Tuesday, April 24, 2012
- by B.B. Branton
NCAA All-American and Southern Conference Wrestler of the Year Jon Sioredas is coming home.
Sioredas, who led the Tennessee at Chattanooga Mocs to a pair of top 30 finishes at the NCAA tournament – 2004 (29th), 2005 (21st) – has been hired as a UTC wrestling assistant for the 2012-13 school year.
“This is the perfect time for me to jump on board at UTC as head coach Heath Eslinger and his staff have done a great job both on the mat and in the classroom as UTC wrestling is one of the best program’s,academically, in the nation,’ said Sioredas (pronounced Cerritos), 29, who holds undergraduate degrees in sociology and anthropology as well as an MBA.
“I was an assistant coach at Old Dominion University for the past six years and the Monarchs accomplished a lot, but I thought it was time for a change.”
Sioredas was a state and national champ at Great Bridge High School (Va.) and wrestled three years at Missouri before transferring to UTC for the 2003-04 season to wrestle for Terry Brands and Eslinger, who was an UTC assistant coach.
“Jon is a UTC alum and has a vested interest in this program,” said Eslinger who in three years as Mocs head coach has won a pair of SoCon tournament titles, and has nine individual SoCon champions and 13 NCAA qualifiers.
“He has a passion for coaching, will bring a ton of intensity to the practice room and he, and our entire staff, want to pursue greatness.
“Jon’s strength is leading our practices and getting our guys better.”
In his two years in the blue and gold singlet, Sioredas won two Southern Conference titles, was 2005 SoCon wrestler of the year and the 2005 SoCon tournament outstanding wrestler.
He also earned national Dean’s List honors in the classroom and received national attention in the collegiate wrestling world with a win against a future national champ.
“I was able to beat John Hendricks (ranked No.2 nationally) in a dual match (Nov. 2004) on the road at Oklahoma State which was a big thrill and later I earned All-American honors.
“Wrestling for coach Terry and Heath was exactly what I needed wrestling wise and academically,” Sioredas stated. “Having good coaches who provided great individual attention was a key to my overall college success.”
He capped off his senior year as a Moc by placing fifth at the 2005 NCAAs. His only two losses were to Hendricks, the eventual champion (a re-match from four months earlier), in the championship quarters and to 2004 NCAA champ Troy Letters (Lehigh) in the consolation semis.
contact B.B. Branton at william.branton@comcast.net