Cody Thorn
Mario Quezada admits his head was spinning the moment he and his William Jewell teammates were told by interim athletic director Chris McCabe that coach Tom Molony resigned.
Then, the bomb dropped — the program would be on pause after this season.
“It’s so weird that they just said ‘Hey, we’re gonna cut you guys program after this year ‘and it’s just like, ‘Are you guys serious?’ Like how come this this hasn’t been brought up? How come you guys never told us this before?”
He’s the lone senior — academically — for the Cardinals.
The thought crossed his mind why wasn’t this discussed in the summer that it could happen so wrestlers could look for a landing spot?
“There is no way this happens if they weren’t already thinking about it,” he said. “It seems kind of odd. I’m sure the decision was made before they told us.”
Quezada, who prepped at Grandview before going to Missouri Valley College, knows his options are limited or almost none if he wants to continue the sport he loves.
“Being the only senior on the team I think I’m kind of a shittier spot than everyone else because I already transferred once and my plan was to graduate from William Jewell and I am currently still on track to graduate from here … I’m kind of all over the place.”
As the calendar flips to October, he is still trying to figure out what to do with his wrestling future.
Some colleges have shown interest in the heavyweight as a graduate assistant but he also knows he will have to start moving into the real world soon.
It’s hard to look into the future when the present — or the past in a way — still has so many unanswered questions.
He saw the progress made under Molony last year and the success of young guys like John Gholson.
The soon-to-be-second-year coach also brought in some talented guys — all-state caliber too. The influx of talent likely meant not having so many open — a problem in Molony’s first year when wrestlers he didn’t recruit left the program.
“I had such high hopes that we’re going to grow as a team and possibly make a name for ourselves,” he said. “We recruited all these guys so we could have a full lineup and then next thing you know, they said ‘Alright, we’re done.’”
Quezada, like his teammates, doesn’t believe that Molony would resign out of the blue like he did. Especially, since he was leaving for a recruiting trip just days prior to the announcement.
“I think there’s more to that than what the school and what the statements are coming out,” Quezada said. “I honestly didn’t see it coming because Molony was so invested in us, he loved us, you know. He wanted nothing but the best for us. So, I mean, I have my own suspicions about everything. But I think the reason he probably would resign was because he knew there wouldn’t be a program.”
Like other people in the program, he also wonders why an established program — albeit young — was cut in a year when the school is adding three brand new programs — men’s and women’s lacrosse and Esports.
“I think that was weird too, but it is what it is,” he said. “It just raise so many red flags and so many questions on what’s truly going on. So I mean, it’s definitely suspicious. They (the school administration) aren’t talking .. it’s just so weird.”
He was told this season would still go on as planned under the direction of an interim coach, but Quezada knows he will not be comfortable wearing that singlet again.
“I just don’t feel comfortable representing Jewell after they did this to us without giving us any notice of the program being cut,” he said. “I feel like Jewell is not valuing me.”
