CEDAR FALLS - Cedar Falls wrestling coach Jay Llewellyn was told he won't be retained Friday by Cedar Falls school officials.

Llewellyn just completed his ninth season as head coach of the Tigers, coaching Michael Kelly to the 145-pound Class 3A state championship.

Llewellyn was told that he had lost his team's parents, that his program wasn't as competitive as those of the 1990s when Cedar Falls won three state championships, and it was the wish of an administration to have a coach who also was a teacher on staff.

Llewellyn works in the private sector.

"They were real wishy-washy in their reasons," said Llewellyn, who was a state champ for the Tigers in 1979. "We weren't as good as we'd have liked to have been, but we weren't terrible, either.

"It's pretty disappointing."

Llewellyn replaced Gene Doyle in 2000 after serving as one of Doyle's assistants since 1992.

He was also an assistant with the Tigers in '84-85 and '88-89, and spent three years as an assistant at Waverly-Shell Rock.

Llewellyn coached 24 state placewinners at Cedar Falls and two champs. Nick Beuter was first at 130 in 2003, in addition to Kelly's victory in February.

Twice the Tigers had five state placewinners at the state tournament under Llewellyn, the first time in 2006 when Cedar Falls finished 12th overall, and again in 2008 when it finished seventh.

"I'll miss the kids the most," Llewellyn said. "I loved being involved with the kids, seeing them succeed and hurting with them when they lost.

"It keeps you younger. We had some success here and hopefully had a positive influence on the kids. I enjoyed what I did, and I wanted to see every kid succeed, get better."

Cedar Falls finished 18th at state this season with 29 points.

Contact Jim Nelson at (319) 291-1521 or jim.nelson@wcfcourier.com