Possibly the greatest small high school coach ever, in the state of Minnesota. In 2008 Bill Sutter retired from coaching after 39 years of coaching at Goodhue High School. Coach Sutter still remains active in coaching by volunteering with the Junior High and Elementary wrestling programs at Goodhue. Twelve Goodhue teams qualified for state under Sutter, with two winning state titles in l980 and 2001. He coached five state champions, including his son Brian, in l991. Sutter still ranks second all-time in career coaching victories in Minnesota with a 760-181-8 career record. Eighty seven wrestlers qualified for the state tournament under Sutter. His teams won 25 conference titles. Sutter was honored as Region/Section coach of the year twelve times. He was and is the only coach in Minnesota high school wrestling history to be honored three times as state coach of the year in l980, l983 and l994. Sutter was inducted into the Dave Bartelma Minnesota Coaches Hall of Fame in l988. He was inducted into the Mayo Civic Center Region One Hall of Fame in 2007. He has also been awarded the MWCA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008, The Rochester Amateur Sports Commission Coaches Distinguished Service Award in 2008, and he was the National Wrestling Coaches Association Scholastic Division Region 5 "Coach of the Year" in 2001-2002 and Wrestling USA Magazine's 2006 State "Man of the Year." Sutter, a Mankato native attended Mankato State College when he wrestled for just one year. When he graduated he accepted the head coaching and teaching position at Goodhue. Both his wife, Kris, and he interviewed at Goodhue and were hired the same day for the l969-70 school year. Bill taught physical education and computer classes. Kris taught German and Spanish. Both are now retired. Sutter's goal was always to turn the boys in to competitive wrestlers and at the same time have them conduct themselves as the fine young men they were. Another trait of Sutter's was his quiet demeanor at mat side. He was always there to help them put on their t-shirts and warm-up tops when they had fi nished their matches. In 39 years Goodhue did not have a losing season or an unsportsmanlike warning or penalty called against the team or coaches. As stated by Brad Morgan, Dover-Eyota wrestling coach, "I have a lot of respect for Bill Sutter. I love the way his teams conduct themselves with such class." Ben Pherson, sportswriter for the Post-Bulletin in Rochester says "when talking to people connected with Sutter, the words most commonly used to describe him were "Class Act." Pherson said, "He simply asked his kids to give 100 percent, and the kids received at least that much from their coach and mentor." Pherson says, "It's safe to say, Minnesota will not see another Bill Sutter." Minnesota wrestling legend Spencer Yohe says, "I've had the opportunity to know coach Sutter as a friend, coach, coaching colleague and a business customer for 37 years. He has been a tremendous role model and mentor to us younger coaches. Webster would define 'class' this way: Please see Bill Sutter!" Finally, coach Sutter says his greatest complement is when one of his former or present day wrestlers calls him Coach.