Diakomihalis Joins Cornell Coaching Staff

For a few weeks, four-time NCAA champion and world silver medalist Yianni Diakomihalis has been teasing some sort of announcement. His news became official this morning as his alma mater, Cornell, hired the legend as an assistant coach.

This is Diakomihalis’ first official collegiate coaching position. In the past, he has assisted with Cornell’s grayshirts through the Spartan Combat RTC.

When Diakomihalis won his fourth NCAA title, he was only the fifth wrestler to accomplish the feat and the second from Cornell.

Diakomihalis came straight out of high school and won a national title at 141 lbs in 2018. He followed with another in 2019. Diakomihalis moved up and won two more at 149 lbs.

His 115-2 career record made Diakomihalis Cornell’s all-time leader in winning percentage at .983. Diakomihalis had perfect seasons as a sophomore and junior and owns Cornell’s second-longest winning streak at 75 matches.

As a senior, Diakomihalis helped lead Cornell to an NCAA team trophy with a third-place finish at the 2023 NCAA Championships.

In 2022, Diakomihalis made his second straight Senior World Team and came away with a silver medal at 65 kg. That silver snapped a 15-year medalless streak for the United States at 65/66 kg.

Before coming to Cornell, Diakomihalis won four New York state titles and amassed a 243-3 record in high school. Those, plus a pair of Cadet World titles, helped Diakomihalis earn a #3 overall ranking among the high school Class of 2017. 

There was a vacancy on the Cornell staff as Scottie Boykin is joining the coaching staff at IMG Academy.