NCAA D-I WRESTLING

 

CLARION NAMES KEITH FERRARO ASSISTANT WRESTLING COACH

 

            Keith Ferraro, 31, a native of Brookville, Pa. and an assistant coach at Brookville High School since 2006, was named today as the assistant wrestling coach at Clarion University, it was announced by Athletic Director Dave Katis.

 

            Ferraro joins new Clarion Interim Head Wrestling coach Troy Letters, to form a new staff for the 2012-13 wrestling season. Letters replaced former head coach Matt Dernlan on May 15, who took a similar position at Binghamton University.

 

            “I am very happy to announce the hiring of Keith Ferraro as our assistant wrestling coach at Clarion,” said Katis. “We were very impressed with Keith during his interview. He has a strong commitment to Clarion University, to our ideals of what a student-athlete should be, and a dedication to the sport of wrestling that will be extremely beneficial to our student-athletes and our program. The program is in good hands with Troy Letters and Keith Ferraro leading the way.”

 

            Ferraro, the son of legendary Brookville Head Wrestling coach Lenny Ferraro, is a native of Brookville, Pa. and a 1999 Brookville High Grad. He wrestled 2 ½ years for his father, before his passing, and then finished his junior and then senior year under head coach Thad Turner. At Brookville Ferraro was a three-time District Champion 112-Fr.; 125-So.; 135-Sr.) and was part of the 1999 Brookville High School Dual Meet State Championship Team.

 

            Keith went on to attend Lock Haven University, was part of the wrestling program for four seasons (2000 – 2003) and graduated in December of 2003 with a degree in Health and Physical Education. A volunteer coach at Central Mountain in the seasons of 2003 and 2004, Ferraro was the head coach at Brockway in the 2005 season, then took a position to teach at Brookville High School and became the assistant coach under Dave Klepfer since 2006. In the 2011-12 season Brookville advanced 13 wrestlers to regionals, 5 to the PIAA Championships and as a team placed fourth in the state dual meet championships.

 

            “I am thrilled to have Keith Ferraro as my assistant coach,” said Clarion mentor Troy Letters. “I knew after the interviews he was the man for the job. He is fully committed to building Clarion wrestling back to national prominence,” he continued. “I believe Keith will be a strong recruiter, he has close ties with PIAA coaches and wrestlers across the state and has a very unique insight into PA. wrestling. Keith knows the Clarion Tradtion, grew up appreciating it, and is now part of rebuilding our tradition. I know he will dedicate himself to help us reach our national goals and we welcome him into the Clarion family.”

 

            “I first want to thank coach Letters and Mr. Katis for having faith in me and my abilities and giving me the opportunity to coach here at Clarion University,” said Ferraro. “I am so looking forward to coaching at Clarion and helping Troy build the tradition back at Clarion. “

           

            Why Clarion – Ferraro was asked?

 

            “This is a great opportunity,” said the new Clarion assistant. “I have a lot of faith and respect for coach Letters – I feel he is the right head coach at the right time here at Clarion. I also have such great memories growing up and watching some of the wrestling greats come through Tippin gym. Guys like Kurt Angle, Sheldon Thomas, Bryan Stout and Mark Angle – just to name a few. And of course what coach Bob Bubb did for wrestling here. I want to be part of building that tradition back.”

 

           

            Ferraro and wife Meghan reside in Brookville with sons Lenny (2 ½; Vincent – 7 weeks).

 

            CLARION WRESTLING NOTES:  Keith Ferraro’s father, Lenny Ferraro, was posthumously inducted into the PA. Wrestling in the Class of 2011 … He was 86-55-4 at Johnsonburg High as head coach from 1974 – 1983. He was District 9 Class AA Coach of the Year in 1979 … Moved on to Brookville and assisted Les Turner until 1993 – then took over at Brookville in 1994 … He was 66-11 at Brookville and won two District 9 titles … He passed away in January of 1998 … Troy Letters is only the seventh (7^th)  head coach at NCAA Division I Clarion since 1960. Frank Lignelli re-started the wrestling program in the Fall of 1959 and coached through 1966. Bob Bubb elevated the program to elite NCAA Division I status as head coach from 1967- 92, while Jack Davis mentored from 1993-97, Ken Nellis from 1998-2006. Teague Moore from 2007 – 2011 and Dernlan in 2012. In dual meet history the Golden Eagles are 516-323-17 over that time… The program was re-started in the 1959-60 season under head coach Frank Lignelli ... Lignelli was the coach from 1960-66 with a record of 61-12... He passed the torch to Bob Bubb, who from 1966-92, put Clarion wrestling on the national stage... Bubb had a career record of 322-121-4 ... Bubb led Clarion to a 4^th place team finish at D-I nationals in 1973, sixth in 1972 and 87 and eighth in 1992, his final season... Bubb coached 7 D-I champions, 3 college division champs, 27 All-Americans, 29 EWL winners and 68 PSAC champs ... Bubb will be remembered for two special athletes, namely Wade Schalles and Kurt Angle... Both were named to the NCAA/NWCA 75^th Anniversary Team in March of 2005... Schalles had an amazing career record of 153-5-1, won 2 NCAA titles and posted an NCAA record 106 pins ... Angle also was a 2-time NCAA D-I Champion, posted a record of 116-10-2 and also won an Olympic Gold Medal in 1996 ... On June 4, 2005, Bubb was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in Stillwater, Oklahoma .... Jack Davis was Clarion’s head coach from 1993-97 with a record of 43-34-5, Nellis (47-89-3; 1998-2006), and Moore (37-60-1)... Clarion has 8 D-I National Champions, 45 All-Americans, 54 EWL winners and 112 PSAC Champions... That also includes 14 PSAC and 3 EWL team titles…. In 2011 Clarion won the PSAC team title, placed fourth at EWL’s and qualified two wrestlers to the NCAA Division I Nationals in 157-lb James Fleming (West Mifflin) and 165-lb Bekzod Abdurakhmonov (Tashkent, Uzbekistan)… In 2012 Clarion was third at PSAC’s, fourth at EWL’s and 18^th at the NCAA Division I National Championships… Clarion had 2 D-I All-Americans in 2012 when Abdurakhmonov, a senior, finished third at 165-pounds, and Fleming, a junior, finished fifth at 157-pounds…