2012 NCAA champion, 2016 Olympian and U.S. National Team member Frank Molinaro enters his second season as an assistant coach at Virginia Tech.
In his first season with the Hokies, Molinaro helped coach four individual ACC champions while guiding Tech to its second consecutive ACC title and its sixth straight top 10 finish at the NCAA Championships. Molinaro’s one-on-one instruction also played a key role in Jared Haught’s run to the 2018 NCAA finals at 197 pounds.
Along with his assistant coaching duties, Molinaro continues to compete as a resident athlete with the Southeast Regional Training Center. He placed second at the 2017 World Team Trials and won the 70 kg bronze medal at the prestigious Ivan Yarygin Grand Prix this past season with the SERTC.
Prior to coming to Blacksburg, Molinaro was a volunteer assistant coach at his alma mater, Penn State, where he was a two-time Big Ten champion, a four-time All-American and a national champion at 149 pounds in 2012. In the summer of 2016, he placed fifth at 65 kg at the Rio Olympics as a member of the USA wrestling men’s freestyle team.
A native of Barnegat, New Jersey, Molinaro jumped right into coaching after wrapping up his collegiate career at Penn State. He was on the staff at Rutgers for two years as an assistant coach, where he helped develop the Scarlet Knights’ first All-American since 2002. Molinaro then returned to Happy Valley as a volunteer assistant in 2014 and helped lead the Nittany Lions to a team national championship in 2016.
Molinaro boasts one of the most decorated careers in the history of Penn State wrestling. He turned in finishes of eighth, fifth and second at the NCAA Championships before claiming the 2012 national title at 149 pounds as senior. That season, he went 33-0, won his second consecutive Big Ten title and wrapped up his career with a 121-29 record.
On the international stage, Molinaro’s fifth-place finish at the 2016 Olympics tied for the best finish ever for a Nittany Lion wrestling for the United States. His road to Rio surprised many in the wrestling community as he won five of six matches as the No. 9 seed to take the 65 kg class at Olympic Team Trials. His resume also includes the 70 kg championship at 2016 Pan American games and a second-place finish at the World Team Trials in 2017.
Molinaro resides in Christiansburg with his, Kera, and their three sons, Kason, Frank and Weston.
