SEIBERT NAMED AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL WRESTLING COACH

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (July 14, 2006) - American International College Director of Athletics Richard Bedard announced Friday that Chaz Seibert has been named head wrestling coach, effective immediately.  Seibert, who will be the first full-time coach in the 15-year history of the program, takes over for Shirzad Ahmadi, who was the head coach for three seasons.

"Chaz comes to AIC with an impressive pedigree in the sport of wrestling, and coming from one of the top Division II programs in the East, we feel that he will help us rebuild our program as the College makes a renewed commitment to the sport," said Bedard.

Seibert has spent the last two seasons as an assistant wrestling coach at the University of North Carolina-Pembroke.  At UNCP, Seibert coached under longtime coach P.J. Smith and helped lead the Braves to a seventh place finish at the 2005 NCAA Division II championship.  Seibert also coached six NCAA Division II individual national qualifiers, five All-Americans and two national finalists.

Competitively, Seibert was a four-year starter at the Division I level at Duquesne University and won the Slippery Rock Open, helped capture the NCAA East Regionals, and was the runner-up at the West Virginia Open. He also has captured an international European tour championship and was an AAU open division All-American.  Seibert graduated from Duquesne in 1999 with a Criminal Justice degree.  He would later go on to earn his Master's in Physical Education at UNC-Pembroke this May.

After graduation Seibert was an assistant wrestling coach at Shady Side Academy, a college prep school in Pennsylvania.  While he was at Shady Side, the team never had a losing season, won the districts, won the prep league, and were team state runner-ups. Individually, he coached three state champions, five district champions, and numerous place winners.

Seibert will be charged with rebuilding an AIC wrestling program that has experienced success on a regional and national level, but has fallen off in recent years.  The program has produced five All-Americans, 11 NCAA Division II national qualifiers and three East Region champions in its 15 year history, but in recent years participation has dwindled and only a handful of wrestlers have competed in each of the last few years.  AIC is also increasing its commitment to the sport of wrestling by hiring a full-time coach and the renovation of the wrestling practice facility.

"I am looking forward to hitting the ground running and coaching at AIC and returning the program to a place of prominence," said Seibert.  "The school is really stepping up to the plate in terms of its commitment to the sport, and I am excited to be a part of that."