Sayreville's Ivy is Home News Tribune 2017-18 Wrestling Coach of the Year

As the Home News Tribune’s 2017-18 Wrestling Coach of the Year, Marcus Ivy is quick to deflect attention from himself and redistribute it to others who contributed to the Sayreville High School team’s success.

From the borough’s “amazing” recreation program, which develops “quality kids every year,” to assistant coaches who made “the flow of practice better than it’s ever been,” Ivy said the Bombers’ 2017-18 Greater Middlesex Conference White Division championship was truly a team effort.

“In the past I’ve had great coaches that have helped the program and done their job well,” Ivy explained. “However, this year is the first year we had Phil Bouchard come in as an assistant coach. He’s got more experience than I do. He actually changed the dynamic of the room and made things flow very easily.”

Assistants Rich Bates and Frank Roman, along with Ramon Santiago, one of the best wrestlers in school history and a former Rider University star who returned to help out, made “this hands down the best room I’ve had in my six years here in terms of the competitiveness,” Ivy said.

A young Sayreville team, which was supposed to be a year away and which featured three senior starters, posted a 20-5 record, qualified for the sectional tournament and claimed its second White Division championship in four seasons.

“We knew we could be good,” Ivy said. “We definitely didn’t expect a 20-5 record. That was a surprise. Once you are there, and you realize you’re better (than initially projected), somewhere along the line, if you are in a position to, you reevaluate your goals and you aim higher.”

The Bombers finished three wins shy of the single-season school mark and lost in the opening round of the North 2 Group V Tournament to eventual finalist Westfield, a senior-laden squad that featured 12 upperclassmen in its lineup.

Ivy said if his returning letterwinners, especially those who competed this season at 160 through 285 pounds, can return to those same weight classes next year, Sayreville has the potential to be even better in 2018-19.

The sixth-year head coach, who at one point during his career said he “thought wrestling wasn’t for everybody,” has since changed his tune, encouraging athletes from any other sport to join the team. He has enjoyed a particularly strong relationship with Sayreville’s football program, which former wrestling coach Chris Beagan heads.

“There was a time when I thought wrestling wasn’t for everybody,” Ivy said. “I wanted 20 kids on my team and I wanted 20 wrestlers. But I have seen now enough kids come in as freshman that you wouldn’t think in your wildest dreams could have success, and I’ve seen them become very successful. I’ve seen it happen enough, that I want everyone on the team.”

One of the program’s biggest such success stories is Sayvon Kirksey, a football star who took up the sport of wrestling two years ago and improved his 10-10 rookie record to a 26-8 mark this season.

Unlike teammates such as state qualifier Trevor Mastorio and Dylan Acevedo, who are year-round wrestlers, Ivy said he knows “for a fact everything (Kirksey) knows, he learned in the Sayreville wrestling room. As a coach, you don’t need proof your staff is doing a good job, but it’s nice to know we’re doing the right things, showing him the right stuff.”

“Coach Beagan is definitely an advocate for wrestling,” Ivy said. “I’ve had more football players than I’ve ever had. I love getting football players because they have a winning mentality. They know what it’s like to win, expect to be winning and they bring a good attitude.”

Owner of an 89-46 record at Sayreville, Ivy began his coaching career as a volunteer in 2005 at Montville High School, from which he graduated in 2003. He became an assistant at Montville in 2009 and was named the head coach at Sayreville in 2012. This year, he was named GMC White Division Coach of the Year for the second time, and District 19 Coach of the Year for the first time.

Ivy said John Krip and Rick Debonta of Montville, who were his coaches when he wrestled and who he later coached alongside as an assistant, are his mentors, from whom he learned one simple philosophy: “Everyone on the team has a job to do.”

“Someone’s job in a dual meet is how do you lose?” Ivy said. “Can you do your job and lose well? If my win wasn’t good enough (scoring bonus points), have I helped the team the way I should have? (Some say) wrestling is an individual sport. That can’t be more far from the truth. It’s the most team sport in the world. That’s why wrestling is unique.”

As a senior in high school who fashioned a 20-5 record and led his team in pins, Ivy said “when  I wrestled all I did was worry about a pin,” sometimes putting himself in bad position at the risk of jeopardizing a dual meet outcome.

“I can look back now and realize how stupid it is, doing crazy moves,” Ivy said. “It’s all about just doing your job. I want (Sayreville) to wrestle educated. I care about us having a high wrestling IQ.”

Of all those who have positioned Sayreville for success, Ivy said he would be remiss if he did not mention the support he receives from the home team, that being his wife Michelle and their daughters Hayden (4) and Emily (1).