Former UTC Southern Conference champion Jave Maldonado has recently been hired as head coach at Southeastern Univ. (Lakeland, Fla.)
photo by UTC Sports Information
The UTC wrestling family tree of coaches has expanded by one.
Former three-time Southern Conference champion Jave Maldonado (125 pounds) has recently been hired as the head wrestling coach for the first year program at Southeastern University (Lakeland, Fla.).
Southeastern is a member of the NAIA and fields the only scholarship-awarded college program in the state of Florida.
The list of UC/UTC wrestlers who are presently or have been a college head coach include Jim Morgan (UTC), Dr.
John Farr (Chattanooga State) and Heath Eslinger (UTC), Jon Sioredas (Grand Canyon) and now Maldonado (Southeastern U.).
“I am really grateful for the opportunity to head the university’s wrestling program in its inaugural season (2015-16) and appreciate the university's support of wrestling,” said Maldonado who is currently a teacher and assistant coach at his alma mater Osceola HS (Fla). where he was a two-time state champ and three-time All-American.
Maldonado, who was also a three-time national scholar athlete at UTC, plans to have a first year roster of 40 guys in the room in the fall with a mixture of scholarship and walk-ons and a new athletic building which will house wrestling is expected to open for the 2016-17 school year.
“Javier has both a high-level wrestling background and Florida connections which make him the ideal choice to become our first head coach,” said athletics director Drew Watson in a statement sent out by the school last week. “More importantly, I believe he is a coach who has the ability to build a championship program the right way and get us competitive on the national scene quickly.”
contact B.B. Branton at william.branton@comcast.net