Rothenberg returning to coach at alma mater

BY BRANT PARSONS — The time was right for Paul Rothenberg and Fort Myers.

When the Fort Myers wrestling job came open last year, Rothenberg wasn’t ready to leave Cypress Lake yet.

Despite the lure of coaching at his alma mater, Rothenberg had a special senior class coming back for the Panthers that he wanted to finish their journey with. He passed.

When the Green Wave job came open again after one season, he was ready to come home and reached out to Fort Myers. Last Friday, Rothenberg was officially named the head wrestling coach at Fort Myers.

He will coach both the boys and girls teams, after girls coach Ashley Stowell stepped down following the season.

“They had asked about it last year but I said I was going to stay at Cypress,” Rothenberg said. “This time, I kind of felt that it was time for a change. So after the season ended, I talked to the AD and new principal and got the ball rolling.”

The Class of 2003 graduate is taking over the Green Wave program after leading Cypress Lake the past 16 years.

“We have had some really strong wrestlers and teams,” Rothenburg said. “I had always had a kind of push back saying you couldn’t do it at Cypress Lake and that had been why I stayed. Just me being stubborn and wanting to do it here where people have said ‘you can’t do it.’”

Rothenberg coached three state champions at Cypress Lake, nineteen state placers, and his strong connection to collegiate wrestling programs helped aide his wrestlers in securing scholarships at every level.

As a high school wrestler for Fort Myers, Rothenberg was a two-time state qualifier under legendary coaches Gary Freis, Steve Sentes, and Don Weekley.

Originally set to attend Georgia Tech after high school, his performance in the state tournament his senior year left a bitter taste and he found a place to study industrial engineering - and wrestle.

Rothenberg attended the University of Central Florida where he was a four-time NCWA All-American and team captain his junior and senior seasons. The team won a NCWA national title when he was there.

“I still had a little fire and wasn’t satisfied with my career and ended up visiting UCF and worked out with the team and fell in with them and then sometime my freshman year it just clicked for me,” Rothenberg said.

Coaching still wasn’t in the plans but when Rothenberg graduated in 2008, the economy was struggling and finding an engineering job proved to be difficult. He came back home and saw that Cypress Lake had a coach opening and asked if they minded if he helped out until he found a job.

“I fell in love with it and ended up teaching there for 16 years,” Rothenberg said.

Now he’ll take over one of the best historic programs in the state.

Fort Myers is tied for fifth in the state for all-time state championships with 31 wrestlers earning the honor. The Green Wave also have won four state team IBT titles, the seventh-most in state history.

“One of the biggest things is getting back to that Coach Freis level of commitment and that standard of doing things,” Rothenberg said. “I think the potential there is obvious huge and that would be the level we would like to get back to.”