"We are excited to have Andrew Vogel joining our staff as our new Head Wrestling Coach and look forward to many successful seasons in the years to come," said Wright. "Gettysburg College has a long tradition of success in wrestling and I believe Andrew will help our student-athletes build on that tradition."
"Andrew was a highly successful wrestler at the collegiate level," he added, "and he will bring a strong work ethic and winning attitude to our program."
Vogel, a 2003 graduate of Messiah, was a three-time All-American at 149 lbs., finishing as the NCAA Division III national runner-up in 2001 and earning seventh-place in 2002 and 2003. A three-time Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Champion, he posted a school-record 157 wins over his tenure with the Falcons and was named both the school's Senior Athlete of the Year and the Senior Male Sportsmanship Award recipient.
"When I saw Gettysburg had an opening, I thought it would be an ideal situation to come back to central Pennsylvania and be part of the team," said Vogel. "I'm hoping to translate my experience as a wrestler and coach into building the best team possible at Gettysburg."
Vogel spent the last two seasons as an assistant coach at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois, planning practices and conditioning sessions for its NCAA Division III wrestling program. He was also involved in the recruiting process and handled administrative duties as assigned.
Aside from his collegiate activities, Vogel has been active in the wrestling community for many years, including founding a website completely devoted to NCAA Division III wrestling (www.d3wrestle.com). He has served as a teacher and instructor at various wrestling camps at his undergraduate alma mater as well as the Ken Chertow Gold Medal Training Camp in Lincolnwood, Ill.
An outstanding student, Vogel graduated from Messiah with a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering before earning a master's in the same subject area at North Carolina State University. He was a member of Messiah's Honors Program and was tabbed a NCAA Academic All-American in each of his final three seasons at the school. In addition, Vogel was named the MAC Winter Male Scholar Athlete of the Year and received a postgraduate scholarship from the NCAA in 2003.
"Not only is Andrew a great young wrestling coach, he is very bright and articulate. As a NCAA post-graduate scholarship winner, he fits well into an academically rigorous institution like Gettysburg," said Wright.
The 74th season of Bullet wrestling begins on Nov. 3 at the Ithaca Invitational Tournament. Gettysburg returns 11 letterwinners from last season's 3-12-1 team that finished seventh at the conference championships, including national qualifiers and CC champions Andrew Goldstein and Matt Shank.
"My hope is to influence their technique and their mind-set so their expectation of winning is at a high level," said Vogel. "I want to draw as many wrestlers from the surrounding area as possible and put them together to have a team that is able to compete for championships in the Centennial Conference and make it to the NCAA Tournament."
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