There is a well-worn adage that goes “It couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.”

That fits Superior wrestling coach Charlie Crabb to a tee.

In his 23 years as wrestling coach at the Mineral County school, Crabb has coached some outstanding athletes. He has also played a key role in the success of the school’s always tough football team, coached by one of Crabb’s former student-wrestlers, Jeff Schultz.

So after a succession of near misses for a state wrestling team championship, it was only fitting Crabb and the Bobcats occupied the top platform on the awards stand this year at the Montana High School Championship in Billings.

Following two second place team finishes and a third place after taking over for long-time Superior wrestling coach Bob Kinney, Crabb’s winning ways and ability to help young men (and now girls) become outstanding wrestlers, earned him some well-deserved post-season honors.

He was recently named the Class C Coach of the year for leading the Cats to the state team wrestling championship.

“What this means is everyone helped me out,” he said of the award. “The kids did what we asked them to do, it was a good year. We’ve been knocking on the door over the years (in terms of attaining a state title)”.

This year’s team was led by a pair of seniors, 126-pound individual state champ Decker Milender, and Class C heavyweight titleist Chandon Vulles.

“We’ve had some very good wrestlers over the years, had some individual champions but not quite the depth like this year’s team had,” Crabb said. “We tended to be bunched up in one range of weight classes, but this year we had some good depth throughout the line up. It helped to have two state champions in the mix too.”

Schultz, who credits Crabb with a role in his own development as a successful coach, said the award was long overdue and well-deserved.

“Coach Crabb is an amazing coach,” Schultz said. “I have had the opportunity to be coached by him and coach with him. He is the toughest guy I have met and that oozes out in his coaching style. He pushes all his players to be tough and work extremely hard. What they love is how he is able to make the hard work fun with non-stop humor that he brings.”

Schultz also noted that Crabb has been the defensive coordinator on three state champion football teams.

“It is needless to say the toughness and success that Superior football has experienced would not have happened without him”.

Crabb, who said he loves living in Superior and does not have any plans for moving on from Superior, likes coaching for many reasons, including the lessons in life sports can bring.

“I got into coaching because I want to help kids,” said Crabb who in 1994 was a state runner up for the same Bobcats he now coaches. “There are hard lessons to learn in life. You might not have the best success, but that’s life too”.

Superior will lose some key seniors due to graduation, but a solid group of underclassmen and some key juniors promise to provide a good foundation for Crabb to work with next year.