Vega comes to West Point following his seven-year tenure at Williams College that included All-American honors on the mat and in the classroom.
“We are excited to welcome Rafael to the Army Wrestling program,” said Barbee. “He has developed talent at every level not only in the wrestling room but in the classroom as well. He is a hard worker and excited about this opportunity to work at the U.S. Military Academy. He understands the challenges and his tireless work ethic as an instructor and as a recruiter is going to be a great benefit to our program.”
While at Williams, a Division III school in Williamstown, Mass., Vega coached four All-Americans and 14 Academic All-Americans.
Among those wrestlers he guided were Ryan Malo, a national finalist, Corey Paulish, a fourth-place finisher as a sophomore, Tom Priare, a national finalist and three-time All-American and John Dolan, also a three-time All-American.
The Ephs led Division III wrestling with a 3.54 grade point average, a figure that was in the top 10 of all sports at that level.
Under Vega, Williams won the New England Wrestling Association title last year, placed in the top-three in the conference on five occasions and in the top-six six times while producing 30 All-New England wrestlers.
“Rafael comes from a strong academic school so he has an idea of the type of young men we recruit,” said Barbee. “His experience, coupled with his success as a scholastic and collegiate wrestler, was really what set him apart from some other quality candidates.”
Prior to joining the Williams staff as an assistant in 2001, Vega served as a volunteer at Mount Anthony Union High School and as a coach and clinician at Bruce Baumgartner’s World Class Camp for two years.
As a high school wrestler in Vermont, Vega was a USA Wrestling All-America, chosen to represent the U.S. in the Dapper Dan Classic and secured Junior Olympic European championships in both freestyle and Greco roman.
Vega chose Edinboro University and was nationally ranked in all four of his seasons. Twice, he finished third at the Eastern Wrestling League championships and was a two-time NCAA qualifier.
The Edinboro Wrestling Rookie of the Year, Vega twice placed at the nationally renowned Midlands Tournament and was a three-time Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference finalist.
Vega also starred internationally, winning the Tour de Monde Junior Olympic Czechoslovakian freestyle and Greco Roman championships and the Tour de Monde Junior Olympic German freestyle and Greco Roman championships.
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