MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – Central Michigan's Tom Borrelli, one of the most respected figures in college wrestling, has announced his retirement at the conclusion of the 2023-24 season.

One of the sport's all-time winningest coaches and an iconic name among his peers, Borrelli led the Chippewas to a first-place finish in the Mid-American Conference Championships over the weekend at Kent State.

It was CMU's 17th such title, the 15th under Borrelli. Including regular season crowns, the Chippewas captured a remarkable 30 MAC championships during Borrelli's reign. He was named the MAC Coach of the Year for a record 15th time on Saturday.

Borrelli will officially step down after the NCAA Championships on March 23, bringing to an end a career that began in 1979 as a high school coach at his alma mater Goose Creek High School near Charleston, S.C. and continued at Riverwood High School near Atlanta.

Borrelli, who joined the college ranks as an assistant at Clemson in 1984, plans to remain heavily involved with the program that he has been instrumental in building and maintaining since coming to CMU from Lake Superior State in 1991.

"The program is in a good spot, I think we're going to have a good team next year, but I think it's time for maybe a little different direction, some new enthusiasm – just a younger, more energetic person to lead the program," said Borrelli, who amassed a 414-204 career dual meet record, ranking fourth in victories among active college coaches and second to Oklahoma State's John Smith among those leading NCAA Division I programs.

"Tom Borrelli is rightfully among the most respected and admired men in college wrestling history," Zyzelewski Family Associate Vice President/Director of Athletics Amy Folan said. "He has meant everything to not only Central Michigan Wrestling, but to the athletic department, and the university community. His teams have been very, very successful and more than that, he is class and dignity personified."

The dean of Mid-American Conference wrestling coaches, Borrelli was 368-179 at Central Michigan including a remarkable 154-36 in MAC duals. Twenty-eight times in his 33 seasons they finished .500 or better in all duals, a ledger made all the more extraordinary by the fact that Borrelli's teams annually went head to head in duals with top-25 programs, including the likes of Iowa, Penn State, Ohio State and Michigan. His team's won a record 11 consecutive MAC titles from 2002-12.

Borrelli has coached one national champion, 45 All-Americans, 10 MAC Wrestler of the Year honorees, 10 wrestlers who have earned the MAC Freshman of the Year Award, seven who have walked away with the Outstanding Wrestler Award at the MAC Championships, 93 MAC champions, 61 National Wrestling Coaches Association Scholar All-Americans, 79 Academic All-MAC selections, and two Academic All-Americans.

Only nine wrestlers have won as many as four individual titles in MAC history. Three are Borrelli protégés.

"The highlights for me are the relationships that I've built over the years, the young men I've had in the program, the success many of them had in accomplishing their goals," Borrelli said. "And even if they didn't accomplish some of their goals, it's the journey I had with them.

"It all goes back to the relationships and it's not really about the wins and losses. And this is a good time for me to retire and have time to reconnect with some of those relationships and enjoy those graduates, those alums and their families. You don't have time to do that when you're coaching. You lose track of that because you're caught up in your current situation."

A highly respected name on the national level, Borrelli was honored by his peers when he was presented with the National Wrestling Coaches Association Bob Bubb Coaching Excellence Award at the 2004 NCAA Championships. The award goes annually to one coach in recognition of his contribution to the sport.

In 1998, Borrelli was named the National Coach of the Year by two organizations, the National Wrestling Coaches Association and Wrestling International Newsmagazine (W.I.N.). He shared the W.I.N. Dan Gable Coach of the Year Award with Minnesota coach J Robinson.

Borrelli continued to win and produce successful wrestlers for decades at CMU, eschewing opportunities to move on to more high-profile programs.

"I've always liked being a little bit of an underdog and I like trying to develop people," he said. "I could have gone places where it might have been easier to recruit, or where there might have been more resources, but the fun part of coaching is seeing how far you can take people.

"Whether I was coaching in high school, or coaching in (NCAA) Division II, or was an assistant college coach or I was a head coach in college, that was the fun part of it to me."

Tom and his wife, Lorri, have been married for 47 years and have two sons and three grandchildren. One son, Jason, is the coach at American University in Washington, D.C., and the other, Bob, works in the financial industry in Florida.

Legendary Coach Tom Borrelli to Retire After NCAA Championships

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