Coach Ted Reese: Success through hard work
By Elise Adams
Alive Editor
It is difficult to articulate the enthusiasm and charisma of Ted Reese, USM wrestling coach and senior college English professor.
Despite his artificial hip, artificial shoulder, three bones missing from his spine and his 65 years on this earth, it is hard to find a man more enthusiastic about his sport than Reese.
Reese has a list of achievements as long as it is impressive, ranging from two Ivy League degrees and a Ph.D. in English from Brandeis to being voted Maine’s Coach of the Year six times, and Wrestling USA’s National Coach of the Year in 1996.
If you ask Reese, however, what achievement he is most proud of, he will give a response that exemplifies why he has received so much coaching honor.
“[I won] National Coach of the year because I’ve had great kids over many years,” Reese explains. “Wrestling is a great thing for kids. They have found family here, and through hard work there are rewards. Achievements are not as important as helping others grow up.”
His methods of coaching, including subliminal message-laced classical music, meditative visualization sessions and stressing academic excellence in his team, are singular, and reflect his attention to the ultimate needs of these young men. He is the ear that many of them need in times of personal difficulty, and he is most assuredly a source of motivation to excel academically as well as athletically. There is no doubt that his teams are some of the hardest working in USM athletics.
After so many championships and so much success during his 15 years coaching at Bonney Eagle High School in West Buxton, why did Reese leave for the college ranks? And why is such an amazing coach of national renown in the small town of Gorham, Maine?
“I felt it was my moral duty to start a program for Maine. [Wrestling] had dried up everywhere,” explains Reese. When he began at USM several years ago there were very few colleges in Maine that offered a wrestling program. However, now students from Maine schools where Reese has established high school programs can continue their wrestling careers at USM. The Huskies also have recruits from states as far reaching as Colorado and Florida.
In addition to coaching the wrestling team, Reese also teaches classes at the Osher Lifetime Learning Institute (formerly Senior College). He laughs that it is strange that he is teaching literature to people who graduated high school the year he was born, but enjoys their enthusiasm.
“They ask for extra work all the time and the course usually lasts two extra weeks because we are having so much fun.”
In coaching wrestling or teaching Ibsen to seniors, Reese insists on working with “people who don’t give up and keep working.”
For Reese, the most rewarding aspect of coaching wrestling is similar to that of teaching at Osher. Reese is constantly reiterating the need for people around him to work hard in order to succeed.
“(The most rewarding thing) is getting to know people. Seeing them improve, set and reach goals, and try their best,” Reese explains.
“I was a non-athlete, but I had success because I worked hard. I’m not very smart, but I have a Ph.D. in English because I am stubborn.”
Pain is
weakness leaving the body
The wrestling team has had a tough go of it this year, with two of their three captains injured sporadically throughout the season, and their three best recruits out for the year with two shoulder surgeries and a thyroid condition. Coach Ted Reese asserts however that despite a losing record this season, “they have competed very well and their attitude is the best I’ve had.”
The team is led by three captains, all seniors: Jesse Coleman (165 pounds), Academic All-American candidate; Pat Caruana (133 pounds) who has earned a team-leading 28 points this season despite knee injury; and Tim Morris (125 pounds), who is fourth in the nation in Greco-Roman style wrestling in his weight class.
Daily practice begins with Reese putting a tape into a little boom box and pressing play. Classical music streams out, apparently with motivational subliminal messages helping the wrestlers to focus.
After a series of warm-up and strength-training exercises Reese refers to as “sticks,” the team practices specific moves with the assistant coaches and each other, pairing up by close weight classes.
“Pain is weakness leaving the body,” declares the T-shirt worn by assistant wrestling coach Mike Brown. The intensity of this message is shared by the team, led by Reese’s energetic and charismatic coaching style.
The small wrestling room begins to smell of the puddles of sweat left by young men grappling to pin each other.
The daily practice session ends with the team participating in a visualization exercise.
“You can see your opponents. Roger Williams jerseys. Set yourself up to take him down. Where is your right hand? Where is your left hand? Visualize. What does it feel like? Where is your left foot? Your right foot? You hear the crowd. Where is your right hand? Your left hand? The match is over. You stand up and shake his hand .”
After the visualization, Reese instructs the team to take care of their injuries and “study, study, study.” The assistant coaches and captains each take a turn with encouragement and reminders to study.
Looking to next year, the team appears strong. Despite losing great wrestlers in the seniors, particularly the three captains, the young team has a lot of potential. With most of the team consisting of sophomores next year, Reese maintains optimism.
“We have pretty good recruits for next year,” he says, adding that his best recruits from this year will be healthy next year and he expects them to make a strong showing.
Photos courtesy USM Athletics Department
Alive Editor Elise Adams can be contacted at [email protected]
GREEN TEAM
Only four team members wrestled with USM last year (* = returning wrestler).
Name Weight Class High School Hometown
Kevin Ball 174/184 Fr. Marshwood Eliot, ME
Travis Bannister 165 Fr. George Stevens Blue Hill, ME
Ryan Boyd 157 Fr. Sheridan Littleton, CO
Pat Caruana * 133 Sr. Auburn Auburn, NY
Jesse Coleman * 165 Sr. Mt. Abraham Bristol, VT
Joe Cox * 157 Sr. Dexter Dexter, ME
C.J. Ewer 149 So. Foxcroft Academy Charleston, ME
Rafael Gonzalez 141 Fr. Morse Phippsburg, ME
Randy Goulet 184 Fr. Noble Berwick, ME
Phil Hamilton 174/184 Fr. Skowhegan Skowhegan, ME
Andy Mitchell 157/165 So. Pleasant Marion, OH
Tim Morris * 125 Sr. St. Joseph’s Central Pittsfield, MA
Chris Rispoli 125 Fr. Londonderry Londonderry, NH
Keith Wallace 157 Jr. Deltona Deltona, FL