Gene Nighman

Gene Nighman
SUNY Cortland Head Coach
1983-1999

Gene Nighman enjoyed a highly successful career as SUNY Cortland’s wrestling coach during a 16-year span from 1983-99.

Nighman coached 74 Cortland NCAA Div. III qualifiers, including 33 All-Americans, and 30 conference champions. Two of his wrestlers won national titles and five others were national runners-up. He led the Red Dragons to eight national top-20 team finishes, including a third-place showing in 1990 and a sixth-place finish at the 1996 nationals, which Cortland hosted.

Under Nighman, Cortland posted a combined 163-104-3 dual record, making him the most successful coach in school history. He was chosen as both the New York Collegiate Coach of the Year and the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) Coach of the Year in 1990, and was also honored as the 1999 Empire Collegiate Wrestling Conference Coach of the Year. He was inducted into the New York State College Wrestling Hall of Fame in 1995.

In addition to the 1996 NCAA Div. III Championships, Cortland hosted two New York State Collegiate Wrestling Championships, the 1990 SUNYAC Championships and the 1993 Empire Conference Championships under Nighman’s guidance. The Red Dragons also played host to the 20-team Div. III National Dual Championships in both 1992 and 1993.

A standout wrestler at Div. I Cornell University, Nighman earned All-America honors with a seventh-place national finish at 142 pounds in 1981. He was first team All-Ivy League three times and placed in the top four at the EIWA Championships three times, including a 142-pound title as a senior. He posted a 22-2 record that season, with his only two setbacks at the NCAA Championships. Nighman was inducted into the Cornell Athletic Hall of Fame in 1992 and currently serves as the Big Red’s director of athletic ticketing and summer sports schools.