Wrestlers cope with suicide of coach

Following the suicide of Caribou High School’s wrestling coach on Monday, assistant wrestling coach Jason York will take over indefinitely as the team struggles to understand why coach Leigh Cousins killed his wife and two children, then set fire to their home and turned the gun on himself.

Monday’s wrestling practice was canceled and grief counselors were called in to be available for students. Caribou athletic director Dwight Hunter said some of the wrestlers did talk to counselors and some just went home after school.

“They are taking this pretty hard,” Hunter said. “We just don’t understand why this happened. It was out of Leigh’s character.”

Cousins was in his eighth season as the Caribou coach and had wrestled for the Vikings in the 132-pound class from 1979-83. He was not a staff member at the high school but ran a wood-chipping operation for Aroostook Valley Electric Co., a wood-to-energy plant in Fort Fairfield.

Cousins also ran a middle school wrestling program in Caribou.

The team returned to practice Tuesday. Hunter and principal Dave Ouellette said they met with York and the team captains Monday about whether to participate in the Gardiner Invitational Saturday at Gardiner High School. As of Tuesday afternoon, the squad has decided to compete.

“We’re going to play everything by ear, but we want to keep things as normal as possible,” Hunter said Monday. “That’s what the experts say is the best thing to do and we feel like that’s what Leigh would have wanted.”

Hunter said he received a call on Monday from a former Caribou wrestler now living in Belfast who had heard about Cousins’ death. The wrestler told Hunter that Cousins had a “very positive effect” on his life.

“[Cousins] was well-liked,” Hunter said. “He had a good rapport with the kids and his fellow coaches even though he was a good disciplinarian.”

York assisted coach Carl Grant last season, when Hunter said Cousins took a year off from coaching to spend more time with his family. York wrestled for Boston University and Bonny Eagle High School of West Buxton.

He also works as a commercial producer at WHEM-TV, the CBS affiliate in Presque Isle.