Takedown Report

College Coaching News – # 7

TDR Editor’s Notes ; Included are interviews of college coaches and notices of changes in coaching positions at new programs and at existing programs.
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1 } – Coach Profile: Joe Galante
Every Wednesday, TCNJ Athletics will profile a coach from one of its programs. Today, its head wrestling coach Joe Galante ’07. Galante will be entering his 10^th season in 2020-21. He has produced a career record of 120-57 in dual matches and has led the Lions to three top-10 finishes at the NCAA Division III Championships. The 2019 NCAA Mideast Regional Coach of the Year and 2020 NWCA Mideast Regional Coach of the Year, Galante has coached 20 All-Americans, including two NCAA Champions. In 2020, he coached TCNJ to its first ever NCAA Regional Championship.
You are now entering your 10^th season as head coach at TCNJ following your wrestling career at the College. What is it about TCNJ that keeps you coming back year after year?
TCNJ is a healthy environment filled with motivated individuals who are focused on improvement and success. I love being a part of that culture and helping to make it stronger.
You have coached three teams to national top-10 finishes, athletes to 20 All-America honors, and two National Champions. What has been the key to that success? … rest of story at _{https://tcnjathletics.com/news/2020/11/4/wrestling-coach-profile-joe-galante.aspx?mc_cid=68c338ad78&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b}

2 } – Tyson Thivierge wants to bring another NAIA championship back to Montana
Tyson Thivierge wants Montana State-Northern back on top. The Northern Lights head coach dives into pronouncing his last name, building a championship culture, and loyal fans who cheered against his team when they faced Iowa. … rest of story at _{https://www.trackwrestling.com/PortalPlayer.jsp?TIM=1604979663796&twSessionId=rfnmaghwfh&videoId=874986135&mc_cid=799fb85b6c&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b}

3 } – MEISTER TABBED AS NEW FRIENDS UNIVERSITY MEN’S AND WOMEN’S WRESTLING COACH
WICHITA, Kan. – Friends University Director of Athletics Dr. Rob Ramseyer has announced the hiring of Aaron Meister as the head coach of the newly added men’s and wrestling programs. “We feel lucky to attract a coach with the experience of starting and running a successful wrestling program,” Ramseyer said.  “Aaron brings a great deal of experience to the role and Christian higher education. We are confident he will build a quality program that will be successful in being competitive but also producing students who are engaged and will graduate.  We are excited to welcome him and his wife Jill back to Kansas.”
Meister is indeed familiar with Kansas after attending Holton High School, Labette County Community College and then graduating from Fort Hays State University. He comes to Friends after helping to jumpstart the men’s and women’s wrestling programs as an assistant coach for four seasons at Wayland Baptist University (WBU) in Plainview, Texas. He then took the reins of the program after head coach legendary head coach Johnny Cobb retired prior to the 2014-15 season.
Meister’s decorated coaching career includes coaching a World Champion, Tamyra Mensah-Stock, four World medalists, 13 National Champions, 96 All-Americans, and the 2019 NAIA Women’s Dual Champions. Among those All-Americans is an Olympic Trials champion, two World Team Trials champions, three U.S. Open champions, a University World runner-up, and 25 of those individuals are either World or Olympic Trials qualifiers. … rest of story at _{https://www.friendsathletics.com/article/3536?mc_cid=b4122c2e60&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b}

4 } – Get to Know: Head Assistant Wrestling Coach Ross Needham
La Crosse, Wis. – UW-La Crosse Intercollegiate Athletics is giving fans an opportunity to get to know its staff during the 2020-21 season.  We thank members of the Eagles’ staff for participating.  Today’s staff member is UWL Head Assistant Wrestling Coach Ross Needham. 
Needham is in his 11th season as an assistant wrestling coach at UWL in 2020-21, including his ninth as the head assistant coach.  He also serves as an instructor in the exercise sport science department. Needham was named the 2014-15 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Midwest Region Assistant Coach of the Year after helping lead UWL to a third-place finish in the regional championship.  The Eagles advanced five wrestlers to the NCAA Division III Championships with two earning regional titles.  UWL has finished in the top-eight four years at the national championships in Needham’s tenure, placing third in 2010-11 and fourth in 2011-12 and 2012-13. The Eagles were sixth in 2015-16, seventh in 2017-18 and eighth in 2014-15.  A total of 34 wrestlers have earned NCAA III All-America honors in the last 10 seasons. … rest of story at _{https://uwlathletics.com/news/2020/11/12/get-to-know-head-assistant-wrestling-coach-ross-needham.aspx?mc_cid=b4122c2e60&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b}

5 } – Former Boxer Zach Binkerd Named Interim Men’s & Women’s Wrestling Coach
The Boxer wrestling program is now in the hands of former Pacific wrestler and former assistant coach Zach Binkerd as he’s officially been named interim Head men’s and women’s wrestling coach.  Binkerd knows first-hand how Pacific and the ability to compete in a sport you love at the college level can make a significant impact in one’s life. “I think some of the things that I learned as an athlete helped me in my professional career. The things that I learned in the classroom pushed me above my peers. I truly believe that Pacific University has a great education. I did both my undergrad and graduate work here, and I came out of my graduate program feeling like a professional –  like I was ready to attack the world. I owe that a lot to the education that I received at Pacific and the culture that was created through the wrestling program,” said Binkerd. Athletic Director Keith Buckley is excited to have Binkerd lead the way for the Boxer wrestling program moving forward.  “Coach Binkerd has a tremendous connection to the Boxer wrestling community and is eager … rest of story at _{https://goboxers.com/news/2020/11/12/former-boxer-zach-binkerd-named-interim-mens-womens-wrestling-coach.aspx?mc_cid=b4122c2e60&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b}

