Eden Prairie Wrestling Coach Gears Up For Milestone
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The Eden Prairie wrestling program had a chance to witness some history Friday night as its head coach was preparing to reach a milestone.
Scot Davis made a name for himself in Owatonna, then took over the Eagles wrestling program. If the Eagles won Friday night, Davis would get his 1,000th career victory as a head coach. All coaches love to win, but helping athletes get better and molding them into good human beings is what it's all about.
Davis will be the first to tell you the latter is more important than winning, even though his job now is to get Eden Prairie's program to the top.
So what do you get a school that has everything?
"You walk into your gym and they've won state titles in everything but wrestling," Davis said.
So naturally, Eden Prairie now has arguably the best wrestling coach in the nation.
Davis entered Friday night the national record-holder with 999 career wins. Not only is he the Eagles' new master motivator, he's also the master decorator in their wrestling room. He redesigned the entire wrestling facility, including putting up more than a dozen motivational signs for his athletes.
"I want people to walk in here and immediately recognize this place as the wrestling room," Davis said. "That's a big part of making a culture for our program."
He built a powerhouse in southern Minnesota at Owatonna, where he was the head coach for 26 years. His run there ended in 2011 after a two-year suspension by the Minnesota State High School League for recruiting.
"That's an interesting one," Davis said. He said he was just trying to help a wrestler's dad find a job.
"He was moving up here and I guess you can't even help them at that point," Davis said. "I should've maybe checked on that further but I wasn't thinking that way."
He took a year off, but couldn't stay retired. Davis coached in Montana last season and is now at Eden Prairie after the suspension ended.
