By Mark Walters
The Colonial Athletic Association recently announced its postseason awards, and it should come as no surprise that Pride head coach Tom Shifflet was named CAA Coach of the Year.
Hofstra won its third conference title in as many years with Shifflet at the helm, good for its eighth straight CAA Title and ninth consecutive conference title overall.
“It’s nice to have the honor,” Shifflet began. “But for me, the reason I won the award is our guy’s effort at the conference championships,” he said of winning his second Coach of the Year honor in three years. “It’s a tribute to the effort that the guys on the team made at that conference championship, especially going in as an underdog.
Earlier this season, the Pride lost its first conference dual match, snapping its 61-match winning streak at the hands of Old Dominion at the CAA Duals at George Mason in January. Coming down to ODU’s mat for the conference tournament, Shifflet’s team may not have been the outright favorite that it so frequently was in years past.
The poster boy of underdogs was redshirt freshman PJ Gillespie, who as the six seed, wrestled his way to his first conference title at 149 pounds. For his efforts he was named CAA Rookie of the Year.
Gillespie missed much of the year with an injury, but came roaring back for a stellar postseason. He was the only unseeded wrestler to reach the 149-pound quarterfinals at his first NCAA Tournament, coming just one win away from achieving All-American status.
“It’s pretty special to me just because I had a rough season,” Gillespie said. “Then I came back and put everything together so it feels good.”
Gillespie joins the likes of Chris Stretkowicz (2002), Charles Griffin (2005), and Lou Ruggirello (2007) as Hofstra’s fourth CAA Rookie of the Year. Since 1998, Shifflet became the Pride’s 10th Coach of the Year. Former Pride head coach Tom Ryan won it eight times.
Joining Gillespie on the conference’s All-Freshman team are all of his team and classmates; Steve Bonanno (125), Justin Accordino (141), Ben Clymer (184), and Jordan Enck (285).
“We’ve got a good core group coming back from nationals,” Shifflet said. “The guys that wrestled on the team like Ben Clymer who didn’t get an opportunity to make it out there [nationals] but he’s a guy who, the two guys he lost to were All-Americans, so I think he is motivated, thinking, ‘I’m that close.'”
Shifflet and Gillespie are both pleased with their accolades, but are not willing to get complacent heading into a long off-season.
“The effort was good but we need to have All-Americans, national champions, a top 10 team and that takes a lot of work,” Shifflet said.
Gillespie mirrored his coach’s mentality.
“I can’t be satisfied,” Gillespie said. “I just gotta keep working.”