Collier named new St. Mark’s Wrestling Coach

Published on August 5, 2010 by viratas · No Comments

By KEVIN TRESOLINI â€¢ The News Journal â€¢ August 4, 2010

The task of guiding St. Mark’s High’s nationally recognized wrestling program has been given to someone who knows first-hand the demands, expectations and potential rewards.

L.A. Collier, an ex-St. Mark’s state champion wrestler and assistant coach, and the former head coach at Hodgson Vo-Tech, has been named the school’s head coach, athletic director Tom Rosa said Tuesday. Collier replaces Jason Bastianelli, whom he assisted last year. Bastianelli stepped down after seven years following last season to pursue an administrative position. He has since been hired as assistant principal at Caesar Rodney High.

“He’s one of ours, so that’s kind of nice,” Rosa said of Collier. “And he’s been a head coach and proven he can do the job. When Jason moved, it was natural for us to hope L.A. wanted the job, and he did.”Collier, 30, was state 112-pound champion as a St. Mark’s senior in 1998, then wrestled for Clarion (Pa.) University.

Unsure what to do after college, he got a call from Tatnall coach Phil Manolakos, who asked him to join his staff. A career was born. Collier spent two years at Tatnall before joining former St. Mark’s state champion Stan Spoor’s coaching staff at Hodgson as an assistant for five years. When Spoor left, Collier replaced him and was Silver Eagles coach for two years, winning the 2008 Division II state title.

Collier left to focus on his teaching career, he said. He now teaches business at Skyline Middle School.
“I kind of wanted to take a backseat and find my love for wrestling again,” Collier said of joining Bastianelli’s staff last season. “I was focused on my career. Wrestling wasn’t everything.

“But just being back at St. Mark’s, I remembered what it was all about — the great support you get, the feeling of community.”
That rekindled his desire to be a head coach and succeed Bastianelli.

Under Bastianelli, St. Mark’s went 78-22 in duals, crowned 23 individual state champions and was state runner-up four times before winning the 2009 and 2010 state championships. St. Mark’s finished both years ranked among the nation’s best teams.

Bastianelli had succeeded his uncle, Steve Bastianelli, as St. Mark’s coach in 2003. Steve Bastianelli, recently inducted into the Delaware Sports Hall of Fame, coached St. Mark’s for 23 years, won 10 state team championships and guided wrestlers who won 58 individual state titles. He is now athletic director at Newark.

“I’m not looking at it as trying to fill the Bastianellis’ shoes,” Collier said of taking over one of the state’s high-profile scholastic coaching jobs. “If I can get any one of the kids to have the experience I had, I really did my job. Winning and things like that come with it most of the time.”
Jason Bastianelli was named Wrestling USA Magazine national high school co-coach of the year after 2009-10, when St. Mark’s crowned five individual state titlists and was eighth and 10th in two season-ending national rankings.
Four seniors from that team are headed to Division I programs — Bobby Telford (Iowa), Nick Schenk (Oklahoma State), Sean Boylan (Bloomsburg) and Sean Dolan (N.C. State).

Among St. Mark’s returnees in 2010-11 are two-time state champion Tyler Pendergast and 2010 state runners-up Michael Mauk and Josh Snook.

“We’re real excited,” Pendergast said of Collier’s elevation to head coach. “I think he’s a good coach, a real good coach, because he talks to you in a real personal way. He relates everything. He was part of St. Mark’s when they were good, just like we are now. He’s been down the same exact path as we are now so he’s knows what we need to do.”