'Fell in love with the culture': Tyler Lundquist takes over as Pueblo East wrestling coach

Filling the shoes of a coaching legend can be difficult.

For Pueblo East head coach Tyler Lundquist, following in the footsteps of Pat Laughlin will be a challenge, but it's one that he is ready to meet head-on.

Lundquist is from Rocky Ford and was a two-time state qualifier while he was growing up. He has been a part of the Eagles coaching staff for a few years now and has seen how to build a winning culture.

Now that he is at the helm, he says his job is to just continue to steer the ship in the right direction.

Lundquist ended up in Pueblo after getting his master's degree at CSU Pueblo. He landed a job at Media Center where he would break down game film for East football — that's where his connection with East High School started.

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“I fell in love with the culture of East," Lundquist said. "It reminded me a lot of back home, a very dynamic mix of backgrounds, and the grittiness of the kids and that Eastside mentality that we like to promote and talk about that our kids have."

After getting involved with youth wrestling groups as a volunteer coach, he eventually got a chance to talk to Laughlin to volunteer at East. Once Lundquist was on the staff he got a shot to be a coach for the junior varsity. From there, it was just a matter of time before his opportunity came up.

“We as coaches, when Pat announced that he was going to step away, we talked it through about who was going to be the guy to step up and we kind of all raised my hand for me," he said, "and now I'm here.”

But taking over for a legendary coach such as Laughlin can be a bit intimidating.

“I have to give him his credit,” Lundquist said. “Most head coaches or anybody would have hung on to the team for a couple more years because it's not like a lot of turnovers. It's not like the program was on the down[turn], or at a rebuilding. I'm a firm believer in this in the room. We believe that we're contenders to go get another title this year and definitely next year with our heavy junior class. I commend him for being able to walk away from something like that and hand over the reins to a young guy like me.”

One thing that the program has going for it is its strong work ethic and culture that has been built by Laughlin over the many years of his coaching. Lundquist knows he doesn't have to change much to keep the engine running.

“I've been in the program and one of the things that attracted me to the program is I agree with East style of wrestling,” Lundquist said. “It's the wrestling that I believe wins matches and wins championships.”

He went on to say that having the right people around him has helped make this transition even easier. He also talked about what he tried to take from Laughlin and put into his coaching methods.

“I always said one of the best things was when I was an assistant coach, I was able to coach wrestling,” Lundquist said. “I didn’t have to worry about ‘When's the bus going to be there?’ or 'Where [do] the kids go for weigh-in?' Pat did that, and I try to emulate that style of management and the head coach of philosophy.”

Lundquist knows his job is important as the head coach, but he also knows there isn’t much he needs to change to keep the Eagles on their winning ways.

“I just need to keep the train on the tracks,” Lundquist said. “The one thing I'm doing that's a little different on is I'm young. I can't say I’ve been a head coach for 20-plus years. So, my leadership style, especially at my age at this point in life, is lead by example.”

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Lundquist became a coach because he wanted to make a change in the world in some way, shape, or form.

“If I can at least change one out of one hundred kids' lives, then the world is at least better for it,” Lundquist said. “If enough of us can go out there and do that, I think the world can be a better place, so, that's the real reason that I got into the coaching room in the first place.”

Christopher Abdelmalek is a sports reporter for the Pueblo Chieftain and can be reached at cabdelmalek@gannett.com or follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @chowebacca. Support local news, subscribe to The Pueblo Chieftain at subscribe.chieftain.com

This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Pueblo East wrestling coach Tyler Lundquist is prepared to take over