InterMat Staff

After the 2006 offseason, the landscape of college wrestling would never be the same again. That statement sounds like hyperbole, but it's true. During the spring and summer of 2006, 15 head coaching positions at the DI level were opened and were filled. At the time, that accounted for almost 20% of the DI schools in the nation. And they weren't just any vacancies; they were at some of the most prestigious wrestling schools in the country. In fact, the head coaches that have accounted for EVERY NCAA team title since 2008 changed jobs during that offseason. Some programs regained their status as national powers. Others started their ascend towards new heights, while some faded towards obscurity. After 15 years, it's time for the most comprehensive look at the biggest game of musical chairs that college wrestling has ever seen. Each of the schools below hired a new head coach in 2006. Air Force, Binghamton, Chattanooga, Clarion, Eastern Michigan, Hofstra, Iowa, Iowa State, Ohio State, Oregon State, Princeton, UNC-Greensboro, Utah Valley, Virginia, Virginia Tech Since this is such a lengthy list, one article will not suffice. The tale of the coaching carousel in 2006 is one of nuance and a tricky game of dominoes. One opening led to another or multiple openings in some cases. Part One saw us investigate the first domino that fell: Ohio State. Part Two featured the most controversial aspect of the offseason: Iowa and Virginia Tech. Plus, Oregon State, too. Part Three looked at the other traditional power involved: Iowa State. Part Four will highlight the two coaches everyone overlooked: Pat Popolizio/Binghamton and Chris Ayres/Princeton. Part Five will explore "The Other Six Teams." The first three parts in our look at how the "2006 Offseason Changed College Wrestling" focused on some of the marquee programs (Iowa, Iowa State, Ohio State) that hired new coaches. Each of these three teams added new head coaches that were slam-dunk hires from day one. No-brainers. That trio, along with the saga at Virginia Tech, are what most people remember about the 2006 coaching carousel. There's good reason to focus on these seemingly top-tier hires; however, since 15 head coaching jobs came open and were filled, there are many other ones we've probably forgotten. As I scanned the list of the remaining schools that signed new leaders in 2006, there were two that stood out. Binghamton and Princeton. 2006 was the year that Pat Popolizio and Chris Ayres became head coaches for the first time. Whether you realize it or not, there are plenty of similarities between Popolizio and Ayres and how their coaching careers got started. At the time, neither had the name-brand recognition of Olympic gold medalists like Cael Sanderson and Tom Brands, two coaches that started this game of dominos. Ayres was a one-time All-American for Lehigh, while Popolizio made the NCAA Round of 12 during his senior year at Oklahoma State. But, both had wrestled for tradition-heavy collegiate programs and for legendary head coaches (John Smith and Greg Strobel). Each hailed from the northeast with and ended up taking jobs in their respective home states. Both inherited programs that were generally regarded as afterthoughts at the DI level and were relatively young at the time. Ayres' collegiate career wrapped up in 1999, while Popolizio finished three years later, in 2002. Interestingly enough, in speaking to Ayres, he acknowledged that Popolizio's early years at Binghamton "motivated him. I wasn't looking at the big schools, you look for similar models and that was Binghamton and Pat Pop." Popolizio was "a little ahead of him" in terms of the speed of their rebuild, though. It's funny that both Ayres and Popolizio used a similar adjective to describe themselves, in the spring of 2006, as they were preparing to embark on their first head coaching job. They both said they were "a bit naive" at the time. Neither necessarily was 100% aware of just how far they would need to grow to be competitive in their conference, much less at the national level. The Binghamton position became vacant after head coach Tony Robie left the school to follow Kevin Dresser to Virginia Tech and become his top assistant. Robie had only been at Binghamton for the 2005-06 season, which was its revival year. Following the 2003-04 school year, Binghamton discontinued its wrestling program due to budgetary concerns. A groundswell from alumni and prominent donors brought the program back a year later. As one may expect, the next head coach was walking into a difficult situation as wrestlers from the 2003-04 team likely transferred out and there was limited time to recruit during Robie's only year. It's kind of ironic now, with Robie leading the Virginia Tech team and Popolizio at heated rival, NC State, that Robie was the one who