(Anita) Carlisle’s head wrestling coach is an Anita native. Jason Mehrhoff has been leading the Wildcats on the mat as well as coaching the offensive line in football. He’s entering his 15th year in education and 9th at Carlisle. His first six years were spent at Interstate-35.
Mehrhoff has been around high school activities since day one thanks to his parents Rex and Patty. “My father who coached at CAM for many years, a football and wrestling coach there. I developed a love for sports through him and also my mother was a cheerleading coach as well and was pretty successful. So I developed a love for coaching early on because I was always at different sporting events.”
There was a brief stint in which he wavered from his desire to become a coach. “My father was a jokester and when I was growing up he told me, ‘Don’t be a teacher you’ll be poor the rest of your life.’ That kind of stuck with me for a little bit, but I actually went to school initially to be a broadcaster and get into journalism, I wanted to write for newspapers.”
But it wasn’t long before he jumped back on board with coaching. Coming back and helping his dad coach wrestling changed the course of his future. He desired to get the most out of kids, just like his dad did. “It really, really drove me to want to do the same thing. I was able to help out some of the athletes and the thanks that you got for helping them out with something they were passionate was just infectious.”
Among the main things he learned from his old man was to focus more on improving and doing things the right way as opposed to the end result. “The outcome of the situation, what mattered was how you got there. There’s a lot of names for it now and people call it the process now, but he was always talking about how you get better and doing your best no matter what. And he views, just like I do, views sports as kind of a vehicle to teach broader lessons in life…his legacy lives on through the people he has coached.”
The 2018-19 wrestling season is one Mehrhoff won’t soon forget for many reasons. “We were in regional duals in Atlantic. It was pretty emotional. My wrestlers did a fantastic job. I was away for two weeks because of the passing of my father. We were able to make it all the way to regional finals and unfortunately fell by a couple of points to PCM. That group was beyond wrestling. That senior group was really special to me. There was some talent, but they were incredible workers. I’ll never forget that group for sure.”
Previous Coaches
(Click to listen)
John Kesselring, Adair-Casey alum
Eric Maassen, (AHST grad) Sheldon
Jerome Hoegh, Atlantic grad (West Sioux)
Gaylord Schelling, Atlantic and Tri-Center
Dick Strittmatter, Atlantic native
Chad Klein, Audubon Native (Kuemper Catholic and Boone)
In Memory of Bob Monahan, Audubon (Monte Riebhoff)
In Memory of Bob Monahan, Audubon (Steve Ahrendsen)
In Memory of Bob Monahan, Audubon (Scott Weber)
In Memory of Bob Monahan, Audubon (Curt Mace)
Jason Mehrhoff, Anita Native (Carlisle)
Eric Hjelle, Elk Horn-Kimballton grad (Underwood)
Warren Watson, Elk Horn-Kimballton
Chris Stimson, Elk Horn-Kimballton
Scott Yates, Elk Horn-Kimballton
Jan Jensen, Elk Horn-Kimballton alum
Seth Poldberg, EH-K grad and Guthrie Center coach
Marc Bierbaum, Griswold grad and Iowa Western track/cross country assistant
Trevor Gipple, (Griswold grad) SW Valley
Curt Schulte, Harlan graduate (Glenwood)
Angie Spangenberg, Harlan and Red Oak
Eric Stein (Harlan grad) Iowa Central
Darrell Burmeister, Nodaway Valley
Lanny Kliefoth, Nodaway Valley
Chad Harder, (Walnut Grad) Tri-Center
Josh Abel, (Walnut grad), Tri-Center
Kevin Suhr, (Walnut Grad) Blue Valley High School, KS
