From the Bench: After 20 Years on Links, Indians Golf Coach Fred Wilhelm Takes off Coaching Hat for Good
By Jeff Toquinto on January 29, 2023 from Sports Blog
Fred Wilhelm loves to play golf. He loves to teach golf. As the coach for the Bridgeport High School golf team, he got to do that for the last 20 years.
At 59 years of age, it seemed like Wilhelm would have another five years, maybe another 10, left in the tank to coach. Officially, this month, there will be no more years coaching.
Fred Wilhelm, after two decades of running the Indians golf program, has resigned. The reason for it is simple: He has something he loves more.
“I’ve got two grandchildren, one five and one two, and they’re getting my time away from work now,” said Wilhelm.
Although not a grandparent myself, I have plenty of friends in my age bracket that are, and I see how they will drop everything to do just about anything with them. Wilhelm is not the exception.
The real beauty of his love for his grandchildren is it will coincide with his love for golf. His decision is about as perfect as it can get.
“The five-year-old is starting to swing and I have him at the range of five strokes on a hole and we’re going to get that down a few by the time he’s seven. I’m going to have the other one on the course with me this year, and I have another boy on the way,” Wilhelm said with a laugh. “With three boys, I also have the outfield covered.”
Wilhelm had the decision covered long before his resignation got the rubber stamp of approval from the Harrison County Board of Education at a recent meeting. In fact, he did not have an epiphany during the most recently completed season.
“I knew going in that this would be my last season,” said Wilhelm. “I already had thought about it with the grandchildren and realized if I put in 20 years it was time. Anyone that can go longer, more power to them.”
Wilhelm did not know how long he would stay when he took over the highly successful program from the late Richard Bailey in 2003. He knew he had a love for the game and, as a former coach and an educator, he knew he could teach the game as well.
“I was teaching kids a lifetime sport, which I think nearly every kid we’ve had who took it seriously in high school is playing the game 20 years later,” said Wilhelm. “You don’t have to be a great athlete to keep playing after high school and you don’t have to be a great athlete to play it prior to high school. We had all types of kids, but the one thing we did with all of them was have a lot of fun.”
As a proponent of the “sports should be fun” mantra at the high school level, I am also a realist. I know winning makes having fun a much easier proposition. Such was the case with Wilhelm during his time with BHS.
Three times, the Indians finished as the runners-up for state championships. It happened in back-to-back seasons in 2010 and 2011 in Class AA, and in 2014 in Class AAA.
Most seasons, the Indians were in the postseason mix. And if not, they would always have a standout golfer or two qualify for the state competition. In fact, Wilhelm had two golfers – Michael Gervais and Mason Williams – finish as low medalists at the state tournament.
“We did well, but we had a lot of really outstanding golfers,” said Wilhelm, who was shortchanging his coaching despite being named West Virginia’s golf coach of the year in 2015. “It was like that from day one.”
On day one, Wilhelm said he did something that earned him respect at the program that carried on to the end of his run.
“I always tried to get the upper hand against the kids on the golf course; tried to show them what an eagle was. The best, though, was that first year where I was showing them some technique and got a hole in one,” he laughed. “That got their attention, and the kids listened. They always listened because the kids that came out knew the right things to do.”
Wilhelm is doing the right thing by posting his resignation early. While it does not happen often, after being around sports for the last 
nearly 40 years, I can assure you there are coaches that have resigned at the last minute making the situation a tall task for a school’s administration.
nearly 40 years, I can assure you there are coaches that have resigned at the last minute making the situation a tall task for a school’s administration.
That will not be the case here.
“I wanted them to have plenty of time. (Assistant Principal and Athletic Director) Mark (Jones) has been great and (Principal) Matt (DeMotto) has helped out when he was AD and he and Mark help with any of our needs,” said Wilhelm. “I wanted to give them as much time as needed to fill the position, which I hope would come from the school just because that makes it a much better situation for everyone involved.
“Even though I knew, it’s still tough to walk away,” he continued. “I had a great time coaching a sport that I never really got into after high school. I did other things in sports in high school.”
Those other things resulted in Wilhelm playing as a scholarship football and basketball student-athlete at Salem College. And for those that think he was just a small college roster addition, then you would be wrong. He was a small college All-American and earned a tryout professionally with the Cleveland Browns.
Chances are, if you ask him about his sports past, he will talk about golf. Better chances are that Wilhelm, who will continue teaching drafting and engineering at BHS, will talk about how his grandchildren are golfing.
“I’ll be back out there with the kids. This time, the kids are my grandchildren and I’m looking forward to it,” said Wilhelm.
Editor's Note: Top photo showing Fred Wilhelm getting a few pointers across and bottom photo with the BHS golf team are from the 2022 season, while he is shown in the middle photo with one of his three runner-up trophies, this one in Class AAA in 2014.
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