“The reason that came out was that we wrestled a full season, excluding the National Championships and that was enough to say that counted as your year, I guess,” Pletcher said. “I don’t agree with it and it’s tough to see the other guys get a shot, but that’s something I can’t control.”
Pletcher carries the demeanor of a typical wrestler. In wrestling, there is no screaming for the ball, blaming the quarterback or watching a teammate fan on a power play opportunity. As wronged as he may feel about it, Pletcher would just as soon leave it in the past, as hard as that may be.
“Whether it’s COVID or NCAA, it doesn’t really matter,” Pletcher said. “It’s just the uneasy feeling I get when I think about it, so I try not to now. I have people ask me about it often, but you work your whole life to have four shots at it and you only get three. That’s the feeling that makes you mad. You either move on and don’t worry about it anymore or dwell on it your entire life and I chose to move on.”
He may not have a national title to his name and the fact that he had the opportunity taken from him as opposed to losing it on the mat doesn’t make it any easier.
Pletcher moved back to the Pittsburgh area after his NCAA career was declared over. These days, he works as a volunteer assistant for the University of Pittsburgh, watching his life transition from wrestler to coach.
The transition may have been a little more abrupt than he would have preferred, but a life in coaching is exactly where he wants to be. You can bet the house that Pletcher will be able to give his teams one hell of a pep talk about seizing every opportunity they have on the mat.
For all the good and the bad that have come his way thanks to the sport of wrestling, he doesn’t regret his choice of sport for one second.
“I just like wrestling,” Pletcher said. “Of course, I am [resentful] but, at the end of the day, it’s like, wrestling has helped me get so far in life and take me to places I probably wouldn’t have been able to go to. I wish I would have had the fair shake at four tries, but I didn’t. I’ve got to take it like a man and move on.”
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