The Seton Hill Griffins Wrestling Team looks forward to their 11th season under Head Coach Brian Tucker in 2022-23.
In his nine seasons on the hill, Tucker has seen twenty three wrestlers advance to the Division II National Championships (three All Americans, one National Runner Up). Tucker has enabled his wrestlers to excel in the classroom as well. Last season eight members of the team were named to the All Academic Wrestling Team the team finished with the second best GPA in Division II. In four of the last eight seasons, the Griffins have had one of the top three GPAs in the country. Three Griffin wrestlers were named to the NWCA All American Academic Team in 2013-14 and Five in 2014-15. Plus in his ten seasons as Head Coach, six wrestlers have earned Capitol One Academic All District team honors and one was named to the CoSIDA Academic All American team.
During the 2021-22 season, the Griffins sent one wrestler to nationals. The team was second in the country in the Division II All Academic Wrestling team standings and eight wrestlers were named to the All American team. After the season, helped Team USA to a U17 Gold Medal at the 2022 World Championships. It was the first ever gold medal won by the USA in that age group.
In 2019-20, the Griffins sent two wrestlers to nationals after finishing tied for second place in the PSAC regular season standings. The team finished 18th in the Division II All Academic Wrestling Team Standings and six wrestlers were named to the All Academic Team.
During the 2018-19 season, the Griffins had four wrestlers advance to nationals with Damon Greenwald earning All American honors. The team finished 18th in the Division II All Academic Wrestling Team Standings and six wrestlers were named to the All Academic Team.
In 2017-18, the Griffins set a new school record with fourteen dual match victories. The Griffins also made a run to the finals of the NWCA National Duals where they defeated three top ranked teams. Four Griffins went to the National Tournament. Eight members of the team were named to the Division II All Academic Wrestling Team.
In 2016-17, Tucker helped the Griffins to nine dual match victories along with sending five wrestlers to nationals (a new Seton Hill record), including one NCAA Division II All American. The Griffins finished 31st at the National Championships in the team results. The team finished third in the country in the 2016-17 Division II All Academic Wrestling Team Standings with an overall GPA of 3.450. Individually six Griffins were named to the 2016-2017 Division II All-Academic Wrestling Team.
Four seasons ago, the team had a program high 19th place finish at Nationals. Joey Alessandro was a national runner up at 133 pounds, falling in the national championship match. During the 2014-15 season Tucker lead the Griffins to their first winning dual meet season as well as enjoying their first ever Tournament Championship by winning the Washington & Jefferson Invitational.
In the summer of the 2015-16 season Tucker represented Team USA at the Veteran’s World Championships as the personal coach of 97Kg Gold Medal winner Mark Marshall, the Griffin’s Volunteer Coach.
Prior to joining Seton Hill, Tucker was an assistant wrestling coach at Bloomsburg University where he assisted the Head Coach John Stutzman in all aspects of running a successful Division I wrestling program. While at Bloomsburg, the Huskies qualified 6 wrestlers to the NCAA Division I National Tournament and in 2011 the Huskies placed third in the EWL Championships. He was also the assistant wrestling camp director at Bloomsburg.
Tucker was the head coach for the Husky Wrestling Club in Bloomsburg, PA where he had the opportunity to coach heavyweight Justin Grant at the 2012 US Olympic Trials.
Coach Tucker was a four-year varsity starter for the Dallastown Area High School Wildcats in York County and wrestled for two years at The Ohio State University before transferring over to the University of Pittsburgh, where he graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Health and Physical Activity. He received his Master’s Degree in Exercise Science from Bloomsburg University.
He is a graduate of the NWCA Leadership Academy and holds a Bronze Level Coaching Certification through USA Wrestling. Tucker is also a Certified Personal Trainer with the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) and is a Corrective Exercise Specialist.
