Adam Bieber
After 10 seasons as the Shawano Community High School wrestling coach, Adam Bieber is stepping down, but he’s not stepping away from Shawano wrestling.
Bieber, who took over the job in 2003 when Tim Mayer left to become the SCHS athletic director, plans to expand his role at the middle school and youth levels.
“Two years ago when I took over the (Shawano Wrestling Club) president spot, we made some changes that I thought would be more beneficial to our youth wrestlers as a whole,” he said. “Now we need to work at the middle school level. We’re going to continue what we’re doing at the youth level.”
Bieber plans to lengthen the middle school wrestling schedule, which goes from mid-January to February.
“Other schools run a little bit longer than that,” he said. “That is what I’m going to focus on, getting our middle school schedule near our youth schedule.”
Bieber, who is running for Shawano County sheriff, said he has been eyeing the transition for a while.
“This has been part of the plan for about a year or two, that I would step down and work more with the youth group,” he said.
SCHS has not named Bieber’s replacement, but he has endorsed Mike Homan, who coaches wrestling at Shawano Community Middle School, and former SCHS wrestler Jordan Kust, who graduated in 2008 and went on to have a successful college career at University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.
“Now that Mike Homan is ready to step up and we have Jordan Kust coming back from college, it just worked out perfectly,” Bieber said. “I can step back and let those guys take over and I can focus more on the youth.”
Bieber said his best coaching memories include guys who reached the state tournament as well as some whom he recruited to the sport that had never wrestled before.
“Today, they’re still sticking with the sport, they love the sport, like Nick Stellato, who is coaching over at (Green Bay) Preble High School,” Bieber said. “He’s one of my wrestlers that just started when he was a sophomore. Those are special moments that I’ve been able to experience the last 10 years. Hopefully, I’ve made an impact on their lives and they continue to teach wrestling and love the sport like I do.”
Bieber said he will miss certain aspects of coaching at the high school level, but he expects to still be around.
“I’m not going to disappear,” he said. “I’m not going to be one of those coaches that just falls off the face of the earth and you don’t hear from them again. I’ll still be around, I’ll still volunteer my time. Obviously, I’ll respect whatever coach takes the job and how he handles situations.
“I’m going to give time to the kids. If they want to learn from me or take any advice from me, I’ll still be there to give them help in any way they want.”