Former UTC assistant coach and former New York high school state champion Rocco Mansueto has been hired as the new Notre Dame wrestling coach replacing longtime coach John Mullin who will continue as the school's dean of students.
Mansueto, who was an NCAA qualifier, Eastern Wrestling League champion (125 pounds), three-time team captain and national-scholar athlete at Cleveland State, served as an assistant to UTC head coach Heath Eslinger for four years and now takes over a program which is in its eighth decade of existence.
A Middletown, N.Y. native, Mansueto was an assistant coach at West Point before joining the UTC staff in the summer of 2009.
Mullin led the Irish to three TSSAA state small school dual championships (2006-07-08) and numerous individual state champions, including his nephews Packy and Luke Mullin. Their dad, Chris, was also a two-time state champion for the Irish.
"The wrestling community will miss John matside as he now joins a long list of retired coaches who have made such an impact on our sport," said one former coach who mentioned other retired coaches including Steve Logsdon, Roger Vandergriff and hall of famers Al Miller, Turner Jackson, Danny Gilbert, Jim Morgan, Gordon Connell and Steve Henry to name a few.
Mansueto will be formally introduced at a Wednesday press conference at 3 p.m. in the Varallo Center at Notre Dame.
contact B.B. Branton at william.branton@comcast.net