Mar 23, 2018 3 min read

For the past four years, Mike Lesko had the best seat in the house to one of the most remarkable accomplishments in PIAA wrestling history.

Now, he is letting someone else have that chair.

Lesko, who has coached the Jefferson-Morgan High School wrestling team over the past five seasons, submitted his resignation this past week.

“It’s time for someone else to do it,” said the 49-year-old Lesko, who has been involved in wrestling in some capacity for more than three decades. “I put in a lot of time. Now, it’s time for me to spend more time with my family.”

Lesko was in the coaching corner for all four PIAA Class AA wrestling champions won by Gavin Teasdale. The senior became only the 13th wrestler to accomplish that feat in the 81-year history of the event.

“Five years ago, we knew Gavin was coming,” said Lesko. “(Teasdale’s parents) came over the house and said they wanted me because I’d been around and knew the program. I left it up to my wife.”

Lesko had two stints as head coach with the Rockets, from 1997-98 through 2004-05 and 2014-18. He was a co-coach with Scott Rhodes from 2007 to 2013.

“You had your ups and downs,” Lesko said. “With Gavin, you never had to worry about him, with him going to practice, then going to Young Guns. Once in a while, when a referee made a bad call, you had to stand up for your wrestler.

“There were stressful times, like making weight. But it was so great to see someone in the eighth grade come through the program and as a senior bring home a (state) medal.”

Lesko said the secret to the program’s success is stability. He said the program has had four head coaches in the past three decades.

“We don’t have a long line of different coaches,” he said. “We’re kind of like the Steelers. Nothing changes, and you don’t want to change it because it’s successful.

“Having fun in the room is important. If kids look at it as a job, it gets hard for them to come to practice. The kids in junior high see that and they want to be a part of that, having fun but working hard to achieve a goal.”

Lesko graduated from Jefferson-Morgan in 1986, where he had moderate success, and went on to California University right as the school was ending the wrestling program. He doesn’t want to see that happen at Jefferson-Morgan.

“I hope someone steps up and takes the reins,” he said. “We’re going to struggle for a couple years but we have a great group of seventh-graders. Hopefully, the get a couple years under their belt and then they say, ‘It’s my turn.'”