Panther wrestling has a new look this year.
As Macon Middle’s longtime head coach and cofounder of the KLAW (Kids Learning About Wrestling) youth club team, Jimmy Barnett’s name has become synonymous with the sport in Franklin. After more than a decade guiding Macon County’s young wrestlers, the time was right this summer for Barnett to take the high school job.
“When Marcus Sayers left, he asked me to take over the program and I turned it down [because] I had my daughter still in school, and she was very active in the band,” said Barnett. “I turned it down and Kyle Barrington took it over and had a successful program for three years there. He stepped down, then they called again, and I turned it down and turned it over to Coley [Tyler]. Coley was my assistant at the middle school at the time, and when he resigned and left it was just the right time because my daughter is in college at App State.”
For the past 15 years Barnett has helped the high school indirectly, preparing Franklin’s youth and middle schoolers to make the jump. As Panther wrestling’s new head coach, those connections have helped him fill out his first team.
“The first question in my interview was, ‘How do you plan to build the program back up to where the Barringtons had it?’” said Barnett, referring to former Panther coaches Kyle and Bill Barrington. “I was like, ‘I’m gonna rely on the kids that I had in middle school to get me back to where we was at.’ I think when Kyle and Bill [were coaching], we had about 40 to 55 kids on that team. Last night at practice I think we had like 25 kids, so we’re halfway there.”
After two top-heavy years, in which Franklin’s wrestlers were talented but too few in number for a dual-team meet, recruiting has been Barnett’s main task this offseason. While new coaches rarely boast full rosters right off the bat, this year’s team is well on the way.
“With football season and playoffs just ending last week, we’ve still got some football kids rolling in that had wrestled for me before in middle school, and showed an interest and wanted to get back on the team and fill the spots,” said Barnett. “We’re still lacking a 113-pounder and about three right in the middle, so we lack about four weight classes, but everything up high – from 150 on up we’ve filled. It’s a very young team. As of yesterday when I was looking we’ve got two senior boys and two senior girls.”
In women’s wrestling’s first year as a sanctioned sport in North Carolina, Barnett has assembled Franklin’s largest-ever women’s team, led by veteran Malaina Alberry. In the program’s first few meets, they’ve faced a difficult litmus test versus some of the region’s top teams.
“We went to Robbinsville opening night – they’re Single-A state champs – and that’s always a good thing to do is go over there and wrestle,” said Barnett. “They didn’t have their football players; we didn’t have ours. It was what I expected for a lot of first-time wrestlers – you’re just gonna get grilled over there. We wrestled them and McDowell and [had] some good matches, and that’s something that I’ll look at to see what other teams are doing as far as moves and what we need to work on more.”
“After that, the next night we went to West Henderson and had three matches. West is loaded – they’ve filled a full team, and they’ve got about 50 kids out. We wrestled them and Rosman, and we were competitive against Rosman, but didn’t win any. Then we went to Pisgah Tuesday night, and had Pisgah, North Buncombe – which, North Buncombe’s got a full team – and Mountain Heritage. [With] Mountain Heritage, it’s just a trying year for them trying to get kids to wrestle, trying to get their minds off of what happened in September. We beat Mountain Heritage as a team, and that was a big boost for our team winning a dual match for the year.”
Versus Robbinsville, West Henderson and Pisgah, Franklin gained valuable experience from the region’s best teams, before a much-needed shot of confidence from Mountain Heritage. After starring for Panther football this fall, one promising freshman did what few other wrestlers can.
“We were the only team that scored on Pisgah, actually – they blanked North Buncombe and they blanked Mountain Heritage,” said Barnett of Franklin’s Mountain Seven Conference rival and perennial 3A power. “Our lone win came at 215 with Garrett Young. … He’s wrestled with me since sixth grade, and he goes all over. He’s wrestled with the Haywood Elite – as a team they go way down east for dual matches and stuff, and then he’s gone to Virginia Beach and competed as an eighth-grader and placed All-American. He only lost two matches over there, which is good – it takes a lot of dedication from your parents to take you places like that.”