Respected coach takes helm of 

wrestling at North Sanpete High

By Matt Harris 

Staff writer

8-6/2020

Mt. PLEASANT—North Sanpete High School’s athletics department recently announced a change in their staff as Spencer Dyches accepted the position of head wrestling coach.

“Really excited about the opportunity to come back to my alma mater,” Dyches said. “It’s unexpected. I actually had some other opportunities in the high school ranks to coach, but this came up. I love to coach my boys, my own son. And quite frankly, North Sanpete has a lot of potential. I still like to think that they’ve underachieved for a few years.”

Dyches, an alumnus of North Sanpete, spent the last 10 years as a coach at the club level. He has owned his own wrestling club, Team Takedown Wrestling, for the last five years.

North Sanpete principal Christine Straatman noted his zeal for recruiting, something Dyches talked about as well, and said that Dyches has already made contact with the football team and attended multiple practices.

“In my conversations with Coach Dyches, it’s evident that his passion and excitement for the sport of wrestling will have a tremendous impact on the high school program,” Straatman said. “He is well connected to the community and plans to increase community involvement.  He also knows the importance of building strong relationships with his athletes and supporting and building bridges between the wrestling program and other extracurricular programs at the school…I believe with his enthusiasm and commitment to running a high quality program, we will see an increase in participation in the sport.”

Dyches said that one of his first calls, as early as before he even officially was hired, was to talk to football Coach Rhett Bird, in an effort to involve top athletes at the school that the wrestling program could be missing out on. “If we can get some of these football players to come step on the mat, we’ll be very competitive,” Dyches said.

Dyches noted that the team, as currently constituted, has “a few top seniors” and “a good junior class.”

“There’s plenty of work to be done, but the cupboards aren’t bare,” Dyches said.

Last year, Dyches coached the Utah Freestyle and Greco Roman national team, taking them to a national tournament in Indianapolis. Dyches’ team placed 10th out of 48 squads.

Dyches’ resume is impressive, but his qualifications are just as much so. He serves on the Board of Directors for Utah USA Wrestling and is a bronze-level certified wrestling coach in Utah.

Dyches has been married for 16 years to his wife, Brittany, and has three kids, one of whom, his 14-year-old son Cody, is a talented prospect just entering his freshman year of high school wrestling.

Dyches has been featured multiple times on the USA Wrestling – Utah podcast.