The Mark Perry era is over before it even began.
The man who was supposed to take the helm of the wrestling team, one of Cal Poly’s most successful programs, has accepted an offer to be an associate coach at the University of Illinois next season.
“I enjoyed my time (at Cal Poly) and I loved the guys on the team; everyone at the athletics department was great,” Perry said. “It was an awesome experience, but it came down to a personal financial situation for me and my fiancee.”
Perry said he was not actively searching for a new job, but Illinois “came after” him and, in the end, they had a bigger budget for coaches.
Perry was paid more than $55,000 in 2010 while sharing co-head coaching duties with John Azevedo who was paid more than $64,000.
Perry, who came into the program as an assistant coach in 2009, was quickly promoted to co-head coach a year later and was expected to fill the head coaching position after Azevedo retires this summer.
Although he was at Cal Poly for only a short time, he said he hopes the wrestlers he worked with will continue to remember the things he preached.
“If you want to be successful at anything you have to have a deep, deep passion for what you’re doing,” Perry said. “You can’t be halfway in, halfway out. You have to live, breathe, eat it.”
The most successful Cal Poly wrestler in 2011 was junior Boris Novachkov who placed second at the NCAA Championships in March. He was notified approximately a week ago of Perry’s decision, and said he bears no hard feelings.
“I know I would go if I were in the same position,” Novachkov said. “I think I’ll be fine no matter who my coach is, so I want to do what I’ve been doing and I know I can win (the national title).”
Novachkov left little doubt about if he was going to suit up for the Mustangs in 2012.
“I’m staying,” he said. “I can’t leave this place, it’s too nice.”
The team was notified of the decision on Sunday when Perry called a team meeting. They then regrouped to meet with Cal Poly’s new athletics director, Don Oberhelman, on Wednesday afternoon where he assured the wrestlers the program is not in jeopardy of being cut.
“We are committed 100 percent to this program,” Oberhelman said. “The fact that we had a coaching change is irrelevant to whether or not we’re going to have wrestling at Cal Poly.”
Oberhelman said a national head coaching search will begin immediately and he is not going to search with any “preconceived notions” of who the coach will be.
“We’re looking for someone with experience winning championships ’cause that’s what our expectations are for this program,” Oberhelman said.
Sophomore heavyweight Atticus Disney said Perry’s decision took the team by surprise.
“Initially there was talk of (wrestlers leaving Cal Poly) just because they weren’t expecting it, and Perry brought them to this program,” Disney said. “But I think because of the initial shock they didn’t think the whole transfer process through. I think it’s more an idea in their heads (rather) than something they’ve actually looked into right now.”
Perry also spoke about the recruits he started to bring into the program, and who might change schools now that he has decided to leave.
“It’s a tough situation, and I don’t feel good about it,” Perry said. “You make some kids some promises and it doesn’t turn out. Some kids might decide to go elsewhere, but that’s just athletics.”
The Mustangs were 9-2 in dual meets last season while going 4-2, but placed a disappointing sixth at the Pac-10 Championships.
The new coach will inherit a team losing only two seniors out of 10 starters, one of whom made it to the national championships in 2011. Returning NCAA participants are Novachkov, Ryan DesRoches and Ryan Smith.