Joe Evano was named the first Head Coach for the Vanguard Women's Wrestling in November 2021. Evano had been serving as an assistant
| YEAR |
MPSF FINISH |
TEAM POINTS |
| 25-26 |
2/2 |
7 (dual v Menlo) |
| 24-25 |
2/2 |
13 (dual v Menlo) |
| YEAR |
CCC-FINISH |
TEAM POINTS |
| 23-24 |
4/7 |
82 |
| 22-23 |
5/6 |
73 |
| Career |
3rd avg |
56 avg |
coach on the men's side for three years, where he helped to relaunch the program back in the 2019-2020 school year.
Evano had his first Mountain Pacific Sports Federation champion in his first year in the new league, as Abbeygael Cabuag won at 103 pounds and was named the Wrestler of the Year in the MPSF. In year two, Alexis Garza and Loretta Lopez won MPSF crowns, and the team competed in the NCAA Region VI Tournament in the sports first year as an NCAA Championship sport.
In the NAIA/Cascade Collegaite Conference, Coach Evano had his best finish in 2023-24, when the team placed fourth. Lily El-Masri and River Todd garnered silvers that season, and Todd and Lily Avalos became the first NAIA All-Americans by placing eighth and fourth, respectively. El-Masri and finished second in the CCC Tournament in 2022-23, and was joined by Marissa Ritchie, Mariz Soliman, and Reyna Montenegro at the team's debut at the NAIA Championships. El-Masri had the best event with a 2-2 mark.
Evano’s collegiate career began at Mount San Antonio Community College in Walnut, California. During his time at Mt. SAC, Evano placed seventh in the California Junior College State Championships which would be a benchmark of things to come. He then transferred to William Penn University in Oskaloosa, Iowa. During the 2002 season at WPU, he was named an NAIA Mid-America Conference Champion, bettering that result his senior year by once again winning a conference title and adding an NAIA All-American honor to his accolades as he secured the 2003 NAIA National Championship.
Following his own career on the mat, he immediately moved into a coaching role, first starting off as a Graduate Assistant at William Penn University before moving to Los Alamitos High School. At Los Alamitos, he focused on the upper-weight wrestlers, participated in live sparing, and created conditioning and practice programs. Starting in December 2015, he has served as a volunteer coach at Mount San Antonio Community College, where he has helped educate wrestlers on practice and match strategy, training techniques, and live sparring.
While not wrestling Joe loves spending time watching his daughters Emily and Andie play soccer, or being at the beach with his wife Jen.
