When Greg Lazor stepped down as Chestnut Ridge's head wrestling coach two months ago, it created an opening that surprised many and left one of the state's best Class AA programs in recent years searching for a new leader.
The school's administration didn't have to look very far to find him, as Josh Deputy, one of Lazor's longtime assistants, was named to the position on Tuesday night.
With all due respect to those that applied or showed interest in the job, Chestnut Ridge made the right choice.
It's really that simple to me.
After Lazor's first few years in Fishertown, the Lions turned the corner by winning their first District 5 Duals championship in 2013, and went on to finish fourth in the state team tournament. Since then, they've captured six more D5 Duals crowns, eight straight District 5 Tournament team titles, and placed three more times in the top four of the Class AA state duals.
During that time span, Chestnut Ridge also has 11 different individual state medalists.
Deputy has been a big part of that success — Lazor will tell you that himself.
His hiring, if nothing else, does this: It keeps continuity in the program.
One of the first things Deputy told me when I reached him for comments last night for my story for the Bedford Gazette (see today's edition for that story) was about the closeness between the coaches and the coaching staff to the wrestlers.
Deputy also told me that the remainder of the coaching staff from last season — Pat Berzonski, Scott McGill, Brian Gibbons, Tyler Dibert, and Dan Albright — is expected to return. That's a huge plus in itself. American Flag fanny packs anyone? Expect Gibbons, Dibert, and Albright to once again be sporting them on the Lions' bench.
I know keeping that kind of continuity together is something Lazor wished for the program upon his departure.
Hire someone from the outside and perhaps that doesn't happen. Or some return and some don't, which can cause friction. Remember what happened at Bethlehem Catholic. The Golden Hawks still won a state team title in February but it wasn't smooth for a good bit of the regular season.
Chestnut Ridge wrestles a very strong schedule, something that Lazor really got the ball rolling with. That won't change under Deputy.
And while the Lions will be without either Justin McCoy or Jared McGill, who basically have rewritten the school's record books, for the first time in five years, don't expect a sharp dropoff in the overall strength of the team.
Deputy's appointment to the head chair only helps to ensure that.
