USA Wrestling Coach’s Corner: Jack Conroy (CT)

Photo: Jack Conroy (far left) coaches his Greens Farms Academy team at a dual meet with standing room only.

Editor’s Note: This story appeared in WIN’s Volume 31 Issue 10, the Fargo/Final X Commemorative Edition. Click here or call 641-792-4436 to subscribe to WIN Magazine. 

By Tristan Warner

Some people find the sport of wrestling, while for others, the sport finds them.

Wrestling found Jack Conroy. As an athlete and as a coach.

After getting a late start in middle school, the Connecticut native admitted he was quickly hooked despite limited success early on. His wrestling coach, Jeff Morrison, at Greens Farms Academy in Westport, Conn., was one of the most influential figures in his life but also inspired Conroy’s future career path, unbeknownst to both of them at the time.

“I was his assistant for one year at Greens Farms Academy after coming back from Bucknell (2006-10),” Conroy explained. “Then he wanted to be done, so I was thrust into that head coaching role right off the rip.

“I did not have any intention of coaching. I was killing time. I had a job that I was looking to turn into a career and was waffling a little bit.

“I thought I would just help out, and once I applied and got the job, I spent the first couple years not really seeing a future in it. I wasn’t super sure if it was something I would do for a long time.”

The trajectory of Conroy’s future in coaching changed for two reasons.

First, he had one group of kids that bought in right away and started improving rapidly.

Secondly, after attending the NWCA Convention and rubbing elbows with some legendary coaching figures, he left feeling inspired. He was hooked, just like after getting his first taste of the sport as a competitor all those years ago.

“We didn’t have many kids, but we did have some kids who were really excited about wrestling, which lit a fire in me,” Conroy recalled.

“At the Convention, I was surrounded by all these great coaches, and by doing that, I got a lot of great exposure for what these coaches were doing. They were figuring out what worked in their situation, and their situations were all super unique.”

Conroy quickly realized that in a state like Connecticut, and at a school where only six kids showed up for the varsity wrestling team, his situation was dissimilar to many coaches he interacted with. That was, perhaps, the most important lesson he took away from the experience.

“I used to always argue with our basketball coach, but then I realized you catch more bees with honey,” Conroy said. “People always complain that, ‘Our school doesn’t care about wrestling.’ I realized I was creating that friction out of jealousy of other sports being more popular.

“It is about figuring out what the school wanted and not what I wanted. The school is only going to care about wrestling in the context of what they want, not because of my goals.”

Conroy flipped a switch and started serving the school and community, all while working full-time in the admissions office. He gave a wrestling shirt to the school’s athletic director and developed friendly relations with other teams’ coaches.

“Quickly, people started supporting it,” Conroy recollected. “We have only 200 boys in our high school and 48 wrestlers on our team; one in four boys in the school participates in wrestling. We have one home dual each year with 500-plus people. It is standing room only.”

Another popular phrase grumbled by many coaches, in Conroy’s experience, that he expounded upon is the “kids-don’t-care-as-much-as-the-coaches-do” headache.

Conroy used to hear this expression often, and over time, he developed his own philosophy on it.

“Recognize that you want it more than the kids,” he said. “I often hear, ‘You can’t want it more than the kids.’ A kid in the hallway who has never wrestled … you can’t expect them to want it more than you.

“You have to want it more than the kids. You can’t expect people to follow a leader who cares less than the athletes do.

“You would be surprised at how tough kids actually are. Try to meet them on their terms. Don’t buy a pair of shoes off the rip. We get the seniors to donate their old shoes back. Put a pair of shoes in their hands and say, ‘See you tomorrow.’ You’d be surprised how many come back.”

Conroy and his staff have long aimed to build more than a successful wrestling team or program but more of a community. Encouraging participation in freestyle and Greco-Roman has been a major catalyst.

“Build a community of offseason wrestlers around club wrestling and out-of-season wrestling. Kids stick with it and the team grows. We really focus on the developmental level.”

“I started repping Fargo and joined the Connecticut Fargo staff. I have been on the board since I knew a board existed. Fast forward five years and we had a kid in the finals. You can’t just show up and expect success. You got to go through the developmental process. This year we had 40 guys from my club going to Fargo. It has been a slow build.

In fact, Conroy’s very own Kayla Batres won a Junior title and was named Outstanding Wrestler. Jaxsen Bailey became Connecticut’s first double AA since 2015, and Liam Carlin took fourth at Junior 165.

“Find the right kids but show them what it means to be hungry and passionate. Everyone wants to coach kids who are really good. They don’t get good in a vacuum.”

Balancing the roles of being a head coach, club coach, and a coach of Connecticut’s Fargo teams may sound like an impossible task.

Conroy’s solution? Well, he does not believe in balance.

“Balance is the enemy of greatness. It sounds super cliché, but I am not looking for balance. As long as everyone is happy, you are balanced.

“I have an amazing wife who really respects what we are trying to do. I have great assistant coaches who want similar things, which is tremendous for growing what you are trying to do.

“We ask kids to sacrifice a lot. I don’t think it is fair to focus on if you are trying to get enough vacation time. It would not be fair for me to go on vacation and tell the guys to go practice while I’m gone. I think if you chase balance too hard you will limit your outcomes and results.”

And that level of commitment is the No. 1 aspect of a student-athlete’s involvement with the sport that Conroy hopes to instill.

“Commitment is the biggest thing. I don’t believe it is commitment in exchange for outcome. It is super worthwhile to try to work hard to achieve something with no guarantees of ever achieving it. It is easy to be committed when things are probably going to go well.”

Now that things are going well in Westport, Conn., Conroy, who is now thriving in a role he never saw himself fulfilling, briefly reflected on his ‘why’ and his ‘how.’

“When I get old, the sport won’t remember me. The sport will forget you. Time will forget you. So, you might as well spend life doing something you like.

“Figure out what your community needs and do it well. Sometimes the thing that everyone thinks is your negative can be your positive. ‘The state is too small.’ ‘It is a non-traditional wrestling area.’ I have a real opportunity to shape culture and community. It is small, but the reasons people said we couldn’t be good are the reasons we are good.”