At the beginning of this school year, the Arlington wrestling program was in need of a new coach. Thanks to a little arm-twisting, the team ended up with two Hall of Famers in their corner - Rick Iversen and Barry Knott.

After coaching Western Washington University for several years and then lifting the Marysville Tomahawks to many successful seasons, Rick Iversen retired from the school system in 1998. Recently he coached two great-nieces and was pondering the startup of a girls' program in the Arlington area.

However, the opportunity of coaching the Arlington men's team, after spending nearly 12 years in retirement, intrigued Iversen. He asked long-time coaching peer and good friend, Barry Knott, if he was interested in coaching again. Knott agreed to help and a new adventure was in the works.

Both men have long and storied coaching careers.

Knott had been the head wrestling coach for three schools over 25 years: Nathan Hale, Lake Washington and Bellarmine. He is one of the most successful coaches ever in the Seattle Metro League and won seven straight championships from 1984 to 1990. Knott has been named Regional Coach of the Year and has been nominated to the State Wrestling Coaches' Hall of Fame. He was also named Coach of the Decade at Nathan Hale High.

Iversen wrestled for Sedro Woolley and Skagit Valley Community College, has been Regional Coach of the Year at least three times, and was inducted to the State Hall of Fame in 1998. This past summer, Iversen was honored to be inducted into the National Wrestling Coaches Hall of Fame.

This experienced staff is combined with two holdovers from the past at Arlington High. Jim Smoots was an All-American while wrestling at Biola University. After coaching for three years in California, he was the head coach of the Arlington wrestling team from 1990 to 2007. Since then, he has served as an assistant in the program. Smoots was named Regional Coach of the Year three times and ran a very successful program at Arlington. Gary Niklason, an '81 grad of Arlington, was 2nd in State for the Eagles his senior year and went on to wrestle for the Washington State Cougars. He has served as an Eagle assistant for the past four years.

The balance of the staff is comprised of two volunteer coaches: Scott Ames and Darryl Berg. Ames, a two-time Oregon high school state champion from Scappoose High, was a state champ in discus and team captain in football where he was quarterback, linebacker and punter. He went on to be a JC All-American in wrestling at Clackamas Community College. He wrestled at Oregon and competed in Europe while in the Army. He was a two-time USA/EUR Champion in freestyle and Greco. Berg wrestled at Connell High and has been coaching club wrestling for the past few years.

"Arlington High has an outstanding multi-level community wrestling program in place," said Knott.

He pointed to the wrestling programs in each of the middle schools. There are also two children's programs: the youth wrestling program meets weekly in the wrestling room at the school from 6 to 8 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The kids' program meets on Mondays and Wednesdays--same time, same place.

The coach continued, "With this kind of structure overall in wrestling, combined with wonderful parental support and great support from the school administration, things bode well for a bright future in the Arlington community."