recommended that Popolizio should even apply for the Binghamton position. Robie gave Popolizio the head's up that he was leaving and thought the job was "something he should consider." The South Washington Street Bridge in Binghamton, NY in June 2006 (Photo/Michael Head; National Weather Service) After heeding Robie's advice, Popolizio applied to Binghamton and was granted an interview in late June. The night before his interview, the assistant athletic director called Popolizio and warned him that there was heavy flooding in the area and they'd understand if he wanted to reschedule. There's the old expression about "hell or high water" not stopping someone. Well, it didn't prevent Popolizio from making the trek from Washington DC (where he was coaching at American University) to Binghamton. "I don't care, I'll be there," was the response from Popolizio to his future employers. Once Popolizio got into the general vicinity of campus, it took an extra hour and six route changes, due to the flooding. He knew most would have gladly rescheduled and wanted to get a face-to-face meeting with the administration as soon as possible. Looking back, Popolizio didn't fully understand what it would take to win with the resources he would work with. "I just went in with blind faith. I didn't care what they were paying, what the scholarship number was; I just wanted to be a head coach." Though the Ohio State job was one that Ayres knew wouldn't be a fit with someone of his experience, at the time, the dominos that fell with Russ Hellickson's departure in Columbus caused reverberations that ended up impacting Ayres. He didn't apply for Ohio State, but once the Buckeyes hired Tom Ryan, he interviewed for his previous job at Hofstra. Ayres was in the mix at the University of Virginia, as well. Being an EIWA guy, having competed at Lehigh and later coaching at the school, Ayres noticed that if he were recruiting against Ivy League schools, they would lose unless they were giving good scholarship money. At the time, Penn and Cornell were at the top of the heap in the Ivy League and the EIWA, too. Also, seeing recent national champions like Jesse Jantzen (Harvard' 04) and Matt Valenti (Penn' 06) confirmed his suspicions that you could produce national champions at an Ivy League institution. After some digging into the academic rankings and at the urging of his wife, Lori, Ayres applied to Princeton. At the time, Princeton was ranked number one in the nation academically, which was significantly higher than some of their wrestling rivals. He knew that he could sell this to recruits that were interested in competing at the highest levels academically, as well as athletically. While Ayres knew he wasn't walking into a ready-to-win situation like Lehigh and he'd most likely get his first head coaching job at a "fixer-upper," he didn't realize just how long it would take to win. Another selling point for Ayres was the athletic administration and their alumni support. During his interview, "at the most Princeton-room you could imagine," one with a long table in an old room, with ten people participating, each fired off questions at Ayres regarding his plans for the team. His philosophy on how wrestling positively impacts your academic life and how wrestling was bigger than "just winning matches" really seemed to resonate with the interviewers. While not as dramatic as Popolizio's interview story, Ayres has an interesting one of his own. He was out on Long Island interviewing at Hofstra, while he had already done the same with Princeton. On his way back home, he stopped in New York City at the very first "Beat the Streets" gathering. Of the only 50 or so people at this event, 15 seemed to have Princeton roots. Ayres got to spend time with Tiger wrestling alums Mike Novagratz, Johnny Orr, Rich Tavoso, and Dave Crisanti. Orr was heavily involved with recruiting Ayres. As he met more and more alums, Ayres found that each seemed to be "crazier and crazier about Princeton," in a good way. During the interview process, Ayres wisely played to the competitive natures of the administrators regarding their Ivy League brethren. He went through roster numbers of the Princeton wrestling team compared to those at Cornell and Penn. They were at a distinct disadvantage on that front. Ayres then broke down the roster numbers of six successful sports at Princeton compared to other schools in the conference and they were generally equal across the board. The message was clear; if he received the proper support, the wrestling team could win. To his credit, then-athletic director, Gary Walters, pledged to give Ayres the resources he needed. One hundred eighty-four miles northwest, in Binghamton, Popolizio had the opposite impression. He took over a team with an "athletic director that dropped the program and was politically