By Columbia Sports Information

NEW YORK -- Andrew F. Barth Head Coach of Wrestling Zach Tanelli has announced the addition of Jamie Franco as an assistant coach to finalize the staff prior to the start of the 2023-24 season.

Franco joins the Columbia staff after spending the past seven years on the Hofstra wrestling coach staff. He was promoted to associate head coach on September 1, 2021.

"Jamie is one of the best up and coming coaches in the country," Tanelli said. "He brings a wealth of experience to our program that will be instrumental in us taking another step forward as a program. I have had a relationship with Jamie for a long time so to finally have an opportunity to work together makes me very excited. He will make an immediate impact in our program across the board."

Franco returned to Hofstra in 2016 after serving as operations manager of the Longo and Weidman MMA Training Center in nearby Garden City, New York from 2014 through 2018. In that capacity he controlled marketing and advertising campaigns, managed accounts payable, controlled inventory and supervised the non-fighting staff at the facility.

Shortly after starting at Longo and Weidman MMA, Franco added the double duty of owner and head coach at the LAW Wrestling Academy also in Garden City, handling scheduling, coaching and conducting practices for wrestlers and fighters from the ages of 5 through 30 while also implementing the marketing and advertising campaign for the Academy.

A three-time NCAA Championship qualifier who wrestled at Hofstra from 2009 through 2014, Franco was a two-time Colonial Athletic Association finalist and recorded 75 victories with the Pride during his college career. After posting a career-best 21-13 record and advancing to the CAA Championship finals as a sophomore, he recorded a 19-15 mark including a 3-0 record in the CAA Championship to capture the 133-pound title in 2012-13 record. Franco wrapped up his collegiate career at 125 pounds with a 21-15 overall record, including a 6-1 mark in the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA), and a New York State Collegiate Championship title in 2013-14.

Franco served as a coach for youth wrestlers between the ages of five and 18 for the Garden City Grapplers Wrestling Club from 2009 through February 2015. Franco graduated from Hofstra with a degree in business marketing in 2014.