For the Hofstra University wrestling team, the 2023-24 wrestling season is marked by big roster changes and a highly competitive schedule.
“We’re going to be young,” said Hofstra head coach Dennis Papadatos. “We have so many new guys coming in, which is exciting, but we also have some upper-class leadership. We’re really happy with the group we brought in and we’re really happy with our returners.”
Graduate student Keaton Kluever’s transfer from the University of Minnesota is a big recruitment win for the Pride. Kluever, who wrestles in the 285-pound weight class, joins the team with a collegiate record of 43-33 and was a 2019 National Collegiate Open runner-up.
“It’s just nice to have one more year of someone who knows how to win at a higher level that has one year of eligibility left, who just wanted to come in and kind of help these guys make adjustments,” Papadatos said. “He’s a good leader; he’s a good kid; he’s definitely about the right things.”
Dylan Ryder’s return to the roster after two seasons off was the other big announcement over the summer. Ryder competed at 125 pounds for the team between 2018 to 2021, amassing a 45-22 record and being a two-time placer at the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA) championships.
“He looks very good,” Papadatos said. “I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but man, he looks ready to go. It looks like he has unfinished business, and he looks on a mission to go finish that business. That time off the mat actually did him good; his body healed up. We expect him to pick up where he left off and go further. That’s what we hope; that’s what our expectation and hope is. So, we will see. It’s great to have him back.”
125 pounds and 285 pounds are not the only weight classes seeing a changing of the guard. Freshman Noah Tapia is anticipated to possibly take Michael Leandrou’s previous starting spot at 149 pounds after Tapia beat fellow freshman Dylan Zenion at wrestle-offs. At 157 pounds, sophomore Jurius Clark beat last year’s starter Joe McGinty and freshman Frank Volpe for his potential spot. As for 165 pounds, it’s a tossup between Eric Shindel, who beat freshmen Matthew Waddell and Jake Slotnick and returners Matt Rogers and Greyson Harris at wrestle-offs. And for 184 pounds, freshman Will Conlon beat junior Ericson Velasquez at wrestle-offs, though just like all the freshmen, we won’t know if Conlon will be the starter until the season begins.
As for the rest of the lineup, Chase Liardi can safely be assumed to start at 133 pounds after a dominant wrestle-off performance against freshman Ryan Arbeit. Nikolas Miller also earned a technical fall at wrestle-offs against freshman Gavin Proffitt, as he looks to be the starter at 197 pounds following Trey Rogers’ graduation. At 141 pounds, graduate student Justin Hoyle is secure in his sport, as is Ross McFarland at 174 pounds. Hoyle and McFarland come into the season after both placing seventh at the EIWA championships last season and amassing records of 19-13 and 15-11 respectively.
“Hoyle and Miller looked strong over the summer,” Papadatos said. “Justin Hoyle made a big jump. But off the top of my head, if I had to say [who] improved the most, [it] is Nick Miller because he seems like he’s filling in that role.”
Hofstra will also see some changes in the coaching staff with former assistant coaches Jamie Franco and Mauro Correnti moving on to coach at other EIWA schools. The Pride will add Charles Small and Codi Russell to the staff. Small, who graduated from Hofstra in 2022 after a very successful 38-27 career, was previously a graduate assistant for Purdue University. Russell graduated from Appalachian State University in 2021, was a four-time NCAA qualifier and is coming off of coaching at the Minion Training Center.
“It feels fresh, and I myself feel energized,” Papadatos said. “The freshness has really been good for me personally, and [for] my mental psyche, I feel like I can coach better. And having Charles and Codi here has been very good for me.”
Last season was said to have one of the most competitive schedules in the country, and this season’s schedule is even more challenging. The highlight for the season is the dual against Pennsylvania State University, the 10-time national champions, in their home gym.
Hofstra’s home duals include No. 15 Ohio State University on Sunday, Nov. 19; Edinboro University on Dec. 10; No. 7 North Carolina State University on Jan. 7, 2024; Long Island University on Jan. 27, 2024; and Binghampton University on Feb. 9, 2024.
“In the first semester, we’re wrestling Ohio State and NC State at home,” Papadatos said. “We are traveling to Penn State and wrestling Penn State in Penn State, so we got a schedule, and these guys better be ready to go because we are wrestling. Right now, we have three teams ranked top five in the country on our schedule – two of them at home. So we’re ready, we’re training and we’re ready to go.”
In terms of the larger NCAA, there will also be some rule changes going into the 2023-24 wrestling season: takedowns will now be worth three points rather than two, referees can award two, three or four points for near-falls, and weigh-in times will now be a standardized two hours or sooner before both tournaments and dual meets. Additionally, some dominant wrestlers have decided to take an Olympic redshirt year in anticipation of the 2024 Paris Olympics.
As Papadatos nears 10 years as head coach for the Pride, his expectations for the program are high.
“We’re so new, I didn’t know what to expect yet because of how young our guys are and how new some of our coaches are,” Papadatos said. “My expectations are high. With our very hard schedule, with some veteran leadership and a very young team and new coaches, my expectations are very high. Higher than it was, even though we were excited about the recruiting class; watching them work for the last seven, eight weeks, I’m like, ‘Wow, we might have gotten this right.’”
Photo courtesy of Hofstra Athletics/Alexis Friedman
