American University has announced the hiring of Mark Cody as their new head wrestling coach. Cody has spent the last two years as the head assistant coach at Oklahoma State and has 17 years of coaching experience.     Cody replaces Rob Puzio, who resigned his position in April to pursue outside business opportunities.     "We are extremely excited to have Mark Cody in place to guide the revitalization of our wrestling program," said Tom George, Athletics Director at American. "He has an outstanding background at the highest level in the sport and has been a winner at every stop in his career. We look forward to him making a distinct impact on American University and its wrestling program."     While coaching the upper weights at Oklahoma State, Cody helped Daniel Cormier to an NCAA runner-up finish and Mark Munoz to an NCAA individual title.     "I am very excited for this outstanding opportunity and would like to personally thank President Ladner, Tom George, and Alan Meltzer," said Cody. "This is a great challenge and I welcome it with open arms. I am extremely impressed with the level of support for the program that I have seen through the interview process.     "We are going to take it one day at a time and begin to build a program that will compete at a high level in the years to come. It is my goal to bring student-athletes to American University that are serious about both their academic and wrestling careers," he said.     Before Oklahoma State, Cody spent 12 years as an assistant at Nebraska, where he coached two Huskers to national titles - heavyweight Tolly Thompson in 1995 and Brad Vering in 2000. He also coached 23 Huskers to All-American honors.     Before coaching at Nebraska, Cody also had one-year coaching stints at Oklahoma State (1986-87) Bloomsburg (1985-1986) and Missouri (1984-85).     Cody has also helped to train 2000 Olympic Gold Medalist Rulon Gardner, 2000 Olympic Silver Medalist Matt Lindland and 2002 World Team member Brad Vering.     As a competitor, Cody was a three-time All-American. He spent two years at SUNY-Delhi before transferring to Missouri in 1982. As a member of the New York Athletic Club, he was a 198-pound finalist at the 1988 U.S. Olympic Trials.     In April, American announced a plan to reinvigorate its wrestling program. The process includes increased funding and support, a search for a nationally prominent head coach and seeking an affiliation with a competitive athletics conference for wrestling.     American has applied for admission to the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA), the nation's oldest wrestling conference. Members of the association include prestigious academic institutions such as Army, Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Harvard, Lehigh, Navy, Pennsylvania, Princeton, and Rutgers. The Patriot League, AU's athletics conference, does not sponsor wrestling as an intercollegiate sport.     This past winter, the University made significant upgrades to Bender Arena, AU's multi-purpose athletics facility which hosts wrestling competitions. Improvements include chair-back seating for 1,600 spectators and a state-of-the-art video display board, making it an ideal wrestling venue.     Cody earned a bachelor's degree in business from the University of Missouri in 1984. He is a native of Binghamton, N.Y.     Cody and his fiancé Holly Sano plan to marry in August, 2002.