Athlete of the Week: Fowlerville wrestler Matt Jeffrey succeeding 'by not being stubborn'
FOWLERVILLE — Dan Coon has never been one to sugar-coat his words.
The Fowlerville wrestling coach has been around long enough that he doesn’t feel a need to tip-toe around what he really means to pacify anyone.
His athletes always know where they stand with him, for better or worse.
So, when asked why junior Matt Jeffrey has made such huge strides this season, Coon was blunt as ever.
“He’s becoming more coachable,” Coon said. “He’s starting to listen. He knew more than I did, much more.”
Jeffrey doesn’t have an issue with the assessment of his coach, whose successful track record speaks for itself.
RELATED: Where will Livingston County wrestling teams compete in districts?
“I used to have different coaches I was listening to and I started to focus on coach Coon more,” said Jeffrey, the Livingston Daily’s Athlete of the Week. “We kind of got along better. That really helped. I started listening to him and not being stubborn and stuff.”
The payoff has been a breakout season for Jeffrey, who is 36-4 after going 23-13 last year. He is 33-2 since losing 7-5 and 8-5 decisions in the season-opening Herm Wilkinson Highlander Classic Dec. 9 at Howell.
As is often the case in sports, the early losses taught Jeffrey more than any of his victories.
“I learned to keep going and not stop,” said Jeffrey, who took a 13-match winning streak into the league tournament Saturday. “Toward the end of those, it was really close and I just kind of stopped. I didn’t push myself as far as I could.”
Jeffrey’s hot streak includes winning the 106-pound division at the John Harris Invitational in Shepherd. That victory finally moved him into the Michigan Grappler state Division 2 rankings at No. 15 in his weight class.
Jeffrey is one of only three wrestlers ranked at 106 who aren’t freshmen or sophomores. This is his third year in the lowest weight class, though he sometimes bumps up to 113 for matchup purposes.
“Freshman year, I came in at 85 pounds,” he said. “The next year, I weighed in at 100. This year, I’m finally cutting down for it.”
He feels stronger as one of the bigger wrestlers at 106, which he hopes will get him to Ford Field for the individual state tournament. He was pinned in his first match of districts last season by a wrestler who didn’t advance to regionals.
“I had a bad day that day and didn’t wrestle good,” he said. “(My goal is) to make it to states and maybe try to place.”
Contact Bill Khan at wkhan@gannett.com. Follow him on X @BillKhan
This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Fowlerville wrestler Matt Jeffrey succeeding 'by not being stubborn'
