- March 24, 2025
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This was not the type of practice Will Schenerlein was used to. The Dean of Students at Cardinal Mooney High was now the Head Coach of the school’s new wrestling program, with a boys and girls team.
He found himself this fall in the school’s gym, standing on the brand new red wrestling mats, explaining the rules of the sport to a couple dozen students, the majority of whom had never so much as watched a wrestling match.
It was a stark contrast to his time spent coaching wrestling at his alma mater, Parkersburg High, in Parkersburg, West Virginia.
“It’s two opposite ends of the spectrum,” said Schenerlein. “One is, here are the keys to the race car, don’t screw this up and other is more like you’re building the car from the ground up.”
Schenerlein, who was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2019, comes from as pure a wrestling pedigree as one can. Outside of being an outstanding wrestler himself, while at Parkersburg he coached five top 25 nationally ranked teams, three national champions, 26 individual champions, 14 All-Americans and many more excellent wrestlers.
He won four West Virginia team state championships while at Parkersburg, leaving a legacy of his own in the heartland of wrestling.
So no, teaching entirely new students about wrestling is not what he’s used to. Schenerlein, however, wouldn’t trade it for anything. He’s coached the utmost echelon of high school wrestling. Now at Cardinal Mooney, he has the chance to shape the lives of his students through the sport that has given so much to him.
The idea of starting a wrestling program at Cardinal Mooney had been percolating around the campus since Schenerlein had joined the school.
“The first thing I thought when I got hired here was why don’t we have a wrestling program?” said Schenerlein. “I’d never seen a Catholic school without a wrestling team. We’d gotten the ball rolling a couple of years ago, but then COVID-19 hit and obviously wrestling is the last sport people want to do during a pandemic.”
Schenerlein, who has four children, had a lot on his plate. When students like junior Blake Roulund, one of the few on the team with wrestling experience, started expressing interest, it was hard for Schenerlein to say no.
Schenerlein brought in a coaching staff, including assistant coach Felix Osuna-Cotto, who also is from Parkersburg and wrestled at Schenerlein’s rival high school.
While Schenerlein was essentially introducing the sport to many of his wrestlers at Cardinal Mooney, his philosophy in coaching hasn’t changed. Whether it's a perennial state champion with full Division 1 scholarship or someone who started the sport just a couple of months prior, Schenerlein still holds his wrestlers to the same level of accountability.
“You expect a certain type of work ethic, regardless of experience,” said Schenerlein. “Wrestling is different from any other sport, not only because it’s one-on-one and very physical, but it’s also mentally and emotionally draining. So the philosophy of teaching someone that they can push through walls or reach down to parts of their competitive spirit that they didn’t know they had doesn’t change.”
On the first day of practice, Schenerlein made a statement to his prospective wrestlers.
“I told them that wrestling is not a sport we’re going to just try,” said Schenerlein. “It’s a physical, tough sport that you have to put a lot into it. To be a wrestler, you have to be a little bit different of a breed of person. We had some kids come out and they made it one day and decided that it wasn’t for them. I understand that and I’m glad they were able to see that and move on.”
Those who have stayed, Schenerlein maintained, have made incredible progress. Sometimes that progress is seen in wins and losses. Other times, it comes just from having an increased awareness on the mat, staying alive for a couple more minutes, getting pinned.
“A lot of their progress has to do with their confidence and mental toughness,” said Schenerlein. “How much are they able to endure? On top of that, understanding that wrestling is always flowing. You take a shot, you’re thinking about your next move, which is totally different from any other sport. We’ve made a lot of progress in that area.”
The biggest barrier, Schenerlein said, for first-time wrestlers entering the sport isn’t just how physically demanding it is. It’s the fact that success may not come for quite some time. Maintaining that mental discipline and having faith in their coaches is part of what he’s most proud of with his wrestlers in the program’s first year.
“You’re putting yourself through things you’ve never put yourself through before and at the same time you’re getting beaten on a consistent basis — to come back and keep doing it says a lot about your character,” said Schenerlein. “For them to be able to compartmentalize and say ‘I know that I’m getting better and if I keep working and trust my coaches it’s going to happen at some point,’ says a lot about the individual.”
Osuna-Cotto echoed Schenerlein’s sentiments. At the program's meet with Booker High on Jan. 31, which Cardinal Mooney lost 34-24, he expressed pride in the tenacity of his team and their willingness to continue to battle through adversity.
“No one’s quitting and that was my goal,” said Osuna-Cotto. “I want them to fall in love with the sport and grow with it, because it’s not about the money or fame or anything like that. Who voluntarily comes out here and gets beat up and wants to work hard? There’s no prize necessarily, except for pride. That is the prize.”
