Wrestling Coaching Staff
Tom LeCuyer, Head Coach
Tom LeCuyer takes over as the Chiefs’ head coach this season after serving as assistant last year. He has been a champion grappler and coach at the high school and collegiate level, excelling wherever he has gone. LeCuyer was an Assistant Coach at Plano High School for a season before taking over as Head Coach for the 2003-2004 season.
LeCuyer had a legendary prep wrestling career at Plano, where he was inducted into the Reapers’ Sports Hall of Fame in 2010. He won the Illinois State Championship three times while registering a 131-14 record from 1994 through 1996. LeCuyer also set a State Finals record for points in a title bout when he scored a 22-5 victory in the 119-pound championship in 1995. Wrestling USA named him a High School First Team All-American, while the Illinois Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association (IWCOA) tabbed him the state’s Outstanding Wrestler. The IWCOA inducted him into their Hall of Fame in 2008.
LeCuyer went on to Northern Illinois University (NIU) on a wrestling scholarship where he starred for the Huskies for four seasons. He qualified for the NCAA Tournament his senior year and was named NIU’s Outstanding Wrestler in 2000. Along the way he was tabbed the Mid-American Conference’s Wrestler of the Week after defeating National Champion and four-time All-American Michael Lightner from Oklahoma University.
Coach LeCuyer earned a B.A. in Psychology from NIU in 2001. Besides coaching wrestling, LeCuyer owns and operates LeCuyer Martial Arts in Sandwich, where he teaches kickboxing, judo and jiu-jitsu, along with working with amateur and professional mixed martial arts (MMA) fighters. The last four years, he has brought home a gold medal and three bronze medals from international competitions in China, Poland, Serbia and Switzerland through the SportAccord World Combat Games and the Grappling World Championships.
John Robinson, Volunteer Assistant Coach
The 2012 season is John Robinson’s 13th year with the Chiefs’ program. Coach Robinson served as a volunteer assistant coach in 1999 before taking over as head coach for six seasons. He returned to the role of volunteer assistant coach for two years before again taking the lead in 2008-2009. As head coach, Robinson has consistently developed competitive squads, culminating with a NJCAA Division III National Runner-up finish in 2006.
During his tenure with the program, 15 Chiefs’ grapplers have earned NJCAA All-American status, including 133-lb. National Champion Omi Acosta in 2010 and National Champion Ray Stephens in 2006. Robinson’s 2002-2003 crew finished 15th nationally and the 2003-2004 team placed 17th in the nation. In addition, his teams have excelled in the classroom as well. The 2001-2002 squad achieved a cumulative academic grade-point-average that tied them for number one in the nation among NJCAA wrestling teams.
Robinson wrestled in college for perennial national champion University of Iowa from 1993 through 1995. At New Hampton High School in Iowa, Robinson placed fifth in the state as a sophomore and second as a senior in 1991. Prior to coming to Waubonsee, Coach Robinson had a stint as a volunteer assistant coach at Plano High School in 1999. Away from the mat, Robinson and his wife Terri live in nearby Maple Park with sons Garret and Lane.
