FRESNO, Calif. - Fresno State Athletics Director Thomas Boeh has announced the hiring of Shawn Charles as head wrestling coach. Charles takes over for Dennis DeLiddo, who retired after serving as the program's head coach for 24 years.     Charles comes to Fresno State after spending four years as the head assistant coach at Nebraska. While there, the Cornhuskers continued as one of the nation's top wrestling programs. Charles helped guide Nebraska to NCAA Championship finishes of eighth in 2002, 19th in 2003, fifth in 2004 and 13th in 2005.     During his stay at Nebraska, Charles is credited with coaching two-time All-Americans Jason Powell and Justin Ruiz as well as NCAA finalist Bryan Snyder.     "Shawn Charles joins Fresno State with truly impressive credentials, a national reputation and a wealth of experience with several top 20 Division I wrestling programs as well as Team USA," Boeh said. "It was clear throughout the process that Shawn harbors tremendous enthusiasm regarding the continued growth of the program as well as a deep respect for Dennis DeLiddo and his 24 years of outstanding leadership. With that, I believe Shawn has the capacity to be a highly successful head coach, and we are very pleased that he will join the Bulldog staff."     A two-time NCAA finalist at Arizona State, Charles also has experience as the head assistant coach at Central Michigan for three years. During his tenure, he coached 10 wrestlers to All-America honors, including the 1999 NCAA champion at 157 pounds, Casey Cunningham.     Under Charles, CMU thrived as a team. The Chippewas finished in the top 10 of the NCAA Championships twice and in the top 20 in another. In 1998, Central Michigan placed fifth, the best finish in program history. One year later, the team was seventh.     Charles' coaching career began in 1993 at Iowa State, where he served as an assistant for two years. From there he moved onto an assistant coaching position at Phoenix (Ariz.) College for the 1995-96 season before becoming the coach of the Oklahoma freestyle club team in 1996.     "I've known Shawn for a long time," DeLiddo said. "I actually coached him in the Sunkist Kids program. I'm very excited about having him coach here. I know he'll come in and be a Bulldog right away. We've landed a very good coach who has West Coast ties, so he is very aware of the successful tradition of Fresno State wrestling."     As a collegiate wrestler, Charles became the first four-time All-American in Arizona State history and was an NCAA finalist as both a junior and senior. He was the Pac-10 champion at 126 pounds twice.     Charles owns a multitude of experience at the international level as both a wrestler and coach. He was a member of the U.S. freestyle team for seven years and nearly earned a spot on the 2000 Olympic team, just coming up short at 138.75 pounds. He took second at the U.S. Open and Kiev International tournaments in 1999 and claimed a U.S. title in 1998 while finishing second in 1999. In addition, he was a member of a Team USA squad that took the gold medal at the Goodwill Games.     Charles was a coach - and an alternate wrestler - on the 1996 Olympic freestyle team. In April 2003, he was an assistant coach for Team USA.     A 1993 graduate of Arizona State, Charles received his bachelor's degree in information systems. He and his wife, Jill, have two sons, Shawn (3) and Titus (1).