The Front Row with JASON ELLIOTT Jan. 30, 2013

If those students at John Sager Middle School in College Place, Wash., in 1972 looked a little confused when they were starting a wrestling program, their coach Greg Cossette, knew exactly how they felt.

His high school in Quilcene, Wash., near Port Townsend didn't offer wrestling, and his father was a basketball coach and Cossette played basketball and football in high school.

"It was one of those things where if we would have had it (wrestling in high school), I probably wouldn't have done it," Cossette said. "I spent more time in the driveway and gym playing basketball as a kid than anything."

AFTER TEACHING at Lakeland Junior High from 1970-72, Cossette, now 64, moved to Walla Walla to teach in the College Place School District.

"The principal (at John Sager) said that one of my duties would be to coach wrestling," Cossette said. "I told him I'd never wrestled, but he told me it was OK because neither have they - it's a new program. So I went to Walla Walla High and a couple of the junior highs and talked to their coaches to see what it was all about. I had an idea because I played football at Eastern Washington and one of the guys I played with was Dennis Linerud, who'd grown up in the area and had been a wrestler. My position coach, Brent Wooten, was a wrestling coach, so I used to go over and watch them wrestle on Saturday mornings."

Cossette came back to Post Falls in 1974, where he was to be an assistant football and basketball coach. Again, his journey took him back to wrestling.

"It had gotten toward the end of football season and at the time there was only three coaches, so I asked the other coach, Jim Wilund, what he was going to do and he said, 'coach JV boys basketball,'" Cossette said. "I told him that's interesting because I've got a contract to coach boys JV, so we went to the principal and asked what was going on and he said to come back the next day. He discovered he’d screwed up and told me I’d be coaching wrestling — since I had some background and Jim only knew basketball.”

TWO YEARS later, Cossette was named the head coach of the Post Falls wrestling team, a position he held for 11 years.

“I’d learned a lot about wrestling by then,” Cossette said. “I wasn’t a competitive wrestler myself, so I knew a piece was missing, so I went and asked if I could hire another assistant. When they said I couldn’t, I resigned, hoping it would lead to the hiring of a coach with a college wrestling background.”

That ended up being Dennis Amende.

“I was very lucky because my first assistant was Jerry Keane and by then, he was in charge of personnel,” Cossette said of the current Post Falls School District Superintendent. “He allowed me to search for my own replacement and I hired Dennis. He’d been a successful wrestler at North Idaho College and Pacific University. When he’d wrestle for Coeur d’Alene, I couldn’t find a way to beat him (as Post Falls coach) and that always stuck in my head. I could put the best guy I could find on my team, and it didn’t matter because he’d always nail them.”

In 2000, with Amende getting burned out with coaching, Cossette stepped in again.

“Dennis was going to give up wrestling,” Cossette said. “So I went in and talked to (then athletic director) Jeff Choate and knew we couldn’t let him go, so I told him to just let him think he’d quit and I’ll run the program for however long it takes him to get refreshed — and that was three months into the season and I had no problem going back to being an assistant.”

Both Amende and Cossette retired from wrestling for good in 2009.

“When Dennis finally retired from wrestling, basically I said I’ll go too because I didn’t want to chance not being on the same page as the next guy,” Cossette said. “Never, in all the years we coached together did we run into philosophic differences. It’s really unusual to go 35 years and not run into that kind of situation.”

Pete Reardon, also a former NIC wrestler, took over the Post Falls program in 2009.

“When he was hired, Pete made a point of coming to Dennis’ room and mine to tell us that he would never do anything to step backward in our program and it would only go forward,” Cossette said. “He said he’d never do anything to counter anything that we’ve instilled in that program — and he didn’t have to do that, but he knew how long and hard we’d worked. He promised that they were only going to get better and he’d never do anything to disgrace the orange and black — and I thought, ‘that’s a good man.’”

COSSETTE WILL be inducted into the Idaho Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame on March 23 at the Coeur d’Alene Eagles Lodge.

“It was one of the most humbling experiences of my life,” Cossette said. “When I was told that someone would like to nominate me, I thought what an honor to be nominated. I never thought I’d be selected. I didn’t think it would happen, but wow, when I got that letter, it was unbelievable. I think the best part of it is the people I’m being inducted with.”

The other inductees will be Merrill Owens, a longtime official; Ron Wood, former coach at Kellogg High; Conrad Garner, current Bonners Ferry coach; and Wallace coach Bob Schreiber.

Cossette was also a longtime assistant on the Trojan volleyball team, but retired following the 2012 season. Like wrestling, Cossette said he had very little knowledge of volleyball when he started coaching that sport, but learned as he went along.

“I’m on the sideline now,” Cossette said. “I’ve been through five different coaches in volleyball. Willow and I had a deal because we both applied for the head coaching job. If I got it, she’d be my assistant and I would be hers if she got it. We both had the same ideas on offense and defense. I felt secure we’d have a good program either way, and I’d be happy either way. We’ve always done it for the kids. I’ve always taught my kids, no matter what happens, I’ve got your back and they understood I would go and do whatever had to be done.”

And he did, no matter how familiar he was with the sport.

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d’Alene Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at jelliott@cdapress.com.