BRISTOL, Tenn. – A week after being named head men’s and women’s wrestling head coach, Jason Moorman has hired a pair of coaches to round out his staff. Moorman has named JaVonte Ashford the associate head coach and Derek Harrison as an assistant coach.
“I’m extremely pleased to have both of these coaches taking full-time roles in the wrestling program going into the season,” said Moorman “The both have been at King since the start of the men’s wrestling program and have a lot of knowledge to contribute in many aspects of the program.”
The duo is no stranger to King wrestling as they both wrestled for the Tornado, and have worked at King since their graduation. Ashford was King’s first All-American and finished fifth at the NAIA National Tournament in 2008. He was ranked as high as second in in the country in 2009. Most recently, Ashford was the Director of New Freshman Recruitment at King in 2013, prior to that he worked in the King admissions office as an Admissions Counselor. Since joining the admissions Ashford has served as a volunteer assistant coach with the men’s wrestling program.
“Feel blessed and honored to be named associate head coach here at King,” Ashford stated. “I’m excited to get started and help continue the success of our wrestling program.”
Harrison was a four year starter for the Tornado men’s wrestling team, and qualified for the NAIA National Tournament during his senior year of 2009. Following graduation, Harrison served as the men’s wrestling graduate assistant, earning his Master’s in Business Administration. After earning his MBA, Harrison was named King’s strength and conditioning coach and coordinator of the weight room while volunteering as an assistant coach for the men’s wrestling program for the last four years. Harrison also serves as the head coach of Team Tornado Wrestling K-12 Division. Along with his duties as assistant wrestling coach, he will continue to serve as the coordinator of the weight room.
“I appreciate the opportunity to continue to serve my alma mater and a wrestling program I have seen grow since the very beginning,” commented Harrison. “The King University Wrestling programs have a bright future ahead of them.”
Ashford and Harrison will work with both the men’s and women’s wrestling programs under the leadership of Moorman.
“I’m extremely pleased with the staff we’ve been able to assemble for our men’s and women’s wrestling programs,” director of athletics David Hicks said. “We have national championships, All-Americans, and international experience on our coaching staff; that’s a lot of knowledge and experience ready to be passed onto our student-athletes. I’m expecting big things from these programs in the years to come.”
KingTornado.com
