Zephyrhills’ wrestling program will be headed by former Springstead wrestler Joe Felice.

Felice replaces Troy Hochstetler, who resigned in February after three years as the head coach and nearly a decade as an assistant.

“I am very excited about bringing Coach Felice onboard to guide the Bulldogs wrestling program,” Zephyrhills principal Steve Van Gorden said in a press release. “I am confident that you will see an exciting style of wrestling and a well-rounded student athlete coming out of the program.”

Felice, 34, was a varsity wrestler for Bob Levija during his four years at Springstead. In that time, he collected a district title and a regional runner up finish in addition to qualifying for the state tournament, all in 1993. He was also inducted into Springstead’s Wrestling Hall of Fame.

Felice said his first line of business is to beat the halls of Zephyrhills to add more depth to the Bulldogs wrestling roster. He also wants heavy parent support with the program.

One way to achieve that goal is offseason wrestling.

“I think most of the successful programs throughout the United States have the same formula,” said Felice, who was honorably discharged from the Navy three years ago following a 13 year Naval career. “The biggest part of that formula is hard work and wrestling year round. They’ve all created a program that wrestles year round in freestyle, Greco-Roman and folkstyle and we need to start making the Zephyrhills program the same way.

“We need to work with the elementary schools and middle schools and get the young kids interested in wrestling and moving up into the high school level.”

In the end, he wants Zephyrhills to have a distinct style of wrestling.

“We’re going to look to change the Bulldogs wrestling style into an aggressive style and get after people,” Felice said.