By Ron Good
Amateur Wrestling News
Former international star and long-time assistant coach Larry “Zeke” Jones has been named “Rookie Coach of the Year” by Amateur Wrestling News.
Jones, in his first season at the University of Penn, lifted his team to a 12th place finish at the NCAA championships and produced NCAA champion junior Matt Valenti at 133 pounds.
The Penn season included an 11-5 dual record, a first place finish at the Keystone Classic, second place at the Oklahoma Gold and a top 10 finish at Las Vegas.
Penn jumped from fifth in the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association tournament (EIWA) in 2005 to third in 2006. In fact, Penn missed second place by 1.5 points.
“They could have easily won the Easterns,” said Lehigh coach Greg Strobel. “It was a dead heat among us Cornell and Penn. If a few things would have gone differently Penn could have won it.
The Quakers scored 16.5 points in last year’s NCAA and more tripled that total to 51 this year.
“Zeke was always the extreme competitor,” Strobel said. “You could see his influence early in the season, especially in the lower weights. They quickly got good at the Zeke Jones leg rides and turns on top.”
Jones produced two All-Americans in champion Valenti and fifth place Matt Herrington, 174. Both return next season along with NCAA qualifying rookies Cesar Grajales, 141 and Matt Dragon, 149. Dragon earned the No. 12 NCAA seed and finished top 12 with a 32-9 record.
Jones coached Valenti to a 36-2 mark and the New Jersey product is only the third national champion in school history.
Before Penn Jones was assistant coach at West Virginia for seven years. He was also the top assistant at Arizona State from 1993-1998. His coaching career started in 1990 at Bloomsburg University.
As an athlete, Jones wrestled for Arizona State and earned All-America honors three times finishing sixth, fourth and second from 1988 to 1990. His career however would take off in the international wrestling. Jones was ranked as the top U.S. wrestler at 114.5 pounds between 1989 and 1997. He made the World team eight years in a row winning the World freestyle championship in 1991 and earning the Olympic silver medal in 1992. He also added a bronze medal in 1995 and finished fourth in 1990 and 1993.
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