Don Garriott starts his first season as the Cerritos College head wrestling coach and brings with him an entirely new coaching staff. Familiar with the Falcon’s winning tradition, Garriott faced it firsthand while he was a wrestler at El Camino College from 1986-88. In his two seasons with the Warriors, Garriott was a two-time All-American while wrestling at 126 pounds and also earned 1^st Team All-South Coast Conference both seasons. He moved on to California State University, Chico, where he was a two-time Division II All-American at 134 pounds and won the conference championship both seasons.

                His wrestling career continued at the national level, where he was a 1996 Olympic Trials Western Regional Runner-up at 125.5 pounds and was a United States Freestyle place winner. While at West Torrance High School, Garriott was a CIF Champion and placed fourth in the State Meet as a senior.

                In addition to his coaching duties with the Falcons, Garriott will continue to serve as the head wrestling coach at North Torrance High School, where he has been since 1991. In his time at North Torrance, Garriott has coached four CIF champions, four CIF runner-ups and 11 league champions. From 1995-98, he served as an assistant coach at Golden West College, where they won the 1996 South Coast Conference championships.

                Joining the Cerritos College wrestling coaching staff for his first season is Markus Mollica and he comes in with amazing competitive and coaching credentials. A product of Arizona State University, Mollica was the first-ever four-time Pac-10 Conference Champion from 1993-96 , while being a four-time NCAA Division I All-American. He also won the NCAA Division I National Championship at 158 pounds (1993) and 167 pounds (1995) and captured the Midlands Open Championship in 1996. In addition to his success on the mat, Mollica was also a four-time Scholar-Athlete. He went on to be a resident athlete at the US Olympic Training Center and also was a place winner at the US Open Nationals while wrestling at 185 pounds.

                His coaching experience is very extensive and he also serves as an assistant coach at North Torrance High School with head coach Don Garriott. Mollica has also served as an assistant coach at Arizona State University, Cal State Fullerton and Harvard University.

                As a high school wrestler at Walsh Jesuit High School in Ohio, Mollica was a two-time Ohio State Champion (1990-91), while winning the 1991 National Championship and was a Junior National Champion in 1990.

                Joining the Cerritos College coaching staff for his first season is Eric Gould, who is another coach with a successful competitive and coaching career. While attending Springfield (MA) College, Gould was a two-time NCAA All-American (1996-97), was his team’s captain and won the New England Conference championship his senior year. Gould was also selected as a three-time NCAA Scholar All-American and was recently inducted into the New England Conference Hall of Fame.

                He remained at Springfield College and served as an assistant coach from 1998-2002 and coached seven NCAA All-Americans during his tenure. His teams also finished in the Top 10 of the NCAA Championships twice and had two other teams place in the Top 20, while they went on to win three New England Conference championships. Individually, Gould had 13 of his wrestlers win conference championships.

                In his first season as an assistant coach with the Cerritos College wrestling team, Luke Santos has also served as a co-head coach at North Torrance High School with head Falcon coach Don Garriott since 2005. Prior to that, he was an assistant coach at North Torrance from 2004-05. Santos started his wrestling career under Garriott at North Torrance High, where he was a three-time league champion and won the CIF championship as a senior. For his efforts, he was named the tournament’s Lower Weights Most Valuable Player, while he also reached the CIF finals twice. In his high school career, Santos also was a state qualifier, was a member of the California High School National Team and earned a State Sportsmanship Award.

                Santos moved on to San Francisco State, where he was voted the NCAA Western Regional Freshman of the Year, and went on to be an NCAA Division II West Regional Champion, two-time National Qualifier and was named an NCAA Division II All-American. During his collegiate career, Santos won the prestigious Far Western Championship in both Greco and freestyle, while he won a conference championship, the Aggie Open Championship and placed third in the Junior Fila State Championships in Greco and freestyle.

                Another new addition to the Falcon coaching staff is Jesse Juarez, who had a great deal of success while competing at the community college level. After graduating from North Torrance High School, where he was an All-American at 171 pounds and finished second in the CIF Championships and seventh in the national tournament, Juarez transferred to Golden West College. As a freshman in 2000, he placed seventh at the state championships, but went on to win the 184-pound state championship in 2001 and was named the South Wrestler of the Year. While in high school, Juarez was a three-time freestyle National Team Member and was selected as a National High School Coaches Association (NHSCA) All-American.

                Juarez then moved on to Montana State University-Northern, where he was a two-time NAIA All-American and won the national championship at 184 pounds in 2005. He placed fifth as a junior and concluded his collegiate career by earning Academic All-American honors.

                After spending 21 years as the Cerritos College wrestling coach, Jeff Smith is now beginning his fifth year as the department’s Athletic Director after spending a year as an Athletic Coordinator. His duties include helping with facilitating needs of the department in a wide variety of aspects. In addition, Smith also serves as the advisor to the wrestling program and also teaches classes within the department. He remains involved in the progress of the wrestling team and is close to the wrestlers. In his 21 years as the Cerritos College wrestling coach, Jeff Smith led the Falcons to 12 South Coast Conference championships, as well as one State Championship and two dual state championships. In 1998, his final season, the Falcons placed fourth in the state championships, after winning the title in 1995. Prior to winning the championship, the team had finished second for three straight seasons. Smith has had a long list of former wrestlers who have gone on to great accomplishments after their days as a Falcon. Several names include Heath Sims (2000 Olympics Greco-Roman team), George Williams (1992 Olympic Alternate in Greco Roman and 4-time USA Wrestling All-American), Greg Jackson (NCAA Division II National Champion), Rudolph James (NAIA Division I All-American) and Anthony Hamlett (USA Wrestling All-American).

Smith was also an outstanding wrestler in his days, as he was a State Champion and All-American for the Falcons during the 1966-67 season. He then moved onto Michigan State University, where he was a two-time Big Ten Champion and named the conference's Most Outstanding Wrestler. Also a two-time All-American, Smith went on to win national titles in Freestyle and Greco Roman styles of wrestling and was a four-time USA Wrestling All-American. He was also Pan American Games gold medal winner in free style wrestling and was an alternate on the 1972 Olympic Team.

Smith was born in Long Beach, CA and attended Bellflower High School where he finished third at heavyweight in CIF. Jeff started his coaching and teaching career at Arroyo High School in El Monte, leading the team to their first league title in wrestling. He moved on to Artesia High School where his teams won league titles the next four years in a row. He took over the program at Cerritos College in 1978, where his success has continued with numerous championships in conference and regional competition. Cerritos has had the most State Champions of any school in California community college history (38) and has a good track record of getting Cerritos wrestlers to continue their education and wrestling careers at the four-year level. Smith was named “Coach of the Year” in 1995 after Cerritos won the State Championship.