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As Hodge Trophy race takes shape, a reminder to fans of the award’s criteria, process

By Bryan Van Kley

With fans gearing up for another epic month of national championships, expect one of the closest races ever for the WIN Magazine/Culture House Dan Hodge Trophy.  As usual, there has been a lot of discussion over the off-season and during the season on who should win the 2025 Hodge. This is a great chance to explain how the process works.
Wrestling’s equivalent to the Heisman Trophy is awarded annually by the Dan Hodge Trophy Voting Committee to the most dominant wrestler. The committee, made up of all past Hodge winners, select national media, a retired college coach from each region, and a representative of each national wrestling organization will each vote based on four criteria: record, dominance/bonus-point percentage, quality of competition and sportsmanship. Taking them one at a time, here’s how the ASICS Race for the Hodge Trophy sets up going into the conference qualifiers. 
It’s likely going to take an undefeated record and a bonus-point percentage of above 90% or near that to win the Hodge. Five guys are front-runners going into the NCAA qualifiers: Penn State’s Mitchell Mesenbrink (22-0, 95.3% bonus-point percentage), Missouri’s Keegan O’Toole (16-0, 87.5%), Penn State’s Carter Starocci (21-0, 90.5%), UNI’s Parker Keckeisen (24-0, 87.5%) and Minnesota’s Gable Steveson (14-0, 92.9%).  
One interesting and important variable in the Hodge voting process is that each committee member gets one vote and they’re reminded of the four criteria each year (with the exception of multiple-time Hodge winners, who get one vote for each year they won the award.) The committee members submit their votes to WIN. In addition to those, the winner of the Fan Vote gets five first-place votes. Then, similar to the Heisman, whoever has the most votes from that process wins; it’s pretty simple and the first-place votes are released in the article each year stating who won the Hodge. 
In 2024, Aaron Brooks got 48 out of 59 first-place votes. From my perspective in casting my own ballot, I look at record first since the more times you wrestle, the more opportunities there are to get beat, and the more chances for opponents to keep the top guys from scoring bonus points, decreasing their final bonus-point percentage. 
There are likely a couple guys from this group of five, probably Mesenbrink and the likely winner of the Starocci-Keckeisen NCAA finals bout, who will be 26 or 27-0 and have bonus points in potentially all or all but one or two of their matches. … more at … https://www.win-magazine.com/2025/03/06/as-hodge-trophy-race-takes-shape-a-reminder-to-fans-of-the-awards-criteria-process/

March 18, 2025 Posted by | Uncategorized | , | Leave a comment

Wrestling community mourns death of legendary coach Pat Pecora

Sep. 8—The day Larry Hohman was headed to college when he was 18, his dad died. He walked into the office of Pitt-Johnstown wrestling coach Pat Pecora for guidance. Pecora instructed him to go home for a week to be with family, and he would take care of things. “On that day, coach became my father,” said Hohman, the Penn-Trafford wrestling coach. “He counseled me and made me the man, the father and the teacher I am today.”
Pecora, 70, died late Saturday night after a courageous battle with cancer. The legendary coach built Pitt-Johnstown into a national power and led them to more victories than any wrestling coach in history. The Mountain Cats won NCAA Division II national titles in 1996 and 1999. “What didn’t coach teach me?” Hohman said. “He was a father figure to all of us. Everyone who wrestled for him was family. He made us all better men.”
In 48 years as coach, Pecora produced 170 NCAA All-Americans and 15 national champions. … more at … https://lancasteronline.com/sports/olympics/wrestling-community-mourns-death-of-legendary-coach-pat-pecora/article_2df08c53-8de5-5b6f-9ba4-a22a30372d89.html

and
UPJ mourns the loss of our great Wrestling Coach and Athletics Director, Pat Pecora
FULL UNIVERSITY RELEASE
 COACH PAT PECORA TRIBUTE VIDEO
For nearly half a century, UPJ athletics excellence has been virtually synonymous with Pat Pecora. Coach Pecora became head coach of the Mountain Cat wrestling program in 1976 following a stellar wrestling career at West Liberty State (WV) College and also served as UPJ’s Athletic Director since 2008. Pecora held college wrestling’s all-time wins mark with 661. Coach Pecora led Pitt-Johnstown to a pair of NCAA Division II National Championships, 25 NCAA Regional titles, and eight straight Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Championships. In 1996 and 1999, his teams captured the NCAA Division II National Championship, the first and second in school history.  His teams won five consecutive NCAA Regional titles from 2003 through 2007 … more at … https://pittjohnstownathletics.com/news/2024/9/10/baseball-upj-mourns-the-loss-of-our-great-wrestling-coach-and-athletics-director-pat-pecora.aspx

