A new era of Elder wrestling has begun. Jason Roush has taken over for long time coach Dick McCoy as head coach of the Panthers. Coach McCoy was at the helm of the Panther wrestling team for 30 years and had a career record of 226-84-4. McCoy also coached the Panthers to three top ten finishes at the state tournament. McCoy leaves Elder as the all-time leader in wins by a coach. He has over 190 more wins than the next coach on the list.

Coach Roush comes to Elder from Glen Este High School where he was for five years. He helped turn their program around in those five years. Roush plans to do the same at Elder. In high school Roush was a three time state qualifier, placing twice. Roush also competed in college for Mount Saint Joseph where he was a three time All-American and a National Runner-Up.

Coach Roush has already been at work helping the team prepare for the upcoming season and the “new era” of Elder wrestling. He has already run two camps at Elder including the summer camp Elder hosts annually. Roush also took the team to Milan, Ohio for the Burnett Trained Wrestling Camp. He has also instituted a lifting and running schedule for those wrestlers who do not compete in a fall sport. Along with the lifting and the running he expects his wrestlers to attend open mats regularly.

Elder has come in second the past eight years to Moeller in the Greater Catholic League. Roush plans on ending Moeller’s streak sooner rather than later. Elder has also not won a Sectional Championship the past two years after winning six in a row from 2006 to 2011. Roush plans to bring Elder not only GCL and Sectional Championships, but District and State Championships as well.

“We are going to have a lot of State placers,” says James Carter, a sophomore wrestler. “We have a good coach and a lot of potential from the freshmen all the way through the seniors. We are going to surprise a lot of people.”

“We are definitely going to be a good team. People might expect us to have a down year but that’s not going to happen. We are going to have a strong year,” said senior Evan Morgan.

Although the Panthers have lost a legend in Coach Dick McCoy, many believe another legend is being born at Elder High School in the form of Coach Jason Roush.