Part of GHS’s wrestling dynasty can be traced to a jaywalking
incident in Hollister
Twelve years ago Mike Koester jaywalked across the street in
front of San Benito High and was fired by the school district.
Today, the state-ranked Gilroy High wrestling team, which is
going for its fourth Central Coast Section Championship in a row,
is reaping the benefits of San Benito High School District’s
decision regarding the minor infraction. The district ruled that
Koester, the school’s assistant varsity wrestling coach at the
time, should be let go for setting a bad example for the students
of the school.
Part of GHS’s wrestling dynasty can be traced to a jaywalking incident in Hollister
Twelve years ago Mike Koester jaywalked across the street in front of San Benito High and was fired by the school district.
Today, the state-ranked Gilroy High wrestling team, which is going for its fourth Central Coast Section Championship in a row, is reaping the benefits of San Benito High School District’s decision regarding the minor infraction. The district ruled that Koester, the school’s assistant varsity wrestling coach at the time, should be let go for setting a bad example for the students of the school.
“They said I was in defiance of authority for not listening to the crossing guard. I never even heard the crossing guard in the first place. But it was so crazy that it went to the school board without them ever hearing my side of the story and I was fired,” said Koester, a Hollister resident. “I said, how can you fire me when you’re not even paying me? The next year I went up to Gilroy High and I’ve been there ever since. What’s great about Gilroy is that there are no crosswalks up there.”
During Koester’s three years as an assistant coach under Marty Dillon from 1992-94 the Balers won CCS titles twice and finished second in the section once.
The jaywalking incident occurred near the end of the 1994 season. Although fired, he finished out the season anyway – at the school’s request.
“That will always be etched in my mind,” said Koester. “Before CCS that year they asked me if I could finish out the season. We won the team and individual titles that year and then I was gone.”
The following year the Baler program was taken over by current head coach Matt Olejnik. The Balers have also enjoyed success under Olejnik, but Koester’s positive impact to the program can’t be overlooked.
“He had a few CCS championships that spilled over from the Razorback program that I helped coach,” said Koester, who says that there is no animosity anymore toward either of the two high-school programs.
In addition to his coaching duties at SBHS, Koester was also a major player in the development of Hollister Razorbacks wrestling team that was the feeder program for the high school. Koester coached the Razorbacks from 1980 to 1996.
Two years after committing to Gilroy High, however, Koester stopped coaching the year-round club team, which is now defunct, and began coaching the Gilroy Hawks – the feeder program for Gilroy High.
The success of the Hawks feeder program is the secret behind all of Gilroy High’s successes right now, according to the former Baler coach.
“These kids are like family to us. By the time they get to high school they have already wrestled against the best of the best,” said Koester. “Most of them we’ve been coaching year-round since they were five. We take them all over so that they can wrestle against the best wrestlers in the state and nation. When you’ve had kids since they were five you build a lot of trust. You know the kids and the families.
“A lot of these kids have been over to our homes,” Koester continued. “By the time they come up in their freshman year they’ve already been in the program for years and have a lot of experience. That’s why Hollister (San Benito High) was so successful too. But now there’s nobody to keep the feeder program going there. Somebody dropped the ball on that and we’re running with it.”
What Koester was referring too is the fact that many young wrestlers from the Hollister area now compete for the Gilroy Hawks. And sometimes when they get to be of high school age their families will move to Gilroy just so they can compete for a top program where they can get enough exposure to get the attention of college recruiters.
This fall the Mustangs will inherit two-time national champion Jesse Delgado from Salinas. Although he is from Salinas, his family recently moved to Gilroy so that he can compete in a top-notch program.
“We teach the kids how to wrestle so that they can then use it as a tool for a free college education,” said Gilroy High Head Coach Armando Gonzalez. “I keep the kids off the streets and teach them how to wrestle. Once they get to college it’s up to them to pursue their dreams further, whether that’s winning an NCAA championship or competing in the Olympics.”
Gonzalez and Koester teamed up in 2000 after longtime head wrestling coach Charles Ogle left the program. Prior to Ogle’s exit, Gonzalez coached the Gilroy High JV team from 1995-2000.
Since then the two have used their knowledge of the sport to help guide their athletes to CCS titles the past three years.
“This year we’re ranked No. 1, too,” Koester said. “Since we’ve been here this is the best team that we’ve had. This year, we’re shooting for the CCS record for the most points ever scored by a team.”
Currently that record is 269 points, which was accomplished by San Jose’s Independence High School in 1996.
Gilroy was expected to break that record this year but it will be more difficult now since the team’s starting 119-pound wrestler became academically ineligible within the past week.
Both Koester and Gonzalez come from strong wrestling backgrounds.
A graduate of Live Oak High School in 1975, Koester was a top wrestler in the 127-pound class.
During his high school years he also wrestled for the Hawks in Gilroy. After graduation he attended Gavilan College before landing his career job at IBM in San Jose.
While at IBM, Koester kept wrestling and would soon be wrestling for the Razorbacks in Hollister where he perfected his skills under longtime coach John Kieswetter, who was instrumental in launching the feeder program. Koester wrestled under Kieswetter until 1980 – the year that he took over the program.
With no incentive to build the feeder program since he no longer coached at San Benito High, Koester left the Razorbacks in 1996 and has been in Gilroy ever since.
Gonzalez wrestled at James Lick High School in San Jose where he won a CCS championship and was a state runner-up in the 127-pound division.
Gonzalez got his start wrestling for the East San Jose Olympic Wrestling Club, which was founded by his father Oscar.
He also went to San Jose City College where he was an All-Conference wrestler.
Today all of the coaches at Gilroy High have a simple motto that they follow.
“We say that if you’re going to catch Gilroy you’re going to have to outwork us,” said Koester. “And we know that they’ll never outwork us. The only way they’ll catch us is if we let them catch us.”
“People don’t realize that this success didn’t happen over night,” said Gonzalez. “It took 10 years. And we’ve only really started to dominate the last four. It’s picking up steam but it took years. My oldest son will be 18 in April. I started coaching him in the Hawks when he was four. Some say that we came out of no where but this took years to build.”
