Wiley stepping down from THS tennis

Erick Starkey
Posted 5/11/18

Lyle Wiley has taken a teaching position at Thermopolis High School and, therefore, has stepped aside as the Torrington tennis coach after four years with the program.

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Wiley stepping down from THS tennis

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TORRINGTON – Lyle Wiley has taken a teaching position at Thermopolis High School and, therefore, has stepped aside as the Torrington tennis coach after four years with the program.

“For me, it’s a homecoming,” Wiley said. “It’s exciting but it’s bitter sweet.”

Wiley came aboard on the tennis coaching staff during the 2013-14 school year as an assistant coach, a role that he filled for three years, before taking over the program this past fall.

With the program under Wiley’s direction last season, the Blazer girls took eighth and the boys finished 11th at the state tournament. All of the Torrington competitors made it to the second day of competition at the state tournament. He was also on the coaching staff in 2016, when the Torrington boys team took third in the region, only six points out of first place, a memory Wiley said was notable.

“We were competitive… at almost every spot the boys were competitive,” Wiley said. “For the size of our program, that’s not the kind of thing that’s going to happen a lot.”

Wiley also noted that his season as head coach also left a lasting mark.

“I was really, really, really happy with what the students did this year. They competed,” he said. “That was the cool thing about this year. There were people who were playing as seniors who had been here since I was coaching, so I got to see how far they came.”

Thermopolis High School does not have a tennis program, so Wiley will be hanging up the clipboard for now, but he has not closed the door to continue his coaching career down the road, in large part because of how coaching has helped him as a teacher and vice versa.

“Coaching helps feed your teaching life. It helps you see what you can do with students when they’re actively trying.” Wiley said. “It’s the reason why you want to get involved in teaching, but you get to watch it in a different way. You get to see it – it’s visible.”