March 23, 2006

GREENSBORO, N.C. - After piloting his team to a second straight conference title, North Carolina's C.D. Mock was named Atlantic Coast Conference Wrestling Coach of the Year for the second consecutive season Thursday. The ACC's season-ending awards were determined by a vote of the league's six head coaches.

In just his third season at Carolina, Mock mentored three individual ACC champions, seven all-conference wrestlers and six NCAA qualifiers, which was the program's highest total since 2003. And in a year full of injuries, the Tar Heels were able to repeat as conference champions despite missing two of their top wrestlers for essentially the whole season.

Carolina went 16-8-1 in duals for their most victories since 1989, and Mock's career record now stands 27-29-1 in three seasons.

Mock also coached heavyweight Spencer Nadolsky and 141-pounder Vincent Ramirez to two of the top win totals in program history this season. Nadolsky's 42 victories are the third most for a Tar Heel, while Ramirez's 37 wins tied for sixth on the single-season list.

UNC has now captured conference coaching honors 12 times since 1986, as Bill Lam was a 10-time winner before Mock took over the program prior to the 2003-04 season.

The future looks bright for the program, as Carolina returns nine of its 10 starters from its 2006 ACC Championships lineup, as well as five of its six nationals qualifiers.