Roberts Drives Dundee to Chase Dream
January 8, 2019
By Doug Donnelly
Special for Second Half
DUNDEE – The thing that keeps Dundee wrestling coach Tim Roberts motivated isn’t another dual meet victory, matching up with state powerhouse Hudson in a conference meet or hanging another banner inside the Vikings’ gymnasium.
Those things are nice, but what keeps Roberts going in his 20th season as the Dundee head coach is a certain two-time MHSAA Finals-qualifying wrestler from the mid-1980s who won 120 matches for Dundee but ultimately fell short of his goals.
That wrestler was Roberts.
“I’m always trying to prove myself, and I’m always trying to get better,” Roberts said. “When I think of myself as that kid who didn’t place at state, I do much better because I keep that hunger and desire. I need to learn more. I’ve got to get better at this.”
Roberts is already pretty good at what he does – a hall of famer, says Hudson coach Scott Marry, a seven-time MHSAA championship-winning coach himself.
“Coach Roberts is one of the best coaches I’ve ever coached against,” Marry said. “He gets his kids ready mentally and physically. You better have your team ready if you’re going to wrestle Dundee.”
Earlier this season, Roberts reached a career milestone – 500 career wins. He’s led Dundee to six Finals titles and six runner-up finishes, 19 District and 18 Regional titles. He’s coached 32 Individual Finals championship wrestlers and more than 140 all-staters. Under his leadership, Dundee also is approaching 20 Lenawee County Athletic Association titles.
The numbers don’t tell the full story about Roberts, however.
“I could write a book about Tim and how great a coach he is,” said Dundee athletic director Tom Oestrike. “His coaching profile speaks for itself, but what is even more impressive are the type of young men he has helped build in his career – men of selflessness, character and discipline.”
When Roberts wrestled at Dundee, he was a 98-pound freshman who grew to compete in the 126-pound weight class as a senior.
“We were a solid program at the time, (but) winning state was an impossible dream back then for sure,” Roberts said.
“I wasn’t bad at wrestling. I was pretty good. Compared to the guys we have now – I wasn’t as good as them. I thought I was pretty good, but I didn’t accomplish the goals that I wanted to.”
After high school, he enlisted in the Army. It was during that time that he got the coaching bug. He realized he wanted to help young student athletes learn how to get the most out of their careers.
“When I was in the military, I learned a lot about building myself into something and I wanted to share that information,” he said. “I thought about wrestling a lot and how I really didn’t accomplish the goals that I would have liked to, and I wanted to help other people. I had this desire to try to help. I felt like I had a knack for it.”
After his first year as an assistant coach, Dundee changed wrestling head coaches and Jim Wittibslager got the job. Roberts asked him if he could stay on as an assistant.
Wittibslager is a hall of fame coach in his own right. He compiled a record of 333-36-3 in two stints as the Dundee head coach. The Vikings won four straight MHSAA Finals titles during his tenure, from 1995-98.
“We went from a team 4-21 with zero state qualifiers, and by the fifth year we were state champs with 14 state qualifiers,” Roberts said. “It was quite a building process. It was lot of fun to go through and learn. Winning state went from an impossible dream to something that ‘Oh yeah, we could do this.’ We built ourselves into that level.”
Coaching with Wittibslager was a career-changer for Roberts.
“That was crucial in my development in how to coach,” he said. “I thought I had a knack for helping people and I had a little talent in that area, but I learned so much about what it takes, the work ethic and how to win and how to think like a winner.”
Admittedly, Roberts isn’t the same coach he was two decades ago. The sport has evolved significantly.
“I don’t coach now like I did 20 years ago, I’ll say that,” he said. “You grow with the times or you get left behind.”
What hasn’t changed during that time is Roberts’ attention to detail, his passion for coaching the right technique and getting his team ready for meets. Practices now include time in the weight room, warming up with some gymnastics moves such as back handstands, leaps and cartwheels; and, of course, technique.
“We still do conditioning,” he said. “We do quite a bit of that.”
