May 18, 2024

Darrell Frain leaving for Riverside

By CARTER ECKL

Darrell Frain, left, goes to shake the hand of Kolby Hulett after a match. Frain will be departing as the Creston/O-M wrestling coach after 18 seasons at the helm. (CNA file)

Longtime Creston Panther coach Darrell Frain has taken a job as activites director and varsity football coach at Riverside High School in Oakland Wednesday as confirmed by Creston athletic director Jeff Bevins.

Frain is a Carson native and graduated from Carson-Macedonia High School before it joined with Oakland to become Riverside High School.

Frain was named the Creston/O-M wrestling coach in 2000-01 and will wrap up his 18-year career with a laundry list of accomplishments on his resume.

Among one of the biggest accomplishments was the Panther team qualifying for eight straight state dual team tournaments, a streak that ended this past season.

The Panther veteran received numerous awards during his tenure as head wrestling coach while leading Creston/O-M to Class 2A state traditional team titles in 2007 and 2016 and state dual team titles in 2007 and 2008.

The newest Riverside athletic director recorded over 300 dual wins in his time as Creston/O-M wrestling coach with his 300th win coming Jan. 5, 2017 over Kuemper Catholic.

As the wrestling coach, 31 Panthers reached the state championship match and 18 of them went on to carry the title.

Frain has served as assistant coach on the football team, boys soccer coach this past season, among other positions.

Frain was a recepient this past year of the Bob Siddens Iowa High School Coaching Excellence Award at the Iowa Wrestling Hall of Fame ceremony in Waterloo.