2016 IWCOA Award Nominations and Voting

It’s that time of year again. Time to nominate and vote for the annual IWCOA Awards that are presented at the All-State Banquet.

You must be an active IWCOA member to nominate and vote for the IWCOA Awards. If you are not a member, you can join here.

Nomination Instructions

Simply send an email to Mike Bare at mike@illinoismatmen.com and include:
1. Your name
2. Nomination category
3. Nominee

You can nominate individuals for as many categories as you like.

Nominations must be submitted by Sunday, February 28th.

The selection criteria is as follows. Please review this criteria before sending your nominations.

Official of the Year

• A member of the IWCOA
• Officiate at the Sectional level of the IHSA State Tournament Series
• Has not been an award winner the past three years.

Past Winners Exempt for this year:

2013 Jeff Bowers, Bloomington
2014 Don Mekeel, Sterling
2015 Jim Carnahan, Rock Island

Administrator of the Year

• Must be an Administrator, Athletic Director, Principal, etc. in Illinois for three years.
• Must be an administrator at the same school for two years.
• This person must be an advocate within his school and his community in regards to wrestling.
• Has not been an award winner the past three years.

Past Winners Exempt for this year:

2013
Class 1A-Adam Spicer, Wilmington
Class 2A-Kevin Crandall, Rochelle
Class 3A-Hud Venerable, Lincoln-Way Central
2014
Class 1A-Rich Montgomery, Rock Falls
Class 2A-Travis Mackey, Geneseo
Class 3A-Todd Rosenthal, Moline
2015
Class 1A-Jeff Reents, Wilmington
Class 2A-Chauncey Carrick, Sycamore
Class 3A-Dan Jones, Hinsdale Central

Scholastic Wrestler of the Year

• The candidate must be nominated by his coach
• Must be a senior in the upper half of his class
• Must have placed in the IHSA State Tournament in Class 1A, Class 2A, or Class 3A

Newsman of the Year

• Detailed coverage of local teams
• Use of many action photos
• Personalized articles about wrestlers, coaches, officials, or fans
• Selection of honor rolls or conference ratings
• Promotion of tournaments and outstanding meets
• Personal attendance of wrestling meets
• Wrestling coverage of all levels
• Has not been an award winner the past three years.

Past Winners Exempt for this year:

2013 Curt Hurron, IllinoisMatmen.com
2014 Daniel Makarewicz, Moline Dispatch
2015 Kory Kuffler, WQAD Sports-Moline

Outstanding Wrestler

• Must be a State Champion

Assistant Coach of the Year

• A member of the IWCOA
• Has been involved in Illinois wrestling for five years
• Assistant coach at the same school for three years
• Has not been an award winner the past three years.

Past Winners Exempt for this year:

2013
Class 1A-Mark Shell, Wilmington
Class 2A-Rory Heller, Mahomet-Seymour
Class 3A-Ryan Eggan, Chicago (Marist)
2014
Class 1A-Tony Alber, Dakota
Class 2A-Rich Sheley, Geneseo
Class 3A-Donny Reynolds, Marmion Academy
2015
Class 1A-Matt Jacobs, Dakota
Class 2A-Tom Rush, Geneseo
Class 3A-Jake Oster, Yorkville

Coach of the Year

• A member of the IWCOA
• Has been involved in Illinois wrestling for five years
• Coach at the same school for three years
• Has not been an award winner the past three years.

Past Winners Exempt for this year:

2013
Class 1A-Pete Alber, Dakota
Class 2A-Steve Rockford, Springfield (Southeast)
Class 3A-Jason DePolo, New Lenox (Lincoln-Way Central)
2014
Class 1A-Mike Elsbury, Byron
Class 2A-Bryan Medlin, Washington
Class 3A-Mike Powell, Oak Park-River Forest
2015
Class 1A-Mark Masters, Coal City
Class 2A-Jon Murray, Geneseo
Class 3A-Josh Oster, Lockport

Voting Instructions

Voting will begin on March 1st and will take place directly on Illinois Matmen. You must have an Illinois Matmen forum screen name with access to the private IWCOA forum in order to vote.

1. If you already have an Illinois Matmen screen name, you can skip to step 2.

If you do not have an Illinois Matmen screen name, create one for FREE here.

You will receive an email once your screen name has been activated. It can take up to 24 hours for your screen name to be activated.

2. Login to the Illinois Matmen forum using your screen name here.

3. Scroll down to the IWCOA forum and click “Illinois Wrestling Coaches & Officials Association” or get there directly here.

If you see a message stating “There have been no posts in the last 365 days in this forum.” then you do NOT have sufficient access to vote. Send an email to mike@illinoismatmen.com with your real name and your Illinois Matmen screen name. We will reply by email once you have been granted access to the IWCOA forum to vote.

4. Check back to Illinois Matmen on March 1st to place your votes.

If you have any questions or run into any problems, contact Mike Bare directly at mike@illinoismatmen.com