Rob Hermann of Pensacola, Fla. has been named the head coach for USA Wrestling's Greco-Roman program at the U.S. Olympic Education Center at Northern Michigan University.

Hermann is one of the most respected Greco-Roman coaches in the nation. He has served as a head coach for the 1996 Olympic team and assistant coach for the 2000 Olympic team, and has led numerous other U.S. teams at major international competitions.

“Rob and I have worked closely together for 14 years,” said National Greco-Roman Coach Steve Fraser. “He has been a two-time Olympic coach and has coached many of the greatest wrestlers from our country. He will bring to Northern Michigan University his excellent coaching experience which will help the athletes to reach the next level. I am very excited that he will be part of our official USA Wrestling coaching staff.”

Hermann will officially assume his duties at Northern Michigan University on August 16. He will work with Willie Madison, who remains the assistant coach for the Greco-Roman program there.

“This is one of the toughest decisions I’ve had to make. It is something I have not taken lightly. I am jumping into this with both feet,” said Hermann. “My expectation is not much different than the coaches before me. I will challenge the athletes to be at the top of their age groups, and if I can slide in some Olympic hopefuls, like Adam Wheeler, Harry Lester and Spenser Mango have been, that would be great. I have high expectations.”

Hermann has been named as a World Team coach for the 2010 U.S. Greco-Roman World Team, which will compete at the World Wrestling Championships in Moscow, Russia, Sept. 6-12.

Hermann served as the head coach of the 1996 U.S. Olympic team, which won three silver medals at the Atlanta Olympic Games. The U.S. team won three silver medals at the Games, from Brandon Paulson (52 kg), Dennis Hall (57 kg) and Matt Ghaffari (130 kg). He was also the assistant coach of the 2000 U.S. Olympic team, which won three medals in the Sydney Olympic Games, including Olympic champion Rulon Gardner (130 kg), silver medalist Matt Lindland (76 kg) and bronze medalist Garrett Lowney (97 kg).

He was also head coach of the 1993 U.S. World Team, which was 14th at the World Championships. Hermann also was an assistant coach with the 1994 and 1997 U.S. World Teams.

He was the head coach of the 1995 Pan American Games team which placed second. Hermann also served as head coach of the 1990 Pan American Championships team and the 1992 World Cup team. He was also coach of the 1991 and 1995 U.S. CISM World Military teams. 

Since 1983, he has served the head coach of the All-Navy team, where he has developed a number of nationally ranked athletes. Among the athletes he worked with was 2008 Olympic bronze medalist Adam Wheeler. 

He was named USA Wrestling Greco-Roman Coach of the Year in both 1992 and 1996. Hermann is a gold certified coach with USA Wrestling’s National Coaches Education Program, the highest level of achievement.

As an athlete, Hermann competed on three U.S. World teams and won a bronze medal at the 1983 Pan American Games. He won four U.S. Senior national titles, and competed in five World Cups. During his career, Hermann was a CISM World Military champion, and captured 11 Armed Forces titles. He was named 1984 and 1992 Navy Athlete of the Year. Hermann was a 12-time All-Navy Wrestling champion. He hails from Crystal River, Fla., where he was a 1976 Florida state high school champion.

In his military career, Hermann served in the U.S. Navy from 1976 through 1998, when he received an honorable discharge. A major part of his military service included coaching wrestling at the Olympic level. He was a Ship’s Serviceman from 1976-1987. He was converted to Master at Arms in 1987. Hermann served in the Security Department at NAS Pensacola from 1987-1993. He was assigned to NORU Recruiting Command from 1996-1998.

He received two Navy Achievement medals and one Navy Accommodation medal while on active duty.

“Rob has a great grasp of techniques that all of these young kids coming out of high school will need in Greco-Roman. He has a great sense of the game, with knowledge of what makes wrestlers successful. For many years, he worked with younger athletes through the U.S. Navy program. He also has experience in recruiting, which is an important part of this job. He will help our wrestlers who want to focus on becoming Olympic and World Champions some day,” said Fraser.

Hermann becomes the fourth coach in the history of the USOEC Greco-Roman team since its inception, following Gordy Morgan, Ivan Ivanov and Dennis Hall 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.

“I am going to approach it like I did with the Navy. I will teach Greco-Roman, the rules, the techniques and the strategies. I will treat it like my own Olympic team. I will hold them to that standard. I am used to this age group, since my Navy athletes were between 18-24 years old. Working in the college setting will be new to me. I am looking forward to this new challenge. I am very excited. With assistant coach Willie Madison on board, I think we can achieve great things,” said Hermann.