Former Southwest Guilford High School wrestling coach Jim Coggins has passed away, he was 74 years old at the time of his passing on Thursday….I spoke to SWG head baseball coach Reid Holmes back on Wednesday night, at the NCCA East-West All-Stars football game, and Reid told me the end was near…
I never really knew Coach Coggins, but I know if he was a friend and mentor to Reid Holmes and Brindon Christman, that is all I need to know…Those two personify Southwest Guilford athletics and Reid Holmes and Brindon Christman(SWG AD) have been able to bridge the gap, and make Southwest Guilford High School, located in High Point, they have helped make SWG a part of the GreeensboroSports landscape, and they have made SWG Athletics a major player in Guilford County High School athletics…
With all of that being said, I have to think what Brindon Christman and Reid Holmes have been able to do, is due in large part because they learned how to do it all, from Jim Coggins….My wrestling days, back in the high school years, were sprinkled with tight association with men like Mike Raybon from Ragsdale HS, Bill Hollifield from Western Guilford HS, Jerry Reittenger from Northwest Guilford HS, and Dennis Barbour from Grimsley HS…
From the info I read today out of the News and Record article from Bryant Roche, Jim Coggins had a very storied wrestling career, as a high school wrestler at Grimsley HS, then as a college grappler at Appalachian State University, and then as the head Cowboy Coach at Southwest Guilford High School….
Jim Coggins was The Man, and he still is The Man, even in death….It is the life of Jim Coggins that makes him The Man, that put “The Ranch” on the map…
Even if you look at his picture, in the News and Record today, you will see he has and is the ‘Look of High School Wrestling in the 1960’s thru say the 1980’s’…There he is with the thick, sort of longer hair, the wire rim glasses and the strong looking body style…That is the way we were made to look back in those days…I see him, and it is almost as I am looking in the mirror…Brings back those days when I used to go against guys like Jeff Bostic and the like…
You can probably stand a man like Jim Coggins and Mike Raybon, the Ragsdale coaching legend, side-by-side and they would look different in size for sure, with Jim Coggins being a 197-pounder back in his day, and Mike Raybon being lucky if he could keep his weight at 105, but they were and are still considered Mount Rushmore Men….Yes, Mount Rushmore Men of high school wrestling….And both of these men, they both wrestled in college for Appalachian State….
Jim Coggins leaves us, and he sure left some kind of coaching record at Southwest Guilford, going 316-201-2 back in his day, and if you try and begin to stack up what men like Jim Coggins and Mike Raybon accomplished, when you start stacking it up early in the morning, you will still be working on that project late into the night….
Everybody likes a good challenge, and I can tell just by looking at the Jim Coggins photo, that it would have been quite the experience trying to wrestle with that man….He looks like he could have taken on a bear an won the match…I just spoke with former high school wrestling All-American Prince Deese the other day, Prince having been on the mat for Coach Raybon at Ragsdale HS, and I can tell you this, they just don’t make them like Prince Deese and Jim Coggins any more….
Grimsley had kids like Rodney James, Cezzie Love, the Szostak kid and many other outstanding high school wrestlers back in the day, but today we honor The Man who might have been the Best of All…He just might be THE GOAT, when it comes to high school wrestling, and we do know for sure, that out there on “The Ranch”, at Southwest Guilford HS, Jim Coggins is, and always will be THE GOAT…
RIP Coach Jim Coggins, and Thank-You for your service to the Guilford County and GreensboroSports community….
(Coach Coggins gave his all, and all that came in contact with him, are blessed to have made the acquaintance.)
CLICK HERE to read all from the Bryant Roche article in today’s News and Record and at www.greensboro.com…..