Cal Poly Humboldt Athletics

With men’s wrestling set to return to Cal Poly Humboldt for the first time since the early 1990s, Lennie Zalesky has been hired as the team’s new head coach, the Jacks announced on Monday.

Zalesky brings some quality experience to the new position after head coaching stints at California Baptist University and UC Davis over the past two decades. 

“Coach Zalesky is an outstanding fit for our university, athletic department, and community,” Humboldt Executive Director of Athletics Dr. Nick Pettit said in a press release announcing the hire. “His ties to California wrestling, along with his coaching and teaching experience, commitment to academic excellence and desire to create a championship culture and experience for our student-athletes made him the clear choice for Cal Poly Humboldt.”

The Jacks hope to begin competing on the mats next winter.

Zalesky was named the California Baptist University wrestling head coach in June 2011 and in 11 seasons he led the team to a 71-70-1 overall record and four top-three national finishes. 

He was named the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Coach of the Year in 2016, and was also named Division-II Coach of the Year in 2017. 

He has coached his wrestlers to a total of 35 All-American awards and seven individual national championships, including three at the NCAA level.

Zalesky previously served as the head coach at UC Davis for nine years before the program was dropped prior to the 2010-11 season

As a wrestler, he was also a three-time NCAA All-American, and he served as an assistant coach at powerhouse Iowa.

“After a 30 year hiatus of the Cal Poly Humboldt wrestling team, I am excited to begin to lay a foundation for what has the potential to be a very competitive D-II wrestling program,” the new coach said. “With approximately 50 All-Americans, several national champions and placing in the top-five teams of the NCAA tournament multiple times, the success of the past wrestlers and teams is to be admired by any wrestling fan. 

“I am sure the Humboldt wrestling alumni and California wrestling fans are very excited about the reemergence of the wrestling program. 

“I hope to use my 21 years of head coaching experience in California to move the process along a little faster. I look forward to once again working with the California wrestling community, to begin to work with the university, the alumni, the community and the future wrestlers of Cal Poly Humboldt. I am hopeful of what lies ahead.”

After his collegiate wrestling career concluded, Zalesky began competing internationally, winning a handful of tournaments from 1983-86. He won a silver medal in the 1983 Pan American Games, the 1984 World Cup, 1984 Tblisi Tournament in the former Soviet Union and the 1983 Canadian Cup.