photo by: David Rodish/Journal-World

Melle Dye stands on the sideline during a Lawrence girls soccer game against Olathe West on Saturday, April 26, 2025, in Lawrence. Dye was hired as Free State's girls wrestling coach.

Free State hired Melle Dye as its girls wrestling coach, the school announced on April 17, as the program is set to split from a joint team with Lawrence High.

“I think it’s great that we’re splitting our program and becoming our own program,” Dye said. “Free State is in a good position with a lot of freshmen coming in from West (Middle School) and Southwest (Middle School).”

Dye has spent the last two years as an assistant coach for the combined Lawrence and Free State girls wrestling team. He has been the de facto Free State coach alongside Lawrence coach Carl Springer. Dye would represent the Firebirds in tournaments, particularly on the road when Free State and Lawrence were competing in different places.

A 2018 Lawrence graduate, Dye was a four-time state qualifier, two-time regional champion and one-time state placer. He wrestled and played soccer at Alderson Broaddus, a Division II school in West Virginia, before transferring to Ottawa to wrestle.

The Firebirds are losing Daijah Preston, one of their 2025 state qualifiers. Dye and Springer both credit Preston with building the wrestling team at Free State.

The other two state qualifiers, Delaney Earl and Mars Pierson, will return to lead a program with some exciting youth. Earl is the school’s first two-time state qualifier.

“It’ll be a young group next year — we only have two seniors,” Dye said. “I think they’ll be good at leading this young group. We’ll have a big group of freshmen coming in, and it’ll be good for them to get some leadership for those two girls.”

Not only do those two bring wrestling success and experience, but they also have experience playing for Dye. They understand the expectations and coaching style that Dye brings.

“With me being there for a while, they kind of know what I want,” Dye said. “It’s another kind of leadership that extends from me to them, and they know what I expect from the girls, and they can help set that with the girls.”

Of the other returning girls, Dye said that the majority only wrestle, which has helped them stay focused on the sport during the summer. Dye said the team has been “locked in” and is “bought into the culture” so far.

The Firebirds hope to continue building the program that was a one-wrestler team just a few seasons ago. In the state tournament in February, the Firebirds scored 9.0 points and tied for 26th out of 34 teams. In the 6A West regional, the Firebirds scored 33.0 points and placed 13th of 18 teams.

“I just preach to the girls to take it one step at a time,” Dye said. “I’m not too honed in on winning every tournament. I think our goal is the postseason, late February, to peak with the girls. It’s just getting better each day and taking it step by step.”

Dye is also an assistant coach with the Lawrence boys and girls soccer teams and said he’s unsure whether he’ll continue his role as assistant coach with the soccer programs while handling the head coaching job for Free State girls wrestling.