SLIPPERY ROCK — A little more than eight years ago, there were no wrestling mats. There were no red singlets with a Superman-shaped S on top of an R emblazoned on the front.

Some of the wrestlers didn't know how to put on the shoes. The medical kit was a cardboard box filled with bandages and rubbing alcohol, and Fred Powell's office was a broom closet at West Gym on the campus of Slippery Rock University.

A lot has changed since then for the Slippery Rock High wrestling program. A lot has changed for its venerable coach as well.

"We had no budget," Powell said, reflecting on the early days of the Rockets' program. "We had no mats. We had no equipment of any kind."

Powell started the program nearly nine years ago when his son,Liam, came home from school with a bunch of signatures on a petition to start a wrestling a team and a plan to get his dad to coach it.

Powell, 64, is now stepping away from the mat.

"I felt it was time for fresh blood," Powell said.

When it comes to wrestling, there isn't much that Powell hasn't accomplished.

He won a high school state championship as a wrestler in Virginia, an NCAA title at Lock Haven and is a member of five halls of fame.

Powell was a long-time coach at SRU before leaving that program in 1991.

In 1998, he found himself facing a different challenge in creating a high school program.

It wasn't easy.

His goal from Day 1 was to create a solid program, not just at the high school level, but at the junior high and middle school levels as well.

Powell also wanted a place his team could call home, and he got it this season when the Rockets moved into their wrestling room adjacent to the school's new gymnasium.

"We got a place our wrestlers can be proud of," Powell said. "I'm glad I was part of that."

The program also produced some memorable moments on the mat.

Jeff Becker and Liam Powell each placed third in their weight classes at the PIAA Class AA championships as seniors, and Liam Powell went to the state meet twice.

"When (Liam) made it to state in his second year, that was a real milestone," Fred Powell said.

The coach also remembers with fondness a different kind of milestone.

When four of his wrestlers were involved in an automobile accident early in the 2005 season, it devastated the team.

The most seriously injured of the group was senior Chelsea Fuller, who was in a coma for 18 days.

At the end of the season,Fuller came to a match, rose from her wheelchair and walked across the gym floor to accept a bouquet of flowers Powell had brought for her.

"That was one of my true highlights," Powell said. "HavingChelsea stand up and walk across that floor after those injuries and squeeze my hand, — it's somethingI will remember for a long time."

Powell said he knew before the season started that this was going to be his last. Everything he set out to accomplish for the program was in place, including a stable of young coaches like Dan Thompson, DerekDeGraaf, JasonCardillo, Ron Brendlinger and his son Liam in place to keep the program heading forward.

The Rockets never had a stellar dual meet season, but that was never Powell's goal.

"I told the guys it was never really about our dual meet record," Powell said. "Individuals were the priority. And we had some pretty good individuals."

Powell said he won't be a complete stranger to the program. Not one to shy away from jumping on the mat and grappling with his wrestlers during practice, he said he will make himself available to the new coach.

His wife Janet also was very involved in the program.

"I want to thank (former assistant coach) Bob Becker — he and I really carried the program in those early years — and my wife. She really supported me."