Slone helped put Mavs on the map
Matt Slone
Slone may be giving up the reins of the program, but he’s not going anywhere.
“I’m not going to be too far away,” said Slone, who will remain an assistant football coach at the school. “The one thing that I’m going to miss is seeing the guys and girls grow every day.
“I’m going to miss watching the guys and girls get better and better every day, and I’m going to miss seeing them grow as young people and become excellent young men and women. I’m going to miss watching the kids grow as people.
“But the program is in a good place. We’ve made it to the state duals tournament, and we’ve had state champions.”
The Mavericks have won state sectional matches to qualify for the state tournament, and Anderson County has sent multiple wrestlers to the state championships. Many of those grapplers have returned home with state medals and state titles.
Slone mentored four state champions during his tenure as the Mavericks’ wrestling coach. The first was Stone Cummins in 2021. Josh Bingham won a state championship in 2025.
Anderson County had two state champions last season, as Zed Hulet and Deameion Leavell both left the Midstate with state titles in 2026.
Cummins was the Class AAA champion in the 285-pound weight class. Bingham won the Class A title at 215 pounds. Hulet claimed the Class A championship at 138 pounds last season, and Leavell won at 175 in 2026 after finishing third at Bearden in 2025. Leavell also won a state championship at Clinton as a sophomore.
Four ACHS wrestlers have gone on, or will go on, to compete in college.
The latest wrestler to sign a National Letter of Intent is 2026 graduate Hayden Harrell, who finished fourth in the 144-pound weight class at the TSSAA State Championships in Franklin last season.
But the early days were tough for Slone, who started the program essentially from scratch. At first, he tried to go it alone, and the program struggled.
“When I first started, I tried to do it without a lot of support, and we had some good wrestlers, but we just didn’t have a lot of them,” Slone said. “We just didn’t have enough.”
Slone credited the support of coaches and local wrestling advocates for helping transform Anderson County into a consistent contender. Among those who played key roles were Clint Wolfley, Shane Matchette and Chris Baldwin.
That foundation helped produce state champions, state medalists and college wrestlers while establishing a culture that Slone believes will continue long after his departure.
