"Greg Strobel was ready for a new assignment outside of coaching and he is very well skilled and suited for working with our camps program and in our athletics alumni relations and fund raising areas," said Sterrett. "Pat Santoro was an outstanding assistant coach at Lehigh for nine years, and has done a magnificent job in developing the Maryland program. He will bring a deep affection for the institution, the educational values we prioritize, and the ability to make the transition seamless."
Pat Santoro"It's an honor and a privilege to be the new head coach at Lehigh University," said Santoro. "Lehigh is a program with a strong and rich tradition of wrestling, and terrific support from the alumni, fans and the community. Lehigh wrestling has been a part of my family for a long time. I grew up around the program and its great tradition, and I'm looking forward to coming back home and trying to continue the great history and tradition of Lehigh wrestling."
Prior to his stint at Maryland Santoro served as an assistant at Lehigh for nine years, including eight seasons as the top assistant on Greg Strobel's staff. During his initial tenure, Santoro was part of some of the most successful teams in school history. In 2003, Santoro was named the national Assistant Coach of the Year by the National Wrestling Coaches Association, after helping guide the Brown and White to its fourth EIWA title in five years, and a fourth place finish at the NCAA Championships, at the time the program's best finish in 24 years.
"I had a great experience in my first nine years at Lehigh, and Greg and I were together for eight of those years," explained Santoro. "We became very close, and Greg helped me tremendously throughout the years, especially in my first few years at Maryland when I was trying to build the program. I'm very fortunate to have worked along side him."
Strobel's transition into Lehigh's athletic administration comes as part of a more comprehensive re-organization of Lehigh's athletics leadership structure. In 13 seasons, Strobel amassed a career dual mark of 189-83-1 and led Lehigh to six EIWA championships including five consecutive titles from 2002-06. Strobel was named EIWA Coach of the Year four times, and was named National Coach of the Year by the NWCA after leading Lehigh to a third place finish at the 2004 NCAA Championships. His wrestlers captured 28 individual EIWA titles and totaled 30 All-America medals. Strobel coached two national champions, Rob Rohn in 2002 and Troy Letters in 2004.
One of the most respected figures in American wrestling, Strobel also served as the U.S. Olympic head coach in 2000, and worked closely with a number of U.S. national freestyle teams. In his new role, Strobel will oversee Lehigh's highly-successful summer camp program, while also taking on additional responsibilities in athletics fund raising and sport supervision.
"I'm really excited," said Strobel. "It's a win-win for both me and Lehigh wrestling. I've wanted to move into administration for a while, and it just happened that the position I wanted opened up. It really is the perfect assignment for me, dealing with camps, and alumni and fund raising and I'm ready to move on."
Strobel then offered his thoughts on his successor, "I'm excited for Pat as well. He was an integral part of our program for my first eight years and for him to come back will be a tremendous thing for the program. We have a great group of student-athletes returning, and I think they will enjoy having Pat as their head coach. His coaching style is very similar to mine, so there should be a pretty seamless transition."
After wrestling for Bethlehem Catholic High School and taking a post-graduate year at Blair Academy, Santoro wrestled collegiately at the University of Pittsburgh, where he became the Panthers' only four-time All-America while capturing national titles in 1988 and 1989 at 142 pounds. Santoro graduated from Pittsburgh with a bachelor's degree in psychology in 1992 and went on to enjoy a successful international career, becoming a four-time member of the U.S. National Team and serving as an alternate for the 1996 Olympic Team and the 1999 World Team.
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