strong-armed into being reinstated and couldn't stand the program being around." Joel Thirer was the AD at the time. Thirer served in this role from 1989 to 2009 and stepped down amidst a scandal in the basketball program. Popolizio recalls one of his first events at Binghamton was a Hall of Fame gathering which included many prominent wrestling alums. At the event, he was pulled aside by Thirer and cursed out for trying to talk with the ex-Bearcat wrestlers. When Popolizio started at Binghamton, he was forced to work with a set amount of scholarship dollars, which was equivalent to 4.5. At the time, Popolizio didn't realize the importance of having the full allotment of 9.9 scholarships. He acknowledges that once Thirer left, "things started opening up for us." Even as both coaches took over at schools that most considered the bottom of the barrel, at the time, in DI wrestling, the pair was very confident in their ability to plant the seeds of success and focus on "the big picture." For Popolizio, the first order of business was changing the culture of the program. "Culture" is a word that Popolizio often uses to describe what he built at Binghamton and later at NC State. Pat Popolizio at Binghamton (Photo/Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com) A once proud DIII program, Popolizio says the team culture started to shift after Binghamton moved to DI status. "It was a big reason they ended up dropping." Losses were mounting and "kids were becoming destructive. It's a small town and news travels fast. So any negative news surrounding the program was a big deal." Popolizio found the one thing that he could control in this challenging circumstance was the time his team worked out. Five or six workouts a week at 6 AM "weeded some kids out very fast. We made sure guys were too tired from wrestling and school to get into anything else." Fresh off his coaching stint at Lehigh, one that included a third-place finish at nationals in 2004, Ayres "knew what a top-five team looked like." He, along with NCAA champion Troy Letters and two-time All-American Derek Zinck (both from Lehigh), felt like they could, "walk in, teach these guys some moves and we'd be good to go." He realized quickly that wouldn't be the case. After a year, Ayres brought in Andy Lausier, who had previous experience as head coach at the DIII level with Stevens Tech. Ayres found that he didn't "need someone to teach wrestling moves. We needed to build organizationally, like a company. Having Andy was like having two head coaches." Foundation is the word that Ayres frequently uses. He and his staff built a solid foundation in those early years, though the outside world wouldn't take notice for quite some time. During his first two years with Princeton, Ayres' team went 0-35 in dual meet competition. It wasn't until 2010 that Princeton produced their first national qualifier under Ayres. In those lean years, Ayres recalls dual meets where he'd "count 12 people in the stands." Despite the rocky start and amongst an athletic department that was routinely featured prominently in the Director's Cup standings, Ayres' always had the support of Walters. "He'd call me after every single event we had. Not in a negative way, but he'd say things like, "you guys won two of ten matches, that's better." Ayres calls Walters "his biggest supporter" and never felt any heat even with a less-than-favorable start to his tenure. Though the losses mounted in the early years, Ayres remained an optimist. "I have the ability to withstand a lot of pain for a long time," says Ayres, semi-jokingly. "Maybe moronically, but I have the perseverance to stick to things. In my own career, I never was a state placewinner." A considerable chunk of success in collegiate athletics can be attributed to recruiting. Wrestling is no different. Pat Popolizio won his first big recruiting battle quickly in his tenure. We should say "battles." Everyone on the Bearcat team was given their release, so the new Binghamton coaches had to re-recruit the entire roster. Some notables among that group include the Patterson brothers, Nate and Mike. Plus, the pair had a younger brother, Josh, who was an NHSCA Senior National Champion in 2006 and had already signed with the school. Popolizio recalls doing a camp in Cazenovia, NY, which was less than two hours from the Patterson boys hometown, Ontario, NY. He invited the youngest Patterson up for the camp and the two got a workout in. Popolizio found Patterson was strong in upperbody situations and even fell victim to a bodylock to his back, which made him "happy and mad." Shortly thereafter, Patterson confirmed his prior commitment to Binghamton and "it gave us a lot of momentum." He knew that between a recruit of Patterson's caliber and his connections within the state, that he'd be able to pull in some