(Part 2 of an interview with the new Easton wrestling coach. Click here for part 1.)
Perhaps the moment that showed the best of Jody Karam’s 26-year tenure as Liberty’s head wrestling coach -- and the one that might provide a real model for his tenure ahead at Easton -- came in his final season.
It came in January 2019, when the Hurricanes knocked off Bethlehem Catholic 32-30 to hand the Golden Hawks their first loss in regular-season league play in eight years.
While Karam, who was named as the Red Rovers’ eighth varsity head coach at Tuesday night’s school board meeting, certainly enjoyed defeating his city rivals just for the sake of it, it was the manner in which the Hurricanes triumphed that he was most proud of.
“The Becahi win was huge for us,” he said. “Of the 14 wrestlers we used that night, seven had never wrestled a varsity match before that season.”
Of all Karam’s strengths as a coach at Liberty, it was that ability to squeeze the absolute most out of his squad, to get them to wrestle to the top of their potential, that stands out.
Liberty needed that kind of success because the Hurricanes never had the kind of bountiful youth programs that some of their rivals enjoyed.
Now, of course, Karam is coaching at a high school whose sending areas do have some of the top youth programs around, and where the Easton junior high team won the District 11 championship last season. And the Rovers return four state qualifiers from last season in seniors Dominic Falcone and Isaiah Reinert and juniors Braxton Appello and Matt Cruise, three of whom (all but Cruise) were medalists.
Combine that with Karam’s ability to make less experienced, or less skilled, wrestlers into solid varsity competitors and the makings of a potentially very strong championship-level team might be on hand faster than even Karam might think.
It is true that he’ll need to get the current Easton wrestlers on board with his program, and there could be some resistance to that. The Rovers were fond of former coach JaMarr Billman and many would have been pleased had he been retained.
But judging from Karam’s track record, he’ll have little problem bonding with his team.
“My phone has been exploding with people congratulating me; it has been so awesome to see so many of my former wrestlers being so happy for me,” Karam said.
One of the reasons Karam generates such loyalty from his former wrestlers is that they remember him being there when they were down.
“One thing my wrestlers would say is that (the staff) always made them feel good about themselves,” Karam said. “We’d see kids that weren’t happy, and made them feel better. We always wanted to build confidence in them.”
It should be noted that Karam gives enormous credit to his assistants for whatever he achieved at Liberty, and he did so while he was at Liberty. Some of his Liberty assistants, such as Richie Cabrera and Kevin Klingborg, were tested veterans who would make fine head coaches themselves. Others, such as Will Switzer, Brad Kleckner, and Mike Pena, were younger men bringing a different perspective. The combination was extremely effective.
“I have done a pretty good job of surrounding myself with great coaches,” Karam said. “Now at Easton, I am going to have an all-star staff.”
Karam’s already off to a good start there, as former Rover head Steve Powell, he of the 534 dual meet wins and 18 state champions (only three PIAA coaches have ever had more), has agreed to volunteer.
“Steve was the assistant coach (under Dave Crowell) when I wrestled at Easton,” Karam said. “I have had a lot of messages from Steve and he has been very supportive. He’s already signed up with me.”
Easton will also be the only school around with a well-known race car driver helping out, as Karam’s son Sage, who wrestled for Nazareth and is a gifted Indy-car racer, will be in the room when he can be as well.
Karam, whose pride in Sage’s racing knows no bounds, wanted to point out that Sage can be seen Saturday driving in the Indianapolis Grand Prix (12:30 p.m. on NBC), and we are happy to do so. “My role now is Sage’s racing is to raise $4 million in sponsorships, and I can do that,” ghe said with a laugh.
There are other names out there as potential coaches, such as Easton alum Robbie Rizzolino who was a volunteer coach and was an applicant for the head coaching job, and Corey Keener, the all-time District 11 wins leader and two-time PIAA champion for Blue Mountain who was just hired by Easton as a physical education teacher in the middle school.
Karam noted that he’s not had the chance to really recruit coaches yet, but given the emphasis Karam places on his staff, “all-star” will likely be a good word for it. But no matter who Karam rounds up as a staff, they will face a major challenge in introducing themselves to the team in this time of pandemic. Normally, you’d bring the team together, roll around for some days, perhaps attend a team camp, and get to know each other over the summer. Now, none of that is possible.
“The timing makes this a tough time to introduce yourself to a program,” Karam said. “It’s a massive challenge we face to try to build relationships with the kids. I truly believe in the power of relationships, convincing the kids that (I) want to make them a better wrestler and that they can make me a better coach. But in this time of COVID, it’s going to be a challenge.”
Some might say it could be less of a challenge if Karam taught in the district. He might agree.
“Every coach would do better if they were in the school, yes,” he said. “But there’s not a teaching job available, and I know I can do the job teaching at Bethlehem.”
Since his retirement at Liberty, Karam has also been a rousing success on the local real estate front. He’ll continue with that work while noting that John and Chris Morganelli, who head Karam’s brokerage, are “100 percent behind me, they were hoping I get it.”
Karam has a lot going on, in other words, but he made sure to note he is “100 percent committed” to being the head coach at Easton.
There’s no question Karam will put his stamp on the program quickly where he can.
Take the schedule. Easton will not be returning to the season-opening Walsh Jesuit Ironman tournament, as Karam would prefer a dual-meet tournament.
“You have to look at the return on investment and what makes the most sense for the whole team,” he said. “You go to a tournament like the Ironman and maybe only one or two of your kids get more than two matches. At a dual-meet tournament, each kid gets 5 guaranteed bouts and you get a chance to watch every kid wrestle.”
Karam mentioned he’d like to get in the Boyertown Duals, which is where Liberty traditionally started its season, but doesn’t know if there’s a place available. Easton will still attend the Escape the Rock Tournament and the Bethlehem Holiday Classic; Karam was a co-founder of the latter.
Easton can also expect to see the wrestling team often involved in community and charity activities as Liberty’s also was.
And, of course, Jody Karam merely being Jody Karam will make Easton wrestling a different place.
“Some people love hating me, and they’d be the first ones to admit they missed having me around” he said. “They would say it wasn’t fun as without me. I love that. It makes showing up worthwhile.”
Jody Karam’s back -- and we expect it will be a lot of fun.
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Brad Wilson may be reached at bwilson@lehighvalleylive.com.
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