Grand Junction, CO - Mesa State College today announced Chuck H. Pipher as its new Head Wrestling Coach.

"We're excited to bring on board a person of Chuck's caliber, whose passion for the student athlete experience and wrestling will make an immediate impact on our program for years to come," said Jamie Hamilton, MSC Athlete Director.

Mesa State has been without a wrestling program since the 1990-1991 season.  During that season, MSC took third in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference and had two RMAC champs.

"We're very pleased to bring back wrestling and to have found a head coach who can step in and bring back the rich tradition of Mesa State wrestling," said MSC President Tim Foster.

Pipher has been the head wrestling coach at Hotchkiss High School since 1996, where he led the Bulldogs to the 2000 and 2004 Colorado High School 3A State Wrestling Team Championships.  He was a 3A Classification Colorado Wrestling Coach of the Year following the 2000 and 2004 seasons.  In 2004, he was named the National High School Wrestling Coach of the Year by the National Wrestling Coaches Association.

A four-time NAIA All-American at Colorado State University at Pueblo (formerly University of Southern Colorado), he was a three-time NAIA National Wrestling Champion, three-time Academic All-American and two-time NAIA National Championship Outstanding Wrestler Award recipient.  Pipher was the first ever NAIA wrestler to compete in the National Wrestling Coaches Association NCAA All-Star Classic.  

A western slope native, Pipher was a two-time Colorado High School State Champion and selected Class 1A Outstanding Wrestler at Hotchkiss High School.

In 1989 he was selected Colorado Sports Hall of Fame Amateur Athlete of the Year.  He was inducted into the Colorado Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 1995, and in 2004 inducted into the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Hall of Fame.

Before taking over the Hotchkiss High School head coaching job he was an assistant coach at Hotchkiss Middle School.  His college coaching experience includes four years as an assistant at Western State College, one year at Arizona State University and the University of Southern Colorado.

Pipher earned a bachelor's degree in Industrial Sciences and Technology with a teaching certificate from the University of Southern Colorado in 1990.

Chuck and his wife Deana have four children:  Kendal, Charlie, Peyton and Grayson.