Dear USM Wrestling friends, fans and alumni,
I wanted to let you know that this past season was my final season as the Head Wrestling Coach at the University of Southern Maine. I will finish my University of Maine system contract thru July and my last day officially will be July 24, after the USM Wrestling Camp.
II am heading South and am trading in Pine Trees for Palm Trees and taking over for Pat Milkovich, a former 4x AA, 2x nat'l champ from Michigan State as the new Head Wrestling Coach at Florida Gulf Coast University, an NCAA Division I University with an NCWA Wrestling program. There are strong aspirations per the FGCU booster club President of adding another varsity men's sport within 5-10 years and was hired due to our success and my body of work at the University of Southern Maine.
I was offered this position 2+ weeks ago and after a bunch of negotiations, hours upon hours of soul searching, and logistics personally and professionally, I accepted last Sunday. After 20 years as a competitor and a Head Wrestling Coach in New England (MA, RI and ME), it's time for a new chapter in my life.
The USM Wrestling program is in an ideal and strong place as the current USM Wrestling coaching staff will include Mike Morin , Julio Santiago, Mike Frey, Sean Fagan and Jonathan Deupree . Their respective and official titles (Head Coach, Head Assistant, Assistant, etc) will be officialy announced in coming days. The USM schedule is all set for next year, we have outstanding wrestlers returning, great kids coming in, a new and improved wrestling room and coaches who are familiar with the USM Wrestling philosophy and way.
I hope I served the Maine Wrestling community well after all of these years and most importantly, served and made my former and current USM Student athletes proud of their Wrestling program and experiences at USM.
Lastly, I sincerely hope the Maine Wrestling community and my former and current student athletes had pride in what USM Wrestling accomplished on a local, regional and national level as I have been extremely proud to represent Maine wrestling as a whole; this experience has been the best years of my life.
Thank you for your continuous support of me and the University of Southern Maine Wrestling program during my tenure, 2003-15'.
Coach Pistone
HISTORY OF USM WRESTLING
University of Southern Maine Wrestling 1997-Present
August 1996: Ted Reese founded the University of Southern Maine Men's Wrestling Program; starts out as a club sport at USM
March, 1997: USM Wrestling officially becomes an NCAA Division III sanctioned sport and a varsity sport at USM
February, 1999: USM makes the NCAA National Wrestling Championships for the first time with MAWA HOF member Adam Farrington advancing to the NCAA National Championships at 174lbs
February, 2001: USM makes the NCAA National Wrestling Championships, crowning its first NCAA New England Champion and MOW, Adam Farrington at 174
April, 2002 USM Captain Tim Morris captures the University Greco Roman National Championship title; finishes as a National Runner up in Freestyle 2 days later in Las Vegas, Nevada.
June, 2003: USM's Ted Reese resigns as the Head Wrestling Coach at the University of Southern Maine.
July, 2003: Joe Pistone takes over as the University of Southern Maine Head Wrestling Coach.
July 2003: Longtime USM Assistant Wrestling Coach, Bryan Brunk accepts the Head Wrestling Coach position at Messiah College (PA).
March, 2005: SUNY Oneonta State University alumni, Julio Santiago, is named USM's Head Assistant Wrestling Coach.
February, 2006: USM makes the NCAA National Wrestling Championships in Iowa, crowning its 2nd NCAA New England Champion, Stephen Valastro at 133lbs
February, 2008: USM hosts the NCAA New England Wrestling Championships, the 2nd time in history an NCAA National Championship Qualifier is hosted in Maine.
February, 2008: Former USM Head Coach Ted Reese and former Head Assistant Coach, Bryan Brunk (current Messiah College Head Wrestling Coach) are inducted to the NCAA Division III New England Wrestling Hall of Fame before the Championship finals at USM
March, 2008: USM makes the NCAA National Wrestling Championships, crowning its 3rd NCAA New England Champion, Mike Morin at 165lbs; Morin wins an overtime match in a best-of-three match against Springfield College in the final match of the NCAA New England Tournament at home!
July, 2009 Former USM Assistant Coach, Jason York, becomes the Head Wrestling Coach at Bridgewater State University (MA)
August 2009 Former USM Assistant Coach Mike Brown wins the WEC World Featherweight title, defeating Urijah Faber by unanimous decision
March 2009: USM makes the NCAA National Wrestling Championships in Iowa, crowning its 4th NCAA New England Champion, Mike Morin at 165lbs
March, 2009: USM's NCAA All New England Wrestlers Doug Christensen and Mike Morin earn NCAA Scholar First team All America honors
March, 2009: Mike Morin becomes USM's first NCAA Wrestling All American, finishing 4th at the NCAA National Tournament; this is the first time a Maine collegiate wrestler earns NCAA All America honors.
October, 2009: Mike Morin becomes the #1 ranked Wrestler in the Nation at 165lbs
December, 2009: USM earns an invite to the prestigious 'Desert Duals' and competes at the Flamingo Ballroom and Casino in Las Vegas, NV; USM knocks off #20 in NCAA DII Grand Canyon University
February, 2010: USM makes the NCAA National Wrestling Championships in Iowa, crowning its 5th NCAA New England Champion, Mike Morin at 165lbs
May, 2010: USM Head Coach, Coach Pistone is voted in as the NCAA New England Wrestling Association Vice President
March, 2010 USM's 3x NCAA All New England Wrestlers Doug Christensen and Mike Morin earn NCAA Scholar First team All America honors
March, 2010: USM makes the NCAA National Wrestling Championships, crowning its 6th NCAA New England Champion, Matt Ulrich at 141lbs
March, 2010: USM advances to the NCAA Final Four in Matt Ulrich at 141. Ulrich defeats 2x NCAA finalist, 3x NCAA All American Jafari Vanier from Augsburg (MN) to become USM's second NCAA All American finishing 6th at the NCAA National Wresting Championships
March, 2010: Mike Morin becomes USM's third NCAA Wrestling All American, finishing 5th at the NCAA NationalWrestling Championships.
