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► Add to the Discussion Discussion Topic: Long Time Solon Coach Retires Roe Fox added to this discussion on June 4, 2015 Not sure this was mentioned before but team champ and multi-individual champion coach retires. http://highschoolsports.cleveland.com/news/article/-4505836225565805510/solon-wrestling-coach-tony-digiovanni-to-retire-after-32-years/        Discussion Topic: Long Time Solon Coach Retires Hank Kornblut added to this discussion on June 4, 2015 Tony is one of the best coaches in Ohio history. He had a lot of great teams and a boatload of fantastic individuals. No one game planned better for big matches.        Discussion Topic: Long Time Solon Coach Retires Rex Holman added to this discussion on June 4, 2015 Much respect. Rex Holman        Discussion Topic: Long Time Solon Coach Retires Bob Preusse added to this discussion on June 4, 2015 another top ohio coach has retired too, Dave Riggs of Massillon Perry who built a program that has often been top 25 in the nation- coached 2 NCAA champs Dustin Schlatter & Steve Luke and runnerup Nick Heflin..        Discussion Topic: Long Time Solon Coach Retires Jim Behrens added to this discussion on June 4, 2015 As might be expected, Coach D and I were sometimes on opposite sides of a situation. However, I always respected him. Solon, like Maple Heights, has changed a lot in the time Tony and Jamie have been coaching and yet both continue to turn out amazing products. I guess the best line I ever heard, that sums this up, is that he can take his team and beat yours or he can take your team and beat his. It takes a heck of a coach to do that.        Discussion Topic: Long Time Solon Coach Retires Michael Rodriguez added to this discussion on June 4, 2015 Much like John Gamuglia, TonyD had a profound affect on my wrestling career...although unlike John, I'm sure Tony never knew it. Whatever marginal success I had in the sport started when I made the road trip up to Solon for the legendary Solon Open Mats. Working out with college guys back for the summer and Cleveland area horses made me far better than I otherwise would've been. I'm sure many of you have been there, it's not like it's a structured room. He didn't say much or give a lot of pointers, but I learned to drill in that room. I learned to minimize errors, clean up technique and keep up with guys that were better than me in that room. Moreover, I learned about the culture of the sport from a wide range of athletes with completely different perspectives. Alan Fried, Bill Lally, Pete Nathanson, Dan Carcelli, Brian Haring...state champions were always banging around that room getting better and making everyone else better. It was a game changer for me. I graduated in 1990, that was the year Solon moved to Division II and ended up winning the State Tourney. They came through Firestone, and they were rock starts. Radke, Schork, Sias, Fritz, Welsh, Lou Genovese, Freitag and of course Greg Genovese. They were fantastic from top to bottom. This was before the age of the super teams, but it was also before those great Walsh teams that were not only great wrestlers, but full of personality. That team was full great wrestlers who were allowed BY THEIR HALL OF FAME COACH to be exactly who they were. They were all so different, but so successful doing it their own way. Genovese would wear you down with pressure and conditioning, Schork was like a surgeon with superior technique, Sias got you with the big move, Fritz would grind out close wins, Freitag was a physical freak. How many coaches back then were letting their wrestlers have the amount of individuality and diversity that TonyD was? He was a great coach, and he'll be missed.        Discussion Topic: Long Time Solon Coach Retires Hank Kornblut added to this discussion on June 4, 2015 Mike: You and I were undoubtedly often in that room at the same time. Unlike you, however, I was an observer. Loved going up there and seeing great guys at all levels mix it up. Met Eric Toukonen at Solon Open Mats. Got to find out what Claymont was all about. Met the late John Marchette, Sr, who took the time to give me great advice on coaching and building a program. Olympic Gold Medalist Doug Blubaugh once put on a clinic. Sadly, I've forgotten far more than I remember. But I always got a sense of where my wrestlers were at--and what they needed to do to improve--from time spent in that room.        ► Add to the Discussion