When you’re replacing a head coach who’s won 13 state championships and is in two halls of fame, you’d better find a proven commodity.
Wes Armbruster’s gold-chip stock as a head coach has been rising fast in the past two years after he’s guided the Festus girls to Class 4 state cross country championships in 2024 and 2025 and the school’s girls track and field team to a Class 4 state title last year.
In a closed portion of its March 26 meeting, the Festus R-6 Board of Education approved the hiring of Armbruster as the boys varsity head coach. Armbruster replaces Bryant Wright as the head coach. After leading the Tigers to their second straight second-place Class 4 state finish in November, Wright announced his retirement in December. He coached the Festus boys for 24 years and the Festus girls for 21 years. The Tiger boys won 11 state titles under Wright, including eight straight (2014-2021). He led the Tiger girls to state crowns in 2014 (co-champions with Ste. Genevieve) and 2017.
Wright was elected to the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2024 and was inducted into the Missouri Track and Cross Country Coaches Hall of Fame in 2019.
“He knows the sport, how to train the athletes,” Wright said of his long-time assistant, Armbruster. “His biggest attribute is he cares about them. He wants to continue the success at Festus. He’s a great coach, communicator. He knows the art of the sport. Sometimes you have to make the determination, setting up workouts, but the art of the sport is how do you manage that? How you understand your athletes and treat them like human beings?”
In preparation for hosting 44 high schools and over 80 boys and girls teams in the McCullough-Douglass track and field invitational on March 28, Armbruster showed up at Festus High at 4:30 a.m. Fifteen hours later after hundreds of some of the top athletes in the state had competed in 18 events – the javelin competition was held at Larry G. Crites Memorial Park – Armbruster finally got home to his family.
Armbruster is well aware that taking over such a high-profile program from a mentor and friend will only increase the strain on work-life balance. For awhile he didn’t think he’d get a chance to be the coach for the boys and girls because the school district is in favor of splitting the coaching duties between two people.
“If you’d asked me seven years ago, I’d said this was my dream, but when the decision was made it split it up, I wasn’t sure,” Armbruster said. “I haven’t spent a second of life thinking about replacing Bryant because the girls have needed the attention. With what’s happened in the last three years, getting the (boys) job and running the (McCullough-Douglass meet) it hit me at once. Sometime, I’ll sit down with Bryant to talk about things. I know the faces and names, but I haven’t trained them.”
The main name Armbruster will have to do without is two-time state champion Carson Driemeier, the senior leader of the Tigers, who’s signed to run at Iowa State University. Before he transforms into a Cyclone, Driemeier is still a Tiger for the next two months and is the defending state champion in the 1,600 and a favorite to win the 3,200 this May.
“Carson’s special,” Armbruster said. “Nobody’s going to argue and it was in full display at state (cross country). But people have thought before when a lot of our great runners have graduated, we might fall back, but we’ve always found a way to get someone to step up. My hope is the boys took Carson’s wisdom and experience to heart and not just put him on a pedestal. Part of the success of any male or female runner has had someone behind them as an example.”
Wright said just about the time his run of state titles began in 2009 he felt too much stress and was waking up at 3 a.m. prioritizing the next day’s events.
“I told myself, if I continue to feel this way, I’ve got to get out of it because it’s not worth it,” he said. “I can’t say this about every coach, but you spend a lot of time with your athletes, and I spend a lot of time thinking about my athletes. I might go on a three- or four-mile run and I’m thinking about how to help this kid help out the team. A lot of people don’t realize time spent away doesn’t mean you’re not coaching them.
“With Wes being the head coach, the thing about him, he wants to carry on the success because we’ve become so close as friends. Sometimes we’ll discuss that.”
Armbruster ended his week by taking his family to a St. Louis Cardinals game on Sunday. Come Monday, he’ll start preparing to coach two state hopeful cross country teams while he guides the girls track and field team toward a possible repeat.
“In the moment you don’t stop and think about it, it’s about what’s next,” Armbruster said. “I haven’t stopped to think about what’s happened, but it’s special. I’m surrounded by amazing people everywhere. The kids have to do the training and do the racing and it’s a lot of fun to be part of.”
Wright would like to get into promotional speaking and his book, “Built Wright” was published with co-author Mason Duchatschek in February. Wright and Duchatschek were cross country teammates. Wright’s book isn’t a look back at his career as head coach of the Tigers, but offers advice on leadership and building something that lasts, no matter if it’s in sports, business or life.
“We set it up so any reader could benefit from it, no matter what you do,” Wright said. “That was one of the things, one of my focuses was making leaders and the culture of cross country. How do you mold all of those people together? I felt our strengths were we all brought together different things we could share with each other.”