Coach’s son earns early win
By Mark Schmetzer
Enquirer contributor
Moeller wrestling coach Jeff Gaier knows exactly what he’d say if his eighth-grade, soccer-playing daughter, Samantha, came to him and asked him if she could take a turn on the mats.
“I’d say no, “he said with a smile. “I think it’s great that girls are wrestling now, but one or two wrestlers in the family is enough.”
Gaier already is tiptoeing through the parenting minefield of coaching his older son, Dean, a 160-pound Crusaders junior. Dean, who finished fourth in the state at 145 pounds last season, moved into the second round of the Southwest Ohio Wrestling Coaches Association Classic Friday at Oak Hills High School with a 15-0 technical fall win over Anderson sophomore Erik Hermanns.
Jeff Gaier’s father wasn’t involved in wrestling, and the 46- year-old coach didn’t put pressure on Dean to take up the sport.
“I played every sport growing up – baseball, soccer, basketball, “Dean said. “In about the fifth grade, I started focusing on football and wrestling.”
Said Jeff: “I was so busy with the high school (wrestlers) that it was the youth coaches who really developed him. I’m just glad he was still interested when he got to high school.”
Jeff says watching how other coaches, such as former Purcell Marian coach Terry Meinking and St. Xavier coach Dick McCoy, worked with their sons helped him handle coaching Dean.
“One of the tricky things is to make sure you’re as consistent with him as you are with the other wrestlers, “Jeff said. “You try to treat him like a coach, not like a dad. If you think about him as a dad, you get too emotional.”
Dean credits being able to get away from wrestling by playing strong safety for the Crusaders football team with helping him avoid mat burnout.
“After football, I’m ready to get back into it, “Dean said.
One option not available to most coaches is the opportunity to square off against a son on the wrestling mat occasionally – as Jeff did with Dean earlier this week.
“He held me down a couple of times, but I was able to flip him over on his back, “Dean said.
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