Taulli wins big while learning

May 1, 2013 | Written by Kevin Foote

Sam Taulli

In many ways, Sam Taulli had absolutely no way of knowing he was getting into when he agreed to take over as North Vermilion’s head wrestling coach prior to the 2012-13 season.

Sure, he had worked as a wrestling assistant under Richard Prejean for a year, but wrestling was still a new sport for Taulli. By profession, he’s a baseball man. He was a pitcher in high school and college, and he even played some professional baseball.

So baseball? Absolutely. Football? Sure. Wrestling? Ah, not so much. Or so he thought.

Certainly there’s tons about the technical side of the sport that he still needs to learn, but in the end, he discovered that coaching kids is coaching kids … no matter what the sport is.

As it turned out, Taulli apparently knew just enough about recruiting, conditioning and motivating to lead the Patriots to a surprising state runner-up finish in Division III and now recognition as The Daily Advertiser All-Acadiana Wrestling Coach of the Year.

“It was a good group of kids and a good group of parents,” Taulli said.

Taulli said he really knew he might have something special during the Thanksgiving holidays. His wrestlers asked him to open the gym to work out. Taulli said if they’re willing, they’re going to hold full legitimate practices. “I told them, ‘If we’re going to practice, we’re really going to practice,’” he said.

Taulli was determined to make up for any lack of technical wrestling skills with superior conditioning. “We ran every day,” he said. “I mean we practiced every day and practiced hard.”

They ran and ran and ran … to the tune of 160 sprints a day in the gym.

In Taulli’s mind, if the wrestlers from New Orleans and Baton Rouge were going to be more technically sound, then his kids were going to outlast them.

“They were going to be prepared to wrestle six minutes hard,” Taulli said. “That was the difference in beating John Curtis (which finished third).”

After all the hard work, Taulli also discovered that winning is thrilling no matter what sport it is.

“When our 160-pounder beat that John Curtis kid in the finals, it was so exciting,” he said.

“We were going crazy. The only moment that I can remember being that exciting is when we beat Barbe when I was an assistant (baseball) coach at Lafayette High in the state semifinals.

“No matter what the sport is, it all feels the same when you work hard and see it pay off. I really had more fun this year than most years (of coaching) in the past.”

So whether he coaches this program for years or becomes a head baseball coach somewhere, Taulli’s developed a newfound respect for wrestlers.

“They’re very self-disciplined,” he said. “These kids have more self-discipline than I ever had in high school, college or even in pro ball. They all have a screw loose in the first place to do what they do. They’re a little bit on the crazy side. But I’m not all there either, so it works.”