Coach of the Year: Sam Lopez

Selma High wrestlers benefitted from coaches leadership throughout the season and postseason.

Published online on Thursday, Apr. 02, 2009

When doubt easily could have set in, Sam Lopez had a plan.

When his Selma High wrestling team, which had been ranked second in the state most of the season, could muster only a fourth-place finish at the Central Section Masters tournament, Lopez didn’t panic.

Rather than lighting into his team on the first day of practice in preparation for the CIF State Championships, the Bears’ first-year coach and his assistants instead rattled off one inspiring story after another. They shared tales of people overcoming adversity to achieve their goals.

That tactic struck a chord as Selma lived up to its advance billing, tying Buchanan for second behind Poway at the state meet in March. It was the Bears’ highest finish at the state meet in school history, an accomplishment that has earned Lopez The Bee’s Wrestling Coach of the Year honors over Buchanan’s Chris Hansen and Clovis’ Ben Holscher.

“We told the kids, ‘Hey, you know what, we had one bad weekend. It’s not the end of the world,’ ” Lopez said. “We’ve just got to compete. If we are state champs, fine. And if we are eighth, we’re still going to come back on Tuesday and start working for next year.”

Selma ended the first day of the state meet sitting fourth behind Poway, Buchanan and Clovis. But while those three schools were all within four points of each other, the Bears sat 20 points behind.

Selma made its charge on the second day as Alex Cisneros (103 pounds), Diego Quintana (112), Nick Pena (125), Jose Mendoza (130) and Nathan Zarate (135) all won their first matches to guarantee state medals.

“The first day we did all right, but it’s the second day you don’t know about,” Lopez said. “Then a lot of the kids won their first matches and they weren’t satisfied. A lot of kids win that first match of the second day and they say ‘I’ve placed’ and they are satisfied. We pushed them not to be satisfied.”

Cisneros would win the title at 103s, becoming the first ever undefeated freshman state champ and just the seven freshman winner overall. Mendoza finished second, Pena was third, Zarate fifth and Quintana sixth.

“I’m proud the kids showed up and competed,” Lopez said. “That’s all you can ask for, to show up and give your best effort. And they did.”

Lopez took the job in June after Naser Husein was let go. Husein, who had led the Bears to an eighth-place finish at state the year before, filed a lawsuit against the school for wrongful termination and racial discrimination. So when Lopez arrived after coaching at Buena Park High, the 1994 Western Athletic Conference champion wrestler for Fresno State walked into a divided community.

“He came into a program that had strong wrestlers and he received some friction,” Clovis North coach Travis Mills said. “But he weathered the storm and ended up taking second in the state of California. There are almost 900 schools out there who wish they were in his place. That’s downright impressive to me.”