Schenerlein retires as Big Reds’ mat coach
PHS won four state crowns during his nine-year tenureBy JAY W. BENNETT, jbennett@newsandsentinel.com
PARKERSBURG - A nine-year run as the head wrestling coach of Parkersburg High School came to a close for Scheny Schenerlein following Saturday's Big Red banquet as he has retired from the sport.
Having left the teaching field already and now spending his time in the family oil and gas business, coach Schenerlein said it was time to leave behind the sport he's been involved with for most of his life.
"I'm at a point where I don't have the energy or the fire that I used to have as a young coach," said Schenerlein, noting he's looking forward to spending more time with wife Jane and son Harrison, who will turn 2 on April 15.
"It's not that I lost my fire for wrestling or anything like that. Life circumstances has taken me in a totally different way than I had anticipated."
Schenerlein leaves behind a solid legacy in his near decade long tenure, having won four state Class AAA titles, coached 25 individual state champions, won three Rod Oldham Coach of the Year awards, coached 10 high school All-Americans, a trio of national champions and watched former Big Red Brandon Rader attain NCAA All-American status twice.
"Coach (Joe) Handlan told me when he retired that he would know the day he was going to retire and when he couldn't give enough," Schenerlein added. "That made a lot of sense for me.
"Getting out of teaching and trying to run a business and having a child of my own, I felt one of those things wasn't getting enough attention and it wasn't going to be my son and livelihood."
Schenerlein's run as the Big Red mat boss resulted in back-to-back state crowns in 2003-04 and 2007-08. His first state champion was Matt Stevens and his last was Zach Nolan.
Stevens won the 2001 Robert Dutton Award for the state's best wrestler and Schenerlein also coached both Rader (2005) and Lou Thomas (2004), both of whom went on to capture Dutton Awards.
Schenerlein said he's looking forward to his life experience as a father and is excited to go to work on a daily basis and have his son by his side.
"I'm going to miss it, but I'm not regretting anything and I don't regret anything I've done as a coach or giving it up," he said.
"The person who will take over for me is going to do a fine job and the way I look at is the best of Big Red wrestling is yet to come."
