Eastern Michigan University hires Charles Branch as Head Wrestling CoachEMU hires wrestling coach
Branch, 28, is former All-American and has been an assistant at Navy
Tuesday, July 25, 2000
---------------------------------------------------------------------- FROM LOCAL REPORTS
Eastern Michigan has hired Navy assistant coach Charles Branch as its new head wrestling coach.
Branch, 28, was an All-America 142-pound wrestler at Virginia Military Institute and has coached at the U.S. Naval Academy for the past two seasons. He replaces Charles Jones, who was fired in May.
"When we began the process of hiring a head wrestling coach, we were looking for a dynamic coach with a strong desire to build a quality program, and Charles Branch stood out as the coach we wanted," said EMU athletic director Dave Diles.
"Charles comes into our program with great credentials as a teacher and a person of integrity and was highly recommended for the position."
Branch was a four-time Southern Conference champion and was selected to represent the NCAA on a national team that toured Germany. After graduating from VMI, he spent a season as a graduate assistant at the University of Virginia before being promoted to head assistant the following year. He took the top assistant job at Navy in 1998.