Warren Hills' search for a new head wrestling coach is over.
Dave Sbriscia, a former wrestler for the Warren County school and an assistant on former Blue Streaks coach Jarrett Hosbach's staff, accepted the position on April 17, pending approval by the Board of Education. His hiring was not on Tuesday's agenda, and the next scheduled meeting is Tuesday, May 8.
Former PIAA state qualifier Josh Nordmark, a Stroudsburg High School alum who also is employed in the district a science teacher at Warren Hills Middle School, was also a finalist for the job. He and Sbriscia had final interviews on Monday.
"I'm very excited. Dave was very prepared and has a plan in place," Warren Hills athletic director Geri McKelvey said on Tuesday.
Longtime area coach Rick Thompson, along with former Delaware Valley and Voorhees assistant coach Steve Barkman, former Paramus coach and Wilson Area High School star Steve Klass and former Camden Catholic coach John Denuto also had recently interviewed for the job, which opened when Hosbach resigned after 13 seasons following the 85th State Championships in Atlantic City earlier this month. It was immediately speculated that Sbriscia would be a candidate to become the 81-year-old program's eighth head coach.
The advertisement seeking fall and winter coaches was posted on the school's web site on Feb. 28. McKelvey, who originally had no timetable to fill the head wrestling position, recently said she felt it was necessary to expedite the hiring process with scheduling and offseason commitments hanging in the balance.
Sbriscia, a 2006 graduate and a three-year wrestler for Warren Hills, going 78-22 overall, won two district titles and was a two-time region placewinner -- winning a Hunterdon-Warren Tournament championship at 215 pounds in his senior season. He is a Health and Physical Education teacher at the middle school.
Nordmark, who has been running his own club -- Ring of Fire in Monroe County, Pa. -- since 2006, wrestled for longtime coach Ron Spinner at Stroudsburg before graduating in 1996. Nordmark, the only candidate with no prior high school coaching experience, qualified for the state tournament in Hershey, Pa., his junior season, going 29-8 and finishing third in the Northeast Region at 130 pounds in '95. He went on to wrestle and graduate from Bloomsburg University.
Klass and Thompson were the only candidates with previous head coaching experience.
Klass, a PIAA Class AA state runner-up at Wilson as a senior in 1993 under legendary coach Dave Crowell, did a fine job in his nine seasons at Paramus. Klass, who amassed 119 career wins for the Warriors, guided his teams to six sectional final appearances and the North 1, Group 3 title in 2015. The Spartans were the Group 3 runners-up in '15, after defeating Sparta, 29-24, in the sectional final. Klass, who resides in Easton, Pa., and is still employed at Paramus as a biology teacher, is currently on Crowell's staff at Nazareth.
Thompson, 62, who stepped down after nine seasons as the head coach at Bangor Area High School in Pennsylvania following the 2016-17 campaign, also has made stops at Mountain High School (Orange, N.J.), Hackettstown, Franklin and Voorhees in addition to his three successful stints at Phillipsburg, where his teams went 268-59-1 overall and captured 15 sectional and seven state championships -- the most under any Stateliner coach.
Overall, Thompson, a Slippery Rock University graduate, is 471-231-4 -- going 124-81 in his most recent stint at Bangor. An accomplished wrestler, Thompson won two state titles (1971 and '73) and placed third ('70), while winning four district and three region championships for the Stateliners.
Hosbach's teams at Warren Hills finished 165-135 overall, including a 7-13 campaign this season. The Streaks advanced to the North 2, Group 3 sectional semifinals, dropping a 48-25 decision to champion Voorhees.
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