Tanelli to Cornell as Associate Head Coach

Cornell head coach Mike Grey rounded out his coaching staff for the 2026-27 season with the announcement that he hired Zach Tanelli as the team’s Associate Head Coach.

Tanelli has spent the last two years as an assistant at Virginia Tech. While at Virginia Tech, the Hokies finished in 11th place at the NCAA Championships in back-to-back years. In both seasons, Virginia Tech won ACC titles and their 125 and 133-pounders earned conference titles. During that time, Virginia Tech wrestlers at those first two weights earned three All-American honors.

Tanelli is no stranger to the Ivy League, having spent eight years as the head coach at Columbia. During his tenure at Columbia, the Lions posted a 39-62 dual record - which is a bit misleading, as they went 3-12 during each of his first two seasons as he was turning the program around.

In his penultimate season at Columbia, the Lions sent a school-record six wrestlers to the NCAA Tournament and set a program high for points tallied at the EIWA Championships. Columbia finished fourth in the conference in each of his final two years at the helm.

2024 saw 174 lber Lennox Wolak advance to the NCAA semifinals and become Tanelli’s first All-American as a head coach and Columbia’s first since 2013. Earlier that season, Wolak and Aaron Ayzerov claimed EIWA titles and became the first Columbia teammates in nearly 90 years to win titles in the same season.

Before Columbia, Tanelli spent two years on the Purdue coaching staff after starting his coaching career at Hofstra.

Tanelli competed collegiately at the University of Wisconsin. As a senior, he was a Big Ten finalist, the #2 seed at nationals and fourth at the 2009 NCAA Championships.

This is the second coaching hire for Grey this offseason. Earlier in the cycle, he added Big Red legend Yianni Diakomihalis to the staff, joining holdover David McFadden.