Kobe Olson signed a letter of intent June 6 to wrestle at Umpqua Community College.
Olson, who leaves Sweet Home with five individual state championships and whose win at 126 pounds at state in February clinched a team title for the Huskies, will join teammate Jake Porter and a coach he’s known since childhood.
Former Sweet Home wrestler Kyle Temple will coach the new program at Umpqua. Porter signed a letter of intent a month ago.
“Temple being the head coach really made the difference for me,” Olson said. “He’s one of my favorite coaches ever.”
Temple was an assistant at Sweet Home after graduating from Southern Oregon University and moving on to a series of high school jobs, the most recent at Cottage Grove, before taking the UCC position.
Olson said he also considered SOU and Clackamas Community College, which placed second this year at nationals.
“Clackamas is a really good wrestling school and Southern is a really good wrestling school, but at Umpqua I can help start up a new wrestling program,” Olson said.
After wrestling at 125 pounds in high school, he said he would like to redshirt for a year and grow to 141 pounds. He plans to major in computer science, with a goal of becoming a software or game developer.
Coach Steve Thorpe said Olson’s signing was the next step in a planned progression in the sport.
“We’ve known for a long time that he’s going to be wrestling at the next level and that’s what he’s been training to do,” Thorpe said. “He is very naturally talented, but he understood that it was going to take more than natural talent. That’s why he wrestled in other countries. That’s why he wrestled national teams and elite teams. He was a three-sport athlete but trained in the evenings after other sports or in the mornings.”
Thorpe noted that Olson leaves Sweet Home “top 10” in nearly every wrestling record category and top three in many, and one of seven two-time folkstyle champions and five triple crown winners – joining Uriel Santana, Troy Santana, Colton Schilling and Tyger Cowger in winning state titles in all three styles.
“You put yourself in those names, that’s pretty impressive,” Thorpe said.
Going to UCC will be a good move for Olson – and for fans, he said.
“Kyle Temple has coached him on national teams, and is from Sweet Home and his best friend Jake Porter is attending there as well. This is going to be a good fit for him.
“When you don’t have to pay for school, that’s hard to turn down. No debt. The time you’ve put in is paying off financially.
“I’m really excited about Kobe going there. I love that he’s staying in state so we can follow him. It’s a lot easier to follow him and watch him, you know.”
Thorpe, who regularly preaches to his wrestlers the importance of seizing opportunities that present themselves, said this is another for Olson.
“I’m proud of what he did, but even more excited about the opportunities in front of him. UCC is only a community college, so what he does over the next two or three years will determine where he goes from there.”