Head Coach Mark Cody is the man behind the American University Wrestling team's rise to national prominence. In just five years of coaching, Cody has rebuilt a program that was on the brink of elimination from collegiate athletics into a team producing both athletic and academic All-American's, EIWA Champions and the program's first ever National Champion. Cody's reputation as one of the best technical coaches in collegiate wrestling has helped him forge strong recruiting classes that have matured under his tutelage into some of the best wrestlers in the country. During the 2006-07 season, Cody's wrestling team built upon their successes from the previous year to reach an unparalleled high. Junior Josh Glenn repeated as the EIWA Champion in the 197 lbs. weight class and swept through the field at the NCAA Championships as the No. 2 seed, going 5-0 and earning a 6-4 overtime decision over No. 1 Kurt Backes of Iowa to capture AU wrestling's first National Championship. Glenn was joined by freshmen No. 10 Mike Cannon and Kyle Borshoff and sophomore Rudy Rueda at the NCAA Tournament, making for AU's largest showing at the championship event and tying its best finish of 17th from a year earlier. At the EIWA Tournament, Cody's squad tied for sixth place with Harvard and put two wrestlers in the finals, Glenn and Cannon. The `06-'07 squad also boasted two Academic All-American's in Damian Swietlik and Mike Cannon, and was awarded the Sportsmanship Award at the EIWA Tournament. The foundation that was laid in Cody's first four years at American paid off during the 2005-06 season as the team had its best individual and team performance in program history. For the first time, two Eagles were recognized with All-America honors. Senior Muzaffar Abdurakhmanov took third place at 165 lbs. at the NCAA Championships and sophomore Josh Glenn became the first underclassmen in AU wrestling history to earn All-America with his fourth-place finish at 184 lbs. The pair's individual performances coupled with Adam LoPiccolo's one win by fall earned the team a program-best 17th-place finish at the NCAA Championships. Two weeks prior to that, at the EIWA Championships, Abdurakhmanov was named Most Outstanding Wrestler as he and Glenn each won individual titles for the Eagles. In the classroom, Abdurakhmanov and Matt Morkel earned National Wrestling Coaches Association Academic All-America honors and the team earned the NWCA Team Academic All-America Award. In addition, the Eagles won 13 of their 19 dual matches and placed three wrestlers in the top-10 during the year. Each year prior to the 2005-06 season offered a glimpse at the program's future success. In the 2004-05 season, American earned its first ever All-American award when senior Daniel Waters' placed eighth at the NCAA Championships. After an injury-riddled career at Penn State, Waters flourished under the guidance of Cody. Had it not been for an injury, Waters run at the NCAA Tournament could have gone longer but the injury forced him into an early exit. Joining Waters at the NCAA Championships that year was a then school-record three teammates, including AU's first-ever EIWA champion, fourth-ranked Abdurakhmanov. Abdurakhmanov compiled a 22-1 regular season record, but, hampered by a knee injury, fell in the tournament's early rounds. The EIWA 2004 Freshman of the Year and runner-up at 184 lbs., Glenn, and heavyweight LoPiccolo also qualified for the big stage by way of their high placings at EIWAs. As a team the Eagles had their highest finish ever at EIWAs, placing sixth out of 13 teams in one of the country's toughest conferences. A year earlier, Cody led his Eagles team to many bright moments as the program continued to show improvement. Waters recorded the most wins in Division I that year, compiling a 32-5 overall record. Senior Jared Hyman finished his final season with 24 wins, including finishing the season by winning 10 of 11 matches. Sophomore Tom Kneizewski had a solid year at 149 lbs., finishing with a team best seven pins. In his first year, Cody led AU to the EIWA Tournament and was also a coach for the 2003 U.C. National Championship Gator Club team. That same year Cody introduced the highly successful Mark Cody Wrestling Camp, providing a series of individualized workouts for athletes of all ages and abilities. Cody came to American after spending two seasons as an assistant coach at Oklahoma State, a national powerhouse and owner of more NCAA Championships than any other school. As an assistant, Cody helped Oklahoma State to a Big 12 Championship and a fifth-place finish at the 2002 NCAA Championships, where the Cowboys crowned an individual national champion and four All-Americans. In addition to Oklahoma State's success on the mat, the team's wrestlers were proficient in the classroom. The squad earned recognition from the NWCA as a top-25 academic team, and two Cowboys were named Academic All-America by the NWCA. Nine of Cody's wrestlers were also named to the Academic All-Big 12 team. Before joining the ranks at Oklahoma State, Cody served as upper-weights coach for 12 years at the University of Nebraska. During his time in Lincoln, Cody was responsible for bringing in some of the nation's best recruiting classes, including two National Champions, heavyweight Tolly Thompson, who won the title in 1995, and 197-pounder Brad Vering, who won it in 2000. While at Nebraska, 23 Cornhuskers were named All-America. Prior to his time as a member of the Nebraska staff, Cody spent a season in Stillwater, Okla., as an assistant coach of Oklahoma State for the 1986-87 season. Cody spend the 1985-86 season as an assistant at Bloomsburg University and for his alma mater, the University of Missouri in 1984-85. In his season with the Tigers, Cody helped develop Rulon Gardner, who later went on to capture the heavyweight gold medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, and trained with Matt Lindland, an Olympic silver medalist in 2000. As a student-athlete, Cody was a three-time All-American. He spent his first two years of college at the State University of New York at Delhi before transferring to Missouri in 1983. His greatest success came during his senior season, 1984-85, when he earned All-America with a fifth-place finish at 190 lbs. at the NCAA Championships and named the team's Most Outstanding Wrestler. Cody still ranks in Missouri's single season top-10 for falls (17), major decisions (9) and twice for winning percentage (.875 and .857). Cody graduated from Bellevue University with a bachelor of science degree in business. A member of the New York Athletic Club, he was a 198 lbs. finalist at the 1988 U.S. Olympic Trials. A native of Binghamton, N.Y., Cody and his wife Holly now reside in the Washington, D.C., metro area, with their sons George and Charlie.