Spartans go back to the future

Talk about going back to your roots. When Will Short decided to accept the Simley High School activities director position this year, he knew part of the deal was that he would have to relinquish his position as the school's varsity wrestling coach. While the Spartans' former coach chose to leave after a dream season for the program in 2007-08 - Simley won the state Class AA team championship - don't expect a lot to change this season for the Spartans. That's because the man taking over is none other than Will's father, Jim Short. If the name sounds familiar, it should. The elder Short - who also served a stint as the school's activities director - compiled a record of 374-160-4 over 28 seasons as Simley's coach and stepped down in 1997. A member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, Short won team state championships in 1987, 1988, 1989 and 1992 and will coach a team this year that could very well net him a fifth championship and the school a sixth. After the program was kept warm by his son - and now his boss - for the past 11 years, Jim is ready to get back in the swing of coaching a varsity team. Although he is retired, Short has kept current the past few years by coaching at various levels besides varsity. "When Will took the program over, I coached the freestyle spring and summer programs and I've been coaching the middle school program for the past couple of years," he said. "Our superintendent doesn't want administrators to coach so when Will got the A.D. job, we knew he would have to step down and I applied and got the job." This time around, Short won't have to worry about another job competing for his time as he can focus on wrestling 100 percent. "I'm retired, so I knew I would have the time," Short said. "In the past when I coached (Simley's varsity), I always had another job. Now I'm doing something that's a huge part of me and I get to coach at the high school level with a good team and I don't have to work." Simley cruised through Section 4AA last year and found little trouble making it to the state championship match where the Spartans faced a tough Perham team at the Xcel Energy Center. Trailing Perham 28-24, Simley heavyweight Charlie Gelhaye pinned Jesse Hein to lift the Spartans to a 30-28 victory and a state championship. This season, Simley returns many of its top wrestlers and looks like a solid pick to win a second consecutive title. Gelhaye and fellow seniors Jack Barnes, Connor Anderson and Mic Berg will look to make big contributions this year. Barnes finished fourth individually at the state tournament at 145 pounds and finished the season with a 35-9 record. "Our expectations aren't any different," Barnes said. "We're going to win it again. We'll be recognized more this year by other teams, but we're going to try to keep it going." Barnes said the experience at state last winter was something he will always remember. "It was crazy," he said. "We all knew we were going to do it. It was one of the best moments of my life. Everyone was pretty happy about it because it was the first title for us since 1992 and we're pumped for this year too." In addition to Barnes, Simley also has two other wrestlers coming back who placed at state last year. Sophomore Dan Dick took third in the 103-pound class and junior Tommy Glenn was fifth at 119. "I think we'll be favored to win again in Class AA because we won last year," Short said. "That said, there are a few other teams that are very talented and it's not going to be easy for us." Cola Jensen returns for his sophomore year after winning 32 matches a year ago and Kurtis Julson will return for his junior year after posting a record of 30-8 in 2007-08. "We're pretty loaded (in the lower classes)," Short said. "We have a kid name Dylan Wright who was in our program before and moved to California last year because his dad is in the military. He's back this year and he's really tough." The Short family influence doesn't just end with Will and Jim. Will's son Jake is a freshman wrestler and Jim's other son, Chris, will help out coaching the Spartans this fall. Jim also coached all four of his sons to a total of seven individual state titles during his first stint at Simley. "When Will stepped down, we didn't want anyone else to have the program - we're kind of selfish that way," Jim Short joked. "When I left the first time, Will was ready to take over and he did a great job to get us back to that elite level. When you get to a certain level, the expectations are that you stay there and that's what we want to do." Barnes said everyone is familiar with their current coach and knows of the history he has with the program. "He's a great coach," Barnes said. "We all respect him and he respects us. We'll miss Will, but he'll be around for us. The guys on the team are almost like brothers and we take a lot of pride in this program." With the talent level and the expectations high, one obvious question for the patriarch of Simley wrestling is where his current group ranks with other championship teams? "It's right up there," Short said. "This team could win another state tournament and they're going to be even better next year." Old is new and new is old with the Spartan wrestling program and it looks like the successful Short tradition will continue at the Inver Grove Heights school.