The sun had barely emerged over the clouds as the wrestling team began their workout.

“Our opponents are sleeping and we’re down here working,” junior Brandon Friedman said.

As sweat dripped down the pads along the walls, the wrestling team and Head Coach Jason Erwinski went through some techniques: sweep the leg, pull the head, release.

Moves like these are what made Erwinski ranked No. 8 nationally as a senior at Mt. Carmel in 1998, where he compiled a 40-0 record and secured the state championship.

One thing Erwinski said he learned as a wrestler was that a win is not enough if you know you could have put in a better effort.

  “[I have learned] to always [try to] improve … because the second you start to get satisfied, when you think you’ve reached the end goal, you better revise it because people are going to pass you up.

“Knowing the guys I wrestled with [in college] were, for all intents and purposes, the best in the country … [I was honored] they seemed to recognize something in me as captain,” Erwinski said.

After college, Erwinski stayed within the sport, coaching at Bremen, Tinley Park and then as an assistant at his alma mater, Mt. Carmel. When he received a call asking if he would like to coach at Glenbrook North, Erwinski said he could not turn it down.

“I enjoy a challenge of coaching in a new environment,” said Erwinski. “I enjoy being the head coach, so I think that’s what drew me to this school.”

Senior Toby Gardner said Erwinski brought a lot to the program, and the wrestlers were “all in” right away. One thing he brought was an everyday early morning offseason workout.

“When Erwinski came in he definitely brought with him a desire to win, a hard work ethic, to always go 100 percent,” said Gardner. “I think that all immediately rubbed off on us, and it made us better wrestlers.”

Right away, Gardner said he noticed Erwinski’s intense passion for the sport of wrestling.

“He cares about every wrestler,” said Gardner. “He wants us to succeed. … He gives us the tools and techniques, the mental and physical motivation to be successful.”

Erwinski said there are six pillars his program stands on: hard work, determination, sacrifice, responsibility, accountability and dedication. The coaching staff stresses not only to be the best wrestlers, but to apply the lessons they learn into their everyday lives.

“Something we stress to our kids is to get better everyday,” said Assistant Coach Blake Tomczak. “Do something everyday to be a better wrestler, better student and better person.”

Tomczak and Erwinski have a relationship dating back to when Tomczak was in high school and attended a summer wrestling program at Northwestern. There, Erwinski was his camp counselor.

“[Erwinski’s] got a level of dedication that I haven’t seen anyone match,” said Tomczak. “I’ve coached with a lot of different coaches from different areas, with different styles of wrestling, and he’s just so dedicated. His mind’s always on, how can this team improve, what can we do as coaches to improve our wrestlers, not only as athletes but as human beings.”