GILROY, Calif. — The storied Gilroy High wrestling program, winner of an unprecedented 16 consecutive Central Coast Section team championships, has found its next coach:
UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier.
Pending school district approval, which is expected to be given at a board meeting Thursday night, Cormier, 39, will take over from Greg Varela, who stepped down last month.
"I was a little surprised myself," Gilroy principal Marco Sanchez said Tuesday about Cormier's interest in the position. "He's a resident of Gilroy, so he's been in the community the past five or six years. He knows the wrestlers already. He's looking for something to do in the next phase of his career, and he wants to do the coaching thing. I am excited about it, as is the community."
Gilroy finished second in the team standings at the state championships last month and won two individual crowns.
At the CCS finals a week earlier, Gilroy won 10 of the 14 weight divisions and finished with a record 373.5 team points.
"This opportunity is huge for me," Cormier told MMAFighting.com on Tuesday. "Wrestling has been the foundation for everything I've done. I'm excited to coach a great team in Gilroy and excited to give back to the town that has accepted me and my family so openly."
Cormier remains a top draw on the MMA scene. On July 7, he will move up in weight class to take on heavyweight champ Stipe Miocic at UFC 226 in Las Vegas.
In addition to leading Gilroy's program, Cormier told MMAFighting.com that he plans to continue coaching youth wrestling at his Daniel Cormier-AKA Youth Wresting club in San Jose.
He also intends to donate his Gilroy season stipend -- which Sanchez said is just south of $3,000 -- back to the program.
"He is being very, very generous," said Sanchez, who like Cormier is a former Olympic wrestler. "He is coming with a lot resources and a lot of ideas and a lot of energy and ready to take the program to the next level."
How much better can Gilroy get?
"Another level for us would be to win the state title," Sanchez said. "We've come close twice. We took second this past year. We took second in 2008. We've been knocking on the door, so the next step would be to win a state title. We're one of the favorites next year to win, along with a few others. We've been in the top 10 (at state) the last 10 years in a row."
Gilroy returns all of its assistants coaches, including Sanchez, who is a volunteer.