Former assistant coach Ted Prettyman is taking the helm of the wrestling program at Carbon High.
Prettyman has spent a lifetime devoted to the sport and has many years of experience. He wrestled at Boise State in college and has coached and refereed at both the high school and college level.
“I coached at CEU back when they had a program. I’ve coached in New Mexico, Montana, everywhere I have been… I [also] coached in Wayne county for about eight years,” Prettyman said. “I know the sport and, over the years, I have changed my philosophy of the best way to coach it.”
The Dinos had a large freshman class last year and will continue to bolster a young team in the 2020-21 season. “We will have a whole bunch of sophomores this year,” said Prettyman. “It will be a young team, which is exactly what I need. I want to be able to implement a few new things.”
One point of emphasis for Coach Prettyman and the Dinos will be to “individualize” moves and techniques. “Especially in high school, we tend to teach everybody the same moves… It’s scored as a team sport, but it is a real individual sport,” Prettyman explained. “Some of the moves that worked for me won’t work for you. I want to individualize it. Some of these kids over the summer grow two inches and they are not the same person they were last year. [Our coaching approach] needs to be individualized instead of a one move fits all.”
Prettyman’s goals go beyond wrestling; he wants his athletes to be successful in all aspects of life. “One of the things that happened last year that was really impressive is that we were #1 in 3A academically. I would really like to do that again.”
Prettyman went on to talk about the mentality of the team. “We need to come back after getting beat up, endure when things are tough,” he said. “Life skills are what we are trying to teach. Whatever world they go into next, I want them to push themselves more than they think they can to be successful in life. It goes beyond a 3-4 month wrestling season.”
He concluded, “I want our team to [build] an identity. I want a bunch of really good kids that are wrestling for our team. That are putting themselves out there and doing the best they can.”