When Osceola High legend Jim Bird stepped down as longtime wrestling coach and athletics director on June 15, the school moved quickly to name Celebration’s Rick Tribit as its new Athletic Director.
A little more than four months later, the school announced that Tribit will also serve as the school’s wrestling coach – filling the same dual role that Bird did for years.
“To be totally honest, this was not the plan coming in,” Tribit said. “When I moved over from Celebration, I knew we were looking at a really short window to find a qualified wrestling coach. This sport is not like basketball, baseball or football where there are usually a ton of solid candidates always looking for jobs. We spent months advertising this position and trying to find the right person to fill Jim’s shoes, and frankly, we came up empty. Given the emphasis we place on the sport and the legacy of Osceola wrestling, we simply were not going to turn this program over to just anyone.”
Wrestling is about the only sport at Osceola that does not take a back seat to its famed football and boys basketball programs, as Bird built it into one of the best wrestling programs in the nation. Starting with Alex Eggers winning the 140-pound championship in 2007, the program has produced at least one individual state wrestling champion for 16 consecutive years. Osceola has finished in the top six in team standings those same 16 years, winning a state team title in 2009 and finishing second five times (2007, 2008, 2010, 2013, and 2014). In his last year, Bird saw three of his wrestlers win state titles: Cooper Haase, Gunner Holland and Anderson Heap, who all return this season.
Tribit is no stranger to the mat or coaching success. A UCF graduate, Tribit is a former college wrestler at Carson-Newman and UCF and started his career as a substitute teacher and assistant wrestling/football coach at Seminole County's Lyman High in 1993. He then moved on to Oviedo as the head wrestling coach for three years. He took his first Athletic Director job and served as head wrestling coach at Winter Springs before coming to Osceola as an assistant wrestling coach under Bird from 2006-2015. He moved to Sarasota High for one year to tend to his ailing mother, before moving back to Osceola County where he took a job as wrestling coach and teacher at St. Cloud for the 2016-17 year.
During his stops, he helped coach numerous district, regional and state wrestling champions.
Wanting to get back on the administration side, he applied and accepted the Athletics Director’s job at Celebration, where he served five successful years that was capped when the Storm placed second in the Orange Belt Conference All-Sports trophy standings – their highest finish in school history.
In deciding we fill the dual role, Tribit said it was a decision that was made in the best interests of the student athletes.
“Jim’s resignation and departure upset a lot of the team members. Because of his involvement in youth programs, he was the only coach many of these wrestlers knew since they were five or six years old,” Tribit said. “When we met with the team in July, I told them the program would continue at the highest of standards that Coach Bird created and I promised them I would always have their backs.”
Tribit said he also felt a responsibility to Bird in taking over the program.
“Jim is one of my best friends ever. I absolutely feel an obligation to him to continue the traditions and success he has established both at Osceola High and with the sport in general,” he said.
As to whether this move will become permanent, Tribit noted that, “For the foreseeable future, I would say yes, but at the end of the day we will always make the right decision for the athletes. We certainly want to see the program to continue in the same path of tradition and success that Coach Bird built.”
Official wrestling practices open on Nov. 7, with regular-season dual and tournament events beginning Nov. 28. The FHSAA Duals state championships are slated for Jan. 20-21, and the Individual Bracket Tournament state championships are March 22-23. Osceola is the host high school for both events.
