In NCAA sports, the name of the game is "change." Last spring alone, the Penn wrestling team graduated a particularly notable senior class, including National Championship qualifiers Doug McGraw, Mason Lenhard and Matt Feast, the latter the program's first ever three-time All-American and second in school history in victories at 118.
But in addition to the usual turnover brought about by graduation and attrition, the program sustained a key loss when head coach Roger Reina announced his resignation in June.
Roger Reina, the most successful coach in Penn wrestling history -- gone. Just like that, the man who had built the program up to its status as en elite national power ended his illustrious career.
"It's something that I had been contemplating for a few years," Reina said. "I didn't go into the season at all with that intention, but really I think it came about midpoint during the year, and largely it was predicated on the fact that I just wasn't able to spend the time with my kids."
The announcement of his retirement caught many fans, even those close to the program, entirely by surprise. Senior co-captain Dustin Wiles, a wrestler whom Reina had groomed last year to the point of receiving the most improved wrestler award, put the event in perspective in a vastly understated manner.
"It was actually kind of a surprise for most people," the senior said.
How successful was his career? For starters, Reina's 205-106-6 career record is more than double the win total of any previous coach. During his 19 seasons at the helm, his teams won an unprecedented eight Ivy League crowns. The last non-Reina-coached Red and Blue squad to win an outright Ancient Eight championship was in 1969.
"When [Reina] first came here, about 17 years ago, Penn was just a doormat in the Ivy League," Cornell coach Rob Koll said. "Roger's taken that program and really turned it around into a nationally-competitive program."
Don't be so quick to write the Quakers off this year, or the next or even the next after that; there is some good news. For starters, the man coming in to replace Reina, Zeke Jones, brings with him a set of world-class credentials, including experience coaching the U.S. Olympic team, logging time as an assistant at West Virginia and Arizona State, and an award for USA Wrestling's 2001 freestyle coach of the year. On top of Jones' talent as a coach, Reina has not gone far.
Reina as fundraiser
Not only is the former coach still living in Philadelphia, but he is also still working for the University five days a week. His new job has nothing to do with the wrestling team, however. He is now working as a senior major gifts officer for the Penn Medicine Development office.
There, Reina has gained hands-on experience raising money for the medical school, organizing initiatives for the development of new university properties, supporting cutting-edge research by Penn medical professors and endowing those professors who have contributed the most to the school.
"It's just great, there are so many different traditions at Penn. Now, to be exposed to a new area where there are also tremendous traditions and great research going on, it's been a fantastic experience," Reina said.
"We're happy for Roger," athletic director Steve Bilsky said. "He is embarking on a new career that he is excited about."
One would think that the transition from coaching collegiate athletics to administrative work would present quite a challenge. Luckily for Reina, he is not completely in the dark in his new university position. He has found that his experience as a head coach has prepared him, in some ways, for the demands he now faces.
"In development and alumni relations, establishing relationships with people that can be helpful, who believe in the mission that you're working towards, that's the primary skill," Reina said.
"It's a matter of being able to understand the vision and articulate the vision, and identify people who can get on board with what you're trying to accomplish."
Still, Reina's career change has presented its fair share of challenges.
"There's been a learning curve here that's been somewhat challenging for me but also very exciting for me," he said.
Nostalgia
Is there some degree of nostalgia on Reina's part? Sure.
To leave a job after 19 years of the utmost dedication and not bat an eye would be unheard of, if not insensitive.
"It didn't matter whether it was winning their first college match or the NCAAs or the Olympics. Just that same kind of breakthrough that any of us have within different aspects of our lives or careers," Reina said, commenting on the pleasures of coaching.
"That's the part that I miss the most, is really feeling that there are certain athletes on our team that are really ready to turn a big corner, take a big step. And the relationships with those people as they prepare to do that is the part that I miss the most."
Weekend Plans
By comparison, there is also plenty to love about his new job. Right at the top of that list are David and Lizzie Reina, his eight- and six-year-old children, respectively, and the time he gets to spend with them now that he is no longer calling the shots for the wrestling program.
"I was just not able to spend the time with them as they were growing, going through things at school," he said, referring to the last few years. "There were aspects of their lives and their development that I was missing, and I just came to the realization that it was time for me."
Still, there is a danger that the former coach could have too much free time on his hands now that weekend competitions, weekend recruiting visits and weekend alumni relations activities no longer fill his agenda.
"I actually found myself one weekend without having any idea what to do with myself, and that was really different," he said.
What Now?
With all the tumult of the past five months, both for Reina and the wrestling program, everyone will be coping with their fair share of changes.
Returning wrestlers, for one, will have to adjust to not seeing Reina everyday, while incoming freshmen on the team will never get to compete under the man who recruited them.
But for a man who has had the sport of wrestling ingrained in his life so intensely and for so long, there is just no way for Reina to completely turn his back on the Quakers. Yes, there will be, and already have been, lifestyle changes.
But no, the old coach is not dead and gone, and he knows he can still be an invaluable resource for the team.
"I certainly plan on going to the meets and being involved with our alumni," Reina said. "I consider my role now in a lot of ways very much the same as other alumni who have wrestled here and graduated, and I have a responsibility to contribute to the program in ways that I'm able."
So far, Reina sightings have not been rare in the wrestling room, the program's training headquarters in Hutchinson Gymnasium.
"He comes around once in a while," Wiles said. "We see him on a weekly basis. He comes in and works out, but he stays in contact pretty well."
At this point, Reina has a fine line to walk. He made the critical decision to step down from the team, and now he must be sure to take a step back. There are no U-turns allowed here, and the road ahead plunges into uncharted territory. There is every reason to believe that Jones and assistant coach Damion Logan will pick up where Reina left off, and it is Reina's responsibility to let them do just that.
"I've got every confidence in them, and I think it's also important that the guys on the team are very clear that it's time for a new step and they know who's in charge of the program," Reina said. "That's been important to me, to have that kind of distance. ... I think it's important that the athletes know, the new coaches know, that they have all my support but the chapter's turned, and it's their time now to take it and run with it."
From here, the program could go anywhere.
Considering who is now in charge, it will likely continue to ascend the ranks of national wrestling powers. But no matter what happens, one truth will always remain.
The Palestra, in its wrestling capacity, will always be the house that Roger Reina built.