Roberts believes one thing that sets wrestlers apart from each other is how far they can push themselves on the mat – when they reach the point where they feel they don’t have any more strength or ability, they find it.
“The only way you know if you can (push yourself) is by getting (to that point). That, as much as anything, will win you matches,” he said.
Maintaining that success has never been easy. Dundee typically has about 20 wrestlers out each year, a comparably low number to some other high-level programs. But that is where Roberts does his best work. Coaching at the high school level, he said, isn’t about coaching extraordinary athletes – it’s about coaching the average ones.
“It’s been an endless process for 20 years to keep trying to get better at this,” he said. “Average people are who you are coaching. That’s what coaching high school is, I think, learning how to work with the average person. Then, once in a while, you get to work with the exceptional person and that’s fun.”
Despite the enormous success during his 20 seasons at Dundee, Roberts has experienced the same highs and lows as any other coach.
“Lots of highs and lows,” he said. “Lots of times of feeling great, then you get humbled. Then you start feeling great again and then humbled again.”
Roberts coached Dundee to a Division 4 championship in 2001 and Division 3 titles in 2007, 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2018. Last year’s team was ranked nationally and had 14 Individual Finals qualifiers.
“Every one of those (championships) is like the best day of my life,” Roberts said. “Every time. It’s such a great feeling in the end that it all came together, and everything did work, and you did get it all done. A lot of things have to go right. It’s not easy.”
Roberts, 50, isn’t planning on stepping away from coaching any time soon. He’s also not stopping to think about reaching 500 career wins any time soon. He’d rather think about that high school wrestler who missed out on winning a state championship – but has had a remarkable impact on so many others.
“That’s for when you are done (coaching),” he said. “Right now, I’m still trying to get better and trying to work on my weaknesses as a coach and always seeking out how I can be better at this. When you’re done is when you get to reflect.”
Doug Donnelly has served as a sports and news reporter and city editor over 25 years, writing for the Daily Chief-Union in Upper Sandusky, Ohio from 1992-1995, the Monroe Evening News from 1995-2012 and the Adrian Daily Telegram since 2013. He's also written a book on high school basketball in Monroe County and compiles record books for various schools in southeast Michigan. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.
PHOTO: Dundee wrestling coach Tim Roberts and his team celebrate one of the many successful moments during his two decades leading the program. (Photo by David Schankin.)
Freeland Establishing Itself as Annual Contender, Filling Schedule with More
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
December 10, 2025
Two years ago, Freeland was the upstart at the Division 2 Team Wrestling Finals.
While seeded second, the Falcons were making just their third appearance at the event, and advanced to the title match, where they lost to Lowell.
Now, following a second-straight trip to the Quarterfinals and with the No. 3 ranking attached to it early this season, Freeland is looked at much differently.
“I feel like everyone wants to be an underdog against us,” junior Colton Cunningham said. “We’re definitely more known now. We aren’t just a wrestling team, we’re here to win.”
The Falcons, who lost two individual finalists but returned the majority of their team from a year ago, are 7-0 to start the season, with a win over No. 9 North Branch.
The toughest stretch of their season is coming up, though, and the fact they’ve been able to schedule what they have might be the biggest sign of their rise.
On Dec. 20, Freeland will host a team tournament featuring multiple ranked opponents. Among them are Division 2’s Nos. 1 and 2 teams, Lowell and Three Rivers.
“The big guys want to come to us now,” Cunningham said.
The meet will serve as an early measuring stick for the teams, and could be a large decider of seeding as Freeland and Three Rivers try to chase down Lowell, which has won 12 straight titles in Division 2.
“I think that we can show everyone where we’re at, but we can also find out where we’re at this year,” Freeland senior Easton Rosebush said. “We have kind of a freshman-heavy team, but a lot of them are at a super high level already. It can be a motivator, like ‘Wow, we did this well.’ Or, ‘Wow, we have this far to go.’”
The learning where they are part is what Freeland coach Jon Rosebush is most focused on. He said he’s beefed up the Falcons’ schedule to make sure they’re ready for February.
