So far, the Gophers wrestling season is off to a shakey start. First, Jake Deitchler decides not to attend the U, now assistant coach Marty Morgan abruptly resigns.

Morgan’s loss may hurt more even though Deitchler was a member of the U.S. Greco-Roman team in the Beijing Olympics. The three-time state champ from Anoka High decided to train full-time at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.

Morgan left to train Brock Lesnar full-time. Lesnar, a former Gophers heavyweight legend, is now involved in the Ultimate Fighting Championships.

Morgan was head coach J Robinson’s right-hand man and a good recruiter. Robinson would defer to Morgan on questions sometimes at media day press conferences.

Morgan would attend many of the big wrestling tournaments, like the Christmas tournament. He seemed to like dealing with the media. He was a three-time All-American at the U and seemed like an all-around good guy.

He was on the Gophers staff for 16 years. J took his loss in stride and even kept the door open if Morgan wants to return: “We look forward to working with him in the future.”

But the U wrestling room is full of sweaty, hard-working bodies. The 2008-09 roster had not been released yet, but last year there were 39 wrestlers listed and four coaches, Robinson, Marty, the head assistant coach, and assistants Joe Russell and Brandon Eggum.

That’s about a 1 to 10 ratio of coaches to grapplers, now it’s 1-13 and what about recruiting? Who will be the main man there?

Maybe J has a backup in mind? The season starts in two months.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008 at 6:34 pm and is filed under Gophers wrestling. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.