Mark Hawald is in his sixth season as the head wrestling coach at Mount Union.

During the 2010-2011 season he led the Purple Raiders to a 14-0 dual meet record, making Mount Union the only undefeated team in all of Division III Wrestling. Hawald was named the OAC Coach of the Year and d3wrestle.com National Coach of the Year after winning the Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament with five Champions and finishing eighth at the NCAA Division III National Tournament with three All-Americans.

During the 2011-2012 season he led the Raiders to a second straight OAC Tournament win and coached two All-Americans.

In addition to success on the mat, Coach Hawald has pushed his team in the classroom. The Purple Raiders were named a NWCA Scholar All-American team, five wrestlers were named Scholar All-Americans, and three were named Academic All-OAC.

In his first three seasons at Mount Union, Hawald saw regular growth with the team. The team was sixth in the OAC in 2008 with a 3-13 record, second in the OAC in 2009 with a 6-4 record, and second in the OAC in 2010 with a 9-5 record.

A native of Solon, Ohio, served as an assistant coach at Notre Dame College (Ohio), prior to Mount Union.

As a four-year letter winner at 174 pounds at John Carroll, Hawald is familiar with the OAC as he was a four-time OAC Champion and 2004 All-American. He is the Blue Streaks’ all-time wrestling leader in career wins (122) and earned a bachelor's degree in accounting in 2005 and a master's in business administration in 2007.

Off the mat he earned Academic All-American honors three times and was John Carroll’s OAC Clyde Lamb Award winner in 2005, in recognition as the institution’s top male student-athlete.

In addition to coaching at Mount Union, Mark is also an instructor in the Department of Economics, Accounting, and Business Administration.

Coaching Notes

• 32-22 Career Record
• 9 OAC Champions and National Qualifiers
• 5 NCAA All-Americans
• 8 NWCA Scholar All-Americans
• 1 OAC Championship (2011)
• 1 NCAA Top Ten Finish (8^th in 2011)
• Two-Time OAC Coach of the Year (2009, 2011)
• D3wrestle.com Coach of the Year (2011)

Bill Schindel is in his first season as an assistant wrestling coach at Mount Union.

Schindel makes the move off the mat after a stellar three-year career with the Purple Raiders. He is only the second three-time All-American in team history and his 82 wins from 2008-11 are the sixth most all-time at Mount Union.

The Tallmadge native and Akron Hoban High School graduate, has a bachelor's degree in education from Mount Union.

Mark J. Hawald returns to the Mount Union coaching staff for his second season as an assistant coach.

With over 40 years of experience in the sport, his coaching career began as a volunteer coach at John Carroll University in the late 70s and early 80s. In 1990, he started a wrestling program at St. Rita’s Catholic School is Solon, Ohio and served as the head coach for 6 seasons. From 1996 – 2000, Mark was a volunteer coach at Solon High School.

As a competitor, Mark was an Ohio state champion for Beachwood High School and a four-year letter winner at 134 pounds for John Carroll University. Hawald won two NCAA Division III National Championships (1975 and 1976), and was an NCAA Division I All-American.

He earned a bachelor's degree in Business Administration in 1977 and attended the College of Financial Planning to earn his CRPC® designation (Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor).

Mark is a retirement planning counselor and investment advisor for Securus Financial Strategies in Solon and resides in Bainbridge with his wife Debbie.

Rich Eslich rejoins the Mount Union coaching staff after a one year hiatus.  Rich was instrumental in helping Coach Hawald build the program in his first two seasons. 

As a competitor, Eslich was a two-time Ohio Athletic Conference Champion and two-time All-American at John Carroll University.  He was the NCAA Division III National Champion at 275 lbs in 1999.

He graduated from John Carroll with a degree in English and currently resides in North Canton.

Sean Dreger returns to the Mount Union coaching staff for his second season as assistant coach.  Dreger spent one season as an assistant at Marlington High School before returning to his alma mater. 

Sean graduated from Mount Union in 2009 with a bachelor's degree in mathematics.  Wrestling at 141 and 149 for the Purple Raiders, Sean was a three-time Ohio Athletic Conference place winner.   Prior to his time at Mount Union, he was a non-commissioned officer in the United States Army. 

He resides in Alliance.