The Granite City wrestling program was a proven winner long before Allen Kirgan took over, but he's done plenty to keep the tradition going.
Kirgan recently announced he will retire at the end of this season. He has headed the program for 13 years. He will continue to teach special education and behavior disorder in the district.
Kirgan would like to go out with a bang: Granite City will be among the favorites at the Class 3A Edwardsville Regional on Feb. 4.
The longtime Warriors coach said this is a perfect time to pass the torch.
"We have such a good young bunch of coaches, and if I stay here for 20 years, those guys are going to get head coaching jobs somewhere else," he said.
With the program in good -- and energetic -- hands, Kirgan is looking forward to reclaiming some of the "free" time the wrestling program always had first dibs on.
"I bleed Granite City wrestling and I'll always be there for the program, but in the summertime there are other things I would like to do," he said.
"I'm into classic cars and I play with them, but if there was a car show I'd like to go to, I'd always have a wrestling tournament to go. I can still go to those tournaments, but if there's something else I want to do I won't have to be there. There will be a lot of people and a lot of things I'll miss, but I just feel like it's time to step down."
A 1979 graduate of Granite City North where he wrestled for coach Walt Whitaker, Kirgan was head coach for one year at Collinsville (1998-99) and was an assistant for two years at Granite City. He was head coach at Coolidge Middle School for nine years.
Kirgan then spent 10 years in the Navy and competed four years for the all-Navy wrestling team, winning a Greco championship at the inter-service meet and qualifying for the Olympic trials.
"For two years I wrestled and played judo, and I played judo for six years altogether," Kirgan said. "When I got out of the Navy, I was working as a construction laborer for Taylor-Morley-Simon (a former St. Louis home builder). My son, George, was little, and he was into soccer, but some parents said I should get him into wrestling.
"The Granite City Wrestling Club used to practice at my old high school at North, so I started watching some things and showing George some stuff. I started coaching there and became head coach of the wrestling club."
When George was in eighth grade, Kirgan applied for an assistant coaching position at Granite City.
"I learned a lot from (head coach) Mike Garland and 'Schmitty' (former head coach William 'Red' Schmitt) was always around," Kirgan said. "He's a legend, and he's a super guy and a phenomenal coach."
Since taking over as head coach in 1999, Kirgan has compiled impressive numbers. He has a dual meet record of 355-57. His dual win total is second in school history to Schmitt, who had 589 victories from 1951 to 1985. Five of his teams have finished in the top eight at state, and he has six Southwestern Conference titles, 11 regional titles and five sectional titles.
In addition to coaching more than 50 state qualifiers, Kirgan has coached nine all-state wrestlers and 12 all-Americans. He was coach of the Illinois Greco Roman national team and was an IWCOA coach of the year finalist and Hall of Fame inductee.
"It could have been better," Kirgan said. "You generally don't remember the ones you win -- it's the ones you lose that stick with you."
Kirgan said the program's history makes Granite City wrestling special.
"The tradition we have here is really the 15th man for our team," he said. "Mike Garland used to say you're not just wrestling for yourself, you're wrestling for everyone who ever took the mat at Granite City."
Among the candidates to take over the program is Kirgan's son, George Kirgan, a 2000 Granite City graduate, who has been coaching with his father for five years.
Allen Kirgan is rooting for George to get the job.
"That's the school board's decision, but I think he's well deserving," he said. "He's coached a national champion team, and he puts his heart and soul into it."
Despite what may be the toughest schedule of Kirgan's tenure, Granite City is 22-1 heading into its final dual meet Friday at Harvard.
"Of our 23 duals this year, we've wrestled 14 or 15 teams that have been ranked," said Kirgan, who has never had less than 20 wins in a season. "We've finished fifth in some tournaments, but we were ahead of nationally ranked teams. We're more interested in the competition than the record."
