Amidst the superb and historic recent success of the Londonderry High School varsity wrestling squad, the Lancer grapplers have received a bit of bad news.
Veteran varsity coach Jim Marron, who has been coaching the sport in Londonderry since 1998 – with a two-year hiatus in the early 2000s – has announced his resignation from that post effective at the end of the state Meet of Champions at Pinkerton Academy two Saturdays ago. But Marron’s LHS bunch had a handful of skilled and determined grapplers advance to the New England Championships in Providence, R.I. this past weekend.
Marron was the head wrestling coach at the Londonderry Middle School from 1998 to 2001 before being recalled to active duty in the United States Navy from 2001 to 2003, during which time he served as the head coach for U.S. Naval Academy Prep Wrestling.
Upon his return to Londonderry in 2003, Marron returned to his coaching post at the middle school.
He served in that coaching role until 2005, moving from there to Londonderry High to serve as an assistant wrestling coach from 2005 to 2007. Marron has served as the head guy of the LHS wrestling program from 2007 to the present.
The longtime Londonderry coaching guru – who has also served in multiple roles within the Londonderry High football program – is stepping aside from his wrestling job in order to have the time to further his education.
“I will be working toward my master’s in business administration at Southern New Hampshire University,” said Marron.
When asked if rumors regarding the upward movement of one of his Londonderry High assistant coaches into the head coaching job were correct, Marron responded, “I will defer to the LHS athletic department regarding the future of LHS wrestling.” The position has not been advertised.
Londonderry High athletic director Howard Sobolov was disappointed to have Marron hand in his resignation, and attempted to talk the veteran coach into changing his mind, to no avail.
“Jim took the program to the next level,” said Sobolov. “We had a pretty solid program when I took it over, and he took it up to the next level.”