HOWLAND, Maine — After more than three decades immersed in the sport, Gerald Hutchinson figures he’s overcome any deficit he faced by never being a competitive wrestler.
And he’s got some pretty emphatic empirical evidence to back him up.
“Hutch,” as he is known throughout the state’s wrestling community, is expected to join an elite coaching circle Wednesday when he and his nine-member Penobscot Valley High School squad host Mount Desert Island, Calais and Washington Academy of East Machias in a four-way meet.
Hutchinson enters the evening’s activities with a 499-139-7 career coaching record, and with one more dual-meet victory he’ll join legendary Belfast coach Ted Heroux as what are believed to be the only high school wrestling coaches in the state with 500 victories.
That he will achieve the milestone comes as somewhat of a surprise to Hutchinson. While he began the season needing just 12 victories, with an undermanned squad filling barely two-thirds of the 14 weight classes there was no certainty the Howlers would earn enough dual-meet victories to put their coach over the top.
“I didn’t expect to get it with just nine kids wrestling, but they’ve really been unbelievable,” said Hutchinson.
Then there was the added pressure of knowing this will be his last season as the team’s head coach. Hutchinson told his team of that decision late last season, opting to step down in order to focus on his duties as the school’s athletic administrator.
“My wife [Patricia] kept reminding me that if it was 498 or 499 at the end of the year, I’m still done,” Hutchinson said.
Part of the reason for the minute membership in the 500-win club is that the number of dual meets on a team’s schedule each year has grown rather dramatically during the last 15 or 20 years, giving modern-day coaches like Hutchinson a chance to accumulate coaching wins more rapidly.
“Before I was coaching, kids were lucky if they had 10 or 11 matches in a season,” said Hutchinson. “Now kids can wrestle 40 or 50 matches a year.”
So there are more opportunities, to be sure, but one of Hutchinson’s coaching strengths has been the ability to match his wrestlers against opponents in a manner that gives his team its best chance to win.
“It takes 42 points to win a match,” he said. “Sometimes you have to move kids around to get the points you need to win.”
Chris Sirois, a three-time individual state champion under Hutchinson during the early and mid-1990s, serves as an assistant coach at his alma mater.
One thing he’s learned from his mentor is that not only does physical strength represent power in wrestling. So, too, does knowledge.
“Hutch is able to bump his kids to where they need to be to get the points to win dual meets,” said Sirois. “He’s continually scouting opponents and gathering information about them, and he remembers everything.”
Hutchinson, 60, first became acquainted with the sport while studying at the University of Maine-Presque Isle, where the Stearns of Millinocket graduate played soccer in the fall and was manager of the college’s wrestling team during the winter.
He later took a course in wrestling as a senior, and his appreciation for the sport quickly grew. He began attending clinics and gathering additional information, and soon after he joined the Penobscot Valley faculty in 1971 Hutchinson helped develop an intramural wrestling program that would serve as a productive feeder sys-tem for the high school team.
“We didn’t do a lot of fancy stuff,” said Hutchinson, who also still teaches at the school as well as serves as Howland’s recreation director. “We concentrated on the fundamentals. We wanted to be fundamentally sound because we thought that was the best way for us to succeed at a small school in northern Maine.”
Hutchinson eventually became the varsity wrestling coach at PVHS, and during his tenure the Howlers have remained a respected program despite the school’s gradually shrinking enrollment that now stands at 183.
Hutchinson’s coaching career has been highlighted by Penobscot Valley’s run of five consecutive Class C state championships and more than 90 straight dual-meet victories from 1991 through 1995.
“Boy, that brings back a lot of memories,” he said. “I remember the year [1992-93] we weren’t supposed to win, when Dirigo came into my gym with all kinds of talent and we had a bunch of young kids but we beat them by half a point.
“Then there was the year the states were at Traip [Academy in Kittery], and we had eight kids in the finals and six of them won. We dominated that meet.”
Penobscot Valley has remained a contender within the Penobscot Valley Conference and Eastern Maine Class C since those glory days, though Hutchinson admits his sideline demeanor has calmed down considerably since the early years.
“He was real stern when I wrestled for him,” said Sirois. “He knew you could produce, he expected you to do it and he wouldn’t settle for anything less.
“Nowadays, he’s a little more laid back.”
Sirois is part of the tradition of Penobscot Valley wrestling that evokes considerable pride from Hutchinson as he watches his former students give back to the sport — tradition will be in evidence during Wednesday’s meet.
Two of the meet officials will be Matt Lindsay — who became the first Class C wrestler to win four consecutive individual state championships while earning All-America honors as a Howler — and Craig Dube, a two-time state champion during his wrestling days at Penobscot Valley.
Among the opposing coaches will Mount Desert Island’s Chip Dugans, a former team captain under Hutchinson.
“It’s going to be special,” said Hutchinson.
Hutchinson plans to remain close to the wrestling program at Penobscot Valley through his athletic administrator duties, and one task will be to help preserve the sport at the school.
Of the nine wrestlers on this year’s team, six are seniors, and while there is a strong nucleus of up-and-coming competitors at the sixth-grade level, there are no eighth-graders set to step up to the varsity ranks next year.
Hutchinson also would like to remain involved in meet management, such as organizing conference events and regional and state tournaments.
“I never imagined anything like this when I started coaching,” said Hutchinson. “I certainly didn’t think about 500 wins.”
