Men's Wrestling
- Title:
- Assistant Coach
- Email:
- joh508@lehigh.edu
- Phone:
- 610-758-4299
- Alma Mater:
- Second season
John Hughes enters his second season on the Mountain Hawks’ coaching staff. A three-time All-American and former NCAA Champion at Penn State, Hughes helped guide the Mountain Hawks to 23 dual wins in his first season in Bethlehem after spending the previous five seasons at his alma mater.
Hughes is regarded as one of the toughest wrestlers in Penn State history. He won an NCAA Championship at 142 in 1995 and added All-American honors with a seventh place finish in 1994 and a runner-up finish in 1996. Hughes ranks eighth in Nittany Lion annals with 121 career victories. In addition to his national title, Hughes was the 1995 Big Ten Champion and also won a gold medal at the 1994 Pan-Am Games and a University National Freestyle Championship.
In five seasons on the coaching staff at Penn State, Hughes made a profound and immediate impact in the training room. Working predominantly with the Nittany Lion middleweights, Hughes helped guide Bubba Jenkins and Dan Vallimont to All-American honors in 2008, while as a team, Penn State crowned four All-Americans and finished third in the team standings, the program’s best finish since 1994. Hughes also played a major role in Penn State’s recruiting efforts which have produced recruiting classes that were among the nation’s best over the last several years, and continued that tradition in his first year at Lehigh as the Mountain Hawks brought in a nationally ranked recruiting class.
A native of Stillwater, Pennsylvania, Hughes won four PIAA state championships wrestling for Benton High School. He earned his bachelor’s degree in landscape contracting from Penn State in 2002. Prior to joining the Penn State coaching staff on a full time basis, Hughes served as head coach for the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club. He also enjoyed a stint as an assistant coach for the Pittsburgh Wrestling Club and worked as an environmental technician for Groundwater and Environmental Services, Inc.
Hughes and his wife Melissa have a son, Riley and a daughter, Morgan.
