Former Wisconsin Badgers Wrestling Legend Named Head Coach At Columbia

In what can only be called a spoiler of epic proportions – former Wisconsin Badgers Assistant Coach and future “Honoring Our Legends” recipient (be surprised anyway) – Donny Pritzlaff is going to become the new Head Coach of the Columbia Lions Wrestling program.

Donny Pritzlaff will leave Rutgers after 10 seasons to become the new Head Coach of Columbia University.

— FloWrestling (@FloWrestling) June 18, 2024

Donny Pritzlaff was a Wisconsin Badgers assistant coach and recruiting coordinator under Barry Davis from 2007-2011, Pritzlaff was the key cog in a unit that landed the No.2 class in 2008 and No.4 class in 2011.

Yeah, he’s got the goods, dude!

The two-time National Champion at 165LB for Wisconsin and was a big part of developing Andrew Howe into the four-time All-American he became and has had very prominent coaching roles since departing Wisconsin in 2011 according to InterMat Wrestle.

Most recently, Pritzlaff was the Associate Head Coach of the Rutgers Scarlet Knights and was in the corner for three NCAA Championship bouts; including two championship matches for Anthony Ashnault and Nick Suriano.

In addition to Rutgers – the newly-minted Columbia man coached on the Michigan Wolverines and is credited with working closely with Kellen Russell as he earned two NCAA National Championships and became only the eleventh wrestler to be a four-time Big Ten Champion.

Columbia University just landed a big time coach with a big time resume! Columbia was already a very good wrestling program but Coach Pritzlaff has the chops to make this a perennial Top 20 outfit in college wrestling.

Stay with Badger Notes for dedicated coverage of the Wisconsin Badgers wrestling program!

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