Chloe Burdette
Sports Editor
The new head coach for The College of Wooster Fighting Scots cheerleading squad, Don Stoll, has been waiting for this moment for years: be the head coach of a cheer squad with incredible potential, at the college he grew up following as a young boy.
As a Marshallville, Ohio native, the nearby College of Wooster has always played a huge role in his life. “I grew up in Marshallville and went to Smithville High School, so Wooster has always been in my life. I have always followed the Scots,” stated Stoll. While speaking on his excitement to coach at the College, he further added that, “I am very excited to be a part of The College of Wooster community. It is an honor to be a part of a college that has a rich academic and athletic tradition. I’m excited that Wooster has given me the chance to coach college cheerleading. I plan to take full advantage of this chance and build something great.”
Stoll is no rookie to the cheerleading world. He was a cheerleader for Ashland University while in college for three years and has spent the last eight years as the Chippewa High School cheerleading coach. While at Chippewa High School, he went to the State Championships and his team received a Nationals bid. Even earlier in his life, the sport of cheerleading was very familiar. Stoll said, “I come from a long line of cheerleaders. My aunt was a cheerleader, and my mom was a pom-pom girl. I also have two cousins who cheered in high school and have coached for many years.”
Stoll revealed that his coach at Ashland University and his high school experience were the ultimate reasons he wanted to coach his own team in the future. “I really started to like cheer in high school. I was voted [as having the] most school spirit. I then tried out my first-year at Ashland University. While at Ashland, I cheered my sophomore through my senior years. I had a great coach at Ashland and knew I wanted to coach someday. Because of these experiences, I have coached for a total of 20 years.”
Stoll is not a one-trick pony. Although he is extremely passionate about cheer, Stoll also values a well-rounded student with academic goals. Stoll is a second-grade teacher for Akron Public Schools and believes that education is important at any age. For his cheerleading squad at Wooster, Stoll says, “I have 12 hard-working girls. They want to be good and they show it every day at practice. I want my team to value academics. I want the team to have fun, enjoy the games, the competition and the discipline cheerleading brings.”
From the point of view of actual members of the squad, their attitudes are hopeful and promising. Bella Ilievski ’21 explained, “I’m really excited to have a new coach who has a lot of experience because he can really help us reach our potential. Most of us are still pretty new to cheer, so to get the opportunity to have a coach that can improve our skills and teach us new ones is beyond awesome and excites me as well as the whole squad. We’re looking forward to what this year is going to bring!”
Melissa Dods ’19 stated, “I am excited to be working with a new coach. He has a lot of experience taking teams to new levels and I can already see changes in the cheer team in just the past two weeks we’ve been working with him.”
The cheerleading squad at Wooster will definitely be striving to improve in the upcoming years.
Stoll has a few tricks up his sleeve to improve the performance of his squad at home and away appearances at football and basketball games. His plans for the squad include, “becoming more competitive and eventually going to college level competitions. We will be attending stunt camp in October, and we will participate in weekly gymnastics training. It takes time to build a quality program. We have a good start, and I have girls who want to do it,” said Stoll.
The College of Wooster is extremely eager to see the cheerleaders perform this year, and even more eager to welcome Don Stoll to the College community. Go Scots!