it was like, ‘Alright we need
to be different.’ So, we started doing that
and we built a graduation and four-year
transfer rate that’s approaching 80 percent.
So, our kids leave and move o n .”
I
Sanchez moved on to Cal State Fullerton
and Grand Canyon University after being a
part of the 2011 National Cham pion team ,
but returned to CCC this fallas the Associate
Head Coach.
“ O ut o f all the co lleges, I attended
three, and this college right here was one
o f m y favorites,” Sanchez said. “ I liked
the en viro n m en t, I liked bein g around
Rhoden and [Rich] Vigorito, their energy
is contagious, it’s just hard not to be around
that. Once I graduated from college I had
the goals and ambition to become a coach.
I started back in San Diego as a high school
coach and a club coach, but I always had
the goal of becoming a college coach. I was
lucky enough tobe here with [Rhoden] and
Vigorito and it was hard to say no to it. I’m
very happy to be up here. ”
It’ s through hard w ork th at Rhoden,
Sanchez and Vigorito have built his program
into a national powerhouse.
“ M y w ife w ill tell you, ‘T h ere’s no
40-hour work week here,1” Rhoden said
during a 7 a.m . weight lifting session. “ It’s
Som ething more like 80 hours. W e ’ve put
a lot of work into it and we’ve gotten some
great kids to say yes to com ing here and
working with u s.”
A n average day for the C C C program
consists of a 6 a.m . practice, 7 a.m . workout,
then as the student-athletes head to class,
Rhoden and Sanchez head to the office
theclackamasprint.com
to continue the recruiting o f next year’s
fresh m an class, follow ed b y individual
sessions for some wrestlers, an afternoon
workout, then it’s back to the office for a
staff conference call to get the next day’s
practice plan squared away and One final
ch eck -in with the athletes to make sure
their diets are right and they’re working
out outside of team work.
“ Wrestlingfor Rhoden is great,” said Joel
Romero, one of this year’s recruits: “ I’m
a freshm an right now and it’ s really cool.
I like him a lot. I didn’t think I was going
to be comfortable up here cause I’m from
California, buthe made me feel comfortable
hem a n d i love it .”
Rhoden still can’t believe what his life
has become at Clackam as, describing it as
“ feeling like a m ovie” sometimes. W hen
he first started, it was all about winning,
but as the program has grown he has found
him self in the business of m olding great
men more so than great wrestlers.
“ W inning is awesome, but what kind
of guys are We building?” Rhoden said. “ I
don’t want to just teach you a good h ig h -
crotch because then I’Ve failed you. You’re
not going to be a good husband, father,
brother, friend or com m unity m em ber.
Those types o f things early on were just
part of the culture we had to have to make
better people through wrestling.”
The grind it out, hard working mentality
R hoden in stilled in h is program has
payed o ff over h is tenure. This year is a
testament to the program Rhoden has built
as Clackam as w ill be represented in all
10 weight classes at the NJCAA NationaT
Cham pionships this weekend in Council
B luffs, Iowa.
R h o den ’ s m o tto .w h en he started at
Clackam as was “ fake it till you make it .”
W ith a record o f 141-35-2, it’s safe to say
Rhoden doesn’t have to fake it anymore.
— ------------------ - February 27, 2019