Release courtesy of Gettysburg Athletic Communications
GETTYSBURG, Pa. – Executive Director of Intercollegiate Athletics and Campus Recreation Mike Mattia has announced long-time Gettysburg College wrestling assistant coach Gino Frank has been named the interim head coach for the 2020-21 campaign.
Frank becomes the 18th head coach since the storied program began in 1930. He follows in the footsteps of former colleague Andy Vogel, who is poised to lead the reemergence of the wrestling program at Hiram College. Frank and Vogel worked side-by-side for 13 years guiding the Bullets on the wrestling mat.
"I want to thank Gino for taking on this extra responsibility during these uncertain times," said Mattia. "He has been a part of our wrestling program for over a decade, and has played an integral role in building and maintaining a successful program that competes on a national level. I know no one is more dedicated or will work harder than Gino when it comes to providing a great experience for our wrestlers and preparing them for success on the mat."
"I am extremely excited for this opportunity that Gettysburg has given to me," said Frank. "For the past 13 years, I've had a tremendous amount of pride in working as an assistant wrestling coach at Gettysburg College. The reputation of Gettysburg College academics combined with the strength of our athletic department and the student-athletes that I've had an opportunity to work with over the years has created the source of this great pride. As I work to continue the development of our Bullet wrestlers, I will greatly miss working with coaches Andy Vogel and Pankil Chander. I've learned a lot from them and wish them the best with their new coaching jobs."
Since Frank arrived in 2007, Gettysburg has produced 10 NCAA Division III qualifiers, three All-Americans, eight Centennial Conference champions, and 19 National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) Scholar All-Americans. He has coached six of the seven Bullets to win over 100 career matches.
Frank coached Andrew Goldstein '08 when he became the first Gettysburg grappler to attain All-America status in a decade with an eighth-place finish at 157 pounds in 2008. He also mentored Zach Thomson who finished third at 174 in 2013 and Paul Triandafilou '19 who was the first-ever Gettysburg All-American at heavyweight with a fifth-place showing in 2016. Overall, the Bullets competed on the national stage eight times over the last 13 seasons.
As a team, Gettysburg recorded four-straight winning seasons from 2014-15 to 2017-18, marking its longest streak since the 1970s. The Bullets finished as high as third twice at the CC Championships and placed eighth at the NCAA Division III East Regional in 2017.
Frank brings an impressive resume as a coach away from Gettysburg. A USA Wrestling Silver Certified Coach, he is the founder and head coach of the Modern Day Gladiators Club in Central Pennsylvania. Modern Day Gladiators has produced 44 Greco-Roman, Freestyle, and Women's Freestyle All-Americans, 59 Northeast Regional Medalists, five Greco-Roman World Team Trials qualifiers, five Olympic Training Center invitees, and three Pan-Am Games gold medalists since 2009.
Prior to establishing the Modern Day Gladiator Club, Frank coached with the Icebreakers Wrestling club, producing seven All-Americans and 11 Northeast Regional medalists. From 2006 to 2008, Frank led the Pennsylvania National Greco-Roman Team and helped the team win back-to-back national championships. He also served as a coach with the Minnesota Storm Junior National Greco-Roman Team (2009-12) and the New York National Greco-Roman Team (2013-2018). During his tenure with Team New York, they recorded a fourth-place finish with three national champions at the 2014 USA Wrestling National Championships in Fargo, North Dakota.
Frank made his return to the Pennsylvania National Team in 2019 as the head Junior Greco-Roman coach. In his first year back, the team climbed 14 places from its finish the previous year to place fourth on the strength of nine All-Americans.
Frank is a 1995 graduate of Bucknell University where he double-majored in history and geography. Prior to being sidelined due to injury early his career, Frank won silver medals at both the Greco-Roman and Freestyle Pennsylvania Open Championships. He later earned a varsity letter as a student assistant coach for Bucknell.
An accomplished wrestler, Frank won a silver medal at the U.S. Master's Greco-Roman National Championships in Las Vegas. He pinned each of his three opponents en route to earning Master's Division All-American status. Frank also competed at the NYAC International Greco-Roman Tournament and was inducted into the Mid-Western Pennsylvania Athletic Conference Hall of Fame in 2006.
Frank is an educator away from the wrestling mat and has over 20 years of service teaching social studies at Mechanicsburg Middle School. His previous teaching stops include Immaculate High School in Danbury, Conn., and Warren County High School in Front Royal, Va.
Despite the loss of the team's top competitor in regional place-winner Colin Devlin '20, Gettysburg is poised to return 23 wrestlers from a very young squad. The Bullets started at least six freshmen in the majority of dual matches during 2019-20.
Frank will continue to develop the younger wrestlers while looking for potential impact recruits to push Gettysburg into the mix for its first Centennial crown in the years ahead. His previous relationships with the current roster proved a key factor in determining the direction of the program following Vogel's announcement last month.
"The relationships he has built with our wrestlers and the leadership he provides," noted Mattia, "will be vital during what is sure to be a very unconventional academic and athletic year."
"One of my main goals is to add 10-to-15 quality student-athletes to our roster with each incoming class," said Frank. "I also want to help each wrestler develop their full potential both on the mat and in the classroom. Finally, as we strive to build conference and regional place-winners as well as All-Americans, I would like to guide a team that raises Gettysburg College's first-ever Centennial Conference wrestling championship banner in Bream Gymnasium."