Maute receives NJCAA National Coach, National Tournament Coach of Year honors

SUNY Niagara wrestling head coach Keith Maute received both the National Coach of the Year and National Tournament Coach of the Year awards from the NJCAA earlier this month. The awards capped off Maute’s incredible season with the Thunderwolves, which ended with their first Division III national championship in the program’s 53-year history and 10 total qualifiers.

These were the latest honors this season for Maute, who received NJCAA Region III and Northeast District I Coach of the Year honors for the 13th time in 15 seasons with the program. Maute also led SUNY Niagara to a runners-up finish at the NJCAA Division III Dual championships on Jan. 10 in Sanborn. 

Maute and the Thunderwolves also finished 7-4 in dual meets this season. This marked the program’s 12th winning season in duals under Maute, who is now 113-66 overall.

“It is an honor,” Maute said on receiving the two national awards. “It’s a reflection of the hard work our team and coaching staff put in this year.”

In 15 seasons with the Thunderwolves, Maute has won 11 of the program’s 28 NJCAA Region III tournaments and became the first coach in state history to win 100 matches at the high school and college levels. Since succeeding the late Eric Knuutila at the start of the 2011-12 season, Maute has coached two NJCAA national champions, Troy Keller in 2018 and Jordan Bushey in 2020.

Also the recipient of the New York State College Coach of the Year award in 2016, Maute has also been the head coach of 17 of SUNY Niagara’s 51 different all-time NJCAA All-American honorees. The latest honoree was Newfane resident Aidan Gillings, who placed fifth at nationals at 149 pounds.

The NJCAA Man of the Year in 2017, Maute also has coached three of SUNY Niagara’s six total two-time NJCAA All-Americans, Kris Schimek (Class of 2013), Troy Keller (Class of 2018), and Frankie Gissendanner (Class of 2022).

Before Knuutila selected him to become only the second head coach in SUNY Niagara history, Maute established himself on the Western New York high school scene for 15 years.

First, Maute was the assistant coach at his alma mater, Lancaster, from 1997-98 to 2003-04. The program won seven ECIC Division I championships and earned a second-place finish in the state with Maute on staff.

Maute was then the head coach at East Aurora from 2004-05 to 2008-09. With the Blue Devils, Maute won three ECIC Division III championships and a Section VI title in March of 2008. 

Maute then moved to Iroquois, where he won two more ECIC titles and won his second Section VI championship in March of 2011. In his seven years as a head coach in Section VI, Maute received Coach of the Year honors three times.

Maute traced his current success back to what he learned as a student-athlete and later as an assistant coach under Dennis Beck and David Young at Lancaster High School and then at SUNY Niagara under Knuutila. It’s what he has brought to the program at SUNY Niagara, with assistants Kevin Przybylak and Cole French now on his staff.  

“When you’re surrounded by Hall of Fame coaches and winners, you learn from them,” Maute said. “You develop similar values and coaching techniques when you’re surrounded by them for 26 years. I developed a passion for the sport of wrestling and developing kids on and off the mat.”