Moorpark, No Less

Paul Keysaw might turn out to be the best wrestling coach Moorpark College has ever had.

But who’s going to notice?

Certainly not Keysaw, a former Pennsylvania state high school and NCAA Division I champion. In his second season at the helm of one of the state’s top programs, Keysaw isn’t trying to fix something that’s not broken.

“I guess every coach would want to build a team that has never been successful into one that is successful,” Keysaw said. “But it takes as much effort to continue a successful program as it does to build one.”

Still, Keysaw, 29, a former assistant at Bakersfield College, might have chosen a better place to make his mark as coach.

Moorpark, a perennial power, won 17 Western State Conference championships and two state titles under John Keever, who launched the program in 1969 and resigned two years ago to concentrate on his duties as athletic director.

Credit Keysaw--so far, at least--with keeping the Raiders on course.

Moorpark (7-0), ranked third in the state, travels to Fresno on Friday for a nonconference meet with top-ranked Fresno City. The Raiders enter the Skyline tournament Saturday and open WSC play Wednesday at Cuesta.

Four Moorpark wrestlers--Ati Conner, Scott Erickson, Gabe Roman and Juan Roman--are undefeated in seven matches.

Gabe Roman, who placed third in the state as a senior at Oxnard High in 1995, is ranked first in the state at 158 pounds.

Last season, Keysaw guided Moorpark to a WSC title and a sixth-place finish at the state tournament.

“Just the point that he was an NCAA champion means everything to us,” Conner said. “It motivates me because everything he does in the wrestling room will make us better prepared for a match.”

Said Gabe Roman: “He has been there and he’s gone through it. The guys on the team who are looking at going on to a university know that he knows the path to take.”

Keysaw made his impression on Keever during annual meets between Bakersfield and Moorpark.

“I had talked to him and liked the way he worked with kids,” Keever said. “We’re fortunate to get him. I made a good hire, that’s all I can say.”

Yet, Keever’s influence remains. The walls of the wrestling room are covered with team pictures and memorabilia commemorating the team’s success.

“He tries to stay away as much as he can, but he’s still involved,” Keysaw said. “I ask him a lot about how to deal with certain situations. Any time a guy’s been around a sport 27 years, there are things he knows.

“There are things that I do in my practices that John didn’t do. I do different types of drills, I teach different types of moves. But really, there has been very little change.”

Keysaw might easily be inclined to pepper practices with tales of match-winning moves before thousands of cheering spectators.

After transferring from Bloomsburg University in Pennsylvania, Keysaw won an NCAA title at 190 pounds for Cal State Bakersfield in 1991 and was a two-time All-American.

Yet, he rarely relates anecdotes from his competitive days and appears genuinely bashful when discussing his accomplishments.

“I bring some of my experiences in, but some of my experiences at the Division I level are quite different that what a lot of these kids will face,” Keysaw said.

Besides, as Keysaw notes, “being a national champion doesn’t necessarily make me a good coach.”

Succeeding as coach, in fact, doesn’t even require a wrestling background.

Keever, whose wrestling experience was virtually nil when he started the program, proved as much. He boned up on the sport by attending clinics, questioning coaches and reading voraciously.

Keever guided the Raiders to state titles in 1990 and 1991.

“It was 27 years of on-the-job training,” Keever said. “Sometimes you’re thrown into a situation you are unfamiliar with. I knew how to coach, I just needed to learn the sport.”

Keysaw’s kinesthetic gathering of knowledge is almost as extensive, considering he began wrestling competitively while in third grade.

Having succeeded at every competitive level, a state title is his only remaining goal.

“I tease John sometimes and say, ‘We won a conference title, so 16 more and I got you tied,’ ” Keysaw said. “I strive to be better than John in that I want to win a state title year in and year out.”