After three decades, Rob Ullyott Says Goodbye To Detroit Lakes Wrestling

Rob Ullyott (left) looks on as his team wrestles in the 2022 Section 8AA Semifinals against PL/PRB at the Lakeshirts Fieldhouse (Photo: Zeke Fuhrman)

Detroit Lakes, MN (KDLM) – After 32 years of coaching high school wrestling, Laker head coach Rob Ullyott is leaving the program.

“It is time for me to move on so I have resigned as the head wrestling coach in Detroit Lakes,” Ullyott said in a Facebook post. “Change is good for both individuals and programs.”

Ullyot began coaching high school wrestling as an assistant in Walhalla, North Dakota during the 1990-91 season before coming to Detroit Lakes for the 1992-93 season. After five years as an assistant, he took over as head coach in 1996-97.

The Detroit Lakes Wrestling program, prior to the 1996-97 season, was nothing like it is now. Between 1958 and 1982, the program only had two winning seasons and a winning percentage of .271 (77-207-1). The program shut down from 1982-83 thru the 1985-86 season. When it restarted for the 1986-87 season, the team only won 10 matches over the first six seasons.

In Ullyott’s first season as head coach, the Lakers recorded their first winning season since 1969-70 with a 13-7 campaign and the Lakers’ first Section Champion wrestler (Justin Swiers) since 1981. In 1997, the Lakers team win total climbed to 18. And in 1998, Detroit Lakes hit the 20 win mark for the first time ever.

“The 1998 team will always be a special one for me,” Ullyott told KDLM. “We made it to the section finals for the first time in school history. This was the original group of guys that worked through the middle school program and believed that Detroit Lakes could compete at a high level and bought into the work ethic that it took.”

In 2003-04, the Lakers got to a place that few people had ever thought possible: Section Champions and a berth in the Minnesota State Wrestling Tournament.

“The 2004 section meet was especially exciting,” Ulloytt remembered. “We got a pin from heavyweight Andy Lundberg to win the title.”

Ullyott’s Lakers would repeat as section champs again in 2005. Fifteen years later, the Lakers would return to the state meet and finish in third place.

“In 2020, the third-place match came down to us and Foley,” said Ullyott. “Andres Barnett got a big pin to win third place for us, which is the best we’ve ever done at state.”

“I’ve seen so many great moments in Laker wrestling: our first individual state finalist Shane Tappe in 2002, in 2015 Parker Jackson won his 200th career match at the conference meet, in 2017 Noah Olds got a pin that helped us beat Frazee for the first time ever, Isaiah Thompson winning the program’s first-ever individual wrestling title in 2018, my son Brody reaching the individual state finals in 2020…it’s hard to pick one favorite moment from the last 30 years because there have been so many great ones.”

Rob Ullyott watches on during an early match of the 2022 Section 8AA Wrestling Semifinals at Lakeshirts Fieldhouse (Photo: Zeke Fuhrman)

With Ulloytt as head coach, the Lakers won 426 meets (Laker wrestling is 426-206-1 since 1996-97), won 20+ meets seven times, won three-section championships, and have sent 83 individual wrestlers to the State tournament.

“But my goal for all wrestlers that come through the program is to have a quality experience,” Ullyott said. “Once athletes have graduated and moved on, I hope their involvement in our program has better prepared them for success in whatever they choose to do with their lives. That is the goal of this program: to make a difference in their lives.”

With Ullyott stepping away from the program, the district will begin searching for a new head coach. Ullyot says that the wrestling position, and any other teaching position in Detroit Lakes, should be one that garners a lot of interest.

“This is not only a great community to teach in and in which to raise a family, but the wrestling program is well established and is a tremendous opportunity for a coach to continue to build a wrestling program. We have an established youth program, a strong group of support coaches and former wrestlers, and have tremendous community support. Our school is just finishing up a huge remodel that included all classrooms updated and remodeled along with the construction of a new field house that is second to none in the state. It looks and feels like a brand new school.”

When it comes to next season, Ullyot isn’t sure if he’ll be involved in some coaching capacity, or if he’ll spend the 2022-23 season in the stands at the Lakeshirts Fieldhouse.

“I am not sure how involved I will be in the wrestling program in the future.  I think that change is good for a program in order for it to continue to grow.  Sometimes getting out of the way is the best thing for a program.  We will have to see if there is a good fit for me in the future.”