Bio

Matt Oliver was named Huntingdon College’s head wrestling coach in the summer of 2019, and begins his 12th season coaching in college and 9th season as a college head coach.

In the last 4 seasons with Huntingdon College, Coach Oliver has led the Hawks to 17 dual meet victories, and 5 NCAA Regional Placewinners, including an 11th place finish at the NCAA Lower Midwest Regional. The Hawks scored 32.5 team points, while finishing 11th (out of 21 teams) in the NCAA Regional which marks the highest team finish in program history. There were 3 Hawks finishing top 8 in their prospective weight class at LM Regional in 2023.

Under Oliver’s guidance, there have been 5 NCAA Lower Midwest Regional Placewinners. 157lber Kaleb Fontenot was 8th in 2020, 197lber Mac Hirsh was 7th in 2022, and in 2023 184lber Nick Brasher was 5th, 157lber David Burgess was 7th and 285lber Jack Haury was 8th. There have been 6 NCAA Scholar All-Americans, to include 285lber Jack Haury, who is now a 3x NCAA Scholar All-American. The team earned their highest overall team GPA in program history, finishing 24th in the Country with a 3.545 GPA during the 2021-22 Season. Since the first season under Coach Oliver, Huntingdon has seen 5 different wrestlers make the top 5 in the Huntingdon Record-books for ‘most wins in season’, ‘most career wins,’ ‘most falls in season,’ ‘most career falls’, and ‘most Tech Falls in career and season.’ 

Prior to Huntingdon, Oliver spent four seasons as the head wrestling coach at Spartanburg Methodist College in South Carolina. Oliver guided the Pioneers to their first North East District II team championship, and coached four National Junior College Athletic Association All-Americans and 19 NJCAA national qualifiers including a #1 ranked wrestler in NJCAA. He was named the 2018 North East District II Coach of the Year.

Before Spartanburg Methodist, Oliver spent two seasons as an assistant wrestling coach at Neosho Community College in Kansas. The Panthers finished fifth in the NJCAA national tournament in 2014 and eighth in 2015. Fifteen Neosho wrestlers qualified for the NJCAA national tournament and nine earned All-American honors during those two seasons.

A 2012 graduate of Newberry College, Oliver began his coaching career at his alma mater as an assistant wrestling coach during the 2012-13 season. During that season, Newberry won its sixth straight Super Region championship and finished sixth in the Division II national tournament. The team produced four All-Americans and five Academic All-Americans.

Prior to coaching, Oliver was a four-time NCAA Division II national qualifier for Newberry. He earned All-American honors in 2009 with a third-place finish in the NCAA national tournament. He finished with a college career record of 118-21 and graduated as the Wolves’ career leader in major decisions. Oliver earned a bachelor’s degree in physical education with a minor in coaching.

A native of Toms River, N.J., Oliver was a high school state champion and finished his career with a record of 132-12. As a senior, he set a state record for most wins in a season (44).