Damion Logan

Logan’s coaching resume is on par with the coaching elite in the wrestling world.  He has high school coaching stints in New Jersey at St. Mary’s of Rutherford, Paramus Catholic (where he coached the school’s first Regional and State champion), and his alma mater, St. Joseph Regional of Montvale.  On the collegiate level, Logan coached alongside U.S. World and Olympic team coach, Zeke Jones, at the University of Pennsylvania; alongside NCAA Wrestling Rules committee Chair, Chuck Barbee, at the United States Military Academy at West Point; and also alongside USA Wrestling Coaches Education Director, Mike Clayton, at The Stevens Institute of Technology.

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Damion Logan has helped to develop an extensive list of collegiate All-Americans, and New Jersey and New York state high school champions and medalists.  Perhaps the best measure of his coaching success is evident through his direct development of three NCAA Division I National Champions: Nick Suriano (Rutgers, 2019), Anthony Ashnault (Rutgers, 2019), and Shane Griffith (Stanford, 2021).  Logan had a profound influence on the development of these three athletes from a very young age, and it would not be a stretch to say that he “taught them how to wrestle”.  

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As a collegiate student-athlete, Damion Logan was recruited to The University of Michigan’s Big Ten wrestling program as a blue chip, full-scholarship athlete.  At Michigan, he was a two-time NCAA Division I All-American for head coaches Dale Bahr and Joe McFarland, and he served as the team’s captain in 2000.

 

As a high school student-athlete, Logan is one of the all-time greatest wrestlers in New Jersey’s rich wrestling history. He is, without question, the greatest wrestler in Saint Joseph Regional’s (Montvale) history, and perhaps the greatest athlete in their prolific athletic history in the NJSIAA.  

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As a freshman wrestling at 103 pounds, Logan won an individual county, district, regional and New Jersey state titles on a SJR team that captured league, county, district and state championships. He finished 31-2 and was a Bergen Record Athlete of the Week on 3/2/1993.​

 

As a sophomore wrestling at 119 pounds, Logan was beaten in the