The most successful head coach in the history of the UW-Oshkosh men’s wrestling program,
Terry Barth trained student-athletes to 10 All-America performances and 17 conference titles during a 13-year career from 1979 to 1991.
Barth’s top award winner was
Rick Gruber, a 1994 UW-Oshkosh Hall of Fame inductee. Gruber earned four All-America decorations and captured four WIAC titles while wrestling for the Titans from 1981 to 1984. Barth also coached 2017 UW-Oshkosh Hall of Fame inductee
Duane Fischer to three WIAC titles and both Tim Potratz and Rich Tomaszewski to two each.
In team competition, Barth led his 1982 UW-Oshkosh squad to the first and only WIAC championship in program history. He also guided the Titans to second place at the conference championship in 1983 and third place in 1986.
Nationally, Barth coached UW-Oshkosh to sixth place at the NCAA Division III Championship in 1982 and 21st place in both 1983 and 1986. He also led the Titans to 13th-place at the 1979 NAIA Championship.
During his first season at UW-Oshkosh, Barth coached Stan Kellenberger and Joel Stolzman to All-America honors at the 1979 NAIA Championship. Stolzman finished second at 142 pounds and Kellenberger fourth at 134 to lead the Titans to a 13th place national finish for the third time in five years.
The 1982 season was one to remember for Barth and the Titans as they compiled a 7-1 dual record, scored 74.25 points to win the WIAC title and tallied 46 points to place sixth at the NCAA Championship. Gruber, Tomaszewski and Sean McCarthy each earned conference titles while collecting All-America awards at the national meet. UW-Oshkosh’s NCAA finish that season remains as the highest in program history.
The following year, UW-Oshkosh finished second at the WIAC and 21st at the NCAA championships. Gruber, Potratz and Tomaszewski each won conference titles while Gruber and Tomaszewski captured All-America awards.
Barth coached two major WIAC award winners during his tenure at UW-Oshkosh, Gruber who was named the Wrestler of the Meet at the 1984 Championship and Jeff Matczak who was honored as the 1991 Wrestling Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
Barth joined the UW-Oshkosh faculty in 1978 and was as an instructor in the Health, Physical Education & Recreation Department until 1990.
Barth also served UW-Oshkosh as an assistant football coach from 1978 to 1988 and assistant baseball coach from 1979 to 1981. During his three seasons as an assistant baseball coach the Titans compiled a 74-21 record while winning a WIAC title each season and advancing to the NCAA Division III World Series twice.
Barth remained involved with the UW-Oshkosh baseball program after leaving the dugout by serving as the local director for the NCAA Midwest Regional the Titans hosted from 1982 to 1990. He also was the local regional director for NCAA wrestling events hosted by UW-Oshkosh in 1985, 1987 and 1989.
Barth was the director of UW-Oshkosh’s Intramural Sports & Recreation Department from 1990 to his retirement in 2007. During that time, Barth continued to support UW-Oshkosh athletics by regularly hiring student-athletes for employment positions.
Barth was a member of numerous committees at UW-Oshkosh, including the Athletics Hall of Fame Selection Committee and the Student Recreation & Wellness Center Building Committee.
A graduate of Platteville High School, Barth attended UW-Platteville and was a four-year starter in football from 1965 to 1968. He received All-WIAC First Team honors in 1968 while helping the Pioneers to a share of the league championship.
Barth received his bachelor’s degree from UW-Platteville in 1969 and master’s degree from Winona State University (Minn.) in 1971.
After retiring from UW-Oshkosh, Barth spent over a decade as a substitute teacher in the Wild Rose School District.
Barth lives in Wild Rose with his wife Pam. They are the parents of sons Brian and Jason and grandparents of four.
Barth’s father, John, was inducted into the WIAC Hall of Fame in 2015 after a long distinguished administrative and coaching career at UW-Platteville.
