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Editor’s note : Hometown Sports recently caught up with former Juniata high school alum and current coach Willie Nearhood. Nearhood, the current head wrestling coach at Goose Creek High School in South Carolina. The longtime coach just captured his 500th coaching win as head coach. Nearhood became just the 10th coach in state history to reach the milestone.

We caught up with the longtime coach and talked about his past, present and future of his stellar career.

HSS: How many years have you been coaching wrestling?

WN: I’m  starting my 29th season coaching. This is my 27th year coaching wrestling (26 as a head coach).

HS: Where did you grow up at and what school did you graduate from?

WN: I grew up in Mifflintown, PA and graduated from Juniata HS in 1991.

HS: What sports did you play in high school?

WN: In high school I played Football, Baseball and Wrestled.

HS: Where did you go to college at?

WN: I went to The Citadel and was a member of the baseball team.

HS: What got you into coaching?

WN: I got into coaching wrestling when I was a transferred within our district when we made a head football coaching change at the school that I was at. I knew the school I was being transferred to needed a JV girls basketball coach so I found the wrestling coach immediately and offered my help. After one year as an assistant I became the head coach.

HS: Where do you coach at?

WN: I now coach at Goose Creek HS. Goose Creek, South Carolina.

HS: How many years have you been?

WN: This is my 2nd season at Goose Creek HS. I had four years at Cross HS and 21 years at Stratford HS.

HS: What would you say has been your most memorable moment while coaching?

WN: I have lots of memorable moments but I can honestly say it’s a tie (every time a State
Champions hand has been raised).

HS: What was your favorite moment as an athlete?

WN: My favorite moment as an Athlete was being part of a Division 1 Baseball program. The entire experience is hard to describe, you just take it all in.

HS: Talk about a little about your current team. How are they doing so far this season?

WN: My current team has several experienced and several first year starters in the line up. As a team we are 13-3 and getting ready to start our Region matches. Individually we have a sophomore returning State Champion (Montero Royal). He also was a Fargo Finalist this summer at 106 lbs in Greco. I know a lot of people say South Carolina wrestling is not as good as other states but FARGO is FARGO and that’s the quality of wrestler we’re putting on the mat. We also have a female (Sydney Mitchem) who was a state finalist from last year. We have a Henry Schutz who is a returning state qualifier. Mekye Nelson is a move in who placed 20th in Georgia last season.
As a team we work as hard as anyone. Our typical day is 6:45 AM Varsity practice (before school) 1ª block Varsity Sports wrestling class (we lift weights) JV/MS practice after school and varsity kids can go in and get a second workout in (several of them do).

HS: What goals did you set for your team?

WN: We want to be the best team we can be and get better each day. Obviously, our returning State champ wants to become a 4X State Champ, Our wrestlers want to improve from last season. Some of our guys want to place at states and other want to Qualify. Individuals have different goals. As a team we want to wrestle for a State Title. We came three points short of that last season. We lost in the Lower State Finals match 34-37. We still remember what that felt like so another team goal is to establish a middle school program and Youth Program. Our K-6 youth program is currently around 20-25 kids and are wrestling tournaments and we have increased our middle school wrestlers to 14 kids this season. So those are steps in the right direction. It all comes full circle when we get middle school kids entering our room with several years of youth wrestling experience. That is our ultimate program goal.