High Expectations for F&M as Regular Season Comes to a Close

As the product of a smaller and less well-known college wrestling program, head coach Mike Rogers has found a home for himself here at F&M.

While many people consider F&M to be disadvantaged in the highly competitive E.I.W.A., Rogers doesn’t feel any sort of handicap, despite the fact that F&M has far lass funds, a significantly smaller student body, and an athletic scholarship allowance of exactly zero dollars.

When Rogers took up the reigns here at F&M in 2011, the team only had nine wrestlers, and was forced to forfeit in three or four weights on a regular basis.

“It was quite the undertaking,” Rogers said. “We only had nine guys, we were forfeit in three or four weights, but I saw a lot of potential.”

While the school does not allow for athletic scholarships, Rogers and assistant coach Matt Greenberg have worked on selling the school itself to recruits, and advertising the wrestling program for what it is—a family of hardworking wrestlers giving their all day in and day out towards achieving one communal goal.

“By not having scholarships, no one’s here for the wrong reasons, so I think that helps where everyone is here for the right reasons,” said Rogers. “They want to get a good education and compete at the DI level. It’s a little bit liberating if you think of it that way. We’re attracting the right kids, and it streamlines our recruiting so if academically or financially it’s not going to work out, you don’t waste each others time.”

Despite lacking the means and funding found at other E.I.W.A. programs, F&M has become increasingly competitive, and has clawed its way up from the bottom to the middle of the conference.

The team has improved immeasurably in the last two seasons, and with just one senior being lost to graduation, this youthful team has a bright and promising future ahead.

This season, the team has gotten more dual meet wins than ever before at this point in the season, and though the Diplomats have a long way to go before an E.I.W.A. title, the distance they’ve come in recent years is truly remarkable.

“We’re not forfeiting any weight classes and that’s an accomplishment in itself,” Rogers said. “We’re continuing to make progress, and as we get individual and team success, that gives us some notoriety. I think we can be competitive, and if we can do that, that’s a pretty significant move forward to be in the middle of a conference that has such quality programs from each school.”

One of the major changes Rogers and Greenberg have been responsible for is the improvement in the level of conditioning and the workouts. Rogers’ motto throughout his coaching career has been “we don’t lose, we just run out of time.” Throughout the season thus far, this has been exemplified time and again, as several of the losses F&M suffered were narrow defeats after a strong comeback that fell just short.

“When we’re falling short it’s more the mental part of it, and we’re still not quite believing in ourselves, and we’re holding ourselves back early, so that by the time they think they can win the match they’ve either dug a hole so deep or they’re very apprehensive to take that next step” said Rogers. Once we start doing that we’ll move forward a lot quicker. We’re losing a lot of really close, competitive matches because we start a little slow. What we’re changing is the expectation.”

Though the expectations for the team are high and perhaps in this season, unattainable, Rogers emphasized the coaching staffs’ refusal to compromise on these standards.

“We expect them to train as if they’re going to win,” Rogers said.  “Our standards are pretty high, and I’m not willing to lower our standards to meet a certain goal. Either we make it or we don’t.”

Though this outlook might seem particularly harsh and illiberal, the Diplomats coaching staff has never been disappointed by a complete team effort, even if the result is a loss.   

“We talk to our guys quite often about vision, and we want our fans to be entertained when we wrestle,” said Rogers. “Go out there, give it your best effort, and make it exciting for people. I don’t see any reasons why we can’t have All-Americans and why we can’t be winning tournaments at the national level. I don’t think we’re any different than any of those schools.”

As the team prepares for the upcoming E.I.W.A. Championship on Mar. 8, all eyes will be on nationally ranked sophomore Rick Durso, and the equally supportive cast led by upperclassmen Andrew Murano and Eric Norgard, and Colin Lahiff, with big performances expected from lightweights Robert Ruiz and Aaron Moldoff.