April, 2010: Mike Morin earns NCAA Division III Pilgrim League Wrestler of the Year
March, 2010: USM Head Assistant Coach, Julio Santiago earns NCAA New England Division III Assistant WrestlingCoach of the Year. A week later he is within the top 4 nominated for NCAA National Asst. Coach of the Year
December, 2011: USM competes at the Gulf Coast Dual Meet Championships, finishing with a 3-1 record defeating Buena Vista University (Iowa) Central University (Iowa) and Concordia University (Wisconsin)
February, 2011: USM makes the NCAA National Wrestling Championships, crowning its 7th NCAA New England Champion, Billy Cole at 133lbs
March, 2011: USM's Billy Cole becomes a 2x NCAA Division III First Team Scholar All American
February, 2011-12: The USM Wrestling team sets a new school record for dual meet wins with 15
March, 2012: USM's Cinjin Goewey becomes an NCAA Division III First Team Scholar All American
March, 2012: USM's Billy Cole becomes a 2x NCAA Division III First Team Scholar All American
May, 2012: USM's Head Wrestling Coach, Coach Pistone, is named the President of the NCAA New England Wrestling Association.
March, 2012: USM's Rick Chipman becomes an NCAA Division III First Team Scholar All American, the oldest in the history of NCAA Wrestling, ALL DIVISIONS!
August, 2012-13: National powerhouse New York teams Ithaca College, Oneonta State University, Oswego State University and SUNY Cortland join the New England Conference, making it an 18 team NCAA Northeast Regional. Top (3) in each weight class earn NCAA bids
September, 2013: Longtime USM Head Assistant Wrestling Coach, Julio Santiago steps down; former 2x NCAA All American is elevated to USM Head Assistant Wrestling Coach.
February, 2013; USM Captains Sean Fagan and Jon Deupree become the first ever NCAA Division III Northeast Region Place finishers; Fagan becomes an NCAA National Championship’s Alternate
February, 2014 USM wins its first team tournament title, capturing the North Atlantic Wrestling Championships
January, 2014: USM's Rick Chipman makes the back page in the worlds most circulated newspaper, the Wall Street Journal; CLICK HERE see the online article
February, 2014: USM makes the NCAA National Wrestling Championships, crowning its first NCAA Division III Regional Champion, Jon Deupree; Deupree earns the Most Outstanding Wrestler Award of the NCAA Regional Championships pinning his NCAA All American foe in the final.
February 2014: USM Freshman, Carl “CJ” Luth earns NCAA Scholar All America honors
February, 2014: USM Freshman Daniel Del Gallo earns NCAA Scholar All America honors; records a perfect 4.0 both Fall and Spring semesters at USM
July, 2014: NCAA National Championships Qualifier/NCAA Region Champion Jon Deupree becomes a member of NCAA Division III/United States All Star Team and travels/competes in France, Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary, finishing with a 5-1 record!
August, 2014: USM Wrestling program founder and USM’s first Head Wrestling Coach, Ted Reese, earns the prestigious “Lifetime Achievement Award” from the Maine Amateur Wrestling Association
October, 2014: Former USM Team Captain and 2012 NCAA Scholar All American Rick Chipman earns USM’s Highest Academic/Athletic honor, the “William B. Wise Award”, for the 4th consecutive year. No other USM HuskyWrestler has achieved this honor.
November, 2014: Coach Pistone earns his 100th career collegiate coaching victory, defeating Norwich University 23-18 in Worcester, MA.
December, 2014: USM competes in the prestigious,”Grapple at the Garden” at Madison Square Garden, the WORLD’S most famous arena. The University of Southern Maine defeats Muhlenburg University.
January, 2015: USM competes in the nationally recognized Wabash College duals competing against the University of Wisconsin-Platteville (WI), Mt. St. Joseph College (OH), Wabash College (IN) and Ohio Northern University (OH). USM finishes with a 2-2 record.
February, 2015: USM defeats SUNY Oneonta State and Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT and earns the best dual meet record in the history of the USM men's Wrestling program.
March, 2015: Jonahan Deupree earns his second NCAA Regional Championship at 184lbs to advance to the NCAA National Championships for the 2nd consecutive year. Deupree enters the tournament as the #2 seed, the highest seeded USM Wrestler ever in the NCAA Tourney.
March, 2015: Daniel Del Gallo, the #4 seed at 149lbs, upsets JWU and North Carolina State University transfer and returning NCAA NQ to earn a spot in the NCAA Regional Championship finals. Del Gallo advances to his first NCAA National Championships.
March, 2015: Sean Fagan and CJ Luth earn NCAA All-Region honors with a 5th place finish at 197lbs and 157lbs. This is Fagan's second NCAA All- Region honor.
March, 2015: Daniel Del Gallo and CJ Luth earn 1st Team NCAA Scholar All America honors. They are now 2x NCAA Scholar All Americans.
March, 2015: Daniel Del Gallo earns the NCAA Elite 89 Academic Award, the highest Academic Award given by the NCAA in the Nation.
April, 2015: Longtime USM Head Wrestling Coach, Joe Pistone, steps down after 12+ seasons at USM; becomes the Head Wrestling Coach at Florida Gulf Coast University in Ft. Myers, Florida.