I am happy to say this was our most popular poll so far, with a total of 28 participants casting theirs votes. This poll was a “what have you done for me lately” poll, using just the accomplishments from the last 10 years as a basis from which to rank the Dade Coaches. More than ten years would not have been fair to the coaches with much less experience, and less than ten years would not have been fair to the coaches that have been doing it for a while, so we thought 10 years would be a nice period in which to get a feel for who is doing what.
Clearly and rightfully, Victor Balmeceda (South Dade) received the largest number of votes, and is the consensus top pick as Dade’s best coach. No real surprise here, the seven rings shirt and four straight runner-up finishes that would likely have translated into at least two more titles were it not for Oviedo’s dip into the free agent market says it all. South Dade is easily the most consistent team in the state along with Brandon, and Balmeceda is in large part responsible.
Tejada was the consensus number 2 vote getter. Does he deserve the number 2 spot is a good question? His success the last ten years speaks for itself, with a runner up finish in 2003 and another 4 times in the top 10 including 8 state champs makes him top 5 for sure. I don’t believe he belongs on this list ahead of Husk, but I was not the only one voting; Husk has almost double the state champs Tajada has plus 2 state titles of which Tejada has none.
Husk Finished 3rd in this poll, but likely should have been no worse than second, and were it not limited to the last 10 years, he would easily be number 1. The Godfather had a tremendous run at South Ridge in recent history, with 15 state champs, and 2 state titles. He had multiple repeaters in Everette, Blue, Rio, and West. A wrestling Legend in Florida for sure; but all has not been rosy since leaving South Ridge. This could be the year Husk has another wrestler climb the podium, but time is running out on this Johnny come lately list; if Columbus doesn’t start to make some noise soon, Husk could drop out of the top 5 soon.
Number 4 on the list was Pardo. He has some nice accomplishments with a runner-up finish and 7 champs along with many individual runner-ups and 2 team 3rd place finishes; lately though it’s been bad News for South Miami, if Pardo can’t bring them out of it soon he is going to fall off this list pretty quickly.
Osorio received the next most votes to round out the top 5. If I were Soderholm I would be a little insulted at that. Not that Osorio is not a fine coach, he is, but he is not in league with Soderholm, not just yet. If Osorio duplicated his numbers in his best 5 years, he would still not have had the success that Soderholm has had in the last 10 years. If however Osorio proves that the formula he used at Hialeah transfers well and American comes up quickly, Osorio could quickly jump up as high as 2 or 3 on the list.
There are some other significant accomplishments by the top 5 coaches, Balmeceda, and Husk are the only two to have state titles, and back to back titles boot. Balmeceda, Husk, and Pardo are the only three on this list to put 4 or more individuals in state finals; but only Balmeceda and Husk have had 4 champions in one state tournament. All three along with Tejada have had at least one state tournament where 5 or more wrestlers placed in the top 4.
Rounding out the poll was Soderholm in 6th place, Mendez in 7th place, Rivera in 8th place, and Turner in 9th.
There was one omission on my part that could have made a big difference in the poll, I was thinking strictly 3A as I tend to do and left Frank Pelegri off the list. His accomplishments would likely put him no worse than 2nd or 3rd with a state title and numerous state champs, bumping down Tejada and Pardo for sure and putting Osorio out of the top 5. There were 6 votes for “Someone left off the list” and I believe most if not all those votes are Pelgri votes.
Was this a popularity contest? Of course it was, but so what. Does it really mean anything? NO! But if you are one of those guys I bet it’s nice to see your name up there; assuming of course they read this kind of crap. Thanks to everyone that voted for making this our best poll yet, and thanks for the comments and the interest, I hope we can continue to build interest.
Spidey
4 comments:
Can't have this go by with no comments. It seems as though all the coaches in the top 5 have done a magnificent job in the past decade. Like them or not! 1-Balmaceda, results speak for themself,
2- Tejada seems to do a fine job with the kids he has,
3-Husk is a legend and rightfully so 1964-Present, damn that's commitment,
4- Pardo- Has done a fine job at SM and has had some standouts,
5- Osorio in the short amount of time he has been coaching has elevated his teams to a respectable level and pumped out some champs
...Pelegri is a giant too! Love to watch him have those fits in matches, I would have put him above Osorio and Tejada and perhaps even Pardo...Soderholm does a fine job as well (hot dogs aside of course)J/K...Mendez is a quiet one allright, but he somehow manages to always have a few guys who seem to breathing down some top gun's necks...Rivera is as serious as they come, but always has one or two dangerous Knights...Turner, man that guy seems pretty intense. He knows the game and seems to have little tolerance, wimps need not apply sort-of-thing...Man o Man how I miss that Krop guy. He was a character and a great coach. Had some nice teams and seemed to be close with those kids. Phillips that is.
Magneto,
Well said, I wish there were sensible posters around. Great breakdown. BTW, Pelegri definitley belongs higher than Pardo and Osorio, the guy has a state title, that is not an easy feat.
One more thought...Why wasn't the Goleman coach mentioned? How many state champs has he had in the last 10 years? DOn't know if it's the same guy, but I know goleman has had some scrappers in the past and some champs, right?
Magneto,
Goleman has had two individual champions with 4 individual titles, Alan Herrera winning 3 of them. Not that he is not a decent coach, but certainly not on par with the top 10. Team finishes have been non existent, and outside of Alan Herrera he hasn't had much else. There are even those out there that would like to credit Osorio with a state champion in Espinosa...
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