ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, October 12, 1996 TAG: 9610150024
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM STAFF WRITER
KEVIN DRESSER, who won eight straight state wrestling titles at Grundy, may be hired by the Demons.
State wrestling coaches apparently have not seen the last of Kevin Dresser.
Dresser, whose Grundy teams won eight consecutive Group AA titles, is likely to be named the new coach at Christiansburg within a few weeks, succeeding Dean Underwood, who turned in his resignation this week.
Underwood had been coaching the wrestling team part-time. The new coach will not be a teacher at the school.
Christiansburg principal George Porterfield confirmed that his school is looking for a new wrestling coach and is accepting applications. He already has Dresser's application on file.
``Kevin expressed an interest and there's no question he's a highly qualified applicant,'' said Porterfield of Dresser, who, if hired, can give a jolt to the sport in Timesland.
``I've talked to him personally and I feel we'd be very lucky to get someone of his caliber. I don't know anything about him other than what I've read and from his letter of application.''
Dresser resigned his position at Grundy last spring after his team won the school's 10th consecutive state title overall. Grundy was so dominant that the Golden Wave had the title wrapped up before the semifinals. No Grundy wrestler finished worse than third.
Dresser will inherit a program that was ranked 13th in the state last season, thanks in large part to Jamie Harris, who won a state title at 112 pounds and returns this year.
Dresser says he missed wrestling and wanted a challenge, something that was missing at Grundy.
``There are a lot of things being said, that my business [selling for Primeria Financial Services] is going badly and that my wife [Penny, from Blacksburg] is unhappy in Iowa,'' said Dresser.
``At Grundy, I achieved a lot of my goals. Now it's the challenge. I made a mistake in assuming I wouldn't miss wrestling. Another mistake is that I went home [to Iowa] for the wrong reason. I felt I owed it to my family to spend a little time with them, but they know I'm not happy when I'm not around wrestling.''
Dresser hopes to use the same formula as he used at Grundy and he says this isn't a one-year stopover on the way to a bigger and better job elsewhere.
``I'm motivated by challenges. Christiansburg is different from Grundy. It will be more work because they don't have the feeder system. I'll have to develop the youth program. But you can't achieve the goals in one year.''
Another reason for Dresser's return is that he has started a graduate program in sports management at Virginia Tech and hopes to complete his master's in that subject at Radford University.
``People who understand wrestling in Grundy realize this should be better for the sport,'' Dresser said. ``There are only two schools [for wrestling] in the state - Grundy and Great Bridge. Then there's everyone else. So others should step up to the plate.''
The veteran coach admits Grundy will be untouchable for two years. ``Unless they have a huge rash of injuries they'll win the state. Christiansburg will take more time than when I went to Grundy because that program was already successful,'' said Dresser.
Travis Fiser is the new coach at Grundy. Dresser followed Ben Ward, now in Florida and out of wrestling, who started the string with the first two state titles for the Golden Wave.
LENGTH: Medium: 68 linesby CNB