WILLIAMSTOWN, MA — Rich Hasenfus has been
named the head coach of wrestling at Williams College, it was
announced today by Williams Director of Athletics Harry Sheehy.
Hasenfus has spent the past 18 years coaching collegiate wrestling,
the last 13 at Norwich University.
While at Norwich, Hasenfus has coached 52 conference placers, nine
conference champions, 16 conference finalists, 15 NCAA qualifiers,
two All-Americans, 11 Scholar All-Americans and had two wrestlers
named Outstanding Wrestler of the New England Conference (NEC). In
addition, he was named NEC Coach of the year in 1998.
Two years ago, Hasenfus spearheaded a fundraising initiative that
saved the wrestling program at Norwich after the administration had
decided to eliminate the program due to lack of funding.
“We are thrilled to bring a wrestling coach of Rich’s
experience and level of success to Williams,” Sheehy said.
“The program is in terrific hands as we move forward. Having
been at Harvard, Wesleyan and most recently Norwich, Rich is well
acquainted with the challenge of being a student-athlete at a small
liberal arts college. We welcome Rich, his wife Jennifer and their
two daughters to our community.”
Hasenfus has several ties with Williams wrestling dating back to
the time Roger Caron was the head coach of the Ephs and Hasenfus
was an assistant coach at Harvard. Caron would bring his Eph team,
which included New England Collegiate Wrestling Hall of Famer
Jamaal Pollock, to the Crimson’s facilities to work out and
Hasenfus would join them. He remained acquainted with the program
through the coaching tenures of Scott lewis, Mike Whalen, Rafael
Vega and, most recently, Dan DiCenzo.
Following Harvard, Hasenfus was named the head coach at Wesleyan
University (1994-1997), before moving on to Norwich in 1997.
“This is a great opportunity, and I’m very excited to
be back at one of the top schools in the country,” Hasenfus
said. “I’ve been fortunate in my career to have coached
at some of the finest institutions in the country and I’m
obviously aware of Williams’ outstanding academic reputation
— and athletic reputation.”
Hasenfus replaces DiCenzo, who was named the defensive coordinator
(football) at Wesleyan University in the spring. Under DiCenzo, the
Ephs captured the NEWA championship in both 2009 and 2010 —
the first two NEWA championships in the program’s
history.
“The Williams program has obviously had a lot of success over
the last three years,” Hasenfus said. “I’m
looking forward to raising the bar and maintaining the high level
of excellence that Williams has ascended to.”
