Maryland Announces Changes to Coaching Staff

The athletic department at the University of Maryland has announced changes to the wrestling staff for the 2024-25 season. One of the mainstays of the Alex Clemsen-era in College Park, Devin Mellon, has left the staff to pursue opportunities outside of the wrestling world. Mellon joined the Terrapin staff in 2019 shortly after Clemsen took over as the program’s head coach. He was a three-time national qualifier for Missouri while Clemsen was on the Tiger coaching staff. 

The two other holdovers from last season’s staff, Nick Brascetta and Elijah Oliver, have both received promotions. Brascetta’s new title will be associate head coach. Oliver joined the staff three years ago as a volunteer assistant and now is a full-time assistant coach. 

A new addition to the staff, but one that isn’t entirely a new face, is Ethan Laird. Laird spent the 2023-24 season as the associate director of Maryland’s DMV RTC. Prior to that, Laird was a standout for Rider University. In 2022-23, Laird qualified for the NCAA Tournament for a fourth time and made the NCAA semifinals before finishing sixth in the country at 197 lbs. Laird was seeded fourth at nationals after claiming his second MAC championship. He made the nation take notice by upsetting the returning national champion, Max Dean (Penn State), earlier that season. 

Though he doesn’t have an official coaching title, Pittsburgh All-American Cole Matthews will join the program as the “Special Assistant to the Head Coach.” Matthews finished his collegiate career in March as a five-time national qualifier for the Panthers and an All-American after taking fifth place in 2022. Matthews was also a two-time ACC champion and started the 2022-23 ranked #1 in the country. 

Maryland is coming off a 5-7 campaign that saw the Terps go 2-6 in Big Ten competition. The Terps hosted the Big Ten Championships for the first time and finished in 10th place with 39 points. In 2024-25, Clemsen’s team could field a lineup that includes six wrestlers with NCAA experience.