Frank Beasley became the tenth head coach in Mason history in 2017.
The Patriots attained five winning seasons in coach Beasley's first seven
years, had 12 NCAA Qualifiers, and earned high honors in the classroom.
In his seven seasons, the Mason wrestlers have excelled under Beasley's guidance. He
has coached 12 NCAA Qualifiers, including three wrestlers qualifying for the NCAA
Championship in the same year on three occasions (2018, 2019, 2024). Prior to
2018, three NCAA Championship Qualifiers is the most in a season since the 2000-2001
season.
For the second consecutive season, the Green and Gold have 11 wins, which ties the
most wins in a season since the 2007-08 season when the Patriots finished with
a 13-5 record. The Patriots finished a program-best third place at the 2024 MAC
championship, only two points out of second and besting last year's previous
best sixth-place finish.
In that two-year span three Patriots have won individual MAC championships and
Mason claimed conference back-to-back conference Freshman of the Year honors, Nate
Higley (2023) and DJ McGee (2024).
Wrestlers Evan Maag and Malachi DuVall were crowned champions at the 2024 Mid-American Conference (MAC)
Championship, while teammate DJ McGee finished second to earn a berth into the NCAA Championship. A record nine
wrestlers made the podium at the conference tournament. McGee was voted MAC Freshman
of the Year.
Beasley ushered the Patriots from the Eastern Wrestling League (EWL) to the 13-team
Mid-American Conference (MAC) in 2018.
The Patriots finished third at the 2019 Eastern Wrestling League Championships in
Beasley's second season, the highest finish in the EWL Championships in program
history. Mason redshirt senior Tejon Anthony claimed the first EWL title in
program history, winning the championship at 149 pounds.
Several student-athletes have been named U20 and U23 All-Americans in freestyle and
Greco Roman under Beasley's leadership. In addition, he has had Mason
wrestlers place at the Senior U.S. Open in freestyle, highlighted by Peter Pappas' fourth place finish in 2022 at 74kg. Three wrestlers finished in the top 12
at the 2024 U20/U23 World Team Trials, including a seventh-place finish by rising
senior Drew Dickson earning him All-American honors.
In 2018-19, Beasley guided the Patriots to their best season in 11 years, finishing
the season with an overall record of 9-7, including a mark of 3-3 against Eastern
Wrestling League opponents. Mason finished the season with a winning dual
record for the first time since the 2007-08 season.
The Patriots finished third at the 2019 Eastern Wrestling League Championships with
56.5 points, the highest finish in the EWL Championships in program history.
Six Mason wrestlers reached the evening session, with four in the championship match
and two competing in third-place matches.
Mason redshirt senior Tejon Anthony claimed the first EWL title in program history,
winning the championship at 149 pounds, while redshirt senior Matthew Voss placed
second at 285 pounds, redshirt sophomore Eli Spencer placed second at 197 pounds and
freshman Kolby Ho placed second at 157 pounds.
The Patriots had three wrestlers qualify for the 2019 NCAA Championships for the
second straight year, with Voss (285), Anthony (149) and redshirt junior Colston
DiBlasi (165) representing Mason at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pa.
Under Beasley in 2017-18, the Patriots had three wrestlers qualify for the the 2018
NCAA Championships, the most by the program in 17 years. Tejon Anthony,
Ibrahim Bunduka and Matthew Voss each qualified the the NCAA Championships held at
Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.
Beasley's teams have earned high accolades for their academic success. Mason
finished seventh as a team to receive a Top 30 distinction by the National
Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) in 2024. The program earned a top-10
finish for the second straight year and its fourth in the past five seasons. Mason
finished with a program-best fifth place twice (2021, 2023) and narrowly missed a
top 10 honor finishing 12th in 2022. Overall, George Mason Wrestling
has finished in the top twelve nationally in team GPA for five straight years.
With a team-high seven recipients in 2023-24, Beasley has coached 22 NWCA
Division I Scholar All-American Award winners.
Wrestling earned the 2024 George Mason President's Cup, the award presented to the
Mason team that has the highest cumulative team GPA. Mason Wrestling also
posted a perfect 1000 APR last year.
