| Loukides takes the helm for UNC Greensboro |
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| Written by Ronnie Sigmon -- Top Prospects Editor | |
| Friday, 04 August 2006 | |
 About two and a half years ago then UNCG head coach Tom Shifflett persuaded a former teammate to join him as the Spartans' assistant wrestling coach. Jason Loukides had wrestled with Shifflett at Edinboro for wrestling legend Bruce Baumgartner. Loukides was also the third assistant coach for Shifflett during his four-year stint at Greensboro. At the time little did Loukides realize the opportunity that would await him. In the spring and summer of 2006, college wrestling was tuned upside down with coaches changing schools. In all thirty-eight college coaches changed jobs including Shifflett and Loukides. In early May, Loukides had turned down the offer to be head coach for Division II UNC Pembroke, but a couple of weeks later opportunity would knock on Loukides's door once more. When the Hofstra head-coaching job came open, Shifflett jumped at the chance to move back to his native New York. Loukides then put his name in the hat to head the wrestling program for the Spartans. After a national search, UNC Greensboro AD Nelson Bobb gave the top job to Loukides on July 1st. Loukides presented a good resume to the Spartans. He graduated from Edinboro in 1995 where he competed in the 190lb weight class. He holds one master degree and has been working on another. After graduating from Edinboro, he was an assistant coach for Slippery Rock and two years later a club coach for Edinboro for a year. He then spent six years in the army where he was a member of the armed forces' national team and trained at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. The last two summers, Loukides has been a coach for the North Carolina national team that competes in Fargo, North Dakota in the Freestyle and Greco nationals. I talked with coach Loukides during the bus trip back home from Fargo, and here is what he had to say. Q - RS: Jason how old are you and where did you grow up? A - JL: I am 35 and I grew up in Michigan. Q - RS: Are you married? A - JL: No, but I have a fiancée, Candy Knightshead of Baltimore, Maryland. She is currently a resident doctor at Baltimore Memorial Hospital. Q - RS: What brought you to North Carolina? A - JL: About 2 ½ years ago Coach Shifflett recruited me to be his asst. coach. Q - RS: How do you like North Carolina? A - JL: I love it. The Greensboro area is very nice. I really like the weather and the people there. Q - RS: What do you think about college and high school wrestling in North Carolina? A - JL: I think wrestling in North Carolina is growing in both the high school and the college level. I am happy to be a part of that. Q - RS: The last two years along with being an asst. coach for UNCG, you have also helped to run a local wrestling club in Greensboro and have been on the NCUSA national teams coaching staff. Now that you are a head coach for UNCG are you still going to help NCUSA on the club level and with their national teams? A - JL: Yes, I want to still help NCUSA. I think it is important to get North Carolina wrestlers to compete in Fargo and at the Junior/Cadet Duals. North Carolina wrestlers will get better as a whole if we can persuade them to compete more at USA national and regional events. Q - RS: Do you think that the Southern Conference is getting better in wrestling? A - JL: Yes, I think that our conference and the whole south are growing rapidly in college wrestling. There have been a lot of good new coaches and top wrestlers that have came to southern schools in the last two years. Q - RS: What kind of support does the administration at UNCG give the wrestling program? A - JL: The administration is very excited about our wrestling program, and they really support our team. They have been actively involved helping with the Southern Scuffle, Mat Jam, our dual meets, etc… Our AD even goes to the NCAA tournament to watch our wrestlers compete. Q - RS: Now that Tom Shifflett has left, is there still going to be a Southern Scuffle? A - JL: Oh yes! UNCG has made a commitment to keep this an annual event. The Southern Scuffle will be at the Greensboro Coliseum just like last year. We will have thirty-three teams and the high school duals again. Q - RS: What is the Spartan wrestling team looking like this year? A - JL: I am very excited about the team. We lost four wrestlers from last year’s team, but we have a lot of new kids coming into the program. I am looking for the new kids to develop a good attitude and accept the challenge to compete at this level. Q - RS: Who are some of the new wrestlers coming into your program? A - JL: At 125lbs, we have state champion Casey Boyles of Connecticut. He was a former New England Champion. North Carolina state champion Mitchell Johnson should also be at 125lbs. Jeff Hodges will either be at 125lbs or 133lbs. He is a junior college transfer from Northern Idaho. He wrestled high school in Montana. Four-time Ohio state placer Matt Lerer will be at 141lbs. He placed third last season. At 157lbs, we have Byron Sigmon who was a four time state finalist and a three-time North Carolina state champion. Pennsylvania state placer Jeremy Cannon will be at 174lbs. Another Pennsylvania wrestler, Scott Snider, will be at 184lbs. He was a state runner-up last season. At 197lbs, we will have New York state champion Nick Clark. We may also get 5th year senior transfer Ben Bishop from Lehigh at 157lbs. Q - RS: Whom are you looking at to lead the team this year? A - JL: Daren Burns is a three-time conference champion, but he will red shirt and rehab from shoulder surgery. This year we will look to 174lb Joe Lowe for leadership. He is a two-time conference champion. Others that should step into a leadership role are; Chris Bencibenga (141lbs), Andrew Krieger (149lbs), Mark Ring (165lbs) and Kane Smith (184lbs). There are many weights that are wide open for new wrestlers to step into. We have three weights that do not have any returning letterman, 125lbs, 133lbs, and 197lbs. I want to get our program where we have at least two wrestlers competing for each weight class. Q - RS: When will practice start? A - JL: Classes start August 14th. Two weeks after that we start our preseason workouts. Preseason consists of eight hours of work per week. That is a NCAA rule limit. After the fall break we start full season practices. The NCAA allows 144 days of work for a full season. Q - RS: What does a typical practice consist of? A - JL: We have two workouts per day. The morning workout is with a coach or small group when the wrestlers have a break in the class schedule. The evening workout is with the whole team and last about 1½ hours. Q - RS: Do you have any other duties at UNCG other than coaching? A - JL: No, neither my first asst. coach nor I do. This allows us to work with the wrestlers in the mornings when they have a break in their schedule. Q - RS: How many coaches will you have on your staff? A - JL: The NCAA limit allows four coaches on the staff including a volunteer coach. Q - RS: Who are your current coaches? A - JL: Currently, I only have a second asst and my self. I should get the first asst. in the next two weeks. I have been interviewing some guys. Q - RS: Who is your second asst. coach? A - JL: Shafton Duncan is my second asst. coach. He will be at the evening practices and will work for a Greensboro elementary school during the day. Q - RS: Where did Shafton come from? A - JL: Shafton and I grew up together and wrestled at Albion high school in Michigan. Shafton was a NCAA qualifier for Slippery Rock, he placed at university nationals and he was a graduate asst. at Slippery Rock. He also went on to wrestle for the US Marine team. Q - RS: When will your first competition be at UNCG? A - JL: This year we will have a Blue/Gold match (wrestle-off) at Fleming Gymnasium on November 21st. RS: Jason thanks for sharing this information with the North Carolina Scouting Report. JL: You are welcome. |
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