The Bridge - WPI Wrestling Coach Records 400th Career Win
Phil Grebinar, now in his 32nd year as WPI's head wrestling coach, notched his 400th career victory on Jan. 25 during the NECCWA Dual Team Tourney at Bridgewater State College. Relatively few wrestling coaches, at any NCAA level, ever reach this milestone.
WPI opened the tournament with a 31-15 win over Roger Williams; it was win No. 399 for Grebinar. The 400th win came later that same day, with a 28-14 defeat of archrival Coast Guard. Before the day was over, Grebinar would record win 401 when WPI prevailed over Trinity 21-21 (on criteria).
At the end of the tournament, Grebinar's dual-meet record stood at 401-149-6, for an outstanding .727 winning percentage. The coach grapplers refer to affectionately as "Greb" has guided his WPI teams to four NECCWA championships: in 1985, 1987, 1994 and 1995.
Over the years, Grebinar has been inducted into four halls of fame. Last year, it was the Massachusetts Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, where his fellow inductees included Frank Ball (former coach at Melrose High School), Norm Collier (former AAU wrestling official), Stan Holmes (coach at Bridgewater-Raynham High School) and Alex Steinberg (wrestling philanthropist).
As part of this latest honor, Grebinar had his name inscribed on a plaque at the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in Stillwater, Okla. Grebinar has been a member of the WPI Athletic Hall of Fame since 1994. He is also a member of the Massachusetts Wrestling Coaches Association Hall of Fame and the New England College Conference Wrestling Association's Hall of Fame (part of the inaugural class).
Grebinar has been named NECCWA Coach of the Year three times; 183 of his wrestlers have earned All-New England status (four during 2002-03) and eight have earned All-America status a total of 11 times. In 2003, Joe Moskowitz of Amherst, N.H., and Peter Krzyzewski of Kingston, Mass., became the 45th and 46th WPI wrestlers to compete in the NCAA National Championship Tournament.
Grebinar, an associate professor in WPI's Department of Physical Education, Recreation and Athletics, received his bachelor's and master's degrees from Cortland State, where he was a football player and wrestler.
Maintained by webmaster@wpi.eduLast modified: May 25, 2006, 13:39 EDT