Wrestling
- Title:
- Head Coach
- Email:
- cayres@princeton.edu
- Phone:
- 609-258-2197
| FAST FACTS ABOUT CHRIS AYRES |
| • after Princeton had eight All-Americans ever before 2016, has coached five different ones since (Brett Harner, Matthew Kolodzik, Patrick Brucki, Patrick Glory, Quincy Monday) |
| • sent Princeton-record seven wrestlers to the 2017 NCAA Championships; Tigers qualified six in 2019, 2020 and 2022 with four All-America honorees in 2020 and two finalists in 2022 in a program-first achievement |
| • coached Princeton to its best finish since 1951 at the 2023 NCAA Championships and its 10th Top-25 finish in program history |
| • led Princeton to four 3rd-place finishes at the EIWA Championships fin ive competitive seasons from 2017-22, the program's best finishes since 1978 |
| • named the 2017 EIWA Co-Head Coach Of The Year |
| • named the 2016, 2017, 2019 and 2020 Ivy League Head Coach Of The Year |
| • has earned 48 bids to NCAAs since 2010 after the program earned one bid from 2004-09 |
| • led Princeton in 2020 to its first Ivy League championship since 1986 |
| • has coached 62 All-Ivy League honorees since 2010 and 51 since 2015 (only 3 at Princeton from 2004-09) |
EMAIL Coach Ayres here
His first nine years at Princeton were a grueling, uphill journey that Chris Ayres traveled with a combination of work ethic, dedication and relentless positive energy.He has enjoyed several fruits from that labor over the last eight-plus years, and he is looking for even more as he enters his 18th year leading the program in 2023-24.
In the last six years of competition, these have been among the program highlights under Coach Ayres:
• Patrick Glory won the 125-pound NCAA championship in 2023
• won the Ivy League title in 2020 for the first time since 1986 and ended Cornell's 92-match, 18-year Ivy League winning streak
• in 2022, had the program's first NCAA finalist since 2002 and had two in the same year (Patrick Glory, Quincy Monday) for the first time ever
• Princeton placed 15th at the 2019 NCAA Championships and had a program-record three All-Americans (Patrick Brucki, 4th, Patrick Glory, 6th, Matthew Kolodzik, 5th)
• Matthew Kolodzik '21 became the program's first four-time All-American
• sent Brett Harner to the 2016 All-America podium, ending a 13-year drought without one
• sent a program-record seven to the NCAA Championships (2017)
• placed in the Top 5 at EIWAs annually, when competing, from 2016-22 (third in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022)
• win 10 EIWA individual titles, all since 2016 (Harner, 2016; Jordan Laster, 2017; Kolodzik, 2017, 2018 & 2020; Patrick Glory, 2019, 2020 & 2023; Patrick Brucki, 2019; Quincy Monday, 2022)
• win four individual Midlands titles, all since 2018 (Brucki, Kolodzik in 2018, Glory in 2019, Monday in 2022) and placed fifth overall in 2018 and 2019; the first Midlands titles and best team finishes in event history
• earn EIWA Co-Head Coach of the Year honors (2017)
• earn Ivy League Coach of the Year honors (2016, 2017, 2019, 2020)
• had the program's first-ever Hodge Award finalist (Patrick Glory, 2020 & 2023)
Ayres has had multiple team and individual successes even prior to 2016, including coaching Jonathan Schleifer to Princeton's first Ivy League Rookie of the Year award and bringing hosting privileges for the EIWA Championships back to Jadwin Gym (2012, 2016). But the nation has taken notice in these most recent seasons, and should continue to pay attention in the near future.
How far has the program come? In Ayres' first two years, Princeton went 0-35 and rarely had to worry about the postseason beyond Day 1 of the EIWAs.
Of course, this isn't a solo venture. Ayres has brought in one of the most credible staffs in the nation; Sean Gray, a two-time All-America wrestler at Virginia Tech, spent seven seasons as the top assistant at Boston University. Joe Dubuque is a two-time NCAA champion and one of the finest wrestlers ever produced in New Jersey. Nate Jackson, a former All-American at Indiana, joined the staff as a volunteer assistant ahead of the 2017-18 season.
But the constant all along has been Ayres, whose combination of positivity and passion for the sport carried Princeton through several tough years and into one of the most exciting eras in a century of Tiger wrestling.A former EIWA champion and two-time recipient of Lehigh's "Outstanding Athlete" honor during his undergraduate career at Lehigh, Ayres spent five years as a Lehigh assistant before taking over at Princeton. During his tenure, the Mountain Hawks claimed five straight EIWA team championships and produced 12 All-Americas and two national champions. Ayres worked specifically with five of the All-Americas in all aspects of training.
Ayres came to the Lehigh wrestling program as an undergraduate walk-on, but ended his career among the best in Mountain Hawk history. While at Lehigh, Ayres established a new school record with 120 career victories, and in 1998 he amassed the most wins in a single season for a Lehigh wrestler with 39. He won the 150-pound EIWA championship as a junior and earned All-America honors at 157 pounds as the NCAA sixth-place finisher during his senior season. Over his four-year career, he never missed a dual match. In the summer of 2001, Ayres placed fourth in the U.S. Senior Open Nationals and fourth at the U.S. World Team Trials. He also finished fifth at the 2002 Team Trials.
Prior to wrestling for Lehigh, Ayres wrestled at Newton High School and Blair Academy in New Jersey, where he won 69 bouts. In his senior season Ayres was a District Champion and a regional runner-up at 135 pounds. With a model work ethic, Ayres was the first Lehigh Wrestler in 38 years to become an All-American without earning a medal at the state championship level.
He earned his undergraduate degree in marketing and earned his master’s in elementary education at Lehigh in 2001. Ayres and his wife Lori have a daughter Chloe, a member of the Princeton wrestling Class of 2025, and a son Atticus.
