By Lindsay Sherman
“Wherever they put us, we want to be considered among the best as soon as possible.” That’s an ambitious goal for Wrestling Assistant Head Coach John Lowe, who coaches the new women’s wrestling team for McDaniel. The start-up phase of an emerging sport is not for the faint of heart, but in the development of the women’s wrestling program on the Hill, Head Coach Mason Goretsas knew that Lowe could be the man to take them where they wanted to go.
Coming to McDaniel in September 2024 would not be Lowe’s first steps on the Hill. In fact, he coached the men’s wrestling team at McDaniel (formerly Western Maryland College) from 1994 until 2003. And he has a history of making good on bold declarations, something Goretsas and the women starting their collegiate wrestling careers hope continues to be true.
“At my first meeting with the team of men in 1994, there were only six wrestlers at the meeting,” Lowe recalls. “I said to them, ‘Right now, it doesn’t look like much. But we’re going to find people. We’re going to contend for a Centennial Conference title within two years, and we’re going to win it in four.’ They laughed at me. And I took that as a challenge.”
“WHEN A COACH CARES, THE ATHLETES CAN SEE IT. I WANT TO SEE THEM DEVELOP AS PEOPLE, I WANT THEM TO BE BETTER HUMANS AND COMMUNITY MEMBERS.”
Challenge not only accepted, but won: The team took its first Centennial Conference Championship in 1998, and added championships in 2000, 2001, and 2002 before Lowe’s desire for greater work-life balance took him down the road to Winters Mill High School.
“At the time, the men’s wrestling coaching position was only part time, so I was teaching to support my coaching,” Lowe says. After the births of his children, he realized he was spending less and less time with his kids. “If the position couldn’t be full time, I was going to be really hard-pressed to see my family. I only left because I couldn’t stay and still be the dad I wanted to be. I never really wanted to leave, so to be back is a dream.”
Over the course of 22 years at the high school, Lowe coached Winters Mill to five state championships and seven individual state team championships. In 2020, he started the girls’ wrestling program at the school, leading them to a 22-3 record and nine state place-winners over five seasons.
“The girls’ program there kind of ballooned to 31 girls at one point, and I really fell in love with the sport again, seeing it through their eyes,” he says. “Then, Mason Goretsas kind of tipped me off that McDaniel was proposing a women’s wrestling program. He told me, ‘Dust off your resume. I don’t know how long it’s going to take to get there, but I would love to have you ready.’ I told him, ‘Consider it dusted,’ and here we are now, making history with McDaniel’s first women’s wrestling team.”
Wrestling has been in Lowe’s family his whole life, so to be able to foster that love of the sport for a new generation — and a new demographic — is something he’s passionate about. “I grew up in a wrestling family. My love for wrestling started almost from birth,” he says. “My father was a coach. My uncle was a hall of fame coach. My brother wrestled. I started out on the living room rug, and now I’m here. Back to my passion of coaching.”
Lowe says his approach to coaching women is in some ways similar to teaching men, but in some ways very different. “I’ve found that the women are generally more interested in the ‘why’ of everything we do,” he says. “I’m a philosophical guy by nature, so it’s a good fit. I enjoy explaining to them why putting a hand here or their head there will give them an advantage.”
But Lowe says that at the end of the day, no matter their gender, they’re all student-athletes, they all have injuries, classes, personal disappointments to work through.
“The young ladies that are coming out this year are making history for us, and the door is always open for them. They’re part of my family now. My phone is always on for them,” he says. “When a coach cares, the athletes can see it. I want to see them develop as people, I want them to be better humans and community members.”
Lowe has seen with his wrestlers — from both McDaniel and Winters Mill — over his career that if you invest in them, they’ll invest right back. With former wrestlers helping his family move, recover from natural disasters, and maintain his late parents’ property on the Eastern Shore, he says his wrestlers have always shown up for him.
“We don’t get a whole lot of time on Earth, and I think we’re measured not by how many times you get your name on a wall but by how many people could say, ‘Yeah, I learned that from Coach Lowe,’ or ‘That was a Lowe-ism right there,’” Lowe says. “The highlight of my entire life is to know that you’ve mattered enough to somebody for them to stick around. That’s my measure of success. But a few more championships wouldn’t hurt either.”
McDANIEL WOMEN’S WRESTLING TIMELINE
NOV. 10, 2023: McDaniel announced the addition of women’s wrestling to the intercollegiate athletics program.
DEC. 10, 2023: McDaniel held a women’s wrestling prospect clinic on the Hill.
SEPT. 19, 2024: John Lowe announced as assistant head women’s wrestling coach.
NOV. 3, 2024: First-year wrestler Maria Samuel posted the first win in McDaniel’s women’s wrestling program history and first-year student Taylor Mead had three wins at the ESU open.
NOV. 23, 2024: McDaniel women’s wrestling hosted its first home match in the Sam Case Classic.
DEC. 5, 2024: Women’s wrestling earned its first team win in program history with a 35-15 victory on the road over Randolph College.
DEC. 7, 2024: First-year wrestler Taylor Mead posted two wins and a second-place finish at the New Standard Invitational hosted by York College of Pennsylvania. The McDaniel team finished in 10th place.
