There are so many great things to update you on that I hardly know where to begin. This has been one of the busiest summers of my life! I have been in 6 different states in the past 6 weeks on the recruiting trail and have been consumed with the hiring process as well. While I have learned a lot this summer, (and seen some parts of the country that have been interesting to say the least) I can honestly say that I am glad to see the summer come to a close and to finally be working with my athletes again. I will get to our pre-season update at the end of this letter, but first, let me catch you up to speed on some of the great things that have happened with our program recently.
*Wrestling adds former Minnesota standout Manny Rivera AND UVa wrestling great Brent Jones to coaching staff:
We are so excited to announce that we have officially added Manny Rivera and Brent Jones to our coaching staff. When Scott Moore left our program there was no doubt that it was a very big loss. Scott brought an exceptional skill set to our office and I personally felt that he is one of the best assistant coaches in the country. That said, we had a very tough task ahead of us in finding a great person to bring in. We do sincerely feel that we did that with Manny Rivera. For anyone that ever watched Manny wrestle while he was at Minnesota, they will tell you there are few who compete with the type of intensity in which he did every time on the mat. Manny was an exceptional leader and performer of that team (that oh by the way won an NCAA team title in 2007...a team he captained) for four years. Manny will be primarily working with our guys in the weight range of 141-157lbs but we feel he brings much more to the table than his outstanding wrestling ability. He has an amazing back story and we look forward to you getting to know him on a much deeper level moving forward. I guarantee that you will be impressed.
We also have officially added former UVa great Brent Jones to our staff as a volunteer assistant coach. Brent was just inches away from achieving him life long dream of becoming an All American at the NCAA tournament this past March. Instead of hanging his head after this loss, Brent jumped right back on the horse and started training for freestyle competitions. As good as Brent was in scholastic wrestling, he is even better in freestyle. Brent is ranked nationally at the Senior freestyle level and will be spending this next year, coaching and training with our program for a spot on the U.S. World Team. In addition to his training, Brent will be studying for his MCAT exam with the hopes of getting into medical school in the future. Here is the link to the official release:
*UVa wrestling receives public recognition award from the NCAA
As many of you are aware, the standard by which our sports programs are measured in terms of academics is called APR (which basically stands for eligibility and retention of scholarship athletes). Well, our APR has climbed steadily since I got here in 2006. When I started here our APR as a little over 940 and it now sits at 987. This number is the fifth best score in the entire country for wrestling programs. Recently I received a letter from NCAA President James Isch congratulating us on such a great achievement. Part of the letter read "this honor is bestowed on those teams that have an NCAA Division 1 Academic Progress Rate in the to 10 percent of all squads in their respective sports"....Your team has demonstrated its commitment in the classroom and on the playing field, and they are setting a great example for all students". Reading this letter and realizing what our student athletes have accomplished has been one of the highlights of my coaching career. (Incidentally, a perfect score is a 1000 and we have hit that once already). Our goals is to keep climbing and earn the top spot in the NCAA within the next two years! The official press release on this great accomplishment can be viewed on the link below:
http://www.virginiasports.com/SportSelect.dbml?SPID=10602&DB_OEM_ID=17800
*UVa wrestling finishes Spring term w/ the highest GPA of any male sports team
As some of you might now, our wrestling team finished the this past semester with the highest team cumulative GPA of any male sports team at the University. Our final CUM GPA was a 3.23 and we boasted 15 guys on honor roll. One of my top objectives when I returned here UVa back in 2006 was to restore a culture of academic excellence to our program. Our student athletes have worked extremely hard in the classroom and have met this goal head on. Our goal for this coming semester is to break the 3.3 barrier and this time finish with the top GPA out of all the teams in our department.
*Another tough schedule awaits the 2010/2011 squad:
We are excited for another great competitive schedule this season. Dual meets against Lehigh, Pittsburgh, Edinboro and Kent State (who should all be ranked at least in the top 15 nationally to start the season) highlight year with as tough a stretch was we've ever had here in my tenure as head coach. In addition to these first semester tests, we also boast the always tough Southern Scuffle tournament and the Virginia Duals. Both these events will bring top 10 national talent including, Cornell, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Lehigh and Penn State. We certainly have our work cut out for us but truly believe this type of schedule will prepare our guys to reach our end of the year goals of another ACC Championship and a top 10 finish at the NCAA tournament. Our official schedule release can be viewed at the link attached below.
*Notes from pre-season:
We are in full training mode as of last Monday. Our kids are working out twice a day, 5 days a week at this point. As always, our pre-season strength and conditioning regiment consists of some pretty intense workouts that include, tire flipping, sledge hammer workouts, kettle bell circuits, O-hill sprints, car pushes, and a mountain run to name a few. Our guys have also been lifting 4 times a week and getting in extra drills/technique sessions on their own. Our culture in our room in terms of training is as good as I've ever seen it and perhaps most importantly I feel like this first year class has made the smoothest transition of any class I've ever been around. Speaking of the first year group, here is a pretty cool release on them from this summer:
Finally, I want to "wet your whistle" a bit and inform you that next week I will be sending out my fourth annual UVa wrestling fall preview. In this preview I will be breaking down our weight classes and telling you as much as I can about our top student athletes. Until then, I hope you have enjoyed reading this and stay tuned!!!
Respectfully,
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