GREENSBORO, NC ? UNC Greensboro Director of Athletics Nelson E. Bobb confirmed Wednesday evening that Spartan wrestling coach Tom Shifflet has accepted the position of head coach at Hofstra University.
Shifflet will be introduced at a 2 pm press conference on Thursday afternoon at Hofstra Arena in Hempstead, NY. The announcement was made official by Hofstra University officials on Wednesday evening. Four years to the day that he was named to his first head coaching position at UNCG, Shifflet becomes the 10th head wrestling coach in the Hofstra program's storied 58-year history, replacing Tom Ryan, who resigned on April 22 after 11 seasons at Hofstra to become the head coach at the Ohio State University.
"Tom Shifflet has done a wonderful job building this program," said Bobb. "I am happy for Tom, but at the same time sad to see him go. He has done a wonderful job with our student-athletes and brought this program into the national spotlight.
"Going to Hofstra, he assumes the reigns of a perennial Top 25, so I can understand the allure of that position, along with the desire to return to the New York area. I wish Tom all of the best. He leaves our program in an outstanding stature and I have no doubt that we will be able to conduct a quality national search to give us our next head coach."
Shifflet recently completed his fourth season as head coach at UNCG. Ironically, he was named the head wrestling coach at UNCG on May 17, 2002, following five successful seasons as the top assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Cornell University.
This past season, Shifflet guided the Spartans to an 11-6 overall mark and a 4-1 record in the Southern Conference. The Spartans finished second at the Southern Conference Championships, also known as "Mat Jam". Four Spartans won conference titles at the Southern Conference meet, with three of those qualifying for the NCAA Championship. A fourth wrestler received a wild card bid giving the Spartans nine NCAA qualifiers in Shifflet’s four-year tenure, including multiple qualifiers each of the last three seasons.
During Shifflet’s tenure, he also was the foundation of the Southern Scuffle wrestling tournament. Over the last three years, the Southern Scuffle has become one of the top tournaments in the nation. In 2005, 31 teams from across the nation competed in two days of competition, including several wrestlers that went onto win national championships. In its third season, the tournament got so big that it outgrew UNCG facilities and was moved to the Greensboro Coliseum’s Special Events Center.
In 2004-05, Shifflet guided UNCG to the most wins in school history as the Spartans recorded a 12-5 overall record and 4-1 in the Southern Conference. For the second consecutive year, Shifflet and UNCG produced the SoCon Freshman of the Year as Joe Kemmerer earned the award following a 31-7 season. Kemmerer, along with teammates Daren Burns and Joe Lowe, each won their respective weight class at the Southern Conference Mat Jam and qualified for the NCAA Tournament under Shifflet’s direction. Burns later qualified for the Pan American Wrestling Championships, where he earned a bronze medal.
The 2003-04 season was a breakthrough year as the Spartans claimed their first winning season since 1998-99. Their nine dual wins, an improvement of eight from the previous season, ranks as the second-most in the program’s 11-year history. Shifflet guided a young Spartan team to wins over ACC foes North Carolina, Duke and Maryland. Two of his recruits, Kevin Artis (141
lbs.) and Daren Burns (197 lbs.) were conference champions in their respective weight classes. Burns was also named the Southern Conference Freshman of the Year.
In 2003, Shifflet managed to sign one of the top recruiting classes in the nation. The class, which included one High School All-American, four Honorable Mention High School All-Americans and seven state champions, received an honorable mention based on InterMat’s 2003 final rankings.
"An All-American collegiate wrestler, a top-notch recruiter and an outstanding coach, Tom Shifflet has all the qualities that we were looking for to continue the winning tradition of Hofstra Wrestling," Hofstra Director of Athletics Jack Hayes said. "He has been a winner at every level, knows what it takes to get to the top, and shares our vision and passion to make the Pride program the best that it can be."
"I am excited about continuing the tradition that Hofstra University has in wrestling," Shifflet said. "It is a great opportunity for me to move the program along, like Tom Ryan did, without missing a beat. I look forward to setting lofty goals and working with a great group of student-athletes to achieve them. I want to move the Hofstra Wrestling program into the Top 10 and top five in the nation. We certainly have that opportunity at Hofstra, which was big reason why I took this position. I eagerly await the chance to work with the alumni and the friends of Hofstra wrestling to keep our program moving forward.
"This wasn’t an easy decision. Coming down here (to UNCG), this is a program that we have put our hearts and souls into for the last four years," said Shifflet. "We’ve worked hard to take it to higher levels and to grow the program. To leave it behind, quite honestly there is a little bit of a feeling that I didn’t put the finishing touches on it. Also, UNCG has a great administration that is very supportive of its wresting program, and that too makes it difficult to come to this decision. However, when I looked at everything, this was an opportunity that I couldn’t turn down. It was a great move for me and for my wife."
Shifflet inherits a program that finished 11th at the NCAA National Championships last March, with eight wrestling qualifying for the national meet.
A three-time All-American and a four-time national qualifier as a student-athlete at national powerhouse Edinboro University (1992-95), Shifflet began his coaching career as an assistant at Georgia State University in 1995, helping the Panthers post back-to-back winning seasons, and developing three conference champions and four NCAA qualifiers.
In 1997, Shifflet left Georgia State to begin a five-year tenure as an assistant coach at Cornell University. During his time with the Big Red, Shifflet coached 24 NCAA qualifiers, three NCAA All-Americans and helped head coach Rob Koll to a pair of Ivy League championships in 1999 and 2001. More importantly, Cornell was also consistently ranked among the nation's Top 15 programs. The final Big Red recruiting class that he was involved with placed fifth at the 2006 NCAA Championships in Oklahoma City.
Shifflet graduated from Edinboro University in 1995 with a Bachelor of Science degree in health and physical education. As a wrestler, he registered 118 wins for the Edinboro Fighting Scots and was coached by the legendary Bruce Baumgartner. Competing at 142 pounds, Shifflet finished seventh at nationals as a freshman, sixth as a sophomore and third as a senior. He is one of four three-time All-Americans in school history. Shifflet also received the Eastern Wrestling League Freshman of the Year Award in 1992 and the EWL Wrestler of the Year Award in 1995. He was inducted into both the Edinboro University and the EWL Halls of Fame in 2006. In 1996, Shifflet placed seventh in the final U.S. Olympic Trials in freestyle wrestling at 149.5 pounds. One year later he placed sixth in both the World Team Freestyle Trials and the U.S. Open.
Shifflet is married to the former Alice Faron of East Setauket, New York.
UNCG’s national search to become its third head wrestling coach will begin immediately.