Wrestling coach Goff takes job at West Forsyth

Published 7:11 pm Wednesday, March 22, 2017

MOULTRIE – After two seasons of building Colquitt County High School wrestling into a factor in the GHSA state fields, head coach Evan Goff is leaving the Packer program. He said Wednesday he is now the head wrestling coach at West Forsyth High School in Cumming.

According to Goff, West Forsyth’s wrestling program was started by Dennis Stromie, a winner of four state championships as coach at Parkview High, when the school opened in 2007. Goff said he coached against Stromie’s teams when he led Roswell High wrestling for seven years before arriving at Colquitt County.

Goff will replace Stromie’s son Steven as West Forsyth wresting coach.

“The last couple of years, they’ve faded,” said Goff. “The area’s always had good programs, South Forsyth, North Forsyth. They’ve done well in state.

“It’s a growing area, real beautiful. By Lake Lanier. There’s a lot of new residential areas, new jobs.”

In making this move, Goff said it was not about trying to find a better wrestling program. He said there were different considerations, No. 1 being family. He said he has two brothers living in the area, and everything made sense for him to pursue the West Forsyth opening.

“It had to be a good job,” said Goff, originally from Fitzgerald. “The area has great athletics.”

Speaking of great, that’s how Goff described the two years he led Colquitt County Packer wrestling.

“We got a lot of the dirty work out of the way,” said Goff about the process of building competitive wrestlers. “We quadrupled the number of state (traditional) qualifiers they were averaging here. We doubled the number of kids in our program, and we doubled the operating cost.”

From the financial side, Goff said Packer wrestling did numerous fundraisers to bring in the extra money that allowed them – just last season alone – to go to two out-of-state tournaments and to hit the Atlanta area seeking out the best possible competition. And, when Goff was able to put a full, healthy lineup on the mats, the results usually saw the Packers finish in the top four.

While Goff said they didn’t accomplish all of their goals, especially when it came to dual state qualifying, he said Packer wrestling is in great shape with five of the 2017 traditional qualifiers being underclassmen.