McFarland likely to coach 'M' wrestling

The search for the next Michigan wrestling coach is on, and current assistant Joe McFarland has a leg up on the other candidates, athletic director Tom Goss said

DANIEL O'DONNELL/Daily Assistant wrestling coach Joe McFarland is the likely candidate to replace current head coach Dale Bahr. Bahr said Mcfarland will be the next coach "barring unforeseen circumstances."

"He will be our leading candidate," Goss said, but "I couldn't say 100 percent" that the coach will be McFarland.

"I think it'll be a nice transition," Bahr said.

According to the official posting for the job, an internal candidate - meaning McFarland or fellow assistant Kirk Trost - is preferred. Senior associate athletic director Peg Bradley-Doppes said that a full search will be conducted, but current coach Dale Bahr said "barring any unforeseen circumstances, (McFarland) will be the next coach."

The athletic department would not name any other candidates for the job at such an early stage. The successor will take over following the 1998-99 season, when Bahr takes his new job in the department directing the summer sports camps.

Bahr added that part of the reason McFarland left his head coaching position at Indiana was the possibility of gaining the head slot at his alma mater once Bahr retired.

McFarland, who declined to comment on the coaching matter, was supervising Michigan wrestler Jeff Reese when Reese collapsed and died last Dec. 9. Following the tragedy, some tried to hold McFarland culpable, but "he never has been looked at in that way by our department," Goss said.

Bradley-Doppes said that McFarland's head coaching experience "makes a huge difference." As the head of the Indiana program, he led the Hoosiers to a perfect 14-0 record in his first season, 1989-90. McFarland also won the Assistant Coach of the Year award from the National Wrestling Coaches Association in 1994.

"Joe has that energy and enthusiasm," Bahr said.

"He's good at selling Michigan" to recruits. To coach wrestling, "you really get down and wrestle with the kids."

McFarland was a four-time All-American at Michigan and wrestled under Bahr and alongside Trost.

McFarland "understands the Michigan tradition," Bradley-Doppes said. "He understands the academic and athletic balance. "He's a world-class coach."

07-13-98