Tyson Thivierge believes he has just the right background to continue the success that the Carson High wrestling program has had.
It's hard to doubt him since he was always used to competing for a national title in college and has gone on to continue that success. Thivierge has been named as Carson's new wrestling coach and will also serve as the head junior varsity football coach.
He will teach health and physical education as well. "I've got a pretty good outlook on what a coach needs to succeed," Thivierge said.
Thivierge comes from Clarkston High School in Clarkston, Wash., where he has served as an assistant football and wrestling coach.
"This is something we've been looking for," said Thivierge about the teaching and head wrestling jobs at Carson. "My family and I, my wife and my kids."
From 1999-2002, Thivierse was a four-time All-American at Montana State-Northern, an NAIA school. He took third twice and second before finally breaking through to win a national title his senior year at 184 pounds. While Thivierge was at Montana State-Northern, the program also won two national titles as a team and took second his senior year.
In addition, his coaching experience included a stint with Olympic bronze medalist Perry Brands at the University of Tennessee Chattanooga, an NCAA Division I school. Under their leadership, the program advanced five wresters to the NCAA Championships, the most in school history. "That was a great experience," Thivierge said.
And while Thivierge was looking for a head wrestling job, he said he's glad to be coaching football, too. "I love football as well," he said.
While Thivierge doesn't want wrestlers to change their individual style, he does want them to adopt his "hard-nosed" approach. "I've always had a wrestling mentality," Thivierge said. "I grew up around wrestling. I took the brunt of everybody's crap. I developed my own style in high school."
Thivierge said he wants his wrestlers to have a style that's "no holds barred under the rules. Always pushing forward. Always building the lead.
"I really want kids to buy into my system. I want kids to have their own style. I don't want to change anyone's style."
There will also be no favorites, Thivierge said. "Everybody's treated the same. I would come down on the toughest kid on the team.
"I've always had a fondness of hard-nosed kids not scared of hard work. Practice is the most important aspect of wrestling."
Academics will also be stressed, Thivierge said. "Academics are very important," he said.
Thivierge said Carson principal Fred Perdomo told him about the program and about the youth program, the Carson Bulldogs. "That makes me very happy to have a good feeder program," he said.
Carson should again be one of the top programs in Northern Nevada. The Senators should return four wrestlers who advanced to last year's NIAA 4A State Tournament: Travis Lamborn and Todd Banko, who took third, Kyle Banko, who took second, and Robbie Bozin. Another top returning wrestler is Owen Craugh, who went undefeated to win the Western Regional Junior Olympics this summer.
Thivierge represents the fourth coaching change for Carson in the last five years. Tim McCarthy stepped down after 2002 and was replaced by Dean Schmanski, who stepped down after 2004. McCarthy returned to co-coach with Jim Franz in 2004-2005 and Casey Schweitzer coached last season.