For the second time, Javier Maldonado is making a college wrestling debut at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
While competing for the Mocs, Maldonado won a Southern Conference championship and competed in the NCAA tournament each year from 2006 to 2008. He also was a three-time National Wrestling Coaches Association academic All-American and a three-year selection to the SoCon all-academic team.
As a 125-pounder, he was one of UTC’s most successful wrestlers, and his 82 wins rank 10th on the school’s all-time list.
But today, he returns to Maclellan Gym leading the first-year program at Southeastern University (Lakeland, Fla.), and this will be his first collegiate dual meet as a head coach.
Probable lineup
› 125: Alonzo Allen or Toribio Navarro› 133: Chris DeBien› 141: Roman Boylen› 149: Andrew Webb or Jacob Murphy› 157: Kamaal Shakur› 165: Dominic Lampe› 174: Sean Mappes, Justin Lampe or Barrett Walthall› 184: John Lampe› 197: Scottie Boykin› 285: Jared Johnson
Southeastern’s Fire will wrestle UTC at 9 a.m., and meets between the Fire and Cumberland University and Cumberland and UTC will follow.
When asked what he told his wrestlers about today’s competition, Maldonado said, “Just compete, man; don’t give up anything easy.”
The Fire competed in The Citadel Open on Nov. 1 and in the Georgia College Open with Cumberland this past Sunday. Their top wrestler to date has been freshman 133-pounder Ethan Owen, who finished first at both tournaments. Owen has earned pins in six matches during a 10-0 start.
Cumberland, which also is opening its dual schedule, has four wrestlers listed among the top 20 in the latest NAIA rankings. Those four are No. 10 Austin Meyn (141 pounds), No. 13 Nate Croley (157), No. 3 Kyle Delaune (174) and No. 13 Tyler Smith (285).
Maldonado, who is married to former UTC softball player Amanda Hoiness – they have a 16-month-old son, Paxton – has been busy since he left Chattanooga. He worked for a year in New Mexico while his wife went for her master’s degree before returning to his high school alma mater in Osceola, Fla., where he began work as an assistant wrestling coach for his father.
Then he received a call from Jack Spates, the renowned former Oklahoma coach, about Southeastern starting a wrestling program. A call from Southeastern athletic director Drew Watson followed.
“We started talking, I went and interviewed and got hired,” Maldonado said.
When he was hired, Watson said, “Javier has both a high-level wrestling background and Florida connections, which make him the ideal choice to become our first head coach. More importantly, I believe he is a coach who has the ability to build a championship program the right way and get us competitive on the national scene quickly.”
It has been quite a change for Maldonado.
“I feel like I’m treading water, at least some days, but I’ve been able to be around a lot of people for help and advice,” he said. “It’s fun because I’m doing wrestling for work.”
Contact Ward Gossett at wgossett@timesfreepress.com or 423-886-4765. Follow him at Twitter.com/wardgossett.