E-mail Coach Koll (rk45@cornell.edu)
The David Dunlop '59 Head Coach of Wrestling
Rob Koll, at the helm of the Cornell wrestling program for 13 seasons, has been the driving force behind the Big Red's return to prominence on the national stage.
Koll, who served as an assistant coach for the Big Red from 1989-93, has enjoyed great success since arriving in Ithaca, helping the Big Red claim 10 Ivy titles, two EIWA titles and eight top-20 NCAA finishes during his 16 seasons on the coaching staff. In 1999, Koll became the first David R. Dunlop `59 Head Coach of Wrestling after the position was endowed by a gift from anonymous donors.
Koll helped guide the Big Red to the school's second-highest finish at the NCAA tournament in 2005 when the team placed fourth. The team sent a school record nine wrestlers to the national tournament. After Cornell's historic season, Koll was honored by his peers, who named him the NWCA Division I Coach of the Year. Koll was also awarded the prestigious Dan Gable Coach of the Year award. He was instrumental in the development of two-time NCAA champion Travis Lee, who capped his career with a national title in 2005.
In 2004, Koll surpassed the legendary Walter O'Connell for the second-most head coaching wins at Cornell with 132. His overall record of 154-57-4 results in a winning percentage of .726, the second highest in Cornell wrestling history.
Over his past six seasons at the Big Red helm, Koll has led the Big Red to unprecedented stretch of success, highlighted by 17 All-Americans, five Ivy League titles and some of the top-ranked recruiting classes in the country. Prior to sending eight wrestlers to the NCAAs last year, the Big Red sent nine wrestlers to the NCAA tournament in 2005 and eight in each of the prior two seasons, finishing 10th in the country in 2003, followed by an 11th-place finish in 2004. In the 2002-03 campaign, Cornell was ranked as high as fourth in the nation during the regular season.
Koll has been named the New York State Coach of the Year four times in his career.
In his first season as head coach on the East Hill, Koll was named the Wrestling USA Rookie Coach of the Year after leading the Big Red to a 14-6 record. Koll was instrumental in helping David Hirsch win the 1994 NCAA championship at 126 pounds. Hirsch was the first Cornellian since Dave Auble (1960) to win an NCAA title. Koll, 40, helped guide the Big Red to a 74-14-1 slate as an assistant to Jack Spates, now the head wrestling coach at the University of Oklahoma. During that time, Cornell won two EIWA titles, five Ivy League crowns and its first-ever New York state championship.
Cornell, which has had 20 All-Americans the past 16 years, including three in 1993, 2003 and 2004, finished 17th at the 1994 NCAA championships after placing 10th in 1993, 15th in 1992, 39th in 1991 and 20th in 1990. The Red was ranked as high as eighth in the Amateur Wrestling News Division I poll during the 1992-93 season, the first time Cornell was ranked among the top 10.
In addition to serving as a member of the wrestling staff, Koll has been the coordinator of the Cornell wrestling camp and has been a member of the physical education staff.
A 1989 graduate of the University of North Carolina with a degree in communications, Koll set the wrestling standard of excellence at Chapel Hill. In 1988, he became the national champion at 158 pounds after beating Joe Pantaleo of Michigan for the title. The winningest grappler in the school's and the Atlantic Coast Conference's history with a 150-20-1 record, he was UNC's first four-time All-American and was the second wrestler to win an NCAA title. He was the 1988 recipient of the Patterson Medal, the highest honor UNC gives to its most outstanding senior athlete.
A three-time ACC champion, Koll helped his team to the same status for three years as well. He was twice picked to participate in the National Wrestling Coaches Association All-Star Classic, a match that showcases the top collegiate talent in the nation, and was victorious on both occasions. Prior to his graduation from North Carolina, Koll travelled to Italy as part of the NWCA All-Star team.
Koll served as a graduate assistant coach at his alma mater during the 1988-89 season prior to joining the Cornell staff.
He was the 1990 and 1993 World Cup champion and was a 1992 U.S. Olympic alternate. A 1992 World Grand Prix champ, Koll placed fifth at the 1991 World Championships in Tokyo and was the 1989 Pan-American Games champion. He was the 1990 and 1991 national freestyle champion and was runner-up at the 1989 Olympic Festival in Oklahoma City.
A native of State College, Pa., Koll was a Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association champion at State College Area High School. His father, Bill, who passed away in September 2003, was a three-time NCAA champion at 145 pounds and was twice voted the tournament's Outstanding Wrestler.
Koll and his wife, Rachel, live in Lansing and have two sons, William and Daniel.
