El Dorado’s Winning Tradition Is in Rookie Coach’s Good Hands : Wrestling: Todd Tomazic, who had a standout career at the school and at Notre Dame, is handling trials and tribulations of the season well.

Todd Tomazic is a 24-year-old graduate of Notre Dame, but lately he has felt like a tentative high school freshman again.

This time around, he’s a teacher instead of a student. He’s the first-year wrestling coach at El Dorado.

Tomazic might be a rookie coach, but only a handful of Orange County coaches can match his wrestling experience. Coaching at his alma mater adds one more line on a lengthy resume that includes a four-year standout career at Notre Dame and consecutive CIF State championships at 165 pounds in 1986 and ’87.

Although it may prove to be more taxing and more frustrating, coaching looms as another challenge for Tomazic to whip. Why should it be any different from anything else he’s tried?

Tomazic returned to El Dorado with the intent of assisting Arnold Alpert and perhaps coaching lower-level football. But when Alpert unexpectedly resigned before the season, Athletic Director Carl Sweet turned the program over to Tomazic.

“This program gave me a lot,” Tomazic said. “I think this is a fair trade.”

So far he’s handled the trials and tribulations of coaching as well as can be expected, leading El Dorado to an 8-1 dual meet record and a No. 7 ranking in the county coaches’ poll.

The school’s rich wrestling tradition appears to be in good hands. After all, Tomazic has invested too much over the years to let it slip.

Tomazic wrestled for five years before entering high school, then quickly became an important part of the Golden Hawks’ program.

“I had the advantage of being one year behind Steve Lawson,” Tomazic said.

Lawson was third at the State meet at 175 pounds in 1985, becoming one of the 15 Golden Hawks who would finish among the top six at the State meet in a nine-year period. One year later, Lawson won the State title at 191 pounds.

“If you wanted attention you had to keep up with guys like Lawson,” Tomazic said. “I knew that (winning a State championship) could be a reality. No goal was too high.”

That’s the sort of notion he’s tried to plant in his wrestlers’ heads.

“We had little competitions among ourselves,” Tomazic said. “We had a fear of losing and a compulsion to win.”

Lawson fed off the success of his older brothers, Howard and Scott, according to Tomazic.

“My motivation was selfish,” Tomazic said. “I wanted attention. It was a tough crowd.”

Collegiate wrestling was a logical next stop, but that meant starting at the bottom all over again.

“It was a big step for me,” he said. “I went from being the toughest guy in the wrestling room to being one of the (weakest). I took some beatings from the older guys my first few years.

“Being a state champion didn’t mean that much. Everyone at Notre Dame had two or three state championships.”

By his senior season, Tomazic had established himself as one of Notre Dame’s leading wrestlers, helping the Irish finish second at the NCAA West Regional tournament. He said he might have been even more successful if he hadn’t spent so much time concentrating on his academics.

“But the coaches always told us, ‘You’re not going to be a professional wrestler,’ ” Tomazic said.

Those were words Tomazic took to heart, and he completed his bachelor’s degree in four years. It turned out to be a good thing, too.

Only days after the Irish held their team banquet, Athletic Director Dick Rosenthal burst the wrestlers’ bubble, announcing that the school was dropping the sport. Lack of money and a need to comply with Title IX were the two main reasons for the move, Rosenthal said.

But that didn’t make the news any easier to stomach. Even Tomazic, who had used all his eligibility, felt the blow.

“It left me with a bad taste in my mouth,” he said. “I got my education. I slipped out under the wire. Still, I was a big part of that program.”

Now, he’s determined to keep El Dorado’s program thriving.

Tomazic has so much knowledge to share with his young wrestlers, but he’s found passing it on can be difficult.

“All I can do is try to teach as much as I can in the day,” he said. “There are times when I see a kid win a match with a move I helped him with, and he says, ‘Thanks.’ And that’s great. But sometimes it’s disheartening. The wins come, but the losses, the big setbacks are tough.

“Obviously, the good parts outweigh the bad, otherwise I wouldn’t be coaching.”

And still learning after all these years.