By: Garrett Mitchell, Staff Writer | garrett@thewoodrufftimes.com
It is a happy homecoming for Woodruff High School’s new head wrestling coach.
Austin Weathers, a 2007 Woodruff graduate, has been chosen as the Wolverines’ new head coach after a highly successful stint at Hillcrest in which he guided the Rams to a Class 5A team State Championship in 2021.
Weathers takes over a proud program that for decades was a championship contender but has fallen on hard times in recent years.
“It’s honestly the realization of a lifelong dream of mine,” said Weathers about coming home to his alma mater.
“When I was a kid, I wanted to compete at Woodruff like my parents had done, and when I left and started my career in coaching, I always had the goal of one day coming back. I am both honored and thrilled to have that opportunity now and can’t wait to start putting into the Woodruff community that helped make me who I am today.”
Coach Weathers has spent 10 years as a head coach, with tenures at T.L. Hanna, Blue Ridge, and Hillcrest. He was also the associate head coach at Hillcrest before taking over the Rams’ program.
As a student athlete at Woodruff, Weathers played offensive line for the Wolverines’ football team and was also a standout on the mat for the great Woodruff teams of the mid-2000s. He wants to bring that competitive fire and success back to the program that shaped his love of the sport.
“My biggest goal early on is to work to get participation numbers back up at the high school and middle school,” Weathers explained. “The wrestlers currently in the program are keeping the culture and tradition at WHS alive and well. They are hard-working kids who have embodied the toughness and competitiveness that I think of when I think of what it means to be a Wolverine. We just need to get more of them out on the mat with them. I look forward to working together with coaches of all our sports at WHS to share athletes and have us help one another out by developing some great, well-rounded athletes.”
While the goal is to win, and win at a high level like Woodruff wrestling is used to, Weathers’ message to his soon-to-be grapplers, their parents, and the Woodruff community is one that transcends success on the mat. He also wants to help mold student-athletes into successful citizens off the mat, too.
“I am incredibly excited and eager to get to work here at Woodruff,” Weathers added. “First and foremost, I want to use wrestling to help develop good people for the Woodruff community. I think wrestling provides so many opportunities for self-evaluation and character development, and it can help so many become better human beings. Competitively, I am a big believer that the duals team success is the main driver in the health of the program, and that is what I want to focus on building back up. Woodruff has always had great individual wrestlers, and we will continue to have that, but there are few things quite like a packed house in the WHS gym for a big dual meet. I look forward to being part of making those happen again, and I hope the Woodruff community is going to be there with us along the way.”
Author: Tracy Sanders
