Coaches
Carmine
Colace (Club Founder & Head Coach)
Most people do not realize the long path that
Wadsworth took to get established. Club wrestling has always been a part of Coach Colace's life. Back in the mid to late 80's
we use to have open mats one night a week in the Franklin High Wrestling room. The club was sanctioned through USA Wrestling
at the time. Then in 1992 the Hockomock Wrestling Club was established in an old mill building in Franklin. It was the first
of it's kind. Although there were many other Clubs throughout Massachusetts, The Hockomock was the first to rent a space and
charge for it's membership. Beside the membership paying for rent and utilities, we were able to help sponsor clinics, camp
and trips. The Hockomock was instrumental in North Attleboro winning a State Title in 1996. From there we moved on to Natick
with Coach Annablli and hooked up with The Cobra Wrestling Club. Cobra ran for 12 weeks in the Spring. We were in Natick for
3 years before Coach Colace decided to re-establish an off season wrestling Club that ran from the Spring through till the
Fall. That location being Coach Colace's home on 2 Cochran Way, in the basement. People asked where did the name Wadsworth
come from. Well back in the 1800's and early 1900's Coach Colace's home was located in a section of Franklin know as Wadsworth
Village. He decided to go with that and it stuck. The first 2 Wadsworth members were 2 ex Foxboro High School Wrestlers; Jeff
Parker and Mike Ragusa. After 2 years, Wadsworth grew out of the basement . It was time to move out, especially after the
house started smelling like an armpit! We then moved outdoors to the pavilion in the back yard. This was a cool place to workout
but if the weather was not cooperative, we could not workout. So we decided to take a leap of faith and lease commercial space
in an old mill in Town. I remember that first night in the mill. We only had 17 wrestlers pre-registered. I asked my wife
Gail to come down and help out with some walk-ins in-case we had some. Well by the time we opened the doors, there was a line
going out the building. We had 67 kids register that first night. We made our adjustments to accommodate the numbers. This
is where we really started to take off. Besides running Club, we were going on wrestling trips and hosting tournaments. We
had specific sessions concentrating on certain areas of wrestling. After 2 years in the mill, we needed to look for a bigger
space. So we took a chance on an expensive but short 6 month lease to see what we could accomplish. The location was great
and the space was good. As the short term lease came to a close, we happened to stumble upon the space we are at now. We took
another leap of faith with a bigger facility and lease. The thought of being able to conduct club and our tournaments in the
same space was exciting. Why not have a full time athletic facility dedicated to wrestling. All the other sports have them,
why not wrestling. This last year we have been working our buts off and the wrestling community has been very supportive.
Coach Colace is in his 28th year of coaching, which seems like a long time and it
is. He was fortunate enough to start his career at the age of 19. Coach C was actually dating his future wife Gail, who he
had been dating for 3 years, during his first year at Franklin. It wasn't a big deal back then. There were plenty of struggles
the first few years at Franklin. Back in 1985, Franklin finished dead last in the South Sectionals that were held in Bridgewater,
13 points and no one making it to the second day! After that year we started to climb, a little bit more each year. Jeff Goor
and USA Wrestling was instrumental in Franklin's development. By 1990, Franklin had it's break through year by winning their
first State Championship. Since then, Franklin has won another 8 State Titles including 6 State Runner-up awards.
Coach Colace has coached over 75 sectional champs, over 30 State Champs, 9 New England Champs, several All American and 3
National Champs. Many of his wrestlers have moved on to the next level in college, including many Division 1 schools . Coach
C also has over 400 career wins. And thats just at Franklin, not to mention all the wrestlers from Club!
" I love Franklin Wrestling, even more so, I love coaching wrestling. I have enjoyed sharing accomplishments
with all of our Wrestlers. Whether they are from Franklin or not. I want to help develop this entire area and at the same
contribute to the success of Massachusetts Wrestling. Through the years I have had many wonderful experiences through the
sport of wrestling. And I will hope continue to do so. Wrestling people are great people."
