Zalesky to guide Lumberjacks
Cal Poly Humboldt names coach, attempts program revival after 33-year absence
Cal Poly Humboldt took another step in the revitalization of their wrestling team on Monday when the `Jacks hired former UC Davis and California Baptist University head coach, Lennie Zalesky to become the first `Jacks wrestling coach since the sport disbanded from the school (then Humboldt State University) in the early 1990s.
Zalesky has spent most of the past twenty years coaching collegiate wrestling, spending nine years with UC Davis before eleven years with CBU before Zalesky announced his retirement in 2022. But two years later, Zalesky is back in coaching with a new challenge in front of him, bringing back wrestling for a program that's spent the past 30-plus years dormant.
Having not competed in the sport since 1990-1991, Zalesky will have to coach a brand-new team and minimal comparable schools around the state, Cal Poly Humboldt joins San Francisco State University as the only two schools with men's wrestling in the California State University system. The university's decision to bring back the sport came in June of last year, where the university said it intends to compete in the 2024-2025 season.
Prior to becoming a head coach with UC Davis, Zalesky worked as an assistant coach at the University of Iowa, the University of Indiana as well as coaching at high schools in Alaska and Indiana.
Wrestling joins women's triathlon as the newest sports on campus, with the `Jacks triathlon team in the midst of their second-ever season. But unlike triathlon, Humboldt has a storied
history of successful wrestlers, five `Jacks claimed individual national championships and 46 NCAA AllAmericans. Humboldt's most successful year as a team came in 1981, when the `Jacks finished fourth in Division II. Eventually due to budget concerns and limited programs around the area, Humboldt discontinued the sport in 1991.
“After a 30-year hiatus of the Cal Poly Humboldt wrestling team, I am excited to begin to lay a foundation for what has the potential to be a very competitive DII Wrestling program,” Zalesky said in a press release. “With approximately 50 All-Americans, several national champions and placing in the top-five teams of the NCAA tournament multiple times, the success of the past wrestlers and teams is to be admired by any wrestling fan. I am sure the Humboldt wrestling alumni and California wrestling fans are very excited about the reemergence of the wrestling program. I hope to use my 21 years of head coaching experience in California to move the process along a little faster. I look forward to once again working with the California wrestling community, to begin to work with the university, the alumni, the community and the future wrestlers of Cal Poly Humboldt. I am hopeful of what lies ahead.”
On top of his experience as a coach, Zalesky is an accomplished wrestler himself. Zalesky was a three-time All-American in his time at the University of Iowa as the team won four straight national championships during Zalesky's tenure. Zalesky is a member of the Alaska, California and Iowa wrestling Hall of Fames. Zalesky also took the silver medal in the 1983 PanAmerican Games and the 1984 World Cup.
“Coach Zalesky is an outstanding fit for our university, athletic department, and community,” Cal Poly Humboldt's Athletic Director Dr. Nick Pettit said in a press release. “His ties to California wrestling along with his coaching and teaching experience, commitment to academic excellence and desire to create a championship culture and experience for our student-athletes made him the clear choice for Cal Poly Humboldt.”