DeLiddo to retire at end of season

The winningest coach in Fresno State wrestling history announces 2005 is his last year

By NATHAN HATHAWAY

The walls of wrestling coach Dennis DeLiddo’s office are covered with memorabilia from his 24 years at the helm of the Fresno State program.

Photos from the NCAA championships.

Photos of his conference champion teams.

Newspaper clippings.

An Olympic flag signed by the 2004 USA wrestling team.

Posters. Trophies. Keep-sakes from 24 years leading a program that regularly found itself in the top 25.

But that legacy is coming to an end.

DeLiddo made public on Monday his plans to retire after this season. He said the stress of coaching was just getting to be too much.

“We just weren’t having the year we wanted to have,” DeLiddo said. “And I think it’s time for somebody else to come in here and get these young Bulldogs going again.

“I feel like Howard Hughes. I’m talking to myself. My stomach’s always in knots. It’s gotten to the point where it’s so nerve-wracking it’s taking the fun out of it.”

DeLiddo said he made his decision, which he has been considering for about two years, with his wrestlers in mind.

“I think maybe I’m taking the fun out of it for the kids, and I don’t want to do that because, bottom line, this is for them, not for me.”

The clincher, DeLiddo said, was the Bulldogs’ 21-19 loss to Oregon on Jan. 2.

“When we lost to Oregon, that loss just killed me. And I started thinking, ‘jeez, it might be time,’ ” DeLiddo said. “My teams usually don’t lose to teams we’re better than, and I thought we were better than them.”

DeLiddo said his plans for retirement include involvement in youth wrestling workshops and continued involvement in the Fresno State wrestling program, but just as a fan.

He said he plans to “stay involved with the booster group here, help Fresno State. Help them get a coach, help them raise money, help them stay alive, because I want to come here and watch us wrestle.

“My retirement is to go watch wrestling. I can’t coach it much anymore, but I want to watch it.”

The athletic department has not announced who will replace DeLiddo as coach, but possible frontrunners could be current Fresno State assistant and former Bulldogs All-American Gerry Abas, former Fresno State All-American and current Columbia University assistant Yero Washington, and Columbia’s head coach, former Bulldogs wrestler Brendan Buckley, another All-American under DeLiddo.

But DeLiddo is staying away from endorsing a candidate for the job.

“Those three would be nice, to get some ex-Bulldogs,” DeLiddo said. “And I don’t want to get caught in favoring one guy, because then I think I’ll hurt him more than help him, so I’m going to stay away and let the committee do that.”

DeLiddo, a Fresno State graduate, took over the Bulldogs program in 1981 and, within two years, turned around a program that hadn’t finished in the national rankings in 13 years.

He leaves Fresno State as the winningest wrestling coach in the school’s history, with 308 wins through last week’s three-way dual match and at least nine matches left this season.