6 } – Celso “Tony” DeAnda Named NMU Women’s Wrestling Head Coach
MARQUETTE, Mich. – Northern Michigan University has selected Celso “Tony” DeAnda to be the first women’s wrestling coach in program history.  “Members of the search committee and others involved in the search process were impressed with Tony’s detailed plan for building NMU women’s wrestling into a nationally competitive program,” said Director of Athletics Forrest Karr. “Tony has contributed significantly to the growth of the sport and his considerable experience will benefit NMU student-athletes going forward.” DeAnda comes to NMU after starting the women’s wrestling program at Presbyterian College in Clinton, South Carolina, … rest of story at _{https://nmuwildcats.com/sports/wwrest/2020-21/releases/20201014i0izpu?mc_cid=1debff05aa&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b}

7 } – Get to Know: Head Men’s Wrestling Coach Ian Clark
ELMIRA, N.Y. — A year ago, Elmira College’s Associate Vice President of Athletics, Renee Carlineo, announced that the Soaring Eagles would return to the mats for the first time since the 1970s with the re-introduction of men’s wrestling. Two months later, former SUNY Cortland Red Dragon and Oswego State assistant coach, Ian Clark, was appointed the team’s new head coach. Originally from Evan Mills, New York – a small North Country village located just outside Fort Drum – Clark won a Section III Class A championship as a heavyweight at Indian River High School during his senior year. That season, he narrowly missed out on a berth in the state tournament as the Section III runner-up in the large school division. Clark went on to study at nearby Jefferson Community College, before finishing his collegiate career at SUNY Cortland, where he earned a degree in Business Economics in 2011. No stranger to working with young programs, Clark’s most recent coaching stint saw him play a valuable role in reviving the men’s wrestling team at Division III Wilmington College in Wilmington, Ohio. … rest of story at _{https://athletics.elmira.edu/news/2020/10/6/get-to-know-head-mens-wrestling-coach-ian-clark.aspx?mc_cid=aeabd832c4&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b}

8 } – New Bees coach welcomes opportunity
Bo Bettinson embraces the uniqueness of the opportunity. Named Monday as the head coach for the new St. Ambrose wrestling program that will begin competition during the 2021-22 school year, Bettinson welcomes the chance to build a program from the ground up. “This is an opportunity that doesn’t come around very often and it’s both a little scary and yet very exciting at the same time,’’ said Bettinson, a four-time NAIA national qualifier at Waldorf who has worked since 2017 as an assistant coach at Montana State-Northern. “I’m looking forward to building a program, bringing in guys who value their grades, have a great work ethic and believe in a family culture. Those are the things that we want St. Ambrose wrestling to be about.’’ A Reno, Nevada, native, Bettinson has spent six years in Iowa, wrestling and coaching at Waldorf where he was a four-year team captain and won 105 matches during his career at 125 pounds and worked as a graduate assistant coach from 2015-17. … rest of story at _{https://qctimes.com/sports/college/wrestling/new-bees-coach-welcomes-opportunity/article_9269ffe1-7e64-539b-b059-7d157e460df9.html?mc_cid=2e944b01db&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b}

9} – Twin coaches Anthony and Gennaro Bonaventura talk D3 wrestling, podcasting and coaching #InternationalPodcastDay
Twin brothers and Division III wrestling coaches Anthony and Gennaro Bonaventura are up next on Short Time. The pair host the D3 Nation Podcast, which focuses on, you guessed it, Division III wrestling. Anthony is a coach at Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey, while Gennaro is an assistant at their alma mater of Waynesburg. This interview was part of the #InternationalPodcastDay marathon live stream from Mat Talk Online … rest of story at _{https://www.mattalkonline.com/podcast/short-time/twin-coaches-anthony-and-gennaro-bonaventura-talk-d3-wrestling-podcasting-and-coaching-internationalpodcastday/?mc_cid=9d92b7854a&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b}

10 } – Spotlight: Joe Jamison
Each week our Spotlight Series will focus on a coach or staff member to showcase the incredible talent we have at Ursinus. This week’s subject is wrestling coach Joe Jamison, who is entering his second season with the program. In his debut campaign, Jamison led the Bears to a fourth-place finish at the Centennial Conference championships, where four of his wrestlers reached the finals of their respective weight classes.
What drew you to Ursinus, and what makes Ursinus unique?
The community and support at Ursinus is second to none. It’s an incredibly welcoming place that prides itself on helping others succeed and develop into who they want to become.
What’s the best piece of advice, coaching or otherwise, you’ve ever received?
The last thing my dad ever told me was to “never stop working hard.” From a coaching perspective, it’s that I’m an educator, and wrestling is what I’m teaching. The student-athletes’ well-being and personal development is the goal. … rest of story at _{https://ursinus.prestosports.com/general/2020-21/releases/20201005du9s5z?mc_cid=bbb5286d21&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b}

December 3, 2020 - Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized