Episode 55 - Mike Mendoza

Mike Mendoza is currently the Head Men’s Wrestling Coach for Colorado Mesa. This past season, Mendoza led a group of six first time national qualifiers, three of whom finished in the blood round at the D2 NCAA tournament. Colorado Mesa finished 3rd at their Super Region. In 2023, he was named as the RMAC Coach of the Year and the Super Region VI Coach of the Year in his first season as Head Coach. He began coaching at Colorado Mesa after spending two years at Northeastern Junior College in Colorado. Before that, he served as the Head Coach for Boise State for a year before the university cut the program in 2017. Mendoza had served as an assistant coach at his alma mater, Cal State Bakersfield, from 2002 until 2010, when he took over as Head Coach until 2016. He has spent the previous two years as a graduate assistant at Adams State before heading back to Bakersfield. In college, Mendoza was a three-time NCAA D1 qualifier and a PAC-10 Finalist for CSUB. He helped lead the team to a 3rd place finish at the 1996 National Tournament, and two PAC-10 championships.