Chris Ayres named head coach at Princeton
5/31/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Wrestling
 |
“It’s going to be bittersweet to leave this place,” Ayres said. “I love Lehigh. I loved being a student-athlete here and I loved being a coach.”
“It’s a great thing for Chris,” added Lehigh head coach Greg Strobel, who became Lehigh’s head coach before Ayres’ redshirt freshman season. “Ever since he started as a student-athlete he’s been groomed to be a wrestling coach.
“We’re honored that
One of the hardest working wrestlers to have donned the brown and white, Ayres was a three year team captain for Lehigh. His 120 career victories set a school record that lasted nearly six years; and Ayres still holds the school single season record for wins, with 39 in 1998. Ayres won an EIWA Championship at 150 pounds in 1998 and then earned All-American honors with a sixth place finish at 157 in 1999. He became the first Lehigh wrestler in 38 years to become an All-American without earning a medal at the state championship level.
After graduating from Lehigh in 1999 with a degree in marketing, Ayres continued to compete in open freestyle tournaments. In 2001, he placed fourth in the U.S. Senior Nationals and fourth at the World Team Trials. A year later he placed fifth at the world team trials. Ayres later earned his master’s in elementary education from Lehigh.
As Strobel’s top assistant, Ayres served as recruiting coordinator and played an intricate role in this year’s recruiting class, which is already being heralded as one of the best in the nation.
“Obviously from his years at Lehigh he knows how to recruit athletes to good academic institutions,” said Strobel, who is entering his 12th season as head coach. “And, Chris really knows wrestling so that will help him out.”
Ayres looks to turn around a Tigers program that went 5-10 last season and finished 12th out of 13 teams at the 2006 EIWA Championships.
“Coach Strobel served as a great mentor and really came in and turned this Lehigh program around,” said Ayres. “I’m looking forward to going to
Ayres becomes the third Lehigh assistant in four years to move into a head coaching position. Kerry McCoy is entering his second season as the head coach at Stanford, while longtime Lehigh assistant Pat Santoro is his fourth season at
