Published: April 29, 2008 11:28 pm         

Golden returns to Enid program as head coach

Former assistant coach Devin Golden is returning to the Enid High School wrestling program as the Plainsmen’s new head coach.

Golden, 43, was an assistant at EHS for four years before leaving to become an assistant at Norman North. He’s been the head coach at Class 2A Hinton the past three years.

“I have a lot of fond memories of Enid,’’ said Golden, who replaces Shane Kerr, who resigned last month. “I enjoyed being a part of the wrestling program and the school, and that played a big part in us coming back.’’

He inherits a program that qualified two wrestlers (142-pounder J.B. Stuart and 150-pounder Kia Castor) for state but failed to win a dual last season. The Plainsmen graduated only two seniors last season.

Golden coached some of Enid’s seniors-to-be in junior high.

“I know my way around a little better,’’ he said about the advantages of being familiar with the program, “but each group that comes in has a different character and different things that drive them and excite them.’’

Golden, a state runner-up at Geary in 1983, was a volunteer assistant at El Reno and an assistant at Marlow before coming to Enid the first time. He coached Kerr as a volunteer at Geary.

“I don’t think there’s any tricks to wrestling,’’ he said. “It’s hard work. You have to get the kids to believe in themselves. It’s about building character and presenting opportunities for them.’’

Golden said he likes to think of himself as a “wrestler’s coach, but these guys may not think I am later on. The biggest part of coaching is experiences you have with your athletes. That’s what keeps us all in the game.’’

He said he needs to build up numbers so Enid can be competitive. He plans to have a summer program in which wrestlers from grade school to high school can get some mat time.

“It takes time,’’ he said. “We have to go up there and find those athletes.’’

He said everything he does will be preparing his wrestlers to peak for the state tournament.

Golden lost to Sperry’s Pat Gourd in the 1983 Class A state finals. Gourd went on to beat future NAIA national champion Stoney Wright of Midwest City in the All-State dual.

“You always remember the ones you lost,’’ Golden said.

Golden worked in the oil field and the horse racing business after graduating Geary. He said there was a lot of similarities between training horses and coaching wrestlers as far as exercise, rest and health concerns.

He entered the University of Central Oklahoma at age 27.

“It took me some time to get back to that dream (of coaching),’’ Golden said. “I had always aspired as a wrestler to coach. After school there were some circumstances in my life that I thought I had to go out and make a living. I couldn’t afford to go to college at that time.’’

He was a walk-on as a freshman. He had no aspirations of making the lineup but just wanted to be part of the strong UCO program. He was older than the graduate assistants.

“It was unique,’’ he said. “Everybody was calling me the old man. Twenty-seven is young, but in the wrestling world it was a little different.

“I was practicing with the other freshmen and I was in my stance. I saw him (opponent) coming but my body didn’t move when I told it to. My reaction time wasn’t quite the same.’’

That experience taught him the value of reaction time, which he says comes with mat time.

“It’s more of a learning situation than anything else,’’ he said. “You want to put yourself in a reactionary situation.’’

Golden said he hopes Enid can continue to go to the Geary Tournament in January as it did under Kerr.

Golden and his wife have two children, Anna, 10, and Eddie, 8. He has two grown daughters, Brynn, who lives in El Reno, and Concetta, who lives in Enid.