Prior to Mason, Beasley spent five seasons as a member of the North Carolina State
coaching staff, including two as the associate head coach. He helped lead the
Wolfpack to four straight top-20 finishes at the NCAA Championships, the longest
such stretch in school history. In that span, Beasley coached two NCAA
Champions, seven All-Americans, seven individual Atlantic Coast Conference Champions
(ACC) and 31 NCAA Qualifiers, including 18 in the past two years. NC State
sent a school-record 10 NCAA Qualifiers to the 2017 NCAA Championships.
Beasley helped NC State to one of its best seasons in 2015-16. The Wolfpack
won the 2016 ACC Championship, finishing in 11th place at the NCAA Championships,
the best finish since a school-best seventh in 1993. NC State finished the
2016 regular season ranked #2 in the final NWCA/USA Today Coaches Poll, the highest
ranking in school history. The Pack tied the school record with three
All-Americans in 2016.
As the Wolfpack’s recruiting coordinator, Beasley’s efforts produced three
top-fifteen recruiting classes, including the top-rated class in 2016 by both
FloWrestling.com and InterMatWrestling.com. Following their
first campaign at NC State, Beasley and the Pack wrestling staff signed a top-10
recruiting class in the spring of 2013, No. 4 according to
D1CollegeWrestling.
Prior to NC State, Beasley gained coaching experience with three collegiate
programs. As head assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Binghamton for
one season, Beasley helped the squad to a 14th place finish at the 2012 NCAA
Championships. Five wrestlers qualified for the national championships and all
five finished in the top sixteen, with two All-Americans. He was the head
assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for the University at Buffalo, helping
steer that program to its finest three-year span in team history. The Bulls
sent 14 wrestlers to the NCAA Championship over Beasley’s tenure and crowned five
individual conference champions.
Before Buffalo, Beasley was an assistant coach at his alma mater Bloomsburg for two
seasons. He helped the program produce its first All-American in more than a
decade and nine national qualifiers. In addition, the Huskies won 12 duals in
2006-07, the program’s most wins in 16 seasons.
Beasley has international experience, most recently helping Team USA win a world
championship at the UWW World Championships held in Paris in August 2017. He
was the personal coach at the world championships of world bronze medalist, Nick
Gwiazdowski. Beasley has been the head coach of the Wolfpack Regional Training
Center. He coached the Wolfpack Regional Training Center that finished 2nd
in the RTC Club Cup this year at the U.S. Open. He was the head coach of the
NWCA All-American Team in 2009 and 2010. In 2009, he took the team to South
Korea, with one wrestler recording a victory against a 2008 Olympian. In 2010,
he took the team to Russia, where the team went undefeated in dual meets and
produced some individual wins over world medalists. In addition, Beasley has
conducted camps and clinics all over the country.
A native of Odin, Illinois, he enjoyed an elite wrestling career at Lincoln College
and Bloomsburg, earning NJCAA All-America honors at Lincoln in 2004 (165 lbs.).
He was a starter and team captain at Bloomsburg, finishing fourth at the 2006
EWL Championship. Beasley accumulated almost 90 collegiate wins with nearly
half coming by pin.
Beasley recently became a George Mason University graduate as he earned his second
Master's Degree in the winter of 2023. Beasley earned a MBA from George
Mason's nationally ranked Costello College of Business.
His multitude of academic achievements included becoming a two-time Academic
All-American, four-year National Dean’s List honoree and recipient of education and
English department honors at Bloomsburg. Beasley earned a dual degree in
English and education from Bloomsburg in 2006, graduating Cum Laude. He then
received his master’s degree in curriculum and instruction from Bloomsburg,
graduating Summa Cum Laude.
Beasley has been passionate about celebrating the rich history of George Mason
wrestling that dates back more than 50 years to the 1972-1973 season. He
championed the George Mason Wrestling Hall of Fame established in 2023 with an
inaugural 10-member class that made a significant and lasting mark on George Mason
University Wrestling. In addition, Beasley celebrated fifty years of wrestling
history with the 50th Anniversary of Wrestling Gala in
2022.
Beasley established three annual team awards (the Dan Wotring Outstanding Wrestler,
the Jerry Mullins Coaches' Appreciation Award, and the Elia Ahmadian Uncommon Man
Award) the to honor some members of the Mason Wrestling Community that have made a
significant impact on the program.