more decent recruits. One of Popolizio's assistants from the early Binghamton days was Hofstra alum Dennis Papadatos. Popolizio described Papadatos as "having the right mentality for the program, a strong work ethic, and good connections within the state." Papadatos and Patterson worked together frequently and Popolizio told his assistant coach to do what he had to, to get Patterson on the podium. He knew that for an emerging school like Binghamton, that one All-American could make the difference. Patterson was the team's only national qualifier in 2007 and the first AA during the Popolizio years in 2009. Princeton's first big recruiting win came when the school added two-time Ohio state champion Daniel Kolodzik in the Class of 2008. Kolodzik took his lumps for a few years at Princeton, but bumped up in weight and finished in the NCAA Round of 12 in 2012. Inking Kolodzik helped Ayres and crew continually improve their recruiting profile. Eventually, they landed Daniel's younger brother, Matthew, considered a top-ten recruit in the Class of 2015. Getting Matthew "proved we knew what we were doing at Princeton," says Ayres. Chris Ayres with Matthew Kolodzik (Photo/Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com) Ayres likes to call those first five years in Princeton, "the best time, I never want to have again. I never want to go through that again, but the lessons learned were so impactful. How do you get a team that hasn't won in years to buy in? It's easy (relatively) to motivate the team where we're at now, but you had to get super-creative back then.' Popolizio says he "wouldn't want it any other way. Starting at a smaller school that is basically at rock bottom. You really had to claw your way out of a hole and do every task. That's really helpful when you're looking for other jobs. When you're at a smaller school, you really understand how a program's supposed to be run. Then at a bigger school, you understand everyone's role and appreciate all of the resources." The Aftermath Binghamton Pat Popolizio (left) and Dennis Papadatos as Justin Lister pins Jesse Dong 2010 NCAA Championships (Photo/Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com) The Bearcats really garnered national attention at the 2010 NCAA Championships when unseeded 157 lber, Justin Lister, pinned third-seeded Jesse Dong (Virginia Tech) to make the national semifinals. That year, they also won the CAA Championships. Two years later, Popolizio's team put a pair of wrestlers on the podium, Donnie Vinson (3rd) and Nick Gwiazdowski (8th), and finished 14th in the nation. After transforming Binghamton into a top-15 team, the big boys came calling, literally. Popolizio's star was rising for a few years, which led him to explore plenty of head coaching opportunities. The new administration was helping as much as they could, but Popolizio was looking for a bigger landing spot. He threw his name in the hat for a number of positions, most notably, Northern Iowa, where he was a finalist. Doug Schwab ended up getting the gig, a guy that Popolizio says "was the right fit." Popolizio received a bit of advice regarding coaching searches from a seemingly unlikely source, Terry Brands. The two were working an Iowa-Style camp together in New York and Popolizio told Brands about some of the openings he applied to. Brands responded, "you're wasting your time. When a school wants you, they'll pick up the phone and call you. They'll come get you." Sure enough, in 2012, Popolizio's phone rang and Sherard Clinkscales, then the Associate AD at NC State, was on the other line. Clinkscales asked why Popolizio hadn't applied for the vacancy at his school. Popolizio replied, "You guys probably know who you're gonna hire anyways.". To which Clinkscale countered, "How about you apply and you'll figure out who we're going to hire." Shortly thereafter, NC State brought on Pat Popolizio as their new head coach. Popolizio brought Nick Gwiazdowski along with him and after a redshirt year, Gwiazdowski won the first of his two national titles in a Wolfpack singlet. Pat Popolizio at NC State (Photo/Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com) In Raleigh, Popolizio has finished in the top-20 in each of the last six NCAA Tournaments, highlighted by a fourth-place tie in 2018. That marked the first time NC State ever earned an NCAA Team Trophy. Popolizio's teams have earned three ACC Championship and Regular Season titles. After Popolizio left Binghamton, Matt Dernlan took over. Dernlan was fresh off of guiding Clarion to an 18th place finish at the NCAA Championships. As things in the wrestling community are typically intertwined, Ayres remembers Dernlan (along with Jim Heffernan), being serious candidates for the Princeton job in 2006. Dernlan led Binghamton from 2012 through 2017. He actually stepped down in