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WLU Mourns Passing of Legendary Wrestling Alumnus
The West Liberty University community is mourning the loss of Pitt-Johnstown athletic director and head wrestling coach Pat Pecora, a collegiate wrestling legend who passed away peacefully Sunday morning at the age of 70 following a courageous battle with cancer. The 1975 West Liberty graduate was college wrestling’s all-time winningest coach with a staggering 661-154-5 record in 48 seasons as a head coach – all at Pitt-Johnstown. “It is with a heavy heart that we hear of the passing of Pat Pecora,” West Liberty athletic director Brad Forshey said. “Coach Pecora was the epitome of a legend in collegiate wrestling. He was a true ambassador of the sport and an amazing person. On behalf of the entire West Liberty community, we extend our deepest condolences to the Pecora family.”
     A four-year starter, three-time conference champion and two-time NAIA national qualifier on West Liberty wrestling teams of the early 1970s, Pecora became the youngest wrestling coach in the country when he was hired at Pitt-Johnstown in 1976 and immediately started stacking up an impressive list of accomplishments.
     Pecora led the Mountain Cats to a pair of NCAA Division II national championships (1996, 1999) and 25 NCAA D2 Regional titles to go along with 24 national Top 10 finishes and 11 Top Five finishes. His 2024 squad finished 6th at the NCAA Division II Nationals in Park City, Kan. Four Mountain Cats earned NCAA D2 All-America honors and 149-pounder Jacob Ealy became UPJ’s 15th individual national champion.      Pecora was a two-time president of the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) and served on the NWCA Board of Directors for years. A 4-time NWCA National Coach of the Year (1995, 1999, 2019, 2022), … more at … https://hilltoppersports.com/news/2024/9/8/wlu-mourns-passing-of-legendary-wrestling-alumnus.aspx

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PSAC mourns passing of Pitt-Johnstown’s Pat Pecora
LOCK HAVEN, Pa. – The Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference mourns the loss of Pat Pecora, the longtime head wrestling coach and Athletic Director at the University of Pittsburgh-Johnstown, who passed away on Sunday morning after a long battle with cancer.  
Pecora is the winningest coach in all of collegiate wrestling history, leading the Mountain Cats’ wrestling program for 48 years while also doubling as the institution’s athletic director since 2008. He accumulated a career dual meet record of 661-154-5 and was named the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) National Coach of the Year in 1995, 1999, 2019, and 2022.  
“Pat was a great example of all that is good about Division II,” said PSAC Commissioner Steve Murray. “He was the best of us and will be sadly missed by all of the PSAC. We offer our deepest condolences to Pat’s family and the entire UPJ community.”  
Pecora led Pitt-Johnstown to a pair of NCAA Division II National Championships (in 1996 and 1999) and 25 NCAA Regional titles. His teams won five consecutive NCAA Regional titles from 2003 through 2007 and 10 in a row from 1992 through 2001.  Pecora was named the NCAA Regional Coach of the Year 22 times and earned induction into nine halls of fame, including the Pitt-Johnstown, Pennsylvania Wrestling Coaches, NCAA Division II Wrestling, and National Wrestling Halls of Fame. … more at … https://psacsports.org/news/2024/9/9/general-psac-mourns-passing-of-pitt-johnstowns-pat-pecora.aspx

September 25, 2024 Posted by | Uncategorized | , , , , | Leave a comment

New Faces in the ACC for 2024-25

Another season ushers in another wave of new ACC wrestlers and coaches. We’ve already seen breakdowns of the recruiting classes, let’s take a look at the new coaching hires and transfers that join the ACC this fall. 

Duke
Erkin Tadzhimetov joins the coaching staff in Durham after a long tenure at his alma mater Utah Valley. He will work with the lightweights, marking a big change in the staffing in the Lanham era. Coach Lanham has had an upper-weight heavy coaching staff over the past decade and the addition of a lightweight coach could pay dividends for the Blue Devils. 
Tyler O’Boyle (285) Franklin and Marshall
Spencer Von Savoye (141/149) California Baptist

North Carolina
Vincenzo Joseph will join the Tar Heels staff in the role of Recruiting Coordinator. The two-time NCAA Champion for the Nittany Lions will be reuniting with Coach Koll having served on staff under him at Stanford. For the new position, Joseph will “assist the program in team travel, on-campus recruiting, match day planning, and operations, donor relations, and all program-related events”. In his short time in the college coaching ranks, Joseph has shown that he can be a valuable asset to the Tar Heel staff. 
Nolan Neves (285) – Columbia
Ethan Oakley (133) – Appalachian State – SOCON Champ 2x NCAA Qualifier
Josh Ogunsanya (174) – North Carolina? – EIWA Runner-Up 2x NCAA Qualifier

North Carolina State
Zack Esposito steps into the Associate Head Coach position after the departure of Adam Hall to Utah Valley. Espo brings a wealth of experience on the folkstyle and freestyle side. He was the RTC coach at Oklahoma State prior to taking the Associate Head Coach role, where he served for seven years. Most recently he was in Colorado Springs as the Freestyle Developmental and Resident Coach for USA Wrestling. 

Pittsburgh
Lou Rosselli joins the Panthers, adding another experienced and successful coach to the staff. … more at … https://intermatwrestle.com/articles.html/college/acc/new-faces-in-the-acc-for-2024-25-r99551/

September 24, 2024 Posted by | Uncategorized | , , , , | Leave a comment