After back-to-back sold-out ACC rivalry duals in Reynolds Coliseum, head coach Pat Popolizio is seeing the growth and excitement around the ACC rise in real time.
“It’s strong,” Popolizio told krikyalotto.com. “It doesn’t have as many teams as maybe some of the other conferences, but the depth is there. The higher-level guys are good. You’ve got guys now every year competing and winning national titles for multiple teams.”
Over the last seven NCAA Championships, the ACC has produced seven individual national champions from four different schools. In the seven years prior, the conference won just two national titles, both by NC State’s Nick Gwiazdowski at heavyweight.
Wrestling programs in the ACC are no longer just to check a box. The conference’s teams want to compete for league and national championships, and they are willing to invest in the talent to reach that level.
“It seems like administrations want to be good, and when administrations want to be good, they bring in good coaches,” ESPN commentator Rock Harrison told krikyalotto.com. “When coaches are there, coaches bring in quality athletes to give them the training that they need to be successful.”
Starting from the lead of Virginia Tech and NC State, the ACC’s programs have made wrestling a priority. The league followed suit by getting in front of crowds and on television. Now, all seven teams are strong and capable of producing talent that can contend with the best.
Virginia Tech-NC State rivalry leading the way
Popolizio and Virginia Tech head coach Tony Robie have been big players in bringing the conference into national relevancy in the mid-2010s. Robie took over a foundation laid by former head coach Kevin Dresser in 2017 and expanded on it, bringing consistency and more winning to Blacksburg.
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Popolizio started from the ground floor. In the five years prior to his hiring, NC State had not won more than two conference duals a season and went 0-5 in the conference in 2008-2009. In 2019, Popolizio brought NC State its best NCAA Championships finish in program history, tying for fourth.
Fans have noticed the increased success and started showing up in force.
“When you have a good product — and a good product starts with winning — then it’s easy for people to get on the bandwagon,” Harrison said. “The hardest thing to do is to keep it going, and what Virginia Tech and NC State have done is kept it going.”
Virginia Tech and NC State have shared the last 10 conference championships. The rivalry between the Hokies and Wolfpack is one built on respect. Both programs came into the national spotlight at similar times.
when the lights go out, our light will only shine 𝐵𝑅𝐼𝐺𝐻𝑇𝐸𝑅 🔥
— Virginia Tech Wrestling (@HokiesWrestling)
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐲 recap. Pure cinema. 🦃
“It’s been fun for everybody involved, and that’s the way we look at it,” Robie told krikyalotto.com. “It’s a rivalry of course, but there’s a lot of respect from our end for them and how they do things.”
The other ACC schools don’t want Blacksburg and Raleigh to be the only destinations for the sport. Coaches around the conference are taking action to keep themselves in the mix and grow the ACC across coasts.
Strength every week
After coming over from Cornell, Stanford head coach Chris Ayres told Harrison that the biggest difference between the Ivy League tournament and the ACC’s event is that the first round of the ACC Tournament is a tough match. While the Ivy League has strong wrestlers, the start of the conference tournament can help you build up confidence entering the event. In the ACC, the first match is losable even for the best wrestlers.
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Similarly, every Friday night in the ACC is a tough match at all 10 weights. The weekly grind makes everyone in the conference ready for tough matches in March.
“That’s what’s happening each week,” Harrison said. “You want to have somebody that’s going to give you a run and just get you to a position where you know what it’s like to be prepared every single week from a physical standpoint, but also a mental standpoint.”
Friday Night Duals recap.
— Rock Harrison (@rockreax)
By the time wrestlers get to the NCAA Championships, they have already challenged some of the nation’s best wrestlers. They have already simulated the national environment through the ACC Championships, which includes the added hostility of playing in one team’s home arena.
“When you look at some of the teams and conferences across the country, they battled every week,” Popolizio said. “Now we’re able to do that with the schedule that we have.”
ACC wrestling went from six to seven members when Stanford joined the league in 2024. While the move was not primarily for wrestling, it added another strong opponent to expand the ACC’s slate to six conference duals.
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“I think the ACC has got as much parity as it has ever had, and I think you’ve seen that in some of the dual meets,” Robie said. “It makes it exciting, it makes it fun. So every time you step out there, it’s going to be a challenge.”
Putting eyes on the show
Part of growing the conference involves increasing national exposure of the sport on television. That’s where Brandon Neff, the senior director of Olympic sports at the ACC, and Rock Harrison come in. Neff grew up around wrestling as an Iowa native and Iowa State alum, and he had a vision for the sport. In his role in the league office, he put that vision into motion. Neff implemented Friday Night Duals and pushed for more coverage of ACC wrestling on television, which translated to a weekly ACC Network package.
One you don't want to miss 👀
— The ACC (@theACC)
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Another ally of ACC wrestling is longtime radio and television host Mark Packer, who built his legacy in football and men’s basketball. On his TV show that aired daily on ACC Network before his retirement, he would bring broadcasters on during the Friday show before a dual and interview wrestlers during the week. Neff worked behind the scenes to push the sport on television, and Packer gave it space through his air time.
“Those were really silent supporters,” Harrison said, “that people really don’t pay attention to.”
The ACC, with its increased national spotlight and ever-growing talent pool, is a real player on the national wrestling scene. And it’s only getting stronger with No. 1 recruit from the Class of 2026, Bo Bassett, joining the Hokies in the fall along with the return of 2024 NCAA champion Caleb Henson from redshirt.
Harrison, Popolizio and Robie have shown that investing in this conference pays off. The ACC is producing winners. ;
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