Becahi drops Thompson midseason

   "Thompson out, Karam back as Bethlehem Catholic wrestling coach"
   That was the headline that first caught my eye when checking social media earlier this afternoon. Even though Rick Thompson has been let go from wrestling programs before, including three times in his beloved hometown, I was and am still so stunned by that news.
   Of course, the first thing I thought was: Is it because of the loss to Liberty last Friday night? A loss, 32-28, that was the first Becahi had suffered to a league opponent in a regular season match since February of 2011, so nearly eight years of dominating the Lehigh Valley and the state for that matter.
   In comments made to Tom Housenick of Allentown's Morning Call and Kyle Craig of The Express-Times (lehighvalleylive.com) (click links at left for story), Thompson says he told the school's administration last month that this would be his only season coaching the Golden Hawks, due to reasons he wouldn't disclose but apparently some differences in program views for the present and future.
   Then today, Thompson told Housenick that he received a text message from Bethlehem Catholic athletic director Chris Domyan requesting a meeting about the "direction of the program." During the meeting, reported to be about a half-hour later, Domyan informed him that he was being let go immediately and that Jeff Karam would be the new coach. Karam stepped down after 10 years this past spring, but was still on Thompson's staff this season as an assistant.
   Obviously, there are so many questions. And probably most of them, we'll never get the full answer since we're on the outside looking in. More on that later.
   If you're a regular follower of this blog (and why not if you're not, just kidding), you know that I have discussed the wrestling program at Phillipsburg, New Jersey before. It's where I went to school and first met Rick Thompson.
   In the fall of 1992, I was a high school freshman and had Thompson as a physical education teacher for the first marking period. Right before wrestling practices were to get underway, Thompson came to me and asked this probably 95-pound soaking wet goofy-looking kid to consider being a student manager for the team. I had been to a few matches before and knew Phillipsburg (or P'burg as we locals affectionally call it) had really good teams.
   So in short, a bulk of the wrestling knowledge that I have today and try to put to good use for the Bedford Gazette and this blog can be traced back to Rick, his coaching style, the way he molded his teams, and their success too. And I always felt like he treated me just like he did the wrestlers that went on to win state championships.
   He told Craig today: "My life is about helping kids...I've always done what I thought was best for the kids and I still will. I thought I was doing what's best for the Bethlehem Catholic program."
   I have no doubt that is true, because I witnessed it first hand for three years.
   Now back to those reasons why he is out, in no particular order:
  —  Was it really the loss to Liberty?
   The timing of this news is interesting to me. I had actually listened to PA Power Wrestling's latest podcast yesterday which was hosted by Jeff Upson and Jeremy Elliott, who used to cover the sport full-time for Pennlive and now is a contributor to PA Power.
   Of course, they discussed last Friday's loss by Becahi and what it meant to the Class AAA landscape this year. Elliott made some comments that I took as saying perhaps Becahi had lost a step or two on the rung after Karam stepped away from the head chair. I responded in a private message on Twitter to PA Power's account that I thought Becahi replaced a really good coach with another really good coach. I listed some of Thompson's background and said that I did have bias in that regard, but I thought with time given, Thompson could have just as much success there as Karam did. I also stated that I would give more credit to Liberty on this because teams in the Lehigh Valley have been long tired of losing to Bethlehem Catholic. A loss was bound to happen at some point, that's just the law of averages or whatever you want to call it.
   My intention wasn't to knock Jeremy Elliott. In all likelihood, he and Upson don't know Rick Thompson and I just wanted to give some opinion and background on who he is. So Jeremy was going off what he saw and covered in Karam's tenure, which is his right to do.
   So was losing to Liberty part, or all, of the reason? Probably not, but it could have been a sign to the administration (though I would never agree) that Karam's guidance was far superior, even in the small sample size they had up close with Thompson.
— Was there an incident that hasn't come to light?
   While you know my admiration for Thompson earlier in this blog and on one I wrote when he was hired at Becahi last year, he can be seen as a controversial figure and has sometimes been perhaps his own worst enemy. Remember, he had a ton of success (268-54-1 at Phillipsburg over three stints) but was still let go on all three occasions. I won't get into all of that here.
   Maybe even saying last month that he was likely leaving after the season because he didn't see eye-to-eye with some was enough for Domyan to pull the plug now. If he was already thinking that, perhaps it would have been better to stay quiet and coach out the year.
   And if there was some incident and Thompson did wrong enough for it to be a fireable offense a month into the season, so be it and I would agree with the school's decision.
— Was there outside pressure?
   Thompson said in his comments today that he didn't think parents, etc. may have been a reason for the sudden change. He also added in Housenick's story that some don't confront issues face to face though. Though he didn't believe so, I think it's entirely possible, maybe not from parents. To me, there's a lot of pressure there, even though they won the state team title last February. Again, the Lehigh Valley has a wealth of bigtime programs and all of them have been chomping at the bit to get a shot to dethrone the top dog. And despite Thompson's resume, the fan base will always be comparing him to the most recent teams from Karam.
Final Thought
   Like I said, if there is something that Thompson did that warranted him being let go, I would support the decision. If it's losing one match, then Becahi is way too short sighted. Every coach will tell you that losses, and how you respond to them, define your athletes and teams more than wins do.
   I hope it's not the former, because Rick Thompson deserves a fair shake to be a wrestling coach again.