Coach Head selected to lead Tuttle Girls Wrestling

Shane Head has been named Head Coach for the Tuttle Girls Wrestling program for next year.

Coach Head will take over for four-year head coach Kristen Finn, who will step down to take on the Licensed Professional Counselor internship program, which will require many clinical hours spent on counseling tasks.

Her husband, and fellow Tuttle Coach Chris Finn, said Monday to his wife in a public post, “You accepted the coaching role helping build a girls wrestling program from having 1-2 girls, to building a full room of girls with a full lineup, with multiple state qualifiers and state placers, and a top 6 team finish this past season.

“You’ve provided the next coach, Shane Head, with a solid foundation to continue to improve upon. He will do an amazing job.”

Coach Chris Finn pointed to the success Coach Head had leading Girls Golf for years.

“Recruiting a team of up to 30+ girls at one point without having a home course, and using the JH football field (Tuttle Country Club) and qualifying for the state tournament as a team each year, and giving girls college opportunities they never knew they had.”

Coach Head is already a familiar face in the wrestling room, having helped Coach Finn get the girls ready this previous season.

Coach Head is also a pivotal piece to Tuttle’s renowned legacy, having won two state championships as a wrestler for the Tigers. He won gold in his weight class in 1990, helping the Tigers to win the program’s first victory at the State Wrestling Tournament. Tuttle Wrestling has won 21 state tournaments out of the 35 since then.

As a senior wrestler, Head won again in 1991, earning Outstanding Wrestler for the tournament.

Coach Head served as an assistant coach to Matt Surber for many years until his youngest son JJ Head graduated in 2023.

Sewn into the fabric of Tuttle Wrestling, it wasn’t a full two years before Coach Head found himself helping Tuttle wrestlers again.
“Right now, the program’s in good shape,” Coach Head said of the Lady Tigers. “The job that Kristen and Kennedy Jackson’s done has been phenomenal, getting that thing up and going and getting girls to come out. Big shout outs to Rayleigh Fisher for being our first girl, and then it’s just kind of built from there. Coach Kristen Finn has gotten girls to come out with support and encouragement and building their confidence. It’s not an easy step.  Sometimes when a program’s just starting, that can be tough to do. I just talked to one student Saturday, and she’s the same way. She’s just reluctant to come out, but it’s just about getting them out there, and then if they get the bug, and they want to go wrestle, it’s just all about having that support system. You encourage them to get out there, and then once they get that confidence, it makes it a lot easier, and they have done an excellent job of doing that.”

The remarkable growth that Coach Kristen Finn has fostered will give Coach Head a running start with plenty of room to grow.

“They’re still young,” Coach Head said of the roster. “They’re still green. It’s just going to keep going up. You’ve got some girls that are more advanced than others, and you have some that are just newcomers, barely even know how to do a drop step, so it’s going to take some work, but the girls had a really fun year this year. And when I got asked about doing this, I was like I’ve had more fun coaching this year than I have since my oldest son graduated in 2014. I want to do it, and I think we can do some good things.”
Wrestling instills in young people a level of discipline and courage that is hard to match.

Coach Head shared Monday, “Even though wrestling puts two people against each other, the sport of wrestling sometimes is really a battle between you and yourself. It really helps with some people that have some discipline issues or anger issues or attention issues.

“I’m extremely excited. It’s a new challenge. And I look forward to doing it. It’s a great opportunity. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. I’m going to just try to do my best with it. I got great coaches. Coach Kennedy Jackson is going to stay with me, and then Big Finn is moving over from the boys to come over to the girls’ side, so that is a huge, huge plus. Between us three, we’re going to get these girls to work and we’re going to have some fun.”