OVU to start wrestling team

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Pat Sole File

• ?Pat Sole was named the head coach of the Ohio Valley University wrestling team.

• ?The 1978 graduate of Parkersburg South High School won two state titles and placed second during his high school career.

• ?He wrestled at Liberty University in Virginia.

• ?Sole spent 18 years as an assistant coach at Parkersburg South.

• ?Assistant coach at Liberty University for the last four years.

PARKERSBURG -The wrestling capital of West Virginia has a new addition.

Ohio Valley University officials announced on Tuesday that the school not only will add a wrestling team to its sports program, but that it also has hired former Parkersburg South standout Pat Sole as its first head coach.

Sole already is working to fill the roster for the first Fighting Scots team, which will make its debut during the 2010-2011 academic year.

The announcement -which spread like wildfire through the local wrestling community -was made OVU Athletic Director Larry Lyons.

"At OVU, we are really striving to have more impact in the local community,'' Lyons said. "Wrestling is one of the most loved and fan-supported sports in the local area. This is a hotbed for wrestling talent. The new program will serve to increase our overall visibility in the community. We want the community to really feel that OVU is their team and want them to be excited about what we're doing and come out and support our teams.''

Sole said there had been talk of an OVU wrestling program for several years. He noted that during a clinic he was giving to youth wrestlers at Lubeck, a local OVU booster approached him about the possibility and asked if he would be interested.

Soon after Sole said he would love to see a college wrestling program in Parkersburg, he was asked to put together some formal proposals for OVU. Those proposals soon became the blueprint for the start of the wrestling program. OVU officials were so impressed with Sole's work and his wrestling and personal background, they offered him the head coaching position and he accepted.

During his wrestling career, the 1978 graduate of Parkersburg South High School won two state titles and placed second once. He then went on to wrestle and graduate from Liberty University in Virginia. After returning home to Parkersburg, he spent 18 years as an assistant coach at South, who won 10 state team titles before Sole returned to Liberty as an assistant coach for the reinstated wrestling program for the past four seasons. During each of the last three years, Liberty won the East Region NCAA Division I title.

Now, once again, Sole is back in Parkersburg, and this time - for the first time in his life -he is a head wrestling coach.

Sole praised the commitment of OVU officials.

"I've got the go-ahead to hire an assistant coach and a graduate assistant,'' he said. "Parkersburg already has proven it has a number of wrestlers who can succeed at the Division I level.

"I don't know of another city in America that has produced six wrestlers who have recently made it to the NCAA Championships,'' Sole said.

Sole is particularly pleased to have the opportunity to coach wrestling not only in his hometown but especially at a faith-based school such as Ohio Valley university, which competes in Division II.

"OVU is a faith-based institution and to have the opportunity to make an impact with young men and encourage them in their Christian faith is important to me,'' Sole said. "Coaching at OVU will allow us to not only build up young men physically and academically, but spiritually as well.''

Sole is employed at Central Environmental Services in Parkersburg. He praised his employer for allowing him the flexibility to accept the wrestling position and for understanding the importance the OVU wrestling program can have in the community.

Sole and his wife, Vickie, are the parents of two sons, Dustin and Cody.