Jake Vitale has many reasons to be grateful to the Mexico boys wrestling program.

Most of Vitale’s 12 years of coaching high school wrestling have been spent with his alma mater, and it just named him the new head coach at the April 15 school board meeting. However, the four-time state medalist is most grateful to the program for growing him into the person he is today.

Vitale turned a successful high school career into a Division I wrestling opportunity for Southern Illinois University - Edwardsville. Since 2014, Vitale has coached high school wrestling starting at Mexico and only spending three years away from the program as the head coach at North Callaway. 

“It’s a privilege to take over a program that has had so much success,” Vitale said. “It built a very large part of who I am. I grew up wrestling for Mexico since I was 5-years-old. I spent about 20-25 years in the Mexico wrestling program, being part of that program, getting to build a lot of relationships and help a lot of kids reach their potential.”

Vitale takes over for Gayle Adams, who decided to step away after 16 years with the high school program. Adams was Vitale’s first wrestling coach when he was a boy and started wrestling around the same time as Adams’ son. 

Of course, “it’s more fun to win,” Vitale said, and it becomes more possible with more hard work. That’s what Vitale tries to pass on to wrestlers after what he learned through his growth in the program. 

“Even at 5, coach Adams was already setting the expectations,” Vitale said. “He made it fun for us, but he still wanted us to come in and work from a young age. He instilled that drive to win and to give everything I had whether I won or lost.”

Wrestling does bring more value than just winning as Vitale described in his coaching experience outside of high school. When Vitale was in high school, he would help coach the youth program when 8-year-old Kellen Ekern and Brit Wilson were there before going on to be multiple time state champions and assistant coaches in the program.

“We’ve got pictures of me coaching them at the state tournaments and handing out their medals when they were on the state podiums,” Vitale said. “I’ve always wanted to be a coach and have enjoyed coaching as much as I did competing.”

Vitale said he wants to continue helping kids reach their potential and growing leaders who are “always looking out trying to do their best” and “take all the steps to bring everybody else up around with them.” This applies to the wrestling mat but also in the classroom and in their lives after graduation.

Growing potential as the head coach isn’t unfamiliar to Vitale as he spent three years as the North Callaway head coach. He said he started with nine wrestlers in his first year until he eventually took a program-best 11 kids to state in his third year — the same year that North Callaway won its first wrestling district championship. Vitale was named the district coach of the year in his final two years and had six state medalists in his three years at North Callaway.

Vitale was glad he was able to help North Callaway flourish as a program in that time and knows what to expect going into his new head coaching job from that experience and as the middle school athletic director. He said Adams involved him in the decisions as soon as he started coaching high school in 2014 but is now fully aware what the head spot demands.

“As the assistant coach, my role was coming in and making decisions and getting to wrestle every day and showing technique,” Vitale said. “My role at North Callaway, it was my first time truly dealing with bus issues, kids skipping practice, parent communications and all sorts of little stuff like that.”

Athletic director Brandon Schafer said there is “a strong blend of familiarity and experience” in the Vitale promotion. Schafer said he thinks Vitale is “well-positioned” to lead the program into continued success because of his passion for the sport and commitment to developing young athletes.

“Coach Vitale has a deep understanding of the culture and expectations of Mexico High School athletics,” Schafer said. “His prior work with the program has earned the respect of our student-athletes, families and fellow coaches.”

Vitale expects to have a young team next season with three or four seniors but with some experience and state ability in the form of six returning state qualifiers and a returning state runner-up in Carlos Juarez Ramirez. Kyler Carr, Grant Walker, Evan Blair, Logan Hilderman and Travis Shramek also wrestled at the state tournament this year. Brayden Arnold missed state qualification after his first state appearance a year prior but is “right there,” according to Vitale, since he has beaten state medalists from this season. Kyler Benne was also “right there” with state qualifiers but suffered an injury at the end of the season.

“We’ve got a very bright future and are bringing in some talented freshmen who have had success with multiple state medals and being a state qualifier,” Vitale said. “We’re already hitting the ground running this offseason.”