Frank Bumgardner

By Blair Baumgartner
InkFreeNews

SYRACUSE — Wawasee head wrestling coach Frank Bumgardner resigned after eight seasons leading the Warrior wrestling program.

Bumgardner was very successful at Wawasee, leading the Warriors to 161 team wins in his years at the helm.

He led Wawasee to five sectional titles, a state championship in class 2A, a state runner-up finish and top-four finish.

Bumgardner said, “I stepped away because of my family. Faith is very important to me. We’ll see what God has in store.”

When Bumgardner graduated from college, his intention was to teach and coach at his alma mater Whitko, but he did not get a teaching offer. At that time he was very disappointed. He had done his student teaching at Wawasee Middle School with Susan Mishler and Tamie Spangle.

“Susan called me and said there was an opening in seventh grade math. I asked about an interview and she told me that I already had my interview. The job was mine if I accepted,” said Bumgardner.

Of course, he accepted.

Bumgardner initially taught school at Wawasee Middle School and coached at Whitko. He was still holding out that he would teach and coach at Whitko.

At one point, he thought he might be done with coaching. He was then asked to be the head wrestling coach at Wawasee High School.

“It was a wild ride to start, but once we got going, it was just family. I have zero regrets. We had many great memories. We were 1-21 the year before I started. Eight years later we have over 20 staff members including coaches, administrators and parents. We have one of the biggest high school teams that Wawasee has ever had,” he said.

Bumgardner noted the program has consistently put four to six student athletes on the academic all-state team. Many student athletes have entered college or the military after their time in the wrestling program.

“We’ve preached that there are many paths to success. You have to define what success is for you and your future and go after it,” said Bumgardner.

He noted just this year, senior wrestlers Gavin Malone and Hunter Miller have decided to wrestle in college. Senior Cameron Zimmerman is also pondering playing a sport in college.

Bumgardner has taken a unified approach for the program and built it up from kindergarten through 12th grade.

He and his wife have led missions trips for nearly 13 years. Last year, they had about 40 kids from middle school, high school and even post-graduates participate in a mission trip. Numerous kids gave their lives to Christ.

“Results are a byproduct of your success. We’re focused on building people first. That created a culture where people really wanted to be a part of it,” he said.

He mentioned two stories that stood out to him.

During his first year coaching at Wawasee, they had about 20 kids go out for wrestling. The team went through the preseason and was just trying to improve at wrestling.

“I asked what they did before. They told me they would wrestle for about 20 minutes or so and then run for 40-45 minutes. I was wondering why they were running so much. They told me they had to get in shape. I told them, ‘Ok guys, we’re going to wrestle. For two hours straight, we’re just going to wrestle,’” he said.

That same year, the team was getting ready to participate in the super duals at Warsaw and Bumgardner said they were praying The Lord’s Prayer before the meet. He asked three seniors if they were praying to win the tournament and they were not sure how to answer. He mentioned how the Bible talks about hypocrisy.

He told them, “We are either not going to pray or we are going to pray every single day because that’s what we value. What are you going to choose?” He then walked away. Bumgardner has a picture of them praying as he walked away. They came back and said they wanted to pray every day.

Bumgardner said, “I wanted them to take ownership of it on their own, not just because coach recommended it. The next tournament I asked, ‘What are we going to pray for?’ We never prayed for results. We prayed that we were going to wrestle hard today. From day one, after practice we’re going to pray and do some devotions,” he said.

Bumgardner said they of course could choose not to participate in prayer and devotions after practice. He just had some optional prayer and devotional time after each practice. He only had one student athlete walk out in his eight years as head coach and that was only for one day. The next day that athlete decided to join in the prayer and devotional time.

It was not an easy decision for Bumgardner to walk away.

“It’s not easy to walk away. It’s time for me to spend more time with my family, and be a dad and husband and truly live that out,” said Bumgardner.

“This is what I feel called to do right now. I need to spend more time with my family. I’m still going to be around Wawasee wrestling if they’ll have me. I’m not running away from anyone.”

The Wawasee wrestling program now boasts 25 sectional championships in school history, which is more than any other sport. Bumgardner was a huge part of that legacy. He has truly had a great run.