American University Head Wrestling Coach Teague Moore has announced the hiring of Pete Friedl as the program's new assistant coach.

Friedl comes to American after one season as an assistant coach at Appalachian State. Friedl helped guide two Mountaineer wrestlers to the NCAA Championships last season as Appalachian State registered a 56th-place finish as a team. In the classroom, the Mountaineers placed 13th in the country with a 3.09 team GPA last year.

Friedl was a standout collegiate wrestler at Illinois where he was a four-time NCAA qualifier (2003-06) and three-time All-American (2004-06), placing as high as third at 184 lbs. in his senior season. He captured the Big Ten conference championship in 2005, leading the Fighting Illini to the team title that season. Friedl was also a 2006 Midlands Champion, propelling Illinois to its third straight championship at that event. He graduated as the third-winningest wrestler in Illinois history with 125 career victories.

"Pete brings a number of great attributes to our program," Moore said. "His Big Ten success and national accolades combined with his desire to succeed as a coach are going to bring this program big results. Pete is a tremendous addition to our program."

Friedl graduated from Illinois in 2006 with a Bachelor's degree in Community Health. Following his graduation, he remained at Illinois for four years where he served as an assistant with the strength and conditioning program.

Friedl is the final piece to Moore's coaching staff, which also features Assistant Coach Kyle Borshoff '10 and Undergraduate Student Assistant Coach Steve Fittery. The Eagles are coming off a program-record fifth place finish at last year's NCAA Championship, which included three All-Americans along with a NWCA-record six Academic All-Americans.