When Glenelg Country School athletics director Nan Hambrose was looking for the best candidate to coach the Dragons new wrestling team this winter, she initially thought that she would either have to settle on a coach with lots of experience, or one with youth and energy on their side.
Little did she know that she would find someone with both.
Glenelg Country announced on Aug. 15 that 30-year-old Doug Jesse, who had previously coached at Division I Wagner College and Division II Tiffin University, had been hired as head coach of the school's new wrestling program.
"It was an interesting search … you usually do have to concede one thing for another," Hambrose said. "He's been through the rat race … and he has great energy."
Jesse was a four-time state qualifier at Hopewell-Loudon High School in Bascom, Ohio, finishing as a state finalist his freshman and senior year, and taking third as a junior. He was 158-10 in high school while wrestling between 103 and 119 pounds, and was a two-time AAU freestyle All-American, finishing second both times. He wrestled collegiately at Cornell.
After college, Jesse served as an assistant coach at Heidelberg University near his hometown for one season. While there, he applied for a position as a graduate assistant at Wagner College in Staten Island, NY.
Soon after his arrival, former Wagner coach Joe Ryan left for a coaching job at Rutgers, and Jesse found himself the 24-year-old head coach of a Division I college wrestling program.
Without scholarships, Jesse fought an uphill battle through four seasons at Wagner, but managed to earn a pair of Master's degrees in education. In 2009, Wagner dropped its wrestling program, and Jesse returned home to revive the wrestling program at Tiffin University, which wrestled as a club program its first year. In their second season, the Tiffin Dragons finished with ten wins as an independent program.
"Coming out of college, originally my goal was to coach high school, but I'm glad that I got the opportunities that I did along the way," Jesse said. "I'm 30 and I've already coached two colleges."
Jesse's fiancee is from Cambridge, and the couple — who have planned a September wedding — had already planned a move to Maryland.
"She actually found the posting" for the Glenelg Country job, said Jesse, who will start off as a substitute teacher at the school. "It just kind of fell into my lap, it worked out perfectly."
Jesse said that his experience should serve him well at Glenelg Country, since he worked with a small student body at Wagner, and he was charged with building the wrestling program from the ground up at Tiffin.
His plan is to build a strong offseason club program at Glenelg Country to start a feeder system, and use this winter's JV season to prepare for next year's varsity debut.
"We'll definitely use that JV year to our advantage," he said. "We want them to get plenty of matches under their belts to build experience."
Hambrose said that even last year, her first as athletic director, she was hearing from students who wanted to join a wrestling team. The Dragons have offered middle school wrestling, but nothing at the high school level. Up until now, male athletes had only two choices for winter athletics: club ice hockey, or basketball.
Hambrose is realistic regarding expectations for the first several seasons, but does look at the new wrestling team and the hiring of Jesse as part of the continuing athletic turnaround at Glenelg Country School.
"We don't have any delusions of suddenly overpowering (defending champion) Archbishop Spalding, but we do have goals of competing at a varsity level within a few seasons," Hambrose said.
Hambrose added that while the Dragons will be wrestling a JV schedule this season, capable wrestlers will have the opportunity to compete against varsity competition in some tournaments.