BILLINGS — When the men’s freestyle wrestling begins at the Paris Olympics on Thursday, Montana fans will be watching from nearly every corner of the state.
Part of that is because Montana wrestling fans are very enthusiastic about the sport. However, most of the reason is because the United States national men’s freestyle head coach is Great Falls native Bill Zadick.
“All eyes are on him (Zadick) from the state of Montana during the Olympics,” said Kalispell Flathead head coach Jeff Thompson.
“We’ll be watching and enjoying it. I feel like we have an amazing freestyle team and I think our chances are good to bring home Olympic golds.”
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Zadick, a four-time state wrestling champion for the Great Falls Bison from 1988-91, is the eighth-year head coach for the United States. He has been on the national team’s coaching staff since 2009 and the Paris Games will be his fourth as a coach with the Team USA staff. Zadick became the national freestyle head coach after the 2016 Games, so this will be his second Olympics as head coach. The U.S. men’s freestyle squad consists of a full-six athlete team.
“I have my alarm set for next week when they start,” said current Great Falls High head coach Luis Carranza.
“I’d watch regardless,” Carranza added. “But just knowing he is the head guy makes you watch even more closely than you would.”
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“Oh man, it’s super cool,” said Carranza of Bill Zadick leading Team USA in Paris. “Just seeing him on the wall (Zadick’s picture is displayed in the Great Falls wrestling room) and knowing he was a Bison and put in work in our program is super unique and special.”
