Chris Piel
Green Wave coach
Chris Piel took the reins of the perennially strong Green Wave wrestling program for the 2008-09 season and soon helped shepherd the team to previously unattained standards.
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Bolstered by an active local youth program and backed by the ready wisdom of several former coaches, Coach Piel guided the Green Wave to its first state title in 2010-11, just his third season at the helm. Four more state championships and dominance of the South-West Conference have followed.
Coach Piel has been oft-honored as the face of the NMHS program, earning national and state coach of the year recognition, and soon will become just the sixth coach in Green Wave history to be inducted into the AHOF.
He understates the impact he has had, rather preferring to praise his student athletes, yet outstanding wrestlers still need direction, and Coach Piel has been in the right place at the right time.
Chris began his tenure as a Green Wave coach during the 1999-2000 season when he served as an assistant to veteran coach Daryl Daniels. For the next seven winters, Chris bonded with his fellow coaches and the upcoming generation of youths eager to be trained as wrestlers and as student-athletes. Whether teaching moves on the mat or developing the grapplers’ adherence to a disciplined life style, assistant coach Chris demonstrated skills as a mentor that made him a conspicuous choice to take the program’s reins.
When he got the call for the ‘2008-09 season, Chris was ready, and so were his wrestlers. The Green Wave was 12-0 in the SWC that first campaign under coach Piel’s guidance, and captured the league tournament title. As a matter of fact, his wrestlers dropped just one SWC match during his first eight seasons.
Following state runnerup finishes in ’09 and ’10, the Green Wave finally broke through in 2011 to win its first state team title, following that up with a best-ever second place in the state open. The lanky coach Piel’s towering presence at tournaments soon became all too familiar to rivals unable to get the better of the Green Wave.
The NMHS wrestlers continued their dominance of the SWC while proceeding to grab state class ‘L’ gold plaques in 2013, ’14, ’15 and ’16. Coach Piel’s well-disciplined, heady grapplers meanwhile thoroughly dominated the South-West Conference during his tenure, winning 13 championship banners in his first 16 campaigns.
His teams’ overall match record through the 2023-24 season was 201-16, bolstered by an eye-opening 131-6 record against SWC opponents. Green Wave wrestlers under his direction have individually won 66 SWC titles, 24 state class gold medals, seven state open championships, and three New England titles… Conor Kirkegard in 2011, Brett Leonard in 2016 and Mel Ortiz in 2018.
Five of his grapplers have earned seven state open titles... Conor Kirkegard in 2011 and 2012, Kyle Lindner in 2014 and 2015, Mel Ortiz in 2018, Evan Lindner in 2022 and Khalil Bourjeli in 2023.
Even before coach Piel is to be inducted into the New Milford High School Athletic Hall of Fame, he has been oft-times honored for his coaching. Chris was selected as the state chapter of the National Wrestling Coaches Association’s Coach of the Year in 2010, 2011, 202014, 2015 and 2016.
Quite possibly still with many years of coaching ahead of Chris, the NMHS AHOF decided it is time to induct the Green Wave mentor, just the sixth coach ever to be so honored.
