300 wins later, his focus is still teamwork

Even after winning his landmark 300th dual meet, Mount Pleasant wrestling coach Greg Hinson doesn't focus on records or statistics.

"Talking about wins and losses has never been really important to me," he said. "The important thing is to teach these young men how to grow and be productive citizens and to give back to their community."

Hinson's milestone win came against Cox Mill in December, but he wasn't even aware of his accomplishment until his athletic director, Gary Calamari, congratulated him when he returned to school that night.

The 44-year-old said he doesn't think much of reaching the milestone, explaining that all it means is that he's coached for a long time.

But he said that he couldn't have done it without the athletes he's coached and their families' support.

"It's a joint thing - it's for everybody," he said. "I've also had good assistant coaches -I've just a lot of great people around me."

One of those people was former Mount Pleasant wrestling coach Cal Wray.

Wray, who also helped coach football at Mount Pleasant Middle, was the person who introduced Hinson to wrestling while he worked with him as a defensive linemen coach.

Hinson went on to wrestle as a heavy-weight until he graduated from Mount Pleasant and was named all-conference during his last three years there.

Wray was one of the people that influenced Hinson into becoming a coach.

"I had a lot of good coaches coming up that I admired and looked up to so I started to aspire to be one," said Hinson.

Hinson's first coaching opportunity came while he was still attending UNC Charlotte. Mount Pleasant Middle didn't have a wrestling coach, so Hinson rearranged his schedule and stepped in.

That coaching job didn't last long as the wrestling season had to be cut short after a measles outbreak hit the school, but that month was all Hinson needed to know that he wanted to keep doing it.

"I got my feet wet enough to know that I wanted to coach," he said.

After graduating college the next year, Hinson was offered a teaching job at Mount Pleasant High. It just happened that Wray needed an assistant coach to help with his wrestling team.

Hinson worked for his mentor for five seasons until Wray took a teaching position at another school. After Wray left, Hinson took over the head coaching job.

Hinson, who has been the head coach for the Tigers for 14 years, said Wray was a strong influence during his time as an assistant.

"He was an extremely good role model for me as a young coach," said Hinson.

One of the things he learned from Wray was to get to know his athletes.

Hinson said that's one of the reasons why his coaching style has been successful. By learning each of his athlete's idiosyncrasies and behaviors he can adapt his style of coaching accordingly.

"I know if that athlete needs a coach who is really stern or if it's a guy who responds better to a more positive demeanor," he said.

This season Hinson's Tigers are 15-3 and have won six more matches since Hinson reached his milestone victory.