NCAA D1 Championships 2014

Flowrestling Coach of The Year-Edinboro's Tim Flynn

Flowrestling Coach of The Year-Edinboro's Tim Flynn

Mar 25, 2014 by Christian Pyles
Flowrestling Coach of The Year-Edinboro's Tim Flynn
Tim Flynn-Flowrestling Coach of the Year
Christian Pyles

This year’s top 5: PSU, Minnesota, Oklahoma State, Iowa, Edinboro?  Cue the classic Sesame Street Tune:


Tim Flynn doesn’t seem to care or understand that a team like Edinboro isn’t supposed to be in the top 5. They’re not supposed to churn out All American’s and finalists on a regular basis. The small school that, unless you’re a wrestling fan, you probably haven’t heard of is without question a wrestling power. Much of that is a tribute to the work and vision of Tim Flynn, the Flowrestling Coach of the year.

The awards for Flynn are long overdue and well deserved. He consistently finds gems year in and year out and turns them into monsters. Coach Flynn nearly pulled off an inconceivable upset this year when his team pushed Iowa to the brink in their dual. They’ve been lights out all year and really put it together come tourney time.

The Fighting Scots just finished in the top 10 for the 4th time in 9 years. This season is their first season in the top 5. The scary thought (for the competition) is that their 3 All Americans are all returning: AJ Schopp, Mitchell Port and Dave Habat.

On my flight home, I spoke with a guy who didn’t know anything about College Wrestling. He grilled me with dozens of questions about our sport. He asked who the “Duke” of college wrestling was, and he also asked me if there were any “hated” Coaches. I mentioned that wrestling fans truly appreciate the coaches who build programs that lack certain advantages.  I asked him if he had ever heard of Edinboro University and he said no. Then I rattled off a few big name conference schools that (in my opinion) had poor track records of results given their tremendous resources. He recognized and was stunned to hear that these schools could not produce anywhere near the level of a school like Edinboro.

I said that many fans and people in our community laud those who can build something up from a humble beginning, and tend to be quite critical of those who sit in recruiting hotbeds and in big time conferences, yet are unable to produce.

I suppose my point here is this: We need more Tim Flynn’s. There are Assistants out there ready to make changes and get programs that should be more successful back on track. 

I, for one, am glad someone gave Tim Flynn a chance 17 years ago.