Brian Anderson has been named the head wrestling coach and director of wellness at Wabash College in an announcement made by Athletics Director Vernon Mummert.
"Brian is an outstanding addition to our staff," said Mummert. "He brings experience as a successful assistant coach and as a wrestler. He understands our program and has shown a strong desire to take it to the next level. I believe Brian can get us to the Midwest Regional title and into the national tournament as a team."
Anderson, a 1999 graduate of Manchester College, spent the past two seasons as an assistant for the Spartans. He was in charge of recruiting, weight lifting, practice scheduling, and tournament organization at Manchester, where he helped the program produce seven national qualifiers and three All-American wrestlers. He helped the Spartans to a 15th place finish at the 2003 NCAA Division III National Championship meet, followed by an 18th place finish last season. Anderson spent three seasons as the head wrestling coach at Michigan City High School, producing eight All-State wrestlers.
As a member of the Spartans’ wrestling team while in college, he helped the squad to two sixth-place finishes at nationals while picking up more than 100 victories in his career. He was a two-time Indiana Collegiate Athletic Conference champion and earned a Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference title at 184 pounds. In 1999 he was an Academic All-American and earned the Manchester College Senior Leadership Academic Award. He also received the 1999 Jim Gratz Leadership Award.
"I’ve coached against Wabash the past two seasons, so I understand the type of talent that this team has in place," said Anderson. "I know how tough it has been to prepare to face them, so I’m extremely pleased to know that I’m coming into a program that is already one of the best in the region. I also understand the tradition of wrestling at Wabash. I’m thrilled to be a part of it."
Anderson will begin his duties immediately. He and his wife, Lauren, reside in Crawfordsville.