Kennedy wrestling coach Brent Paulson resigns

Here is a release from Cedar Rapids Kennedy Athletics:

Kennedy head wrestling coach, Brent Paulson, has made the decision to resign his position, effective immediately. Coach Paulson has been a tremendous member of the Kennedy community and coaching staff for many years and accepting his resignation is a tough loss for our program. We do so with the utmost respect for his focus on his family and pursuit of other endeavors beyond wrestling.

Brent has been Kennedy's head coach for 9 seasons, leading the Cougars since 2004. His affiliation with the Cougar wrestling program started in the mid-1980's when his older brother, Lance, joined the program. As a Cougar in the early 1990's, Paulson was a very talented wrestler. He amassed a record of 110-10-1 during a career that included a 2

^nd

place finish in the 1990 state tournament, 3

^rd

place in the 1991 tournament, and a state championship at 119 lbs. during his senior campaign in 1992. He began his coaching career at Kennedy under Dennis Hynek and took over as head coach upon Hynek's resignation following the 2003 season. His dual record at Kennedy was 95-77. Under his direction the Cougars crowned 18 District champions, 34 State qualifiers, and 17 State place winners, including four state champions. Several wrestlers moved on to stellar careers at the collegiate level, including NCAA All-Americans Joey Slaton (Iowa) and Jarion Beets (UNI), as well as NAIA All-American, Leviticus Roberson.

After meeting with his team Wednesday afternoon, Coach Paulson stated the following in an email to parents and friends of the program, “The Kennedy program is a place that is so important to me and my family. It is a place that I've spent many, many hours of my life. To be honest, Kennedy Wrestling is the place where I learned how to be a man. The blood, sweat, tears, and relationships that I have had over the years is what makes this decision incredibly difficult. The first thing I said when I became head coach 9 years ago was that I bleed Green and Gold! That is still true today and will always be true!”

Coach Paulson's success is most evident in the young people he developed in his room. Paulson truly believes in our department philosophy of “Life through Sports” and he has used wrestling as a platform to build young adults and prepare them for the challenges that lie ahead. At no time was his commitment to young people more evident than this past fall when he and his staff helped our wrestlers through the incredibly difficult loss of assistant coach, Jeff Clark. His leadership and passion for coaching will be missed on our staff, but we look forward to his continued presence in our wrestling program and at Kennedy High School. He will continue as a physical education teacher with CRCSD at both Wright and Nixon elementary schools.

Our search for a new head wrestling coach will begin immediately as we look to find the candidate that will continue the tradition of excellence that Brent Paulson and his predecessors have created in the Cougar Wrestling program.

We wish Coach Paulson nothing but the best of luck as he continues as an educator in our district and enjoys more time with his wife and young family.