Dennis Hall has resigned from the position as the head coach of USA Wrestling's Greco-Roman program at the U.S. Olympic Education Center at Northern Michigan University. 

His last day of employment will be June 15, 2010, and he will coach the USOEC athletes at the World Team Trials next weekend.

“Dennis Hall has done a wonderful job in coaching and training our college age USOEC wrestlers since he joined our staff,” said National Greco-Roman Coach Steve Fraser. “Our young athletes under his tutelage have made great improvements over the year. Dennis’s vast experience and knowledge of Greco wrestling has proved very valuable in moving our athletes forward with their wrestling skills. His intense, passionate commitment to the kids and Greco was very beneficial to both the wrestlers and our overall program.”

Hall, who took the position last summer, is leaving due to family considerations, and will return to his home in Stevens Point, Wis. to be with his wife and four children. He was commuting back and forth to Stevens Point each weekend to be with his family.

“The program up here is great. The coaching is fun. I enjoyed the opportunity to work with the athletes,” said Hall. “It was a tough decision. It came down to being with my family. This has been too hard on my wife and four kids.”

Hall will still stay very involved with the U.S. Greco-Roman Program on a volunteer basis.

“I am going to work with the World Gold Wrestling Club, and work with wrestlers of all ages,” said Hall. “Hopefully, I will get Senior guys to come train with us. I want to stay actively involved with USA Wrestling. I will be available for however they want to use me in the program.” 

The USOEC program brought in a large group of young athletes this year. Working with USOEC assistant coach Willie Madison, Hall helped the athletes advance quickly in their skill development and performance.

Hall was one of the greatest Greco-Roman wrestlers in U.S. history, with three career Olympic and World medals. He was a 1995 World champion, only the second American at that time to win a Greco-Roman World title. Hall captured a silver medal at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Ga., and won a World bronze medal in 1994.

Hall competed on three U.S. Olympic teams in Greco-Roman. In addition to the silver medal he won in 1996, Hall was eighth in the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain and also competed in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.

He qualified for his first U.S. World Team in 1990 at the age of 19 and made a total of 10 U.S. World or Olympic teams. Hall also won the Pan American Games in 1995 and 1999.

Hall was a U.S. Nationals champion for 10 straight years (1992-2001), an amazing streak of consistency. Hall was also second in the 2000 U.S. Olympic Team Trials and qualified for the U.S. Greco-Roman national team 15 times. 

He is the third coach in the history of the USOEC Greco-Roman team since its inception, following Gordy Morgan and Ivan Ivanov as head coaches for the program. The USOEC program has produced numerous champion athletes for the United States on both the age-group and Senior levels.

Hall is originally from Hartford, Wis., where he won three state high school titles and was a three-time Junior Nationals Greco-Roman champion. He attended the Univ. of Wisconsin for one year, then decided to focus full-time on his Greco-Roman career.

Since 2000, Hall has owned World Gold Wrestling, LLC, which provides young athletes with quality coaching through wrestling camps and clubs. Among the young wrestlers he has mentored are Ben Provisor and Jesse Thielke, who were U.S. Junior Greco-Roman World Team members and have won numerous age-group national titles. He has also organized the Dennis Hall Summer Team Duals event each year.

He was also an assistant wrestling coach for the Univ. of Wisconsin-Stevens Point from 2001-2003. During his time there, the team finished third in the Div. III National Championships. For the last two years, he has been the head wrestling coach at Stevens Point High School, where he has produced state placewinners and qualifiers

USA Wrestling will start the search process for Dennis Hall’s replacement immediately.