Section III
HOME RANKINGS FORUM PICTURES

Pat Popolizio

Class of 2010
Niskayuna Silver Warriors
Pat Popolizio was a two time Section 2 champion for Niskayuna High. He was a state finalist in 1995 and a New York state champion in 1996, wrestling at 177 both years. Pat was named the Most Outstanding Wrestler at the 1996 state tournament, rallying for a come from behind fall in the finals. Pat went on to become the national high school runner-up.

Popolizio went on to wrestle for Coach John Smith at Oklahoma State and was a decorated wrestler during his student-athlete career. Pats Oklahoma State highlights include:

Three-time NCAA qualifier Won greater than 90 matches Ranked No. 1 in the country at 184 pounds during senior year Helped lead Oklahoma State to Top 5 national finishes (second, third, third and fifth) at NCAA Championships in each of his four seasons in Stillwater Big 12 runner-up in 1998 and 2002 Fifth at the World Team Trials in 2003 2002 Oklahoma State Hustle Award

Popolizio graduated in 2001 with a bachelors degree in health and physical education. He was a two-time Big 12 All Academic selection and five-time recipient of the Oklahoma State Student-Athlete Award.

After Oklahoma State, Pat entered the coaching ranks and was the lead assistant and recruiter at American University for two seasons, helping that program finish 17th in the country. At American, he coached seven NCAA qualifiers and the schools first All-American. Prior to that, he served as an assistant coach at Army (2003-04) and Sacred Heart (2002-03).

Pat was named the head coach at Binghamton University in 2006. In six seasons at Binghamton University, Popolizio transformed the Bearcats into a national contender after inheriting the program that went 0-12 following its reinstatement in 2005-06. Some of his coaching highlights at Binghamton include:

14th at the 2012 NCAA Championships 21st at the 2010 NCAA Championships 2010 CAA Champions Two-time CAA coach of the year (2012 and 2010) Candidate for national coach of the year in 2010 Four All-Americans and 21 NCAA qualifiers over six seasons CAA Wrestler of the Year and CAA Rookie of the Year in both 2012 and 2010 15-4 dual meet mark in 2011-12 was a school record .789 winning percentage School record 16 wins in 2010-11

After Binghamton, Pat was named the head coach at North Carolina State University where he has led NC State to four straight top-20 finishes at the NCAA Championships, the second-most top-20 finishes in a row in school history (five), and the longest such stretch in since 1981-84.

NC State earned seven All-America honors in Pat's first four years, which ties the school record for more in a four-year span all-time. Including local product Nick Gwiazdowski of Duanesburg HS, both Pat and Nick wrestled for coaching legend Joe Bena. Nick won two NCAA titles (2014, 2015) and finished runner-up in 2016, in addition to winning three straight ACC heavyweight titles and finishing his NC State career a perfect 55-0 in duals.

Following his fourth season at NC State, Popolizio was named the 2016 National Coach of the Year by FloWrestling.com. In his five seasons overall, Popolizio has had 31 NCAA qualifiers, highlighted by a school record 10 in 2017.