Outgunned
Wrestling coach sidelined during team's loss at WVU

By JONATHAN BOMBULIE
Collegian Sports Writer

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- The wrestling team is used to being shorthanded this year.

The Lions' injured list read like a who's who in Penn State wrestling: Sanshiro Abe, Shawn Fishburn, John Hughes, Russ Hughes, Eddie Jayne, Frank Morici, Clint Musser, Rob Neidlinger. Throughout the season, Coach John Fritz has had to juggle his lineup time and time again.

But Saturday afternoon in Penn State's 18-14 loss to West Virginia, Fritz joined the ranks of his sidelined protgs -- watching from the crowd.

"I've been coaching with Johnny Fritz for 10 years now," said Assistant Coach Hachiro Oishi, who acted as head coach while Fritz was suspended. "I feel we were missing something. He's one of the biggest parts of our team."

Fritz was seated at a table normally reserved for press in the second tier of seats in the West Virginia University Coliseum. Actually, he wasn't seated much at all. He stood for some of the meet, punctuating each match with frequent bouts of body English. Other times, he sat with a few Penn State fans in the bleachers.

"The emotions are a little different," Fritz said. "It's very frustrating up there."

Although the team consensus is that things were different on the sidelines without Fritz, the Lions are not about to blame their loss to the Mountaineers on his absence.

"It shouldn't really affect the guys," Coaching Assistant Troy Sunderland said. "They have to perform no matter who's on the bench, or if nobody's here."

Fritz was suspended for the match because of unsportslike conduct in the Feb. 9 match against Lock Haven. He threw a towel onto the mat and berated referee Joe Geesey. Fritz also made comments publicly criticizing Geesey's calls after the match.

When Fritz returned to the bench against Pittsburgh at Chartiers Valley High School later that night, the injured Lions -- Abe, Musser and John Hughes this time -- did not come back with him. Shorthanded yet again, Penn State dropped the dual meet to Pittsburg's wrestling team, 21-11.

Finishing the dual-meet season at 5-12, Penn State's team is now focused on peaking for the Big Ten and NCAA Championships in early March. Fritz said it's back to work for the coaching staff this week, integrating the injured wrestlers and hoping for a full lineup for the first time this year.

"We're going to work on some individual things with the guys this week, mostly getting in there with short, hard workouts," Fritz said. "It's been a different kind of year, but if the guys keep working hard, things have a way of circling back."