By Bryan Van Kley, WIN Publisher

What does it take to build a championship program? If you’re a motivated high school or college coach getting ready to start another season, you’re probably thinking through this question in one form or another.

                        Programs and situations can be different, but the kids in them aren’t. There is a foundation which most successful programs have in common. I verbally cornered two of the nation’s top high school coaches on what were their keys to success. Here’s how Guy Melby of Sidney, Mont., and Wayne Branstetter of Poway, Calif., answered.

            As a coach, it starts with you. If you want championships, you’d better be the hardest working guy around and have a deep passion about this sport. Don’t push your kids and expect their level of “buy-in” to take them to a level beyond what they think they can accomplish if you’re not willing to invest as much.

            “It starts with you. You need to be the hardest-working guy in the room. It starts with your passion,” Branstetter said. “If you want to be average, you don’t have to put in that much time.”

            Branstetter is starting his 37th year at Poway High School, a California wrestling power. His teams have won four state titles and have been runner-up four times in the one-class state.

            Both Branstetter and his Montana hunting buddy Melby said the other component starts with the coach being a good salesman of the program.

            “Sell your program,” Melby said. “It has to be as important to you as the kids you’re coaching. The kids have to feel they’re a part of something significant. There’s not anybody in town that doesn’t know about Sidney wrestling. Wrestling for us is a big deal. And our kids know it’s a big deal.”

            Wrestling is the pride and joy in Melby’s small Montana town of 1,500. But Melby has put in a lot to get it to that point. He’s put in years of time and effort into getting a wrestling reputation built up through parental support, team posters and by reaching out to the community.

            Branstetter agreed it takes effort from a lot of different angles.

            “Once the (kids) get hooked, everybody’s hooked, the family is hooked,” he said.

            As a coach, this task can be a bit overwhelming. How do you even start? My opinion is that one of the more important steps is to answer the “why wrestling” question and then clearly articulate that to others around you.

            Branstetter said that’s one of the important things he does to get parents involved and committed to your program. Once you’ve got them 100 percent on board, you’ve got dozens of people selling your program and the significance of it in your community.

            “Know what great value is going to come to that kid through your sport,” he said. “I’m going to use this sport and the values that come out of that to make him a better man. The mission is that.

            “Parents will buy into that because it’s built on good stuff. You just hope that something you taught him will make him successful in life, as a businessman, teacher, husband.”

            Another of Melby’s core philosophies is the importance of your assistant coaches, specifically the junior high coach or coaches. Melby puts some of his best coaches in the junior high because they are building the foundation.

            Between his two junior high assistants, who are in their 30s, they have 20 years of coaching experience as Sidney junior high coaches. Melby said he’s been able to keep them around that long because they understand the significance of what they do.

             And not surprisingly, they’re not teaching anything different than Melby before the kids make the step up to the varsity room.

            “If we have to re-teach it or teach something different, I’m going to find a different junior high coach,” said Melby, who coaches in a school with under 100 kids per grade. “Generally, a junior high coach is a coach who fills the spot. You need to make sure they feel they’re a part of something as well.”

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