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Conley retires after building Canfield program

It’s been a good run recently for the Canfield High School wrestling team and coach Dean Conley. So good, that even the offseason brings them honors.

Thing is, this might be the final one for Conley.

The longtime coach was named the National Wrestling Coaches Association head coach of the year for the state of Ohio. Conley led the Cardinals to back-to-back state runner-up finishes in Division II during the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons. Canfield also has crowned individual state champions in consecutive seasons, among numerous other accomplishments.

A humble Conley wouldn’t take recognition for the success and instead credited the work of his staff and wrestlers.

“There are just so many people doing a ton of work, it’s weird when one person gets the credit,” he said. “Any time your program can be recognized at any level — locally, statewide and certainly no one ever thinks it’s going to be nationally, and I didn’t either — but it’s a tribute to everybody who’s working really hard. And in many cases, it makes people work harder.”

Ironically, Conley’s hard work has come to an end — for now.

The 45-year-old coach decided this past year was his last, stepping down after 18 wildly successful seasons. He does so after building the Cardinals into one of the state’s elite programs. After placing 30th as a team at the individual state championship in 2014, Canfield finished eighth in 2015, second in 2016 and second in 2017 (trailing only nationally ranked St. Paris Graham, which has won 17 consecutive state titles).

Conley admitted his departure is “probably two years earlier than I would want to,” but with the Cardinals reshuffling their staff to allow coaches to mentor their sons, he said the decision was what’s best for the program.

“I started thinking about it, and I’m like, there’s no sense in us shuffling the entire staff, and then next year having to do it again,” Conley said, “because you want the least amount of disruption in the program so you can just focus on wrestling.”

While that played a role, Conley said the biggest reason for the decision was so he could spend more time with his 8-year-old daughter, Alex. The Canfield third-grader has become an avid golfer, even traveling around the country to play in different tournaments. Conley, who only recently started to golf, joked that she’s already better than him, which played into his decision to spend more time on the course. Conley said if he gets back into coaching, it will be years from now as a girls golf coach.

“It’s funny, my wife wanted me to stay, my daughter wanted me to stay and (recently hired Canfield coach) Steve (Pitts) tried talking me into staying,” Conley said, “but then I would be staying for the wrong reasons. I care too much about the program to do that.”

Conley leaves as the most decorated coach in Canfield wrestling history, handing the reigns to Pitts, a longtime assistant.

Conley coached four wrestles to the state finals, crowning two champions. Georgio Poullas became the Cardinals’ first state champ since 1999 when he won a title in 2016, and David Crawford matched his championship with one of his own last march. Furthermore, Canfield qualified an incredible six wrestlers for the state tournament this past year, with five placing in the top eight.

The Cardinals won three Eastern Ohio Wrestling League titles during Conley’s tenure (there’s only been four in the school’s history). The accolades are nice to look back on, Conley said, but it’s not what he took from the experience.

“You win with people,” Conley said. “You win when you surround yourself with people that don’t care about who gets the credit. When you can identify the goal, and the goal is to help student-athletes succeed, it’s pretty amazing when that happens. The results are unprecedented.

“You get in it to help people and to help young kids succeed and you end up getting just as much help along the way.”

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