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Billy Greene Named Head Wrestling Coach at Campbell University

BUIES CREEK, N.C. -- Billy Greene, a former Campbell standout and assistant coach, has been named the eighth head wrestling coach at his alma mater, Director of Athletics Stan Williamson announced on Wednesday.

A 2000 national qualifier, who graduated summa cum laude that same year, Greene has served as assistant coach to Dave Auble the last two years. Coach Auble announced his retirement last fall, effective at the end of the season.

"We are very excited to have a person of Billy Greene's integrity becoming our Head Wrestling Coach," said Williamson. "Billy has been a part of the Campbell family for a number of years as a student-athlete and as an assistant coach. We believe Billy is the right man to lead Campbell's wrestling program in a positive direction."

For the past two years, Greene has assisted Coach Auble – a two-time Olympian -- in all aspects of the wrestling program, including match strategies, practices, recruiting, monitoring the team's academic progress, and assisting with the daily operations of the wrestling office.

"I'm so grateful that President Wallace and Mr. Williamson have placed their confidence in me to lead this wrestling program. It's a responsibility that I don't take lightly," said Greene. "Since I was 17 years old when I signed that National Letter of Intent in Lewiston, Idaho, I've always had a strong commitment and loyalty to this program. I'm going to take that commitment and loyalty and carry it right into my role as head coach, to work at taking this program to the next level."

On top of his responsibilities with the wrestling program, Greene is also pursuing his Master's of Education degree at CU and is scheduled to graduate in August.

"One of the greatest satisfactions in coaching is to see your star pupils follow in your footsteps. It's an inspiration to have Billy Greene move into the head wrestling coach position at Campbell," said Coach Auble, who finished fourth in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics 125.5-pound division and later embarked on a 32-year coaching career. "The year after he graduated, I recruited Billy to come back to Campbell on the basis that I would retire in two years. He agreed to be my understudy with the hope that he would move up to the head job. He's been a great pupil and deserves this opportunity."

A native of Lewiston, Idaho, Greene arrived at Campbell in 1996. In his four-year career, Greene recorded 74 victories, 10th all-time in CU history. As a senior, he posted a 27-5 won-lost record and qualified for the NCAA Division I Championships in 2000 after winning the 157-pound division at the Colonial Athletic Association meet.

In addition to being named team MVP and Campbell's Outstanding Male Athlete for 1999-00, Greene was selected to the National Wrestling Coaches Association All-Academic second team. Greene and his teammates were also ranked sixth academically among Division I programs.

Greene was a standout in the classroom as well. He earned a Presidential academic scholarship to Campbell and was a member of the Phi Eta Sigma National Honor Society and the Kappa Delta Pi Education Honor Society. A President's List student, Greene earned his B.S. in mathematics with a 3.85 grade-point average.

"One of the greatest honors is to be able to come back to your alma mater and serve in a head coaching capacity," said Greene. "The fact that I've walked a mile in the shoes of the student-athletes who are here at Campbell University, I can empathize with their successes and their failures, the high points and frustrations. I believe this will play a vital role in building on our successes and tradition to this point."

In its 36-year history, Campbell has amassed more than 300 dual match wins under seven head coaches. Since moving to the NCAA Division I ranks in the mid-1980s, Campbell wrestlers have qualified for the national meet six times.

"I am confident that Billy will do an excellent job," said Coach Auble, who was a two-time national champion at Cornell. "Billy is an outstanding wrestling technician and relates well to his student-athletes. He is a devout Christian and is the kind of role model that young athletes relate to. I cannot think of a better person to replace me."

Auble's 30-year coaching career began in 1972 at UCLA where he served as an assistant until 1976 when he took over the reigns as head coach of Bruins program. Auble also jumped onto the national coaching scene in 1977, leading the United States to a first-place finish at the Pan American Games.

After leaving the UCLA program in 1979, Auble took a hiatus from coaching until 1987 when he accepted an assistant position with Division III Ithaca College and helped lead the Bombers to a trio of national championships.

Before moving to Campbell in 1999, Auble spent four seasons as assistant coach at North Carolina State.
A graduate of Cornell in 1960, Auble had a decorated competitive career. A two-time collegiate national champion (1959, 1960)

"It's been such a blessing and valuable experience to serve under Coach Auble, both as a student-athlete and assistant coach," said Greene, who spent a year as wrestling coach at Sacajawea Junior High School in Lewiston, Idaho before returning to Campbell in 2002. "He's been so helpful in sharing his experience as both a wrestler and a coach. To be given the chance to wrestle for and coach with a legend like Coach Auble, those opportunities are few and far between. We just want to build on the successes that he's had here as a coach."

At Campbell, Greene takes over a program with 12 returning letter winners, including 2002 NCAA qualifier Lantz Nixon, who will be a fifth-year senior in 2004-05.

"My hope and intention is that our student-athletes leave our program better off than when they arrived," said Greene. "As coaches, we are really in the business of preparing these young men for success on all levels outside the doors of Campbell University. We're really in charge of instilling in these student-athletes, the type of qualities that Campbell University stands for -- integrity, hard work, commitment to excellence and spiritual growth."

Founded in 1887, Campbell University is North Carolina's second largest private institution and the second largest Baptist university in the world. Located in Buies Creek, N.C., just east of the center of the state, Campbell combines academic excellence and Christian commitment.