Pell is no stranger to The Haven program having spent some limited time with the Bald Eagles last year in a volunteer role.
LHU head coach, Scott Moore is pleased to see Pell in a more involved role with the team and knows from working with him at the University of Virginia he can bring a lot to the program.
“Having the opportunity to work with Matt (Pell) again this season will be a privilege for not only me personally, but for the team and program as a whole,” said Moore. “He is one of the best technicians and educators in the sport of wrestling. His coaching experience at Virginia and Missouri will help him become a huge asset for our program, especially in our upper-weights. Matt was a very successful competitor and knows how to win at this level.”
LHU Director of Athletics, Mark Sherburne is also impressed by Pell.
“We are excited to have Matt join our staff as a second assistant coach,” said Sherburne. “Having a person with such an extensive and successful collegiate wrestling and coaching background will go a long way in helping our student-athletes and program achieve at the highest levels both on-and-off the mat.”
Pell, a 2007 Missouri graduate was a standout on the mats for the Tigers. The former team-captain was just the third Missouri wrestler in program history to earn All-American honors at two different weight classes.
Following a third-place finish at the 2007 NCAA Division I Championships at 165-pounds, Pell was awarded the Gorarrian Award after recording the most pins in the least amount of time at the national tournament. Pell’s third-place showing also helped Missouri to their best team in school history, third.
When it was all said and done at Missouri, Pell had recorded 122 wins, which is still the sixth-best win-total in school history.
Following his graduation from Missouri, Pell headed east to Virginia and worked as an assistant coach with the Cavalier program. In his two years on staff, he helped coach five UVA wrestlers to Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) titles and helped Chris Henrich become UVA’s first All-American in five years.
After two years at Virginia, Pell moved back to Missouri where he served as an assistant coach for three seasons. During his first full season with Missouri (2009-10), he worked with NCAA champion Max Askren and Mark Ellis (sixth). Missouri had six NCAA qualifiers and finished in the top-10 that year.
During 2010-11, Pell helped lead the Tigers to their first Big 12 championships and they had two more All-Americans and nine national-qualifiers. In his final season with Missouri, the Tigers had 10 NCAA qualifiers.
Pell is looking forward to the season and his time with the Lock Haven program.
“I’m excited about the upcoming season and my role as an assistant coach,” said Pell. “We have a young team with a lot of potential. My goal for this team is to raise the bar of expectation and get to the point where we not only want to win, but we expect to win. Lock Haven wrestling has a bright future and I’m ready to being preparing out wrestlers for the journey.”
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