Even during his playing days, Pat Hitschler made a great coach.
Hitschler, a 2009 graduate of Germantown Academy, where he was a three-sport athlete, grew up with a father who coached everything from wrestling to lacrosse to football, which he does today as the defensive coordinator for the University of Pennsylvania sprint team.
Like most good coaches, he was always preparing for the future.
“My dad was our coach and I was writing down lineups,” Hitschler said. “I would be told I should be over there warming up, and instead I was writing down lineups. I definitely got that from my dad.”
Now he’s following in his dad’s footsteps.
Hitschler has been named head coach of the Father Judge High School wrestling team, replacing legendary coach Jim Savage, who has moved on to take the same position at St. Joe’s Prep.
And he takes over a very good wrestling program that last won a Catholic League championship in 2019. Last season, the team had the bulk of its season wiped out by the coronavirus pandemic.
This will be Hitschler’s first time coaching in the Catholic League, and he knows he’s in for a lot of fun once the season gets started.
“I’m excited, when I was in high school, I went to La Salle vs. North Catholic championship to watch,” Hitschler said. “It was at North. There were so many fans, the atmosphere, it was contagious. There was a lot of noise and excitement in the gym. I just kept thinking this is awesome. This is like going out to Central Pennsylvania, how serious people take it. You don’t get this at other schools.”
He’s also excited about what he has.
Hischler hasn’t had a lot of time to work out with his wrestlers.
It’s the offseason, and a lot of wrestlers play other sports in the fall. Also, Hitschler himself has been plenty busy, working a full-time job and also coaching the Bishop Eustace girls soccer team in South Jersey, where he helped the Crusaders become one of the top teams this year.
But he’s met with them and he likes what he sees. He also loves the school and believes that there are a lot of great wrestlers walking the halls. They just have to find out that they’re great wrestlers.
“I plan on meeting with a lot of kids and letting them know about the team. I’m a very good recruiter for the team and I know that school has a lot of guys who would be great,” said Hitschler, who grew up in Glenside and now resides in University City. “I’m going to set up a table in the cafeteria and answer any questions they have. Judge has great kids. They’re athletic and tough. That’s what you need to be a wrestler.”
And if you’re thinking about signing up for the team, Hitschler has some fun planned for you.
Wrestling is a difficult sport. Just ask Hitschler, who was a three-sport athlete in high school before giving up wrestling to focus on soccer and lacrosse. Even though he gave up the sport, he still loved it. He still had a passion for it. And, yes, if you wrestle, you’re going to work hard. But it’s about a lot more than that.
“I promise it will be fun,” said Hitschler, who has been a head wrestling coach at two boarding schools and most recently was an assistant at Penn Charter. “I didn’t wrestle at the highest level, so I don’t push kids away because I’m too serious. I know what it’s like to have doubts. I know how fun it can be and if you play games and keep the kids involved, you’ll have fun and it will be good for you, not just for you, but for the future you. This can be a fun thing, something that will help you in multiple ways.”
Hitschler is thankful for the opportunity.
He’s also thankful for the guys who will help him, and that goes beyond assistant coaches.
Judge has one of the top wrestlers in the area in senior Sean Logue. Hitschler believes Logue and other veterans in the locker room will prove to be a huge asset.
“Having guys like him is huge,” Hitschler said. “I’ve done this three times with soccer and wrestling, taking over a program. If you don’t have a returning guy who can lead the way and who knows the program, it hurts. You need leaders and guys to show the coach ‘here’s how we do things and why this program works.’ It’s great to have guys of caliber, not just because you can send them out there and most of the time get a win, but because he’s someone everyone can look up to.”
Hitschler hopes Judge can pick up right where it left off in 2019, the last year the Crusaders had a normal season.
And he’s willing to put in all the work it takes to make that happen. That means spending a lot of time with his team, and luckily, he has the perfect girlfriend who understands his passion for coaching kids.
“She’s very understanding, she works as a nurse practitioner at CHOP, so she deals with much harder things than I do,” Hitschler said of his girlfriend Rachael Prendergast. “I have a lot of support with her and my family. I’m really looking forward to getting started. It’s going to be a fun year.”
