Coaches

Coaching Staff

Rising Sun Wrestling Club is an extension of the excellence built at Arizona State University poured out into the Tempe/Phoenix community. Ran by Zeke Jones and Frank Molinaro to give their expertise to the next generation of World Champs, Olympic Champs, National Champs and All-Americans. We utilize the hotbed of current Sun Devil coaches, athletes, and Alumni at Arizona State University to give one of the best well-rounded and coached kids clubs in the nation.

Zeke Jones

Owner

Zeke Jones is the current head coach for Arizona State University and a member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, Arizona State University Hall of Fame, and Michigan Wrestling Hall of Fame. Zeke Jones won the World Championships in Bulgaria in 1991 and took home an Olympic Silver in Barcelona in 1992. He is a 4x World cup champion and 8x world team member. He has coached 4 Olympic Champions, 2 Silver medalists, and one bronze medalist. He has coached 46 individual conference titles and 8 individual NCAA Champs. Zeke has either led or been on the staff of teams that have placed in the top four twice, top-10 six times, and have won seven team conference championships. He’s overseen 10 NCAA finalists, 38 All-Americans, 90 NCAA Qualifiers. He and his wife Renee have four children: Jessica, David, Rebecca, and Jacob.

Frank Molinaro

Coach

With an impressive wrestling resume and Olympic run where he placed 5th in Rio de Janeiro, Frank Molinaro is currently an assistant wrestling coach at Arizona State University. Frank’s accolades are tiresome to list starting with 3x New Jersey State Champ, 4x All-American and National Champ for Penn State University, and Olympic team member in 2016. Frank has competed in some of the most prestigious tournaments the wrestling world has to offer dating back to bronze at the Yarygin in Krasnoyarsk Russia, World Cup Champion in Los Angeles in 2016, and the winner of the Gran Prix de Spain in 2015. His Olympic run to make the team in 2016 was impressive. He beat four time NCAA Champ and bronze world medalist Logan Steiber, three time World Team member and two time NCAA Champ Brent Metcalf, and at the time, young and rising phenom Aaron Pico. He’s coached numerous All-Americans at Virginia Tech, Penn State, Rutgers, and now Arizona State University. Frank and his wife Kera have three sons, Kason, Frank Jr., and Weston.

Eric Thompson

Coach

In the last 10 years Eric Thompson, a.k.a. Gold Bear USA, has competed against and coached some of the best wrestlers in the country. Gold Bear coached and trained in preparation for the Olympics and World Championships with Kyle Snyder, David Taylor, and Jake Varner. He lived in State College Pennsylvania where he worked and trained some of the best collegiate and senior level wrestlers to date. For 3 years he coached at M2 training center where he developed one of the best training clubs in the country and trained some of the highest elite level high school and middle school wrestlers. From high school to college he was a 2x state champ for Waverly-Shell Rock High School and a 3x NAIA National Champ for Grandview University. He and his wife Sarah have two children, Crew and Jenson.

Lee Pritts

Coach

Lee Pritts has been an assistant coach for Arizona State University dating back to 2012. Since he started coaching in ’98, he has coached over 54 All-Americans for Arizona State, Mizzou, NC State and Old Dominion University. He was born and raised in Ft. Lauderdale Florida where he was a 2x State Champ and after which he earned All-American Status at Eastern Michigan University. Pritts has coached numerous Cadet and Junior World Champions through his time on the Junior World Team coaching staff. Lee Pritts has two children, Briggs and Kelby.