NORFOLK, Va. – The Old Dominion University Wrestling program and head coach Steve Martin announced the addition of Alex Dolly to the coaching staff on Thursday.

“We are extremely pleased to well come Alex Dolly to the Monarch wrestling program,” said Martin. “He will be working with our middle and upper weight classes. Alex brings with him a wealth of knowledge after being mentored at a Big Ten program for the last three seasons as an assistant. As an athlete, he has proved himself at a national level reaching the All-America round three times at Northern Iowa. As an international athlete, he is also very accomplished finishing ninth at the world championships for Ireland in 2011.”

Dolly spent the last three seasons as a volunteer assistant coach at Michigan State where the Spartans sent 17 wrestlers to the NCAA Championships during his time in East Lansing, Mich. along with an All-American wrestler.

“I’d like to thank coach Martin, the university and the administrative staff for this opportunity,” said Dolly. “Old Dominion is a great place with terrific facilities and a strong history. I feel like I can bring a lot to the program after coaching the last three years at Michigan State and competing internationally. I’d like to thank the staff at Michigan State for the opportunity they gave me. I learned a great deal over the past three years in East Lansing. Moving to ODU is a great opportunity for my career and it’s nice to have the administration’s full support of the program here along with a great coaching staff.”

While at Northern Iowa, Dolly wrestled at 184 pounds and earned four trips to the NCAA Championships and reached the round of 12 on three occasions. A native of Mishawaka, Ind., Dolly holds the state's all-time career takedown record with 548 and was a two-time USA Wrestling National All-American.

In September 2011, Dolly represented Ireland at the 2011 FILA World Championships in Istanbul, Turkey. Dolly wrestled in the 84-kilogram senior freestyle division and reached the quarterfinal round. He defeated Alvarez Martinez of Honduras in his opening match of the competition, 9-1, and followed that up with a 9-0 victory over Dejan Bogdanov of Macedonia. Dolly fell to Japan's Shinya Matsumoto in the quarterfinals, 6-4, finishing in ninth place at the 2011 World's.

Dolly will complete his master’s degree in sports administration from Michigan State this summer.