the middle of the 2017-18 season. During Dernlan's initial season in Binghamton, the team finished second in the CAA. Following that year, the team transitioned to the EIWA. In 2015, Tyler Deuel captured the school's first EIWA title, while his team was sixth that year. The Bearcats would finish eighth in the conference during Dernlan's last full season. After Dernlan stepped down in December of 2017, Kyle Borshoff was elevated to the role of acting head coach. Following that season, the "acting" tag was removed from Borshoff's title. Since that time, Borshoff has overseen Binghamton sending four wrestlers to the NCAA Championships on two different occasions (a feat that had not been accomplished since 2013). Additionally, Louie DePrez was named an NWCA All-American in 2020, then finished eighth in the nation in 2021. The last time Binghamton put wrestlers on the NCAA podium was in 2012 under Popolizio. Borshoff's 2021 team went 3-1 in dual action (with wins over Army and Rider) and finished seventh at the EIWA Championships. Princeton The Princeton team after defeating Rutgers during the 2019-20 season (Photo/Josh Conklin; JoshConklinPhotos.com) Following Dan Kolodzik's loss in the 2012 NCAA Round of 12, Princeton continued to make steady improvements, solidifying Ayres' foundational growth. In 2015, Jordan Laster made the bloodround, as well as Abe Ayala earning the seventh seed at nationals. A year later, the big breakthrough came. After winning the first EIWA title by a Princeton wrestler since 2003, Brett Harner pinned Oklahoma State's Preston Weigel in the Round of 12 to earn All-American honors. It was the first for Ayres' tenure and also the first AA for the program since 2003. Ayres "lost my mind a little bit" after the fall was called. "A lot of years' worth of work went into that moment. I also knew the impact it would have on our program." A breakthrough was so crucial to Ayres because he knew the impact it had on his own career. Never a state placer, he didn't have placewinners to work with in high school. Once he went to Blair Academy and took a post-graduate year at the prep powerhouse, he was surrounded by nationally-ranked wrestlers. Though he didn't have the same track record as them, he thrived. For college, he enrolled at Lehigh, another school with pictures of past All-American and national champions lined throughout the wrestling room. Ayres knew that once he could provide his Tiger team with examples of "what you're supposed to do," their success would multiply. That proved to be an accurate assessment as blue-chip recruit Matthew Kolodzik arrived on campus just a few months later. At the 2017 NCAA Championships, Kolodzik would be the program's first freshman All-American. Fast forward to 2019, Kolodzik led a team that finished 15th in the nation and featured two additional All-Americans, Pat Glory and Patrick Brucki. That became the first time in program history that the Tigers crowned three AA's in the same year. Before Harner's breakthrough in 2016, Princeton only had eight All-Americans in the school's entire history. Since then, four separate wrestlers have AA'ed. While some may discount the 2019-20 season, because of the cancelation of the NCAA Championships, it marked one of the most notable accomplishments of Ayres' tenure with the program. On February 9th, 2020, Princeton logged a 19-13 win over Cornell to end the Big Red's 92-match, 18 year Ivy League winning streak. The win gave Princeton its first Ivy League title in wrestling since 1986. Though athletic director Gary Walters stepped down from his post in 2014, he was at this historic moment sitting in a VIP section. A photo showing an embrace between Ayres and Walters remains one of the coach's most treasured keepsakes from his career. Chris Ayres celebrates after defeating Cornell to win the 2020 Ivy League Title (Photo/Josh Conklin; JoshConklinPhotos.com) Princeton had come full circle from a program that went almost four full years under Ayres before winning their first Ivy League dual (February 6th, 2010). Ayres distinctly remembers that road trip through New England, with wins over Harvard then Brown, as a turning point in his program's trajectory. As usual, he received a congratulatory phone call from Walters after the wins. Now, almost ten years to the day, Ayres and Walters were celebrating an Ivy League title that Ayres promised back in 2006. Princeton has only competed four times since that historic win over Cornell. The Tigers had six wrestlers qualify for the ill-fated 2020 NCAA Tournament in Minneapolis. Following its cancelation, four Princeton wrestlers were named NWCA First-Team All-Americans (Glory, Kolodzik, Quincy Monday, Brucki). The Ivy League did not allow winter sports to take place in 2020-21, so Princeton and their rivals were not allowed to compete last season.