LITTLE ROCK – Little Rock Director of Athletics
George Lee has announced the promotion of
Javier Maldonado to Associate Head Coach along with a contract extension for Head Coach
Neil Erisman. Both Maldonado and Erisman have been instrumental in developing the Little Rock wrestling team from its inaugural season in 2019-20 to the present, as the program gets set to enter its fourth year of competition this fall.
"While titles don't mean everything, Javi has more than earned the right to be elevated to associate head coach," said Erisman. "He has been instrumental in getting this program off the ground and keeping it at a high level since he got here. Javi has been not just a great coach, recruiter, and mentor, but also a great friend. I'm happy that his hard work and dedication to the Trojan program is being honored."
Since Maldonado arrived at Little Rock in 2019, he has overseen several facets of the program, including leading drills and training at practice, operations, and recruiting, to name a few. He played a large role in coaching the lower weights, including the team's first-ever NCAA qualifier,
Paul Bianchi. Maldonado also aided the coaching staff in bringing in two top-25 recruiting classes in back-to-back years.
Before joining the Trojans, Maldonado spent the four seasons as the head coach at Southeastern University in Lakeland, Florida. Maldonado faced a similar challenge there, building a program from scratch, and led the Fire to a 41-31 dual meet record in his four years.
Meanwhile, Erisman will continue to sit at the helm of the program, inking a three-year contract extention. He will be staying on with the Trojans through the 2024-25 wrestling season.
The wrestling program is coming off a year of promising highlights amidst one of the most challenging schedules in the nation, including five individual ranked wins, three Pac-12 tournament podium finishers, and Scholar All-America Team honors. With the fourth season just around the corner, look for Erisman to continue to guide the Trojans to even greater heights.
For the latest information on Little Rock Wrestling, make sure to check out
LRTrojans.com. You can also find the team on social media at @LittleRockWRES on
Facebook,
Instagram, and
Twitter.
#LittleRocksTeam