“I think we’ll see 11 state-ranked teams before the first of the year,” Jon Rosebush said. “That’s what I’ve always preached, we have to start getting after the toughest competition and challenging these guys. Otherwise, come the postseason, we’re not going to be prepared. It’s hard, because you have to be on your game all the time, and if you’re not on your game all the time, you’re probably going to take a pounding. But we don’t look at our wins and losses; all it is is preparation for that postseason.”
Rosebush added that his athletes have bought into that mentality, and it doesn’t appear as if it was a hard sell.
“I just love the competition,” Freeland senior Zack Clark said. “I feel like in football that was where we struggled, where we didn’t have many good teams to play. But I feel like in wrestling, we always push for good competition. It makes you get on that level. I’m excited to see Lowell earlier in the season.”
Having a dynasty like Lowell sitting on top of your division can be tough. The Red Arrows are on a historic run, and with three more titles would tie a state record for consecutive Finals titles in any sport.
But having been in a Final and seen Lowell up close didn’t demoralize the Falcons – it motivated them.
“When we wrestled them in the Finals, we took five matches against them,” Rosebush said. “We get a couple more matches out of it and it’s 7-7. We’re not that far off with them. Knowing that, knowing where our kids are at, we’re trying to get up to that level.
“Lowell has such a good program over there. They have a community that supports them 100 percent. They have an athletic department that supports them 100 percent. We’re trying to get there. It’s more motivation for us and drives us as coaches.”
That drove Freeland back to the 2025 Finals, as the Falcons won back-to-back Regional titles for the first time. In fact, their 2024 and 2025 Quarterfinal runs doubled the number of appearances in program history (2004 and 2021).
But the 2025 run ended in that Quarterfinal with a loss against eventual finalist Fowlerville. It was a devastating defeat for the Falcons, but once again they found a way to turn that into fuel.
“It was a disappointment and devastating because we knew we won’t be able to wrestle again with our seniors we had that year,” Freeland sophomore Preston Wetherell said. “But there was definitely a fire feeling that makes you want to come back and work harder in the summer. Come back and just keep up that intensity.”
Freeland graduated its two most successful wrestlers, as Fabian Facundo and Buddy Leonard wrapped up their seasons and careers in the Division 2 Individual Finals at Ford Field. Facundo was the champion at 175 pounds, while Leonard was runner-up at 144.
Facundo became the program’s fourth champion, and first since 2004. The previous two won in 1966.
“He was my friend, and I was really proud of him,” said Freeland senior Brigham Smith, who had also qualified for the Individual Finals. “I was excited. But it also showed me the possibilities of what I could do if I put my mind to it.”
Smith is one of three current Freeland wrestlers who has competed at the Individual Finals. Easton Rosebush is a two-time qualifier (2023 and 2024), having placed eighth at 106 as a sophomore. Senior Ella Mae Klopf qualified in the Girls Division as a freshman.
There is plenty of postseason experience on the roster, though, thanks to two years of competing at Team Finals.
That’s trickling down to the group of talented underclassmen who already had plenty of belief, having watched their program ascend to new heights.
“Personally, for me, it’s great,” Freeland freshman Wyatt Brewer said. “I get to wrestle with a lot of great wrestlers who are able to teach me a lot of things. They give us confidence and support us, so we don’t have as much pressure and can just wrestle.”
Paul Costanzo served as a sportswriter at The Port Huron Times Herald from 2006-15, including three years as lead sportswriter, and prior to that as sports editor at the Hillsdale Daily News from 2005-06. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Genesee, Lapeer, St. Clair, Sanilac, Huron, Tuscola, Saginaw, Bay, Arenac, Midland and Gladwin counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Freeland’s Brigham Smith, right, wrestles a Fowlerville opponent during last season’s Division 2 Quarterfinal. (Middle) Easton Rosebush, top, works to roll over his Gladiators opponent. (Click for more from High School Sports Scene.)