Don Garriott starts his fourth season as the Cerritos College head wrestling coach and has led the team to two South Coast Conference championships and a Southern California Championship. In his first year, the team finished fourth at the state championships and improved to second place the following year, while they placed fourth last year. Under his guidance, the Falcons have added two more individual state champions to their total and are second in the state with 46 all-time state champions. 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.

During the first two years of his tenure as the Falcon head wrestling coach, Garriott was also the head wrestling coach at North Torrance High, a position he held from 1991-2008. In his time at North Torrance, Garriott led his team to five CIF championships, six CIF runner-ups and 12 league championships. From 1995-98, he served as an assistant coach at Golden West College, where they won the 1996 South Coast Conference championships.

Garriott earned his Bachelor’s degree in English Literature at Cal State Dominguez Hills and earned his Master’s degree in Special Education from National University. Garriott and his wife of 18 years, Deanne, have a six-year-old son, Cael and one-year-old Caden.