Coach Surber entering Hall of Fame

A LASTING LEGACY

Matt Surber, who coached Tuttle High School wrestling to statewide dominance and beyond, has left a lasting impact on athletes, coaches, and administrators alike, and has been selected for induction into the Oklahoma Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

A 1993 state champion at Chickasha High School and NCAA Division II All-American at the University of Central Oklahoma, Surber brought his competitive edge into the coaching world.

He spent one year as an assistant under Tuttle’s first real wrestling coach Greg Henning, who was inducted into the OCA Hall of Fame last summer.

Henning produced many state champions for Tuttle almost immediately. His three sons accounted for 11 individual state championships for Tuttle. He also coached several other state champions, including Trent London, Ryan Martin, Scotty Kaler, and Shane Head, just to name the first few.

The perfect one-two punch, Surber built upon the solid foundation that Henning laid forth.

Surber took the helm in 2006, leading the Tigers through a stretch of dominance that cemented the school’s reputation as a wrestling powerhouse.

The Tigers started showing up in force at state tournaments perennially, first as fringe contenders, but by the end of his third season as head coach, the Surber-led Tigers became champions. Soon after, Tuttle Wrestling was ready to stand toe-to-toe with any challenger, including the best in the state, and the best in the nation.

Surber won his first state championship as a head coach in 2008, and another 11, consecutively, brick-by-brick.

So that he could take over as Tuttle High School Principal, Surber stepped down as head coach after the 2020 season. That’s when current head coach Bobby Williams took over.

Surber has taken the leadership traits God gave him, and now teaches more than just grapplers how to build on rock, instead of sand.

Iron sharpens iron, and Surber has sharpened a lot of weapons for the Tuttle warriors he’s sent into battle. He did it with a few weapons of his own, including preparation, motivation, and dedication.

PREPARATION

Surber’s coaching style was defined by structure, discipline, and foresight, according to longtime assistant Shane Head, who worked under Surber from the 2009-2010 season through 2021. Head will take the reins of the Tuttle Girls Wrestling team in 2025.

“The thing about Surber is that he wrote down everything,” Head shared Sunday, March 30. “From loading the bus, to going to weigh-ins, to everything you can think of. He had his practices scripted, how it was supposed to be done, what was going to be taught. Everyone had their job. Everyone knew what was going on.

“He was always very prepared. He crossed his T’s, dotted his I’s. There wasn’t going to be any surprises. He wasn’t going to get the wool pulled over his face. That’s what I think helped him be so successful, just how prepared and meticulous he was.”

Head said Surber’s methodical approach created a culture of confidence and consistency that permeated the wrestling room.

“When you went to a seeding meeting, he had everything,” Head said. “He had the brackets, he had information from everything you could think of, it wasn’t just enough to get by. He didn’t leave any stone unturned. He wasn’t flashy or loud. He just had his system. It worked. And it made everyone else around him better.”

MOTIVATION

Former Tuttle Public Schools superintendent Lee Coker was directly involved in Surber’s hiring and recalled how the district’s administrators worked hard to bring him in.

“We tried to hire him once before, but he turned us down,” Coker said Thursday, May 1. “He was coaching in his hometown of Chickasha and wasn’t quite ready to leave. But we knew he was the guy we wanted. We knew Coach Henning was getting close to retirement, and we wanted to bring in Coach Surber to be an assistant coach under Coach Henning, and let him kind of learn the ropes. Then, when Coach Henning turned it in, make him the head coach.”

The next year, Surber said yes.

Coker said, “Coach Henning supported the move, and so did we. We weren’t looking for a carbon copy. Surber came in with a definite idea of how he wanted to run the program. He put his own stamp on it.”

Asked what quality made Surber stand out, Coker didn’t hesitate.

“His ability to motivate, that’s what made him special,” he said. “And motivation isn’t just one cookie-cutter stamp. Every kid takes a different style in order to reach them. I think he knew how to reach different kids in different ways. He could change his approach while still being fair to everybody. That’s rare. That’s not something every coach knows how to do.”

Coker said it was one of the most important hires of his career, even if he couldn’t have predicted it at the time.

“When you’re in a position to hire someone who’s going to work with kids, you really pay attention,” he said. “You watch how people interact with students, how much they get out of the kids they coach or teach. And that’s what we saw in Coach Surber.”

DEDICATION

The other 4A teams, battling it out for second place at the state tournament for more than a decade during Surber’s reign, must have salivated thinking about their opportunity to finally put Tuttle on the ropes once he became a principal.

Unfortunately for them, Williams is a great wrestler, a great coach, and more importantly, a great student. He has led the Tigers to secure five straight state championships, meaning Surber’s championship streak lives on.

Williams, who wrestled under Surber before joining him on the coaching staff and eventually taking over as head coach, said Surber’s influence on him goes far beyond wins and losses.

“I was lucky enough to be on two ends of this with Coach Surber,” Williams said Monday. “He was my high school coach, and then I got the great opportunity to work for him, and I still work for him. As an athlete under him, his relentless support and dedication toward you as a kid was amazing. It truly felt like he wanted the best for you. You had to meet him halfway, and then he was there for you. I kind of look at him as a second dad. I don’t know where I’d be today without him, without being under his guidance.”

Even during his college years, Williams said Surber made the effort to stay connected.

“Even when I was in college, he’d call and check in on me, see how things were going,” he said. “I’ve had Surber in my life since 2005. I wouldn’t take any of those years back.”

Now coaching the program Surber once led, Williams continues to draw from Surber’s example.

“Seeing how hard of a worker he is, making sure that we were taken care of, that we were training right, and doing the right things, I try to copy a lot of that into what I do now,” Williams said. “He’s super organized, he stays up with stuff, he was always trying to find the next new thing, wrestling techniques, training cycles, how we were going to keep the program going in the right direction.”

Williams said the dedication Surber modeled is something he tries to carry forward every day.

“He pushed the program in the right direction and never let up,” Williams said. “I idolize that. That’s what I try to do now, keep moving forward with what he built.”

Surber’s commitment extended beyond wrestling. After stepping away from coaching to become the high school principal, his leadership remained just as impactful.

“Now he’s my principal, my boss,” Williams said. “He’s dedicated to teachers, treats everybody really well, makes sure everybody’s got what they need. He’s great to work for. It’s been awesome. It’s been a great privilege to be able to learn and be an athlete under him, to work with him, to call him a friend, and to still learn from him.”

Even off the mat, Surber stays in the winner’s circle, as a co-owner of thoroughbred racehorses American Code and Marquette Warrior, the latter of which won at Remington Park in August 2024, and the Hunter Myers Memorial Race in March, less than two months ago.

For Head, Williams, Coker, and many in the Tuttle community, Surber’s induction into the Hall of Fame is not just a recognition of his wins, but of the values he instilled.

“It’s a well-deserved award for him,” Williams said. “He’s an outstanding coach, outstanding mentor. He means the world to me, and to a lot of people who’ve come through Tuttle.”

Surber’s induction ceremony and banquet will be held at the Southern Hills Marriott Hotel, located at 1902 East 71st Street in Tulsa on Saturday, July 26 at 6:30 p.m.