Home » Wire » Articles » Jay Weiss and Trent Kroll honored as USMC Excellence in Leadership Award recipie

Jay Weiss and Trent Kroll honored as USMC Excellence in Leadership Award recipie


Flowrestling
August 27, 2007

ItÂ’s not merely a suggestion, itÂ’s a paramount requirement.

That requirement is called leadership.

Harvard University wrestling coach Jay Weiss and Hood River Valley High School coach Trent Kroll both not only excel at that requirement, it has been the pivotal piece in helping them mentor and coach student athletes.

On Thursday, both were awarded the United States Marine Corps Excellence in Leadership Award at the Horizon Casino Resort as part of the 2007 National Wrestling Coaches Association Convention.

As in past years, the award was presented by former Purdue wrestler Sgt. Maj. Larock Benford of the U.S. Marine Corps.

Benford outlined his key points to leadership in a powerful motivational speech prior to announcing Weiss and Kroll as the winners of their respective awards.

The United States Marine Corps Excellence in Leadership Award is presented yearly to a collegiate and high school coach that represents the core values of the United States Marine Corps in their passion for wrestling and leadership.

Weiss, a 1990 graduate of Franklin & Marshall College, has been at the helm at Harvard for the past 14 seasons. As he heads into his 15th season in Cambridge, Weiss has coached 13 All-Americans – including three in 2006-07 – and one NCAA champion.

Last season, Weiss led the Crimson to a 22nd place finish at the NCAA championships, quite a feat when you consider they lost former All-American Bode Ogunwole at mid-season and All-American candidate Andrew Flanagan, but did pick up a medal from true freshman J.P. O’Connor – one of only two true freshmen to place at the 2007 NCAA Championships.

“Jay Weiss is in an extremely competitive conference and always has his wrestlers prepared,” said NWCA Executive Director Mike Moyer. “As any wrestling coach knows, it’s not always smooth sailing. He had a litany of injuries in his lineup this season and still came away with a solid showing at the NCAA championships.”

“It’s a testament to his leadership and drive as a head coach that not only makes Jay a great coach, but makes him a valued recipient of this award,” said Moyer.

“I’m honored,” said Weiss. “I don’t feel like I’ve done anything different that I’ve aspired to do. As coaches, we’re supposed to be leaders, that’s why I’m the person I am.”

Weiss has been strong, not just leading his team, but also in leadership roles on the Board of Directors for the National Wrestling Coaches Association as the District I representative in NCAA Division I.

HeÂ’s also served as the president of the Ivy League wrestling coaches and the EIWA.

Weiss has also been supportive of the NWCA/USMC Coaching Education initiatives and was one of the first coaches to complete the online leadership course. HeÂ’s also numerous coaching development and leadership courses through NWCA partner Novations,

One thing that Weiss has to deal with is his surroundings and realizing that his wrestlers will be dealing with their own hurdles down the line simply because of where they come from.

“I’m dealing with future Harvard graduates, so I have to prepare them for post-college,” said Weiss. “A lot of coaches are doing the same thing. Through sport, we get to teach life lessons. My guys are graduating with a Harvard degree and you’re expected to lead immediately.”

“I definitely try to lead by example and try to put my athletes in leadership roles from the get-go,” he said. “From the minute they are freshmen … I took a poll on my team to see who were captains of their high school teams and 100 percent were.”

Weiss explained that his surrounding changed his coaching design and took it from a results based focus to one based around leadership. A part of Harvard's program is getting its wrestlers to join public service inititatives. Recently, Harvard wrestlers have contributed to such groups as the Cambridge School Volunteers, St. Paul's Food Pantry, the Pen Pal program, and the Sports Equipment Drive, just to name a few.

“I just felt when I first got into coaching it was about wins and losses,” he explained. “When I was younger, the competitive nature in me was wins and losses. I’m fortunate enough to be at a school like Harvard where Harvard changed me.”

“My job as a leader and a coach is to put my athletes in situations in learning how to lead and what I found out was it eventually came back and we were more competitive. We went in a roundabout way to become a competitive team,” he said.

With the injuries to Flanagan and Ogunwole, Weiss had to put the pain of losing those two wrestlers aside Â… and lead by example.

“It’s very tough,” explained Weiss. “You have to be able to keep moving forward. You can’t be like ‘Aw, our chances are done without our two guys’.”

“Bode being a senior and ranked #2 and Flanagan couldn’t go, but fortunately he has two years left. Inside, I was devastated for them, but outside -- I have to say, ‘Ok, who’s going’.” When (the kids) see that kind of attitude, they realize adverse situations, you can get through it, not only that, but you have to get through it.”

“In real life, they’re going to be dealing with a lot harder situations than that,” continued Weiss. “You have to keep going, that’s my attitude. I was pulling for the kids and myself.”

Kroll, the current head coach at Hood River Valley High School in Oregon was surprised by the award.

“I had no idea, when they said that I had ran the Northwest Wrestling Coaches Clinic for the last seven years, I knew it was me,” said Kroll. “When they first started talking, I thought it was Les Combs. I actually turned to him and said ‘Get ready’.”

Kroll, a humble but appreciative individual, explained his passion for the sport.

“I enjoy sharing the sport with the next generation,” said Kroll. “I enjoy being around people that enjoy being around the sport and making the sport better in Oregon and I work hard to do it. Sometimes I have to focus on what to attack and what not to attack as far as making the sport better in our community.”

Not only did he not expect to win an award, he didnÂ’t expect to speak.

“When they asked me to speak, I looked out into the audience and saw John Smith and Joe Russell,” explained Kroll. “Oh my, I’m speaking in front of guys that I had posters of on my wall when I was growing up.”

“That was pretty cool,” said Kroll. “I went to an Oklahoma State wrestling camp in 1987. It was probably the turning point in my career. It took me from being a mediocre wrestler to a person that had an opportunity to compete in college.”

Kroll went on to wrestle for Mike Clock at then-NAIA Pacific University in Oregon, where he explained he was just a “50/50 wrestler.”

“Coaches like Trent Kroll show that it’s not the most decorated wrestlers that become great mentors and coaches for the next generation of student athletes,” said Moyer. “He’s directed his athletes to make their own decisions regarding their team captains and he’s steered his wrestlers into leadership roles by encouraging them to take the NWCA’s online leadership course.”

ItÂ’s that leadership course which helped Kroll at Centennial High School before heading to Hood River Valley.

“For the last three seasons, I’ve been working with Jeff Bowyer on the leadership training program,” explained Kroll. “I have a mission statement for my team now … and a plan intact for creating leaders, showing them what happens when we do have good leadership and what happens when we don’t.”



Past Winners

2006

College: Jack Maughan, University of Northern Colorado

Scholastic: Jose Martinez, North Hills (Pa.) High School



2005

College: Drew Black, Wesleyan University

Scholastic: Paul White, South Forsyth (Ga.) High School



Jason M. Bryant

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