Collins returns to lead Cougar wrestlers

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

Ben Collins has been synonymous with Van Wert wrestling for a number of years and now he’s back in the saddle.

Collins, who finished as the 1999 145-pound state runner up as a senior at Van Wert High School, worked as an assistant wrestling coach at the school for several years after graduating from college, then spent 10 seasons as head coach. He stepped down after the 2020-2021 season, but served as a volunteer coach for two seasons under former coach Mimmo Lytle before resuming head coaching duties this past fall.

His reason for stepping away two years ago was a rather simple one.

“My oldest son (Caden) is a freshman now, he’s a basketball guy and he played middle school basketball so to be a good dad I needed to give up something, so I gave up wrestling,” Collins explained. “On the flip side I couldn’t be a good coach missing league meets and those sorts of things to watch him compete. He’s in the high school now, there’s not as many Thursday games so it worked out so I could get back in.”

Unfortunately, Caden suffered a shoulder injury during football season and isn’t able to play basketball this season.

“He’s still in a sling but he’s put a lot of time into that sport and I needed to be a good dad before I was a good coach,” Collins said.

Wrestling runs in the Collins family. The coach’s youngest son, Grayson, is a sixth grade wrestler and Ben’s father, Mark Collins, was the head wrestling coach at Lincolnview High School from the 1979-80 season until 1996-97 season when he became an assistant at Van Wert.

“Wrestling’s always been a part of my livelihood,” Collins said. “The last two years I was in a volunteer role and did our biddy program. The last two years were hard – my time away was enjoyable because I got to watch my son play basketball but the opportunity presented itself to come back. I talked with my wife (Tracy), Mr. Bagley and Miss Dunlap and they all gave me their blessing so here we are.”

The Cougars have fared well this season. The team is above .500 in dual matches, numbers are up and the Cougars are able to go two-deep at most of the weight classes, which is becoming a rarity in high school wrestling.

“The key thing about this group is the senior class which has six kids now,” Collins stated. “It was 12 kids at the beginning of the season but most of those kids were in the first year when we started amping up our youth program, back when they were first graders. They’re the first group that has been all the way through everything with us at Van Wert. I’ve been watching the underclassmen too, so we knew there was a good nucleus and core here to have a really good season and they’ve worked their tails off and earned it.”

“This past Saturday we were at Ben Logan (Raider Invitational) and we finished third out of 18 teams,” he continued. “We got beat by Cincinnati Archbishop Moeller which is a big Division I powerhouse. They have eight state ranked guys and Ben Logan is a real solid team in Division II. Those are the two teams we lost to and we had 11 guys wrestle and six placers so we have a bunch of talent on this team that can produce at tournaments.”

The regular season is starting to wind down and in this rapidly moving season, the WBL championships and sectional tournaments aren’t too far off.

“We have three more league matches coming up and if we can handle our business like we’re supposed to, we should be tied for second going into the league tournament,” Collins said. “If things go our way we could end up sharing the title or be runners-up which would be good.”

The Cougars will host Shawnee in a WBL dual-match at 6 p.m. tonight.