Utah Valley hires former Boise State All-American Adam Hall as head wrestling coach

OREM — The state's only Division I college wrestling program has found its next head coach.

Utah Valley has hired former Boise State All-American wrestler Adam Hall as the program's third head coach in Division I history, athletic director Jared Sumsion announced Thursday. The associate head coach at North Carolina State replaces Greg Williams, who is retiring after 18 seasons leading the Wolverines.

Hall spent the past nine seasons at North Carolina State, including being promoted to associate head coach of the Wolfpack in 2019. Since the promotion, NC State won five straight ACC championships, including its current No. 8 national ranking, with six total conference titles in his tenure.

The Wolfpack are currently 13-2 and 3-0 in conference action ahead of Friday night's dual against No. 9 Cornell.

Hall also helped bring in some of the top talent in NC State history during his time as an assistant, highlighted by the nation's top recruiting class by FloWrestling and InterMat in 2016. In all, the Wolfpack collected five top-five recruiting classes since 2016 and six straight classes ranked in the top-20.

"I am overjoyed to become the next head coach of Utah Valley University wrestling," Hall said in a statement from the university. "The west, and specifically the state of Utah, has a strong history of successful college wrestlers and I am excited to build on that tradition. I look forward to creating a new level of success in Orem with the best young men who fit the mold and mentality of the program. I have spent the past 13 seasons preparing myself for this moment and I am incredibly excited to have the opportunity. Above all, I am grateful that God has blessed my family and me with this new journey."

Prior to the 2023-24 season, Hall helped the Wolfpack produce 25 All-Americans, 26 ACC champions, and four top-10 team finishes at the NCAA national tournament.

Prior to his time with the Wolfpack, Hall spent four seasons as an assistant coach at Columbia, where he earned a master's degree in sports management in 2015.

A former two-time NCAA All-American and Pac-10 champion, Hall was a standout at Boise State from 2007-11, posting a 122-18 career record that ranked second in the Broncos' history prior to shuttering the program in 2017.

He won two Pac-10 titles in the 157-pound weight class, and qualified for the NCAA national championships all four years he competed. As a redshirt senior in 2010-11, Hall went 30-2 en route to a fifth-place finish in the national tournament, including a perfect 25-0 regular-season record that earned the top overall seed.

Hall also placed fifth at the 2012 Olympic trials and was a U.S. Open placewinner in both 2013 and 2014.

A native of Bonners Ferry, Idaho, Hall and his wife Christine are the parents of two children. He's also been outspoken about his Asian-American heritage, including his mother Linda's deep roots in Japan, he told USA Wrestling in 2021.

"I think I draw a lot of strength from my Asian heritage. ... My mom is probably more passionate about wrestling than both myself and my dad," Hall said at the time. "Having perspective is so good, because she's the one who afforded me the opportunity to go and do things. She was always so involved with wrestling. There's definitely a family aspect to it."

Hall replaces Greg Williams, who led the Wolverines for the past 18 years as the second head coach in program history.

During his time in Orem, Williams led the program from Division I independent to a member of the Big 12 Conference, coaching at least one NCAA national championship wrestler every year for 12 straight seasons.

He's also coached five All-Americans, from Ben Kjar in 2011, Jade Rauser in 2016, Tate Orndorff in 2020 and Taylor LaMont and Demetrius Romero in 2021.

Williams will lead the Wolverines in their final home meet next Saturday, Feb. 24 against California Baptist. Hall will take over the program after the NCAA championships in March.

Related topics