Carmine Colace
Mike Ragusa: Mike was a 3 X State Champion at Foxboro High School. His senior year, Mike won States,
All States and finished second in New England's. After graduating from Foxboro, Mike took his skills to Division 1 Buffalo
for four years. Mike adds valuable experience and technique to our Club. Mike is also the head wrestling coach at King Philip
High School in Wrentham where in his first season he coached a State Champ.
Corey
Mills: Corey is another young Wadsworth Coach who loves wrestling. Corey has been coaching at Hopkinton over seeing
the middle school and high school jv program. Corey joined the Wadsworth Staff through our mentoring program for coaches.
He is working just as hard as our kids at wrestling to become a great coach. We feel lucky to have Corey on Staff.
Andy McNeil: The Big Panda. Andy has a world of experience. Originally from Wellesley where he was
a State and New England Champion. He then went to Brown where he excelled at football, wrestling and rugby. Andy has coached
at all levels of this sport and has traveled throughout this country for wrestling. He is most recently associated with the
King Phillip program. His son Donald was a National Prep School Champion at Wyoming Seminary located in PA. Donald, who has
also been a Wadsworth Member for years will be wrestling on scholarship at North Carolina, Greensboro. Andy is another coach
who loves the sport of wrestling.
Matt Bakalars:Matt was a four time
state place winner at Franklin High School, winning states in his Junior year. He has helped Franklin win unprecedented
back to back state titles in different divisions the last 2 years. He was huge part of the success at Franklin and has been
a tremendous help at Club. Matt has decided to go back to school at William Penn in Iowa an NIAA School where he will be wrestling
on scholarship. Matt too is a long time Wadsworth Member.
Mark
Healy: Most recently joined the Franklin and Wadsworth Staff 2 years ago, he has coached at the youth level
at Franklin as well. Mark has been responsible for the strength training at Franklin and has been a tremendous help at Wadsworth.
Dan Colace: Dan has been responsible for the big guys at club most
recently. Dan's wrestling resume is quite impressive. He wrestled at Franklin where he was Franklin's first state champ back
in 1989. Dan was also the Capitan of Franklin's first state championship team. He still argues today that the 1990 team was
the best ever at Franklin. Dan was a 2 X state champ and a New England Champion in his senior year. He also placed 3rd at
Senior Nationals where he was an All American. From there he continued his education and wrestling at Belleville Jr. College
in Illinois . At Belleville, Dan was a 2 X All American. From there he earned a full scholarship to wrestle at the U of Missouri
where he was a captain his senior year and a NCAA D-1 Qualifier. He has been giving back to the sport he loves and we are
fortunate to have him.
JEFF GOOR: Jeff has been instrumental in the development
of wrestling in Massachusetts for years. Originally from Minnesota where he was a State Champ. Jeff guided USA Wrestling Massachusetts
serving as the State Director for years back in the 80's and 90's. Jeff is an assistant coach at Dracut and has coached throughout
the Merrimack Valley. Jeff is also a coach at Brickhouse Wrestling Club. He has coached many of our travel teams and has helped
us run many of our tournaments. Jeff will be adding his freestyle background to the club. He is a great addition.
Joe McGann: Joe will be spearheading
our middle school program at Wadsworth. With Joe and Gus, we hope to build a strong presence in the area for middle
school wrestling. Joe was a 2 X State Champion and a 4 X state place winner at Franklin where he placed twice at
the New England's (3rd & 2nd). While at Franklin, his team won 3 consecutive State Titles. From there he went to
Blair Acc. where he was a Prep School National Champ. He then wrestled at North Carolina State for a year before coming home
to finish his education. This is huge for Wadsworth to have 2 coaches like Joe and Gus to leading our young guys.
Gus Mancini: Gus, like Joe was a huge part of all those championships at Franklin. Gus was a State Champ
at Franklin. He wrestled four years in college at RIT in New York. He was a four year starter there. Gus has been helping
with the Franklin Program when ever he can. Just like Joe, Gus will be huge for our programs at Wadsworth. Both Joe and Gus
were ex club wrestlers
Staff and administration
Greg Sheck - Co-owner/Administrator
Gail Colace - Assistant Administrator
Christine Sheck - Assistant Administrator
Linda Kelly - Assistant Administrator