CHRISTIANSBURG -- The date was April 14, 2006. It was the day Virginia Tech announced it had hired Kevin Dresser as its new wrestling coach.

Five minutes down the road from Dresser's introductory news conference, more than a few people at Christiansburg High School had to wonder if the school's powerful wrestling program had possibly been flipped on its backside.

For many of the Blue Demons' vast legion of followers, it was not a happy day. They had lost the man who had taken the program from nowhere to somewhere fast, leading the school to three straight runner-up finishes in the state before ripping off five consecutive Group AA titles.

If anyone knew the deal, it was Daryl Weber. He had been Dresser's right-hand man for seven years at Christiansburg.

"In high school wrestling in this state, Kevin Dresser is like God. So I understood what I was getting into. At first, I heard some stuff ... never to my face, but I heard it," said Weber, who can laugh now.

They say following a legend is tough. Well, so far, Weber has flat pinned that one.

C-burg's proud program doesn't appear to have missed a beat since Dresser's exodus to Tech 23 months ago. Last year, in Weber's first season as the head man, the Blue Demons captured a sixth straight state title. They are favored to extend their run to seven in a row this weekend at Salem Civic Center.

Dresser, whose task now is to transform Tech into a mat power, is not surprised that the good times continue to roll at his old high school.

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Christiansburg wrestlers practice to repeat as state high school champs.

"Daryl has done a great job. I had no doubts that the program would remain strong," said Dresser, who led Grundy High to eight straight Group AA titles from 1988-96 before going to Christiansburg.

"It was really good timing. For me, I felt like I had done about everything I could do at that level. And Daryl was champing at the bit. He was contemplating about [being an assistant] for one more year. As it all worked out, the timing couldn't have been any better for both of us."

Weber agrees.

"I had been with Kevin for seven years, and for a couple of years, I was really itching for my own thing," said Weber, 34. "And he knew that. I had an itch I needed to scratch and so did he. It kind of just fell into both of our laps. I think both of us were excited about another challenge."

Weber knew there was only one way to make all the pilgrims of Blue Demon Wrestling Nation forget about the loss of the popular Dresser. C-burg had to win, and it had to continue to win big.

It's called domination. He knew he was in somewhat of a lose-lose situation. The program had to continue to dominate. Anything less, and he would be judged as coming up short.

"I've seen plenty of people take over successful programs and have it backfire on them," Weber said. "Here, I knew what the situation would be. If you keep on winning, you don't get much credit. It's like 'oh, yeah, it was already going.' And if you lose, then you're a loser!

"So I had to battle. I knew what I had to do to try and keep this thing rolling and try to keep going to another level, and I had to keep my blinders on and do what I knew what was best. Because there was a lot of criticism coming from within our own program even at the time towards me, and I couldn't let other people's opinions or their thoughts about how things should be done influence what I thought. Because bottom line, win or lose, I was getting the blame."

None of the program's ardent fans should be disappointed with Weber's job performance so far. This year, Weber has taken a team that has 10 new frontliners in the 14 weight classes and continued to hammer the opposition. The Blue Demons lost three wrestlers who moved out of the area, including two 2007 state champions.

"And in everybody's eyes they thought, 'well, here they go, they're crumbling now,'" Weber said. "And I just kept track. The kids kept believing and went from zero to hero this year. We went from supposedly crumbling and not being to do anything to winning the Virginia Duals for the first time and winning the [River Ridge] district and region. And now we've got one more piece of the puzzle to do. Otherwise, it's still a failure.

"But that's what has made this year special, because ... we were kind of starting from scratch. So to me and my other coaches, and parents and stuff, this year has proven that Daryl Weber and Christiansburg wrestling isn't a flash in the pan. We're here to stay. We're here to stay and we're going to continue to get better. And it's not all me. The kids do it."

Speaking of the kids, they won't tell you a bad word about Weber.

Well, there a few who say the new boss is little tougher than the old one.

"Both coaches, Coach Weber and Coach Dresser, are a lot alike," said Andrew Robertson, the Demons' junior 119-pounder. "The last year or two that Dresser was there, Weber was our main techniques guy, while Dresser was more the business guy.

"Weber pushes us a lot harder. He expects a lot more of us. We knew things were going to be harder under Weber and they have been. We're not complaining, though."

Nor should anyone else involved with C-burg wrestling. Thus far, Weber has been just as good as Dresser was. No real shocker, considering it was Dresser who hired Weber in 2000.

Talk about similar pedigrees. Both were born in small towns in Iowa and both went on to become All-Americans and NCAA champions for the University of Iowa's tradition-rich wrestling program.

"I really didn't know Kevin before," said Weber, who was a three-time All-American at Iowa, winning the NCAA title at 167 as a senior in 1996. "He's an old man ... he graduated 10 years before me. We knew of each other. I was training for the 2000 Olympics and it didn't pan out. I was kind of in limbo, was looking for a job and Kevin called me up told me about the deal here.

"And about two weeks later, I put all my possessions, which wasn't much at the time, in the back of my [Ford] Explorer and drove to Virginia. And we hit it off. We had a lot in common. Both of us like to win and we're both hard workers."

Under Dresser and then Dresser/Weber, Christiansburg has become one of the nation's top wrestling factories, ranking among the country's finest high school programs.

"This is special ... even anywhere in the country," Weber said. "Oh, yeah, you mention Christiansburg in the wrestling community and there are people in Montana who will know what you're talking about."

Virginia works for Weber, though. He met his wife, Karen, a Giles native, here and the two were married in August 2004.

"She had never seen a wrestling match until she met me," said Weber, laughing.

So what's the guy do away from the mat? He likes to play golf at every chance.

Old mentor, Dresser, said Weber might be able to duplicate his Christiansburg teams' success, but can't touch him on the course.

"I'm not a very good golfer, but I'm better than he is," a snickering Dresser said. "I win the money. So I'm still 1-up on him, no matter what."