An unprecedented 56 wrestlers at Apple Valley High School have won individual state championships since Jim Jackson took over as head coach for the 1995-96 season.
That number includes four this winter. Ten of the 13 Eagles wrestlers who qualified for this year's Class 3A state meet -- and helped the team win a seventh consecutive team title -- are eligible to return.
But three weeks ago Jackson, who compiled a 619-26-3 record -- by far the best winning percentage in state history -- took his sixth-grade daughter to a regional tennis event in Rochester.
"She looked at me and said, 'We get to do something that's not about Daddy's wrestling,'" Jackson said. "That sealed it."
On Tuesday Jackson announced his resignation after 32 years of coaching at Apple Valley. Time to watch his only child play in as many tennis events as possible.
"It was a tough decision but it was the right decision," he said. "It's been a great run but it's time to be a full-time father."
Jackson and Apple Valley Athletic Director Pete Buesgens had coached wrestling together until Buesgens took the AD job three years ago. Each time the topic about continuing to coach has come up, they have slyly joked about Jackson staying on "three or four more years."
Buesgens said Jackson began mulling his decision for real shortly after this season. Jackson amped it up last week and called him with the news Monday.
