By John Branch / The Fresno Bee
One last time, Dennis DeLiddo was right where you usually could find him for the past 24 seasons, squirming at the corner of a mat at the North Gym.
Coaching his final wrestling match there for Fresno State on Saturday, DeLiddo was his typical self on the outside — all cartoonish contortions and elastic red faces and wild-eyed bearhugs, his raspy-voiced encouragements rising above the tinny din of the little gym.
His insides, filled with twisted nerves and a big pounding heart, was the same, too.
With one huge exception.
The voice that kept reminding him that he was retiring, that these NCAA West Regionals were the last time he’d be doing what he always has been doing at the North Gym.
“I told the team last night, this is the last time we wrestle as a team, “DeLiddo said. “This is the last time I coach as a team. Of course, I started crying.”
It’s funny that DeLiddo has such a tough-guy image. His eyes tear up easily. He talks softly and doles out hugs. He wears argyle socks and loafers.
In 1981, he took over a program with 10 years of losing records and led it to 11 Top 25 finishes. He coached 27 All-Americans, including NCAA champion and Olympic medalist Stephen Abas.
You’d like to think he’s retiring because he ran out of things to win. That’s not the way DeLiddo sees it. He says he’s retiring because he can’t take the losing. “The highs never outweigh the lows, “he said.
Then he started talking about things he didn’t accomplish.
It’s a curse for the overly competitive. Never being satisfied might be a cherished trait in sports, but the flip side is someone like DeLiddo, unable to find enough joy in victory to make up for so relatively few losses.
He deserves better. He deserves to watch wrestling without the anguish that comes with every takedown.
And, in a strange twist, the best thing for DeLiddo might be the best thing for Fresno State wrestling, too.
For years, Fresno State wrestling has looked to be one more budget crisis from extinction. The school has cut men’s water polo, cross country, swimming and soccer in recent years. Wrestling, perpetually, seems to be next.
But DeLiddo wouldn’t retire if he thought there was a risk Fresno State would use his absence and its current budget problems as an excuse to cut wrestling.
The school can’t afford to do that. Too much money and potential at stake.
By cutting wrestling and its $300,000 annual budget, Fresno State would risk losing far more than that in the contributions it receives from wrestling’s biggest supporters. It’s the reason wrestling survived the last cut, when soccer was axed.
So wrestling will continue. And it might just get bigger and better.
The Fresno State job already is attracting interest from some of the country’s best coaches. Supporters think the spark of a coaching change can elevate Fresno State into the top five in the country in the coming years.
“I told people that if we win this thing, I might reapply for my job, “DeLiddo said before Saturday’s final matches. “But you know what? I might not get it.”
Fresno State held a slim lead over 12th-ranked Northern Iowa with three weight classes remaining. DeLiddo didn’t look ready to slip away quietly.
He squirmed on the edge of his seat as if sitting on hot coals. He jumped up to scream at officials or to congratulate a wrestler.
“Everybody says, ‘You look so different. You’ve got color in your face,’ ” DeLiddo said before the finals. “That’s a bunch of bull. I’m so nervous. I’m dying.”
When Fresno State’s Jim Medeiros beat Northern Iowa’s Chris Bitetto in overtime of the 157-pound final, DeLiddo charged the mat, his face red with excitement, his arm doing a celebratory uppercut. He bearhugged Medeiros.
Fresno State’s upset bid fell short in the end. Fans gave DeLiddo pats on the back and headed to the parking lot.
Later, DeLiddo quietly unlocked the door to his shoe-box office.
He stood at his desk, relaxed and happy with his team’s final performance, feeling hopeful about the program’s future.
He was glad to see interim athletic director Paul Oliaro at the meet. DeLiddo took that as a good sign.
Then he addressed the awkward part of all this — the notion that DeLiddo’s retirement might be the best thing — for him, and for the program that wouldn’t exist without him.
DeLiddo didn’t hesitate.
“I hope it’s a big-name guy who comes here and takes this thing to one more level, “DeLiddo said. “We’ve been at the top 15. Let’s take it to the top 10. You won’t find a bigger supporter than me.
“I’m definitely a Bulldog.”
And then he turned off the light and walked away.
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