After 13 strong seasons as the head wrestling coach at Stanford University, Jason Borrelli will bring his impressive track record to the East Coast, as he is set to take over as American University’s head coach, the University announced Tuesday.
In Borrelli’s last season coaching the Cardinal, Stanford wrestling finished with two All-Americans, its first national champion in 17 years, and swept the Pac-12 awards including Borrelli's second Coach of the Year honor. Seven of the Cardinal starters qualified for the NCAA Championships.
AU’s athletics department is excited to hire a coach with an impressive resume.
“I’m tremendously excited to announce Coach Jason Borrelli as American University’s Head Wrestling Coach,” said Billy Walker, AU’s Director of Athletics & Recreation, in an AU press release. “He has demonstrated excellence in all facets of running a nationally respected program. He takes great pride in cultivating a family atmosphere in his program and has a laser-like focus on ensuring his student-athletes succeed on and off the mat.”
Walker said Borrelli has a reputation of caring about the development of student-athletes.
Over Borrelli’s 13 seasons, the Cardinal sent 35 different wrestlers to the NCAA Championships - a total of 64 times. Over the past 13 seasons, American has sent wrestlers to the NCAA Championships 48 times. During his tenure, Borrelli’s wrestlers earned 21 individual Pac-12 championships, the most during any 13 years in program history.
Despite leaving behind a successful program like Stanford, Borrelli and his wife Jenna are excited to switch coasts.
“Jenna and I are thrilled to be joining the American University family and look forward to raising our children in the nation’s capital,” Borrelli said in the press release. “I would like to thank Dr. Billy Walker and the entire search committee for their confidence in selecting me as AU’s next head wrestling coach. It is a tremendous honor to lead this program.”
Former AU wrestler Josh Glenn became the program’s first national champion in 2007. Borrelli hopes to build upon the program’s accomplishments.
Borrelli’s teams have shined in the classroom as well. Stanford wrestling finished in the top 16 among all Division I programs in the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) team GPA rankings each season. Borrelli should feel right at home coaching a team of AU wrestlers who ranked second in the NWCA team GPA rankings last year.
Borrelli has proven to be one of the persuasive recruiters in the nation. In seven of his 12 recruiting seasons, Stanford landed recruiting classes in Intermat's top 25, with six of those classes ranking in the top 15.
“Jason Borrelli is a bright leader and developer of men,” said Zeke Jones, Arizona State’s head coach, in the press release. “He’ll do a fantastic job in his new role at American.”
With an abundance of youth currently on the roster, Borrelli will have plenty of time to mold AU wrestlers into better athletes and men.
