Staff file photo / Preston Byers. Howland head wrestling coach Matt Zakrajsek, right, and assistant coach Mike Burns watch on during Madison Burns’ match at the 2025 OHSAA state tournament in Columbus.

HOWLAND — Gabe Stark has wrestled almost all of his life, most of which in his hometown of Howland, where his father also wrestled. When he got done wrestling at Cleveland State, though, he wasn’t especially eager to jump back into the sport as a coach.

But Tigers assistant coach Greg Mock asked him and asked him again to help out at practice, to which Stark, a 2013 state champion, eventually agreed and made the walk across the street from his home to his alma mater.

“Coach Mock kept reaching out to me, asking me to get involved,” Stark said. “Finally, I walked over there one day and went to practice, and it went great. And all the kids would ask, ‘Coach Stark, are you coming tomorrow?’ So I ended up going the next day, and then I went the next day, and then came a tournament, and they said, ‘Coach, are you coming to the tournament?’ And so sure enough, I went to the tournament. And it seems like that first time since I’ve walked over there, I really haven’t stopped. I’ve kept going every day. I keep walking across the street.”

While many have longer commutes to Howland High School, many of the Tigers’ assistants are constantly making their returns to their alma mater.

Head coach Matt Zakrajsek, a 2003 alumnus, said five of the Tigers’ six coaches are former Howland wrestlers. And the only non-graduate, assistant Mike Burns, watched as his daughter, Madison, placed at the OHSAA state tournament as a junior and senior before graduating from Howland this past spring.

“Culture is a big thing in programs and something that we’ve really been building since 1955,” Zakrajsek said. “I’m the seventh head coach in that time, and just that stability and constant, having guys come back in the room to help out and coach just, I think, lets the current wrestlers know that it’s a safe, comfortable place. We’re going to work hard and push you to be your best in the classroom, in the wrestling room and in life. It just kind of flows. It’s not something we ever really have to focus on and try to get people back in the room. People want to come back.”

For Zakrajsek, he knew pretty early on that he wanted to come back.

Toward the end of his senior season, Zakrajsek recalled wanting to go into education and have the same “impact” that many of his teachers and coaches had. Five years later, he returned to Howland as a volunteer assistant, and a year after that, he began working in the district. He succeeded Bill Beasom as head coach in 2014.

“It was always my plan to be at Howland. Never really thought about coaching elsewhere,” Zakrajsek said.

For much of the coaching staff, tutoring their family is a part of the job at their alma mater; Greg Mock formerly coached his son, Carter, a 2023 state qualifier and Howland graduate, and currently coaches his younger son, Deacon, who qualified for the state tournament last March. Similarly, Jason Neff and 2023 alumnus Nolan Rudesill are on Zakrajsek’s staff, coaching their son and brother, respectively.

The familial connections have only strengthened the sense of family within the program.

“We spend a lot of time together. When we’re at these multi-day tournaments, it’s 12 hours a day or so we’re spending with each other, talking some wrestling, talking life, friendships, major bonds,” Zakrajsek said. “We’ve been very fortunate as a staff. Everybody gets along with the wrestlers. We have a good rapport with everybody. It’s a solid team; we don’t have to worry about a lot of behavior issues — knock on wood — but making it more than just wins and losses has really helped our program and these kids move on in the future.

“The wrestling isn’t the big focus. It’s about the person, building relationships and trying to just make people better. That keeps this cycle going.”