Roger Crebs has kept Lycoming successful year after year as he reached 450 wins
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Lycoming College coach Roger Crebs has been with the Warriors' wrestling program for 34 years now, and he's accomplished a lot during those three decades at the helm. But Crebs doesn't pay attention to individual milestones.
This past Saturday, he had no idea he was creeping up on win No. 450 for his career. It wasn't until a parent of a wrestler texted that Crebs even realized it.
But win No. 450 was no different than say, win No. 346 or win No. 133. Crebs is focused on keeping a standard of success at Lycoming and seeing his wrestlers reach nationals and possibly get All-American status. That's why it's not uncommon seeing him in his office watching wrestling film of high school kids to possibly recruit to Lycoming.
"It's a milestone, it was a team effort. We had four backups in when we did it too, which was impressive. The kids wrestled well for us," Crebs said. "It's an achievement. I'd trade it in for more national champs, but it's just how it is."
Crebs' 450 individual wins are quite a milestone, even if the longtime coach doesn't exactly play it up. He has the most wins among active Division III coaches, is ranked 20th in collegiate wrestling history and has the sixth-most victories in Division III history.
"I have no idea where I'm at, it just doesn't matter to me," Crebs said about where he ranks. "It doesn't mean anything in terms of what we're trying to do. Our ultimate goal has been that it's not where we start -- I don't worry about the dual meets -- I worry about putting kids on the podium at nationals. That's what kids remember."
Crebs has been coaching at Lycoming since 1993 and has earned numerous honors in his long, successful career. His first year taking over for legendary coach Budd Whitehill saw Crebs earn NWCA Division III Rookie Coach of the Year. In 1996-97, he was the NWCA Division III National Coach of the Year, he was inducted into the District 4 Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2011, won the Robert Darrow Curry Coach of the Year Award in 2010-11, 2014-15 and 2018-19, was inducted into the NWCA Division III Hall of Fame in 2012 and was a 2018 West Branch Valley Sports Hall of Fame inductee.
Crebs also earned a Lifetime Service to Wrestling Award from the Pennsylvania State Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2020.
For Crebs though, his focus and goal is on his wrestlers -- seeing them have success and get to nationals.
Under Crebs, the Warriors have been nothing shy of successful. In his 34 years, he's only once suffered a losing season and has seen numerous wrestlers pick up success. That includes seeing his son Gable and Connor Fulmer earn All-American honors two seasons ago.
"I surrounded myself with good assistant coaches and we've got guys that buy into the system. The assistant coaches that we've had over the years, and there's been a lot of them, have been really, really good and committed and dedicated to it," Crebs said. "I think a lot of the success goes to the longetivity and continuity of coaching staff staying together. It keeps the wrestlers together."
Under Crebs, Lycoming has seen 23 All-American wrestlers. Lycoming had at least one All-American wrestler from 1994-2003 and has a span since 2015 of at least one All-American every year except for in 2021.
It all goes back to the program Crebs has built at Lycoming in his 34 years and the system in place to see those wrestlers get to that level of success.
"It's very rewarding (seeing kids excel) and it helps because I have a son in the program. They saw his success and stuff. The guys see it's the same system I had my kids starting when they were six years old and putting them through that system that we use here," Crebs noted. "The guys look at it and they see success of Gable and then success of his brother Cael using the same system, and they know it works. It's difficult for kids coming out of programs where they don't have a system that starts with this and finishes with that. It's hard to get them to adjust to that type of thing."
Crebs has coached numerous wrestlers to MAC championships, ECWC championships and even national championships such as Royce Eyer in 2000-01 at 157, Matt Miller in 2007-08 at 197 and Garrett Wesneski in 2018-19. He also saw the team take 13th in Division III in in 2015-16, the highest finish since 2000.
Pick a year from 1993 at random, and an individual wrestler did something impressive that year for Lycoming. That's the type of coach Crebs is at Lycoming. He instills an outstanding work ethic into his wrestlers, gets them to reach their potential, and more times than not, sees them standing on top of a podium at season's end.
So, what stands out then to Crebs looking back over his 450 wins?
"I would probably say recruiting good kids that fit into the system that I've created and the system has worked well for all these years," Crebs said. "We've been very, very fortunate to get kids to buy into the system and believe in what we do. That's probably the biggest thing, that's our achievement right there."
And 450 career wins isn't too bad of an achievement either.