J.P. Santone took his previous coaching position to save his brother’s high school wrestling program. He has loftier goals as the new varsity wrestling coach for Great Oak High School’s Wolfpack squad.

The new coach pinned down this portion of his coaching career at a Nov. 14 team breakfast and the squad’s first practice two days later.

Competing for a league title was a goal Santone achieved at Madison High School in San Diego. Last year, the Warhawks were 9-2 overall in dual meets, but the team fell short of the league championship.

Santone hopes that Great Oak will soon compete for the title in a hotly competitive league that includes eight-time defending CIF champion Temecula Valley High School.

"It’s a tall order, but you’ve got to have direction somewhere," Santone said in a recent interview. "I’ve got time. I’m diving in head-first and putting in everything I’ve got."

Santone, who is also a history teacher at Great Oak, was the first coach to be hired by Bobby Arban, the Wolfpack’s new athletic director.

Santone moved from the Scripps Ranch area of San Diego – which is where Arban was raised – to Temecula in late August.

Arban attended Mira Mesa High School in San Diego before Scripps Ranch had its own high school.

Santone grew up in Mira Mesa and would have attended Mira Mesa High School had he not attended Catholic schools.

He attended Good Shepherd in Mira Mesa for grade school and then spent four years at University High School, which became Cathedral Catholic after it relocated in 2004.

Prior to being hired as a teacher at Great Oak, Santone had planned to move to Temecula. He was drawn to the community by the affordability of its housing, its small-town feel and the wrestling legacy it has crafted over the past 15 years.

"I knew that wresting in Temecula was very good," he said.

Great Oak is in the Southwest League with Chaparral, Murrieta Valley, Temecula Valley, Temescal Canyon and Vista Murrieta.

Under current coach Arnold Alpert, Temecula Valley has built a wrestling dynasty by winning 13 CIF division championships over the past 15 seasons and finishing as the CIF runner-up the other two seasons.

"They’ve definitely set a good example of how to run a program," Santone said.

Santone replaced an off-campus coach and many of the students he encountered during his first two months at Great Oak were unaware that a school wrestling team existed.

"My main goal as a wresting coach at Great Oak right now is just bringing wrestling back to the school," he said. "I think having a solid head coach who is going to be there for a long time is going to help."

Santone spent four years on University High School’s varsity wrestling team. As a 189-pounder, he placed sixth in the CIF division meet as a junior and second in the division meet as a senior, although he did not place in the all-division Masters meet either year.

He was also a center and middle linebacker on the Dons’ football team, spending three years on the varsity and participating in the Dons’ 1999 CIF section Advertisement

Tenkobushi championship.

After his graduation from University High School in 2002, Santone attended San Diego State University. He was on the school’s club wrestling team as a freshman and sophomore.

As a college junior, he was the head varsity coach at Madison High School, where his younger brother, Adam, was wrestling.

"They couldn’t find anybody at the time, and they were worried about closing the program down," the new Wolfpack coach said.

The 2004-05 season was Adam Santone’s senior year at Madison and J.P.’s first year as a coach.

The Warhawks were 0-5 in dual meets that year and placed 19th at the CIF divisional meet. Last year’s 9-2 dual meet record was complemented by a fourth-place CIF finish.

"It was a good turnaround for the team," Santone said. "It took me a little time to build it."

Madison also competed for the Western League championship, although Cathedral Catholic won that title and handed the Warhawks a dual-meet league loss.

Santone earned a bachelor of arts degree from San Diego State in 2006 as a history major, and in 2007 he received his teaching credential.

He was hired by the San Diego Unified School District to teach history at Madison after earning his credential, so his five years at Madison include three as an off-campus coach and two as on-campus staff.

"I understand how difficult it is, because you’re not there every day," Santone said of being an off-campus coach.

Santone noted that an on-campus coach tends to establish better relationships with the athletic department, school administrators and the students themselves.

His daily presence at Great Oak led to a team turnout of 24 freshmen wrestlers and approximately 45 junior varsity and varsity wrestlers on the first day of practice.

"It was a bigger number than I expected," Santone said. "Definitely, being on campus helps establish the word with the kids."

The Wolfpack wrestlers include five girls.

"We’re definitely trying to schedule in some girls’ tournaments for them to attend," Santone said.

The girls will also likely compete at a freshman and junior varsity tournament that will take place Dec. 5 at Poway High School.

Santone often went to Mira Mesa High for off-season training when he was a grappler, and the Marauders will travel to Temecula for a dual meet. That encounter will be Great Oak’s first match of the season on Dec. 2.

Great Oak will compete in a six-way dual meet Dec. 19 at Madison. Chad Starling, who was Santone’s assistant coach at Madison, has taken over as the Warhawks’ head coach, while Adam Santone is now an assistant coach at Madison.

Madison will travel to Great Oak on Jan. 9, when Great Oak hosts a ten-way dual meet for the first time.

J.P. Santone describes his current assistant coaches as "all pretty solid." They are assistant varsity coach Mark Perryman, junior varsity head coach Kelly Cromwell and freshman head coach John Bonaventura.

"I’m pretty excited about taking over this program and think it has a lot of potential to be something big," Santone said. "I’m just very excited to be in a school of Great Oak’s caliber, coaching there and teaching there."