McFarland next coach for Blue Wrestling

Friday afternoon, Athletic director Tom Goss announced that assistant Wrestling coach Joe McFarland, The 1985 graduate of Michigan will take over for current coach Dale Bahr, now in his final year as head coach.

McFarland had been identified as a leading candidate as early as July 13th and the official posting for the job stated that an internal candidate was preferred.

Of the two internal candidates, McFarland had considerably more experience than the other assistant coach, Kirk Trost.

"It's good when you have depth within your program, and it's good when you have succession from within," Goss said in a released statement. McFarland was not available for comment.

Bahr is leaving the wrestling program to take an administrative job in the athletic department, overseeing the summer sports camps.

Bradley-Doppes said in July 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."

"I think itŐll be a nice transition," Bahr said.

Bahr said that one of the reasons he was able to convince McFarland, who was a four-time All-American at Michigan, to leave his head coaching job at Indiana was the possibility of assuming Bahr's job at a later date.

"Joe McFarland has been a dedicated Michigan man who returned from Indiana University with the ultimate goal of becoming Michigan's coach," Goss said in a released statement.

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

He "understands the Michigan tradition," Bradley-Doppes said. "He understands the athletic and academic balance.

"He's a world-class coach."

McFarland, was supervising Michigan wrestler Jeff Reese when Reese collapsed and died last Dec. 19. Following the tragedy, some tried to hold McFarland culpable, but "he never has been looked at in that way by our department," Goss said.

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