The student news site of Atlantic High School

AHSneedle

The student news site of Atlantic High School

AHSneedle

The student news site of Atlantic High School

AHSneedle

Polls

What's your least favorite ISASPs test?

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...
Scores and Schedules
AHS JOURNALISM GOLD SPONSOR

“Success is pretty simple”

Coach Duff receives class 2A coach of year award.

by Anthony Robinson

In his sixth year at Atlantic High School, head coach Tim Duff was awarded the class 2A coach of the year at this year’s state wrestling tournament in Des Moines.  This year’s team sent eight wrestlers to the state tournament. The Trojans came home with four medalists including two second-place finishes, a fourth place finish, and an eighth-place finish.  As a team the Trojans finished in fourth place.  The team also qualified and finished in fourth place at the state duals in Cedar Rapids.
“I don’t think there’s a secret to success,” Duff says. “Success is pretty simple if you work hard in no matter whatever you do, you’re going to have success. If you want something bad enough, and you want it, you will be good.”

Duff has had the desire and has wanted to become better each and every day since his school years.

Duff says that his high school wrestling experience at Winterset, under the influence of hall-of-fame coach Gary Christensen, contributed to his passion for wrestling. Duff was just one of many to be successful through the Huskie wrestling program.

After graduating from Winterset, Duff went on to wrestle at the University of Northern Iowa, while studying to become a teacher.

After earning his degree from UNI, Duff coached six years at the Nodaway Valley school district, taking two teams to the state duals and coaching two state champions.  After his tenure at Nodaway Valley, Duff moved to Atlantic to become the head wrestling coach and physical education teacher at AHS.

“I’ve enjoyed teaching and coaching. It’s a great profession where you get a chance to work with young kids and help mold them and shape their future,” Duff said.

Under the guiding hand of Duff, the Trojan wrestling program has become known state-wide.   “I’m real proud of the kids we’ve put through the program, and I think we’ve been working towards becoming one of the state’s best wrestling programs,” Duff said. “The ultimate goal as a coach is to have a team that will compete year-in and year-out at the state level.”

Sophomore Jordan Mauk, who has wrestled as a Trojan for the past two years, says he has learned responsibility and how to work hard from Duff.  “He pushes you past what you think you can do,” said Mauk.  When asked how Duff is able to do this, Mauk chuckled: “Intimidation.”

Duff says that while he is pleased with the progress of the program over the past six years, he’s not ready for the team to rest back on its heels: “We still haven’t hit our ceiling.”

 

Leave a Comment
More to Discover

Comments (0)

All AHSneedle Picks Reader Picks Sort: Newest

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *