Leo Garand was named the new varsity head coach in late June by DHS athletic director David Preszler. Garand will replace John Gurule, who resigned at the end of the season because of time constraints.
Gurule coached two seasons with the Demons after he replaced Doug Cuddie.
Garand, 50, previously coached the Dolores High School varsity team, where he was the head coach for three seasons.
But Garand is a longtime resident of Durango. Before taking the job in Dolores, he ran the wrestling team at Escalante Middle School in Durango for two seasons.
"It's good to be back in the community I live in, working with kids I had worked with at the middle school level a few years ago," Garand said.
Garand has coached wrestling since 1983, when he got his start in California. He hopes to coach wrestling for another decade before pursuing an administrative role as an athletic director.
In Dolores, Garand organized both the high school and middle school programs.
"My experience there, I had to turn around a program, and I felt like I did a great job there," he said. "We had anywhere from 25 to 30 percent of the male population wrestling at the middle school and 20 to 25 percent at the high school.
"I felt like I did a good job turning around the program and building it to what it once was."
Garand coached seven state placers in Dolores and one state champion - 171-pound eighth grader Ethan Long, who was the 2015 state tournament's outstanding wrestler after refusing to give up a point.
Even while he was in Dolores, some of Garand's former Escalante Middle School wrestlers would drive to the Dolores mat room to train with Garand.
He already has the summer program up and running at Durango High School, and he's retained Matt Beaver as his top assistant coach.
"We've had three events, and we have open mat all summer long. We're moving forward in a positive direction," Garand said.
Garand already sees state tournament potential in four of the athletes he worked with this summer and said he hopes plenty more athletes will join the team this season.
Garand hopes to bring a sense of familiarity and stability to a program that has seen its share of changes in recent years. His history with many of the athletes has made it a smooth transition.
"These guys are my friends, family. They are more than kids I've worked with in the past. Some of their fathers are my closest friends," he said. "I think they are excited to have me back to coach, and I'm excited to be back."
jlivingston@durangoherald.com