Drexel University Athletics
Azevedo To Be Inducted into California Wrestling Hall of Fame
2/12/2020 12:38:00 PM | Wrestling
PHILADELPHIA – Mert and Joanne Hill Head Coach of Wrestling Matt Azevedo will be one of 11 inductees into the California Wrestling Hall of Fame, when the organization holds its banquet on June 13.
Azevedo is in his ninth season at the helm with Drexel. He has coached the Dragons to their first appearance in the USA Today/NCWA DI Coaches Poll and kept Drexel in the Top 25 for six weeks in the 2016-17 season. The next year, Drexel finished the season ranked in the coaches poll as well as three other rankings compiled by national media outlets Intermat and FloWrestling.
The Dragons have won 10 or more duals in three of the last four complete seasons. Twenty-eight Drexel wrestlers have qualified for the NCAA Wrestling Championships under Azevedo's watch.
Drexel's excellence in the classroom has been unmatched during Azevedo's tenure. The Dragons have been a NWCA DI Top 30 All-Academic Team for six years running. In 2019, the team posted a cumulative GPA of 3.63, which was best among all DI wrestling programs. The EIWA has bestowed academic all-American honors on 14 of Azevedo's wrestlers.
As an assistant at Cornell, Azevedo coached nine all-Americans and seven academic All-Americans. Prior to his stint with the Big Red, he was an assistant for seven seasons at Cal Poly, where he coached seven all-Americans and eight Pac-10 champions.
Azevedo wrestled collegiately at Arizona State and Iowa State, each for two seasons. He was a three-time NCAA qualifier. After graduation, he won the 2008 U.S. Open National Championship, was a two-time member of the U.S. National Team and placed seven times at the U.S. Nationals.
He joins his uncle, John Azevedo, who was a member of the 2000 hall of fame class. John Azevedo was a four-time NCAA Champion, a member of the 1980 Olympic freestyle wrestling team and is an accomplished high school coach in the state of California.
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