Harvard hires Harrington; Gardner-Webb welcomes Caponi

September 10, 11:54 AMCollege Wrestling ExaminerMark Palmer

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Sean Harrington (Photo/UMass)

Two more college wrestling programs add to coaching staffs...

Harvard hires Harrington.  Harvard University's head wrestling coach Jay Weiss has announced the addition of Sean Harrington to his staff for the 2009-10 season.

"I have worked with Sean for a number of years with our involvement with the Massachusetts Junior National team and with his club" Weiss said. " He is one of the most passionate and hard working individuals I have come across in the sport of wrestling. I am extremely excited to welcome him in to our program and have no doubt that he will have a huge impact on our student-athletes in many ways."

A native of Dracut, Mass., Harrington has been involved in the sport of wrestling as an athlete or coach for the last 20 years. He was a two-time NCAA All-American Division II champion at the University of Massachusetts – Lowell and later coached for the River Hawks from 1997-98. Harrington returned to competition as a member of the New York Athletic Club and went on to train at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs for four years.  He also competed in Season 1 of RealProWrestling in 2005.

He served as the Massachusetts Junior National Wrestling team coach in 2008-09. He is also a member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame Committee.

Harrington, who graduated from UMass-Lowell in 1997 with a degree in business administration, currently owns and manages BrickHouse Wrestling Fitness LLC, a wrestling and fitness company in Lowell, Mass.

Rocco Caponi (Photo/Gardner-Webb)

Gardner-Webb welcomes Caproni. Gardner-Webb University wrestling head coach Richard Wince has announced the addition of Rocco Caponi to the wrestling coaching staff.

Caponi brings a wealth of experience with him to the wrestling program at the Boiling Springs, North Carolina-based school. He was a member of the wrestling team and a team captain at the University of Virginia from 2004-2009. While at Virginia, Caponi qualified for the NCAA Division I tournament four times and was a three-time individual ACC (Atlantic Coast Conference) championships at 184 pounds, en route to picking up 111 career wins.

Caponi, who graduated from Virginia in 2008 with a bachelor's degree in Studies of Women and Gender, is also the creator, camp director and clinician of the Rocco Caponi's National Champ Camp, which was held in June 2004.

"I'm delighted to have Rocco in the program," stated coach Wince. "He brings the qualities we normally want to see in an assistant coach, namely, great physical talent and ability, sound teaching and pedagogy, and a great work ethic. He is also bright, imaginative, and what I would call a ‘colorful character,' something increasingly rare in college coaching. With his distinctly eclectic world view, he will help bring the whole ‘total educational experience' of our athletes to a higher level."

While at Gardner-Webb, Caponi will be pursuing his master's degree in Sports Science and Pedagogy. 

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