Jason Borrelli enters his ninth season as Stanford's head wrestling coach. Over the past eight years, the Cardinal has sent 17 different wrestlers to the NCAA Championships a total of 31 times. Borrelli’s wrestlers have garnered a total of nine All-America honors and 14 individual Pac-12 championships. Borrelli’s 14 conference champions are the most during any eight-year span in program history.
In his first seven years, Borrelli has guided the Cardinal to 70 dual meet victories, placing him second on the program’s all-time coaching career wins list. The 70 wins are also the most victories during a seven-year span in Stanford wrestling history.
In 2011, Borrelli’s squad put together the best NCAA Championship run in school history, scoring 44 points and finishing in 11th place while crowning three NCAA All-Americans. The 11th-place finish and the three single season NCAA All-Americans are both program records. The Cardinal followed up its 2011 record-setting year by turning in the program’s third-highest NCAA Championships finish in 2012, when it placed 16th at the national tournament. The 11th-place finish in 2011 combined with the 16th-place finish in 2012 mark the only time in school history the Cardinal has posted back-to-back top-20 NCAA finishes in wrestling.
In 2014, Stanford had a regular season to remember, finishing with a 17-5 dual-meet mark, breaking a 39-year-old record for wins in a season. The 2014 squad finished runner-up at the Pac-12 Championships, equaling a program best and tied another school record for most national qualifiers in a single season, sending five wrestlers to the NCAA Championships. Of the five NCAA qualifiers, four won individual Pac-12 championships, which is also a school record.
Highlighting Stanford’s individual success during Borrelli’s tenure is Nick Amuchastegui. A four-time NCAA qualifier, three-time All-American and the school’s only two-time NCAA finalist, Amuchastegui was twice named Capital One/CoSIDA Men’s At-Large Academic All-American of the Year and was a four-time NWCA Academic All-American. He was also the Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year for wrestling in 2012 and twice earned the NCAA’s Elite 89 Award for Division I wrestling.
Off the mat, Borrelli’s teams have thrived academically. Since 2009, the Cardinal has finished in the top-12 among all Division I programs in the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) team GPA standings each season finishing third, sixth, 12th, sixth, third, eighth and seventh, respectively. Borrelli has mentored 15 NWCA All-Academic selections, including two four-time recipients in Amuchastegui and Dan Scherer. At the conference level, Stanford has had 44 wrestlers earn Pac-12 All-Academic honors under Borrelli’s tutelage, while Kyle Meyer earned a Pac-12 Postgraduate Scholarship following the 2014 season.
Borrelli has proven to be one of the finest recruiters in the nation as well. In five of the past seven seasons the Cardinal has landed nationally ranked recruiting classes in Intermat's top-25, with four of those classes falling in the top-15. The 2014 class was tabbed ninth overall by Intermat.
In addition to his coaching duties, Borrelli has served on the NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee since September 2011. In 2010, Borrelli graduated from the NWCA's inaugural Leadership Academy; a program designed to equip collegiate coaches with the necessary skills to lead a successful program. Last summer, Borrelli was invited back by the NWCA as a mentor for the class of 2014.
A former Central Michigan standout, Borrelli came to The Farm as an assistant coach in 2008 and quickly helped guide the Cardinal to one of its most successful seasons in school history. As a team, Borrelli and the staff led Stanford to a 19th-place finish nationally, matching then the program's second-highest finish in school history and just its third all-time top-20 finish. Owning two of the conference's four All-Americans, the Cardinal's 19th-place finish was the best in the Pac-10.
Prior to coming to Stanford, Borrelli served on the Central Michigan coaching staff. In his first year with the Chippewas, the program won its ninth consecutive Mid-American Conference Championship. The squad ended the season ranked fifth in the final dual meet rankings and finished 15th at the NCAA Championships. Borrelli also helped guide three CMU wrestlers to All-America honors during the 2007 season.
A Mt. Pleasant, Mich. native, Borrelli was a two-time Michigan state champion in high school before beginning his career at Central Michigan in 2001. A four-year starter at 125 and 133 pounds, he was part of five consecutive team Mid-American Conference (MAC) championships. As a junior in 2005, he captured the 133-pound MAC title. Borrelli qualified for the NCAA Championships at 133 pounds twice, in 2005 and 2006, and captained the Chippewa team as a senior. A four-year NWCA All-Academic selection, Borrelli graduated from Central Michigan in December 2005 with a degree in business administration.
Borrelli and his wife Jenna were married in July 2009 and reside on Stanford’s campus. They welcomed a son, Carter, to their family in July 2013 and their second son, Lincoln, was born in January 2015.