Prior to the season, Kentucky Wesleyan hired Brandon Crawford as the Panthers new Head Wrestling Coach. This is not the first time Crawford has been a leader of a group of men, as he served 13 years in the United States Army.
Coach Crawford accumulated a few impressive accolades during time serving our country. He earned the Combat Infantry Badge during his time in Afghanistan, which requires you to be in direct combat with a designated enemy of the United States during wartime service. Crawford also earned the Expert Infantry Badge, which is earned by completing a rigorous competition that is held annually.
"To earn the Expert Infantry Badge, one must complete a series of over 30 tasks such as: day and night land navigation, weapons disassembly and reassembly, and medical lifesaving procedures, along with a 12-mile foot march carrying 35 pounds that must be completed in three hours or less," Crawford explains. "Less than one percent of the entire United States Army has been awarded this award."
Crawford has been able to integrate the skills and experience he acquired during his time in the Army to help him improve as a wrestling coach.
"My experiences leading, mentoring, and developing young men is what drove me to coach," Crawford said. "I want to see my wrestlers be more than just a great wrestler, just as I wanted my soldiers to be more than just great soldiers. At the end of the day, I want to be able to look back and know that I helped these young men become better people. If I can do that then I have succeeded, regardless of the results on the mat."
Following his time in the Army, Crawford began his coaching career at Clay High School in Green Cove Springs, Florida. He spent four seasons at the winningest high school wrestling program in North Florida history. In his final season at Clay, he help lead them to becoming dual District Champions, Region Champions, and State Runners-up.
"Through being around and being brought into that family [at Clay], I learned the ins and outs of successful coaching and developing a culture," Crawford said. "Developing a culture of family is exactly what I want to do here at Kentucky Wesleyan, that is how you win on and off the mat."
Coach Crawford has just begun his collegiate coaching career at Wesleyan as the Panthers have competed in one dual and three opens throughout the first month of the season. He will look to use all his different experiences, from the Army and high school coaching, to continue to build this program.
"I saw an opportunity to build something special [at KWC] with a program literally in it's infancy," Crawford said. "There is opportunity to build that family culture that I spoke of at Clay, an opportunity to have a positive effect on young men as I did in the military, and selfishly an opportunity to prove to myself that I can coach and develop young men to success at a high level."
The Panthers will compete in the Carolina Clash, hosted by Lander University, this weekend. Wesleyan will then return home for a dual match against Midway.
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