What would it take to convince a 28-year-old New York native to quit his full time position in Connecticut and move to South Portland for a part-time job? For Joseph Pistone, now 32, all it took was the opportunity to breath new life into the University of Southern Maine’s all-men wrestling team. 

“I just love Maine,” Pistone said. “The first time I came here it was during the Old Port Fest and I just thought ‘What a great place full of smiling, happy people.’ Now, not only can I provide young men with an opportunity for their future, but it’s a great location to give them an opportunity to compete.”

For the past five years, Pistone has led the USM wrestling team with a devotion that goes beyond the mat. 

“I started recruiting [for USM] in Providence,” he said. “My first recruit was a Rhode Island wrestling champion who grew up right down the road from where I grew up.” 

 When Pistone acquired the reigns of the USM wrestling team as its second-ever coach, the program was in desperate need of new direction. During his first year as coach, Pistone said there was a general lack of interest in the sport at the university and few athletes would return to the program after a single year. Pistone went to the  athletic director after a frustrating first year looking for inspiration. 

“He told me ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day,’” Pistone said. “I looked at him and said ‘Because they didn’t work hard.’”

Pistone’s aggressive recruitment program and personal connections with his athletes has reinvigorated the USM wrestling program; last year the university not only hosted the NCAA Division III Regional Championships, but the team finished the season with an 11-7-1 record, the best season in its 12 years of existence. 

“We’re bringing a lot of attention to our university,” he said. “There’s just so much; it’s everything you think about at night.”

Pistone said wrestling programs are unlike other sports when it comes to recruitment and retention, something he learned both as a wrestler – in high school he was a New York state place finisher and an NCAA Division II All-American with 120 wins for the American International College in Springfield, Mass. – and as a coach – he led Rhode Island’s Johnston High School wrestling team to a state championship in 2003 and was a nominee for Coach of the Year. 

“[USM] started something without really knowing what they were getting into,” he said. “I knew the best way to build a program was to surround myself with people I love, trust and know. I had a vision, and went full-steam ahead.”

Pistone began not only recruiting long-time neighbors from both his hometown in New York and nearby local communities – his number one recruit this year is from Cape Elizabeth – but convinced a friend to move from Boston to help him run the program. Now he and Julio Santiago, his assistant coach, who also works full time for the Gorham Recreation Department, and many of the USM wrestlers live within walking distance of one another in South Portland’s Red Bank community. 

“A lot of these guys hear ‘Maine’ and they think of “Little House on the Prairie,” but when they get here and they see the ocean and the woods and the mountains, then they don’t return to their respective states during school break,” Pistone said. “They’re like my little brothers, and they’ve made a lot of sacrifices to come here and wrestle for me and my staff.”

Being close to the athletes has its rewards and drawbacks; Pistone said it is particularly difficult to watch graduating wrestlers leave the program. This year he even hired one of his former wrestlers as an assistant coach, he said. 

“It can be difficult to see some of the guys go, but then you’ll be saying goodbye, and there will be a freshman, the future of USM sitting right next to them with big, bright eyes, and you know it will all work out,” Pistone said. 

Throughout the years, Pistone said he has learned to recruit student athletes rather than just wrestlers.

“That way, if wrestling doesn’t work out, they have something to fall back on,” he said. “Sometimes wrestling just isn’t in the cards.”

Those who stay in the program have to be willing to work extremely hard, Pistone said. 

“There’s no secret to it,” he said. “Just like anything else, if you have solid character and you’re a good person you’re going to be successful. They are all solid, great kids, and on the mat, they win.”

Although Pistone said often his position as the  wrestling team head coach feels like a full time job, he still finds time to work as a case manager for families who have children ages 16 to 21 with disabilities, who are moving from child to adult social work programs in the South Portland area.

“I have 25 people on my caseload all going in 25 different directions, and I have 38 young [wrestlers] all going in 25 different directions,” he said. “It can be tough juggling both, but I love working with people.”

Sometimes social work skills can come in handy dealing with wrestlers who Pistone admitted are likely to have a chip on their shoulder after a match. 

“They are kids, and these are very crucial years,” he said. “When I have to, I try to redirect them in the most therapeutic way possible. The greatest thing is that they’re receptive; they do respect their coaches.”

Coaching nearly 40 college students is as much about preparing them mentally as it is physically, Pistone said. 

“You could be the strongest guy in the world, but if you don’t believe in your skills, and if you hold back, your opponent is going to come at you,” he said. “I encourage our guys to set realistic, short term goals and objectives. You’re not going to become a national champion overnight.”

For more information on the USM Wrestling Team visit their Web site at USM.maine.edu/athletics/Wrestling. 

By Nate Jones