Wrestling
Escobedo, Angel
Angel Escobedo
- Title:
- Head Coach
- Email:
- wrestl@iu.edu
- Phone:
- (812) 855-6942
One of the most successful wrestlers in Indiana University history, Angel Escobedo became the eighth head coach in program history on April 6, 2018.
In the 2020-21 season the Hoosiers had three NCAA qualifiers in DJ Washington, Graham Rooks and Cayden Rooks. Washington was the No. 9 seed at 174 at the NCAA Championships. Washington was the UWW Junior Nationals Champion and quaified for the Junior World Championships. Santos Cantu earned the Silver Medal at the Junior Pan Am Championships.
In the 2019-20 season the Hoosiers had two NCAA qualifiers in Liam Cronin and Graham Rooks. Cronin (125) and Rooks (149) both finished the season ranked in the top-20 and beat a total of nine ranked opponents on the season. Cronin finished fifth at the Big Ten Championships and Rooks finished in 10th place.
Escobedo continued to build momentum for the program as the Hoosiers set a new average attendance record of 1,630 fans per match. That attendance number was up from the 1,286 fans per match from the previous season. Since Escobedo took over as the head coach, the Hoosiers have more than doubled average match attendance.
In his first season at the helm for the Hoosiers in the 2018-19 slate, Escobedo guided the Hoosiers to two wins over ranked opponents (#12 North Carolina, #25 Stanford). It was the first since the 2008-09 season Indiana has two ranked wins in a season. The Hoosiers win over North Carolina was the programs first win over a top-15 opponent since 2008. The Hoosiers closed the dual match season with a 32-0 win against Chattanooga. It was their first shutout since the 2015 season.
In the first year in the Hoosiers new arena, Wilkinson Hall, the team saw record crowds, as they finished the season ranked 21st in average attendance among NCAA DI schools for the 2018-19 season. The Hoosiers set a school record for single match attendance with 1,962 people on hand for their match against Penn State. For the season the team had an average attendance of 1,286.
Escobedo assumed the reins of the program after spending one year as IU’s associate head coach along with three years on the Iowa State staff.
“We are very excited about the future of Indiana Wrestling under Angel’s leadership,” IU Vice President and Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Fred Glass said. “As a wrestler, he excelled at the high school, collegiate and international levels. As a coach, he has mentored All-Americans and NCAA qualifiers. With a new state-of-the-art $17 million facility set to open, Angel is the right person to lead the program into this new, exciting era.”
A native of Gary, Ind., Escobedo was a dominant wrestler for the Hoosiers from 2007-10. As a sophomore, he won the 2008 NCAA title at 125 pounds, and he captured Big Ten titles in the weight class three times (2008-10). He’s the program’s only four-time All-American, and his 137 career wins (second) and 42 pins (third) rank among the best in IU history.
After wrapping up his IU career in 2010, Escobedo competed internationally and was a member of Team USA. Among his top performances was a fifth-place finish at the 2013 World Championships in Budapest, Hungary, and a second-place finish at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto.
While training full-time for the international circuit, he spent three years on Iowa State’s coaching staff from 2015-17, where he helped develop a handful of the Cyclones’ lightweight wrestlers into national contenders. Among his most notable wrestlers was two-time All-American and four-time NCAA qualifier Earl Hall.
He plans to make Indiana a force in the nation’s premier college wrestling conference, the Big Ten.
“It's having that IU logo on your chest when you're wrestling," Escobedo said. "I want to put the state Indiana back on the map of collegiate wrestling and I've always wanted to make Indiana known for what it is: a great state for wrestling.”
Angel and his wife, Pauli, have three children – Malachi, Saniyah and Zoe.
In the 2020-21 season the Hoosiers had three NCAA qualifiers in DJ Washington, Graham Rooks and Cayden Rooks. Washington was the No. 9 seed at 174 at the NCAA Championships. Washington was the UWW Junior Nationals Champion and quaified for the Junior World Championships. Santos Cantu earned the Silver Medal at the Junior Pan Am Championships.
In the 2019-20 season the Hoosiers had two NCAA qualifiers in Liam Cronin and Graham Rooks. Cronin (125) and Rooks (149) both finished the season ranked in the top-20 and beat a total of nine ranked opponents on the season. Cronin finished fifth at the Big Ten Championships and Rooks finished in 10th place.
Escobedo continued to build momentum for the program as the Hoosiers set a new average attendance record of 1,630 fans per match. That attendance number was up from the 1,286 fans per match from the previous season. Since Escobedo took over as the head coach, the Hoosiers have more than doubled average match attendance.
In his first season at the helm for the Hoosiers in the 2018-19 slate, Escobedo guided the Hoosiers to two wins over ranked opponents (#12 North Carolina, #25 Stanford). It was the first since the 2008-09 season Indiana has two ranked wins in a season. The Hoosiers win over North Carolina was the programs first win over a top-15 opponent since 2008. The Hoosiers closed the dual match season with a 32-0 win against Chattanooga. It was their first shutout since the 2015 season.
In the first year in the Hoosiers new arena, Wilkinson Hall, the team saw record crowds, as they finished the season ranked 21st in average attendance among NCAA DI schools for the 2018-19 season. The Hoosiers set a school record for single match attendance with 1,962 people on hand for their match against Penn State. For the season the team had an average attendance of 1,286.
Escobedo assumed the reins of the program after spending one year as IU’s associate head coach along with three years on the Iowa State staff.
“We are very excited about the future of Indiana Wrestling under Angel’s leadership,” IU Vice President and Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Fred Glass said. “As a wrestler, he excelled at the high school, collegiate and international levels. As a coach, he has mentored All-Americans and NCAA qualifiers. With a new state-of-the-art $17 million facility set to open, Angel is the right person to lead the program into this new, exciting era.”
A native of Gary, Ind., Escobedo was a dominant wrestler for the Hoosiers from 2007-10. As a sophomore, he won the 2008 NCAA title at 125 pounds, and he captured Big Ten titles in the weight class three times (2008-10). He’s the program’s only four-time All-American, and his 137 career wins (second) and 42 pins (third) rank among the best in IU history.
After wrapping up his IU career in 2010, Escobedo competed internationally and was a member of Team USA. Among his top performances was a fifth-place finish at the 2013 World Championships in Budapest, Hungary, and a second-place finish at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto.
While training full-time for the international circuit, he spent three years on Iowa State’s coaching staff from 2015-17, where he helped develop a handful of the Cyclones’ lightweight wrestlers into national contenders. Among his most notable wrestlers was two-time All-American and four-time NCAA qualifier Earl Hall.
He plans to make Indiana a force in the nation’s premier college wrestling conference, the Big Ten.
“It's having that IU logo on your chest when you're wrestling," Escobedo said. "I want to put the state Indiana back on the map of collegiate wrestling and I've always wanted to make Indiana known for what it is: a great state for wrestling.”
Angel and his wife, Pauli, have three children – Malachi, Saniyah and Zoe.
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