One of Mason's top sport-specific fundraisers, Beasley spearheaded efforts to expand
and renovate the program's wrestling room. In 2023, the wrestling room was named the
Wotring Family Wrestling Room to honor former wrestler Dan Wotring and his family's
passionate support spanning more than five decades. Beasley also established
the first coaching endowment for the George Mason University Athletics Department in
2021. The wrestling team under Beasley's leadership often leads the Giving Day
Challenge and the Alumni-Athlete Giving Challenges with hundreds of donors each
year. For the 2024 Giving Day, wrestling accounted for over 21% of all donors
and over 27% of funds raised for the athletics department.
Beasley is married to the former Lyndsey Snyder and the couple has two children,
Franklin, and Anna.
HC Record
2017-18 | 4-13 (0-6 EWL)
2018-19 | 9-7 (3-3 MAC)
2019-20 | 9-9 (3-5 MAC)
2020-21# | 0-4 (0-2 MAC)
2021-22 | 9-8 (3-4 MAC)
2022-23 | 11-8 (3-4 MAC)
2023-24 | 11-9 (3-4 MAC)
53-58 (0-6 EWL) (15-22 MAC)
NCAA Qualifiers
2017-18: Tejon Anthony (149) Ibrahim Bunduka (125)
Matthew Voss (285)
2018-19: Tejon Anthony (149) Colston DiBlasi (149)
Matthew Voss (285)
2019-20: Colston DiBlasi (149)
2022-23: Nate Higley (149), Peter Pappas (157)
2023-24: DJ McGee (157), Evan Maag (165), and Malachi
DuVall (184)
NWCA All-Academic Team
2020: 9th
2021: 5th
2022: 12th
2023: 5th
2024: 7th
NWCA All-Academic
2019
Colston DiBlasi, Matt Voss
2020 Colston DiBlasi, Alex Madrigal, Neil Schuster
2021 Josh Jones
2022 Alex Madrigal, Avery Bassett, Kaden Cassidy, Jonathan List,
Logan Messer
2023 Logan Messer, Anthony Glasl, and Peter Pappas
2024: Kaden Cassidy, Malachi DuVall, Tyler Kocak, Evan Maag, Chad
Nix, Paul Pierce, Brandon Wittenberg
Dean Heil joined the Patriots as the head assistant coach in June 2024..
A former Oklahoma State standout, Heil is a two-time National Champion and
three-time All-American at 141 pounds. The Brunswick, Ohio native is a four-time
World Team Qualifier and 2016 Olympic Trials Qualifier.
"Dean brings a wealth of knowledge and an impressive pedigree to the program," said
Beasley. "He has competed on the senior level the last several years,
wrestling and training all over the world. The program and our
student-athletes will benefit tremendously from his extensive experience and
ultimate success as an NCAA Champion and elite wrestler."
Dean becomes the only wrestling coach in the Mid-American Conference to win a NCAA
Division I National Championship.
He captured back-to-back NCAA titles in 2016 and 2017, as well as three consecutive
All-America campaigns from 2015-17. He finished his decorated career with 116 wins,
ranking 22nd all-time in OSU program history.
The 2018 Oklahoma State graduate is also a four-time NWCA All-Academic Team
member.
Heil's collegiate coaching experience includes a stint at Campbell University. He
originally joined the staff as director of wrestling operations in May 2018 before
serving as an assistant coach.
Peter Pappas joins the George Mason Wrestling Coaching staff after competing for the
green and gold. Pappas spent his final year of collegiate eligibility as a leader
for the Patriot Wrestling Team that produced 11 dual meet wins. He finished his
2022-2023 season with a 24-5 record. Pete became the first MAC Champion in program
history and was a NCAA National Qualifier. He was seeded 23rd at the NCAA
Championships where he won a bout. He also won the ARMS Software Patriots Open and
was second at the Keystone Classic. Pappas went 11-2 in dual matches for the
Patriots.
In freestyle, Pappas has been ranked in the top ten in the country in the senior
division at 74 kg for the last year. He finished 4th at the 2022 US open at 74 kg
and qualified for the World Team Trials in 2022.
Pappas will graduate in May with his Master’s Degree in Sports Management. He was
named to the Academic All-MAC team and as a NWCA Academic All-American.
Pappas was a three-time New York State finalist and a large school state champion as
a senior. As a high school senior, he finished a perfect 42-0 and posted a 183-10
career record. In addition, he was a two-time Super 32 place winner and a two-time
NHSCA All-American.
