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Brandon Paulson named 2016 USA Wrestling Greco-Roman Coach of the Year

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by Gary Abbott, USA Wrestling

Brandon Paulson receives his 2016 Greco-Roman Coach of the Year award from USA Wrestling Executive Director Rich Bender. Photo by Larry Slater.


Brandon Paulson (Coon Rapids, Minn./Minnesota Storm) has been named 2016 Greco-Roman Coach of the Year by USA Wrestling. It is the second time in his career that Paulson has won this prestigious honor, to go along with his 2008 Greco-Roman Coach of the Year Award.


He is a club coach with the Minnesota Storm, working with their Senior-level and age-group athletes. He has coached the elite Minnesota Storm athletes at the U.S. Nationals and World Team Trials for many years.


Andy Bisek of the Minnesota Storm, who is coached by Paulson and other Minnesota Storm coaches, competed for Team USA at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil at 75 kg.


In 2016, four other members of the Minnesota Storm qualified for the 2016-17 Greco-Roman National Team, which consists of the top three in each weight class: Joe Rau (No. 1 at 96 kg), Pat Smith (No. 2 at 66 kg), Jake Clark (No. 2 at 86 kg) and Hayden Zillmer (No. 3 at 86 kg).


For a number of years, he has been a member of the coaching staff for Minnesota/USA Wrestling at the Junior and Cadet Nationals in Fargo, N.D., producing numerous national champions and All-Americans for one of the strongest state-level Greco-Roman programs in the nation.


Paulson was a member of the 2008 U.S. Olympic coaching staff, working with the athletes and other coaches at the Olympic Games in Beijing, China. He helped coach Olympian Jake Deitchler at the Beijing Games.


Paulson helped coach the 2008 U.S. Junior World Greco-Roman Team, participating in their training camp prior to the Junior World Championships. In 2007, Paulson was on the coaching staff of the U.S. Junior World Greco-Roman Team which competed in Beijing, China.


He has partnered with past NCAA champion and U.S. Olympic Team Trials runner-up Jared Lawrence at the PINnacle Wrestling School, where they coach youth, high school and international wrestlers. The club is based in the Minneapolis suburbs. For more information, visit www.PinnacleWrestlingSchool.com


As an athlete, Paulson won a silver medal at 52 kg/114.5 lbs. in Greco-Roman wrestling at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Ga. He was also a World silver medalist in 2001 in Sofia, Bulgaria. Paulson won three U.S. Nationals titles and competed on three U.S. World Teams.


Paulson was a star on USA Wrestling's age-group levels, winning national titles as a Cadet, Junior, Espoir and University levels. He won a silver medal at the 1993 Espoir World Championships. Paulson became the first high school wrestler to qualify for the Senior Greco-Roman Team USA when he made the 1991-92 Greco-Roman national team.


He competed for the Univ. of Minnesota, where he was seventh in the NCAA Championships in 1998. Paulson also won three Minnesota high school state titles.


Paulson was inducted into the Alan and Gloria Rice Greco-Roman Hall of Champions in 2013.

PAST GRECO-ROMAN COACH OF THE YEAR AWARD WINNERS

2016 - Brandon Paulson, Coon Rapids, Minn., Minnesota Storm

2015 – Jason Loukides, Camp LeJeune, N.C., U.S. Marine Corps

2014 – Dan Chandler, Minneapolis, Minn., Minnesota Storm

2013 – Joe Russell, Fairfax, Va., Patriot Elite WC

2012 – Dan Chandler, Minneapolis, Minn. Minnesota Storm

2011 – Shon Lewis, Colorado Springs, Colo., U.S. Army

2010 – Dan Hicks, Camp LeJeune, N.C., U.S. Marine Corps

2009 – Ivan Ivanov, Boise, Idaho, Suples WC and USOEC

2008 - Brandon Paulson, Anoka, Minn., Minnesota Storm

2007 - Jay Antonelli, Chesapeake, Va., U.S Marines

2006 - Shon Lewis, Colorado Springs, Colo., U.S. Army

2005 - Shawn Sheldon, West Palm Beach, Fla., New York AC

2004 - Andy Seras, Sandy Hook, Conn., Sunkist Kids

2003 - Shon Lewis, Colorado Springs, Colo., U.S. Army

2002 - Shon Lewis, Colorado Springs, Colo., U.S. Army

2001 - Andy Seras, Sandy Hook, Conn., Sunkist Kids

2000 - Dan Chandler, Minneapolis, Minn., Minnesota Storm

1999 - Dan Chandler, Minneapolis, Minn., Minnesota Storm

1998 - Jay Antonelli, Quantico, Va., U.S. Marines

1997 - Dan Chandler, Minneapolis, Minn., Minnesota Storm

1996 - Rob Hermann, Pensacola, Fla., U.S. Navy

1995 - Dan Chandler, Minneapolis, Minn., Minnesota Storm

1994 - Dan Chandler, Minneapolis, Minn., Minnesota USA Wrestling

1993 - Tony Thomas, Fort Benning, Ga., U.S. Army

1992 - Rob Hermann, Pensacola, Fla., U.S. Navy

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