Brazel Marquez - Head Coach - Staff Directory

Staff Directory

Brazel Marquez

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Head Coach
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A decorated wrestler and coach with more than a decade of high-level experience, Brazel Marquez is in her fourth season coaching Lehigh women's wrestling. Marquez guided the Mountain Hawks to a highly-successful inaugural season as a varsity program in 2025-26. She originally came to Lehigh in 2023 to coach Lehigh women’s wrestling when it was a club program and has played a major role in the program’s transition to a varsity program. In three years, Marquez has recruited a number of nationally-ranked and highly-regarded wrestlers who serve as the foundation of the Lehigh program.

Lehigh's first varsity season was immensely successful. Marquez led the Mountain Hawks to a 15-2 dual meet record, with Lehigh winning its first 14 duals. At the Super Region 2 meet in West Virginia, Lehigh crowned four individual champions on the way to the team title, with the Mountain Hawks qualifying five wrestlers for the inaugural NCAA Women's Wrestling Championship. For her efforts, Marquez was named Region 2 Coach of the Year by the National Wrestling Coaches Association.

At the inaugural NCAA Championship, Marquez saw three of Lehigh's five qualifiers emerge as All-Americans, led by Audrey Jimenez, who won a national championship at 110 and won the tournament's Outstanding Wrestler award as well as the NCAA's Most Dominant Wrestler Award for the 2025-26 season. Jimenez went on to win the NWCA's NCAA Wrestler of the Year award and USA Wrestling's Anthony-Maroulis Trophy as the nation's top women's wrestler. All-American Aubre Krazer was the Super Region 2 Rookie of the Year.

The three Lehigh All-Americans: Jimenez, Krazer and Abbi Cooper, all represented the United States at the U20 World Championships in Bulgaria, with Jimenez winning a silver medal and Krazer and Cooper finishing fifth. Jimenez also competed at the Senior and U23 World Championships, winning a second silver medal at the U23 level.

Marquez initially came to Lehigh after a stint at Vanguard University in her home state of California. She also continues to coach with Titan Mercury Wrestling Club. Prior to her position at Vanguard, Marquez coached the girls program at Wyoming Seminary, one of the top prep programs for girls wrestling. Marquez also enjoyed coaching stops at Emmanuel College in Georgia, and her alma mater Menlo College.

On the national and international circuit, Marquez has previously coached Team USA athletes at the U15 Pan-American Championships in Colombia, and the U17 World Championships in Istanbul, Turkey. In the summer of 2025, Marquez will coach the U.S. senior women’s team at the Grand Prix of Spain event in Madrid. She has coached more than 75 All-Americans and World Team members at all age group levels, including the senior level.

A Los Angeles area native, Marquez was a three-time California state champion and four-time finalist. She was a four-time All-American and a finalist at the USA Wrestling Junior Nationals in Fargo, N.D. Marquez made a World Team at the cadet level and was a junior Pan-Am Team member.

In college, Marquez was a two-time WCWA All-American, beginning her career at King University in Bristol, Tenn., before transferring to Menlo College in California, She graduated from Menlo in 2016 with a degree in psychology.

Marquez is married to Olivia Pizano, a former assistant coach for a two-time national championship program at Southern Oregon University. She enjoys fishing, being with my dogs, learning new hobbies, being with family and friends, reading, and hanging out with Olivia.