Jeromy Mumm

Coach Jeromy Mumm
McQueen High School
Pictures Courtesy of Jeromy Mumm
What’s Next
My Journey in wrestling has been one of perseverance and lifelong learning. I started as a Freshman in High School not having any experience. I think that part of what keeps me coaching is that I can relate to so many of the kids that struggle in this sport but are drawn to it regardless of success. I spent my first 2 years of wrestling getting beat up in the room. I did not have much success but for some reason kept coming back. I started to be competitive my Junior and Senior years and loved the sport so much that after staying to help at Reed High School in 1994, I went on to wrestle 2 years at Sierra College.
 
Coaching has always been in my blood. I went to help my last 2 years of High school at Dilworth Middle School and then helped Coach JV as a partner for the 1994 Reed team. When I came back from Sierra College I began coaching at McQueen High School in 1998, and took over as the Head Coach in 2006. I have had some amazing coaches that have influenced my coaching. My first wrestling coaches were Coaches Tom Bailey and Eric Bye, at Reed High school. Even after they left to Coach State Championship teams at Wooster, I always knew they wanted me to be successful. I then had Coach Lon Gwynn who came to Reed from California. He showed a passion and love for wrestling, that I carry with me today. He is the reason I will open a room for 1 kid or 50 because as long as he had someone to teach this amazing sport, he would. At Sierra College I had the chance to wrestle for Coach Steve Glassey, his intensity in the room was similar to Coach Gwynn, and I learned what it took to wrestle at the next level with the time commitment and technique. I still take my kids to his Camp of Champs every year that I can, because I know how much they will get out of it.
 
When I came back to Reno, I had the privilege to Coach under Coach Shayne Wallace. Coach Wallace gave me my first opportunity to Coach, and he was the first to support me in being a Head Coach. I learned how to be calm at the right moments and when to bring out the intense side. I learned so much from these amazing coaches and just as much from the coaches I assisted with, and those that have assisted me over the years. Coach Imelli and I coached at McQueen for years together, and he has done great things at Spanish Springs. Cheyenne Miles was at McQueen my first couple years. Thank you to Bryan Balvanz who stepped right into being an amazing Assistant Coach. Edward Sorgani was with me the longest, as an athlete, and he has now grown into the great coach I get to see every day with Nevada Elite. Karrington Armstrong is my current Assistant. He won a State Title then came back to Coach and Teach here at McQueen. He continues to grow as a Coach. I could not have made it without those you see above, and the many others that have come in and helped along the way.
 
Family and Faith are the backbone of why I coach. My wife Christie and daughter Jordan have been my biggest support, as they know that this who I am and what I do. It has not always been easy, but we have always supported each other’s journeys. I feel coaching is bigger than just the sport of wrestling. I see at it as a calling on my life from God to not just teach wrestling, but to give those I have the privilege of coaching a place to grow and learn about life.
 
I was asked to write about what next season will look like coming back from Covid. I think to answer this we need to realize what has been lost in the last year. Although there are a handful of wrestlers that have not stopped, this last year has taken away a season of development and recruiting. I think we can all see that we have missed out on introducing wrestling to kids, like the one I was. If not for that first influence of wrestling as a Freshman, I may not have ever known it was something that would change my life. I have coached a number of individual Regional and State Champs, but more than that, I have seen the personal impact wrestling has had on so many of the athletes I have coached. So where do we go from all we missed? I think it will be more important than ever to reach out to our student body and other sports to emphasize how valuable wrestling is to them. We already had a problem with specializing in sports and with kids only options having been club sports and travel teams, we as coaches will need to get creative in how we influence those athletes stuck in a one sport mindset. I know I will be reaching out to the football program to talk to their kids during summer weights.
 
Most of us coaches are creatures of habit, and we have our same schedule every year with a tweak here and there. This year, we may have to get out of our boxes and find ways to get the level of wrestling we want, with a little less travel than we are used to. We still don’t know what it is going to look like as things open more. I think we hope our chances to create our schedule will happen, but more than anything, just having a season is what we are all looking forward to.
 
Next year it will be very important for coaches and wrestlers to reach out to the students in our schools and more than ever, the JV level will need our attention. Missing the last year and a half, there will be so many kids that need the development of what the JV schedule brings. I know I will have to place a focus in my room to develop those kids that come in new to the sport, with a focus on basics. On the club side, it will be important that we concentrate on getting information to the Elementary and Middle Schools about what wrestling has to offer the kids during the club season, and to focus on growing the sport. I think that sometimes we get so focused on the goal of Championships that we forget that this sport is more than that. It’s a life changing sport for so many kids, especially those kids that fought through the grind of a hard season. They realize they can do much more than they ever thought. Hopefully the wresting community can work together to grow our sport and bring more kids into the high schools, and the clubs. It’s easy to get caught up in what we are focused on individually, but we need to look at all of the great things going on in this state. If we can grow the numbers this year and bring the kids back, I am excited for what wrestling will look like in the next couple of years.