The big news for the Hofstra University wrestling program this season is that Jamie Franco will be returning to the Pride as the new head coach. After 10 seasons with the Pride, Dennis Papadatos stepped down in the spring to take on his new role as the Assistant Director of Athletics for Athletic Development and Strategic Partnerships at Hofstra.
Franco returns to the island after spending last season at Columbia University as an assistant coach. Before that, Franco was a three-time NCAA Championship qualifier with Hofstra and served on the staff from 2016 to 2023, including two seasons as the associate head coach. Franco, a Monroe native, is very involved in the Long Island wrestling community and coached many of the local members of the team during their youth wrestling days.
“It was a kind of a dream of mine to always be a head coach and to get the call to come back to Hofstra after leaving for a short time and to take over the program where I wrestled, I think was really important,” Franco said. “It was always a dream to be a head coach, but to come back and get my first head coaching job at Hofstra was really special.”
Alongside Franco, Jesse DellaVecchia joins the Pride as an assistant coach. As an NCAA All-American at Rider University and previous assistant coach at Long Island University (LIU), DellaVecchia knows what it takes to have post-season success with a small program. To round out the coaching staff, Charles Small, a standout in his time as an athlete at Hofstra, returns for a second season as a volunteer assistant coach trainee.
“Obviously, [DellaVecchia’s] a great wrestler, but at the same time he’s a great coach,” Franco said. “He’s a great young coach. I think he’s one of the better young coaches on the scene right now. Obviously, our guys are seeing it and they said he’s been a pleasure to work with so far.”
Besides himself, Franco returned from Columbia with the team’s only transfer of the season, graduate student Kyle Mosher. With the Lions, Mosher posted a career record of 51-33, with a senior record of 11-11. Last season he recorded five pins, one technical fall and three major decisions. The Rockville Centre native has deep ties to Long Island, Hofstra and Franco.
“[Mosher] was at our summer camps here, like when he was all way back to 4th or 5th grade,” Franco said. “So, he’s been vibing in this Hofstra room since probably, like I said, 2010 or [2011]. So, he’s been here for a long time and I’ve got to spend a lot of time with him training him throughout high school, and then obviously coaching at Columbia was nice. So, it’s good to get him back in the room for his last year. I thought last year was his last year and I thought it was a special honor to be able to coach him in his last season and now I got a bonus season with him at Hofstra which is really special.”
As for the rookies, Hofstra picked up three freshmen: Zach Reilley, a 149-pounder from Hazlet, New Jersey, Gauge Shipp, a 133-pounder from Henderson, Illinois and Teague Strobel, a 125-pounder from Westminster, South Carolina. Reilley placed seventh at the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association Boys Individual Championships at 144 pounds last season and placed fifth at 138 pounds the year before. As for Shipp, he won the 138-pound Illinois High School Association Class 2A state semifinals in 2023 and was a runner-up at 132 pounds in 2024 after posting an unbeaten 44-match streak before the finals. Strobel is a three-time South Carolina High School League State Champion, once at 120 pounds and twice at 113 pounds, and one time runner-up at 106 pounds.
“It’s always an adjustment when you’re a freshman coming in,” Franco said. “For me, it’s ‘ guys, these are learning curves’ but they’re really answering it. You know, they’re answering ‘hey, like, I get that I got a grown man trying to club me in the head and I got to learn how to fight back because it’s not going to get easier’ and they’re making adjustments and it’s good that every week I’m seeing some big improvements.”
Turning to the returners, Jurius Clark enters the season as the only member of the Pride to have placed at the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA) Championships last season, finishing seventh at 157 pounds. Clark went 15-9 last season for one of the highest winning percentages on the team at .625.
Just one weight class away at 149 pounds, last year’s stand-out freshman Noah Tapia looks to continue to build off his 22-15 rookie season. Tapia led the team in wins last season with his breakout victory early in the calendar year at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational where he beat No. 14 Jordan Williams of Oklahoma State University.
Moving down a weight class at 141 pounds, Justin Hoyle returns for one last run with the Pride after missing most of last season due to an injury. Hoyle placed seventh at the EIWA Championships in 2023 and eighth in 2022. He is 49-38 in his Hofstra career as the most experienced member of the team.
Chase Liardi also returns to the mat after missing last season due to injury. The 133-pound Massapequa native spent a year at Ohio State University before returning to Long Island in 2022. At Ohio State, he posted an 11-2 record and was 10-13 in his first season with the Pride.
Team captain Ross McFarland returns for his sixth year with the Pride. He may move up to 184 pounds this season after wrestling at 174 pounds for most of his time at Hofstra. In 2023 he placed seventh at the EIWA Championships and was 12-8 last season for a career 31-28 record. He, like Hoyle, is looking to finally make it to the NCAA Championships in his last season.
Other returning members include Dylan Acevedo-Switzer who showed huge improvement last season as he stepped into the starting lineup at 125 pounds. One of Acevedo-Switzer’s common training partners, Ryan Arbeit, one of four team captains this season, is described as one of, if not the hardest, workers in the room.
During Hofstra wrestle-offs, Joe Sparacio beat Hoyle at 141 pounds after dominating Cam Ice earlier that day. Sparacio looks very strong this season and may get the chance to make the starting lineup while Hoyle prepares to return to competition.
Around the middleweights, Alex Turley spent most of last season as the starter at 141 pounds, competing at 149 pounds at wrestle-offs for the spot behind Tapia.
Joe Russo was a pickup from Nassau Community College last season but has yet to compete for the Pride at 149 or 157 pounds. Jake Slotnick impressed in his first-year last season, going 9-10 to help fill the 165-pound weight class for the Pride. Russo and Slotnick will sit behind Tapia, Clark and Mosher this season but add depth to the line up.
Matthew Waddell and Greyson Harris are two younger members of the team who will look to be second string behind McFarland or the starters if the team captain moves up a weight class.
Will Conlon, last season’s starter at 184 pounds, may move up to 197 pounds after his strong freshman campaign. Conlon would have to take the starting spot from Nikolas Miller, who was the starter last season and won at wrestle-offs.
Finally, at 285 pounds, two young heavyweights will fill in a historically strong weight class for the Pride. Danny Church is the standout, having beaten Adrian Sans multiple times for the starting spot.
After starting the season with the Princeton Open and the Journeymen Collegiate Classic, Hofstra returns home for their first three of the season. On Saturday, Nov. 16, the Pride will host Duke University, the Citadel Military College of South Carolina and Sacred Heart University in a tri duel.
The Pride will travel to Ohio State on Sunday, Nov. 24, for the premier dual. The ties between the teams run deep as Ohio head coach Tom Ryan was the Hofstra head coach for 11 years from 1995 to 2006 and is a member of the Hofstra Athletics Hall of Fame.
Hofstra takes on one of the toughest in-season tournaments of the year in the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational on Dec. 6 and 7. Tapia turned the tide here last season with wins over two competitive opponents. With many high-ranked wrestlers and teams in attendance, it’s the perfect place for a wrestler to capture national attention early in the season.
The Pride will return to New York for another three-meet series to end the calendar year, first against Columbia, followed by Nassau Community College and ending with Morgan State University. With Franco and Mosher’s recent departure from Columbia and the series history of 17-14, it will be an interesting clash between the Pride and the Lions.
As for Nassau, second-year team member Russo may get to battle his former school. Hofstra has received several transfers over the years from junior colleges including who was a National Junior College Athletic Association Champion in 2019 before his time with the Pride.
Morgan State joined the EIWA this season in their second season after the program was brought back following a 24-year hiatus. The Bears are the only historically Black college to have a wrestling program and are coached by Olympic champion Kenny Monday.
Moving into 2025, the Pride have several competitions in rapid succession. On Jan. 9, they face Binghamton University, a team that bested the Pride 31-6 last season and has been on the up-and-up after they beat the No. 18 United States Naval Academy (Navy) last season and sent four men to the NCAA Championships. On Jan. 10, Hofstra will attend the Franklin and Marshall Open, where several EIWA schools make appearances including and LIU, as well as several non-conference teams.
Two more non-conference duels follow for the Pride with Bloomsburg University on Jan. 18, and the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) on Jan. 26. Hofstra squarely beat Bloomsburg last season 27-14 but the Huskies gave more of a fight than in previous seasons. As for UPenn, the Ivy League is officially out of the conference this season, but they are still a formative lineup and will be challenging duel.
Hofstra returns to Long Island for three EIWA duels. They host Franklin & Marshall College on Feb. 2, and look to earn some important conference wins for EIWA Championships seeding. The Pride take a short trip to LIU on Feb. 10, for what is blossoming into a real Long Island rivalry. The Sharks are in their fifth season as a D1 program and held their own in a tight 22-14 contest with the Pride last season.
In the last regular season dual meet, the Pride host Drexel University on Feb. 16. The Dragons were also the final dual meet last season and completely decimated the Pride 24-9. On Feb. 23, the Pride end the regular season at the Patriot Last Chance Open, with the EIWA Championships on Mar. 7 and 8.
With new coaching staff and a young lineup, Franco’s message to the team this season is straightforward: have fun with it.
“The more fun you have in this, as long as you’re working hard, you can have a lot of fun,” Franco said. “And I think sometimes guys stress out a little too much. And they put too much pressure on themselves about the match and that it means more than it really does. Yeah, I mean, we want to win, but sometimes that pressure really clogs up our brains and doesn’t let us perform at our peak. I’ve been just telling the guys, ‘, just give me the effort, look to score the next point’ and you know, and we’re gonna have a fun season.”
Photo courtesy of Amelia Bashy
