Amato returns to Trinity for second tour as head wrestling coach

HARTFORD, Conn. --Trinity College has announced the hiring of Sebastian Amato as its head wrestling coach. Amato, who guided the Bantams to unprecedented success on the mat for 19 seasons before retiring from coaching in 2005, steps back into his former position 14 years later. Trinity won the New England College Conference Wrestling Association (NECCWA) title and the NECCWA Duals Championship crown under Amato's guidance. He replaces Marques Gales who left Trinity in May to become the head wrestling coach at Sacramento City College.

"We are delighted to welcome Sebby Amato back to campus," said Director of Athletics Drew Galbraith. "Coach Amato's competitiveness, grit and tireless focus on developing the young men in the program will be a great match for current and future Bantams. We fully expect he will return the wrestling program to the levels of success the team saw in his first stint at Trinity."

Sebby Amato

Amato coached Trinity to over 150 wins in dual matches from 1987 to 2005 and posted a 114-68-1 mark (.626) over his last eight seasons with the Bantams. In 2000-01, Amato was the New England Coach of the Year, as the Bantams captured Trinity's only NECCWA (now NEWA) championship. Trinity posted a best-ever record of 23-3, finished second in the NECCWA Championships, and won the NECCWA Duals title in 2002-03, earning the right to represent the conference in the National Collegiate Wrestling Association (NCWA) Duals Championships the following winter. Amato had over 50 All-New England honorees and 10 All-Americans in his first stint at Trinity.

"I want to thank Athletic Director Drew Galbraith for this opportunity to return to coaching at Trinity. I love the sport of wrestling and I grew to love Trinity College over my first 19 years there," said Amato. "I left coaching to watch my kids grow up, and I have stayed active in wrestling as a youth coach and a parent until two years ago when my son graduated from WPI as an All-American."

A successful amateur wrestler, Amato brings a vast amount of knowledge and experience to the Bantam wrestling program. Amato attended Western New England College, where he earned a bachelor's degree in business marketing and captained the wrestling teams in his junior and senior years. Competing in the 142-pound weight class, he won a New England Championship title and qualified for the NCAA National Championships twice. Prior to Trinity, Amato served as an assistant coach at both Wesleyan University and Central Connecticut State University. He is a member of the NECCWA Hall of Fame, the Western New England University Athletic Hall of Fame, and the City of New Britain Athletic Hall of Fame.

"Coach Gales did a great job bringing the program back to relevancy, and I want to continue rebuilding an atmosphere at Trinity where the guys just love to come to practice and to meets," Amato added. "We will have a diverse coaching staff with varying styles, and the wrestlers can take what works for them from all of us. My children are grown now and my wife is 100 percent on board with this decision. When I came back to campus, it truly felt like I had never left. I am so excited to get started."

In 2018-19, Trinity posted three top-ten finishes against high-level competition in tournaments at Springfield College, Waynesburg College, and Johnson and Wales University in Rhode Island. The Bantams also placed seventh in the Headlock for Hunger NEWA Duals Championship Tournament and closed the year with a 14th-place finish in the NCAA Division III Northeast Regional Championships.

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Amato returns to Trinity for second tour as head wrestling coach

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