Warren County Head Wrestling Coach Josh Harris is only in his second season leading the Pioneers, but his vision for the program stretches far beyond the mats of McMinnville.
Harris, who first came to Warren County to help with the football program as offensive coordinator, quickly found himself drawn to another arena: Wrestling. After initially taking over as girls head coach, he assumed control of the boys program the following year, uniting both under a single mission: sustained excellence from the ground up.
“We just want to start getting multiple state medalists and start bringing some state championships to Warren County eventually,” Harris said. “It all comes from going out and wrestling the best people we can wrestle to sort of get an idea.”
Harris has wasted little time in building the groundwork. The Warren County Middle School team reached the final four in their very first season, advancing to the middle school state championships.
The veteran coach of 19 years arrives from Oakland High School, where he had previous served as the Patriots’ wrestling coach. Harris said one particular matchup against Warren County helped spark his move to McMinnville.
“They were really good wrestlers,” Harris said. “We sort of just got [to McMinnville] and recruited, recruited, recruited, and try to keep those guys wrestling that had been wrestling in the middle school.”
Now overseeing more than 40 boys wrestlers along with seven girls wrestlers, Harris has focused on expanding participating and raising competition standards. Warren County will square off against previous state competitors such as Cleveland, Bradley Central, Blackman, Oakland, Stewart’s Creek, and returning rival Cookeville, will the goal of returning home battle tested.
“We’ve just tried to breed success,” Harris said. “We try to make sure we’re competing against the best teams in the state.”
The Pioneers have earned medals in back to back seasons. Harris hopes to make it a third straight this winter.
