Massie’s McSurley stepping down

By MARK HUBER

Wilmington News-Journal

WILMINGTON — Dan McSurley has decided not to return next season as the varsity head coach of the Clinton-Massie wrestling program.

Because the coaching position is under a one-year supplemental contract that ended when the wrestling season came to an end, McSurley didn’t officially resign but had until Monday to inform the administration of his intentions to return or not for the 2012-13 school year.

“Last year, I really thought about it hard,” said McSurley, who coached 15 years after starting the wrestling program in 1997.

McSurley also is the varsity football coach at Clinton-Massie. The two athletic programs run into each other, football in the fall and wrestling in the winter.

With the success of the football program, playing into late November and early December each year, McSurley had little time to either rest or coach the wrestling program at the critical beginning of the season.

“Just the way everything went down this year with us going clear into December, I wasn’t giving everything I had to the wrestling end of it,” McSurley said. “Getting such a late start wasn’t fair to the kids who were involved. Wrestling deserves just as much respect and concentration as football does.

“To give Clinton-Massie anything less is cheating Clinton-Massie and Clinton-Massie wrestling.”

McSurley coached two wrestlers to three state championships — Nathan Thobaben and Corby Running (twice). He had 38 state qualifiers, 28 state placers, five league championships, five sectional championships and one district runner-up. Four Clinton-Massie teams finished in the top 10 in the state tournament.

“I don’t have the energy I had 10 years ago,” McSurley said. “It needs somebody young, somebody that’s really passionate about it and will work year-round to improve the program. This program is gonna be strong for years to come. I’ve given everything I could to it. I feel good about where the program’s at.”