Atwood spent the last two seasons as a volunteer assistant at the University of North Carolina where he assisted with on-campus recruiting, coaching practices and running summer wrestling camps. While at Chapel Hill, Atwood worked with four NCAA qualifiers. Alex Utley (184 lbs.) and Chip Ness (197 lbs.) qualified in 2016, while Daniel Chaid (197 lbs.) and Corey Gilliand-Daniel (Hwt.) earned bids to the national tournament in 2017.
"Braden really is a great fit for what we want in this position," Ward said. "As a student-athlete competing in the Big Ten, Braden had tremendous success qualifying for the NCAA Championships all four years of his career. Since then, he has been working with some of the best coaches in the country, but the thing that most excites me about adding coach Atwood to our staff is his passion and commitment to becoming the best coach that he can. I know he will make a big impact on our upper weights, and we are excited for him to be able to work with our cadet-athletes."
Atwood was a highly-decorated wrestler in his time at Purdue, placing at the Big Ten Championships and qualifying for the NCAA Championships all four years. A native of Delphi, Ind., he ranks tied for 19th in program history with 91 wins, as well as tied for fourth in career pins with 31. Atwood wrestled at 184 as a redshirt-freshman in the 2011-12 season before bulking up to 197 for his final three years. The three-time team captain posted his best season in 2013-14 with an overall record of 27-12 and an 11-3 mark in duals.
During his time in West Lafayette, Ind., Atwood worked at the summer wrestling camps every year and was a camp counselor three times. He was also nominated to be on the Boiler Athletic Council for three years, as well as earning a nomination into the Emerging Leaders program for student-athlete two years in a row from 2010-12.
"I'm excited to learn from and work with the coaches here," Atwood said. "We have a diverse group of coaches as far as wrestling background and style which will benefit us in connecting with our athletes. I'm excited and eager to help push this team to greatness."
A native of Delphi, Ind., Atwood currently resides in Highland Falls, N.Y.
Recommended Comments
There are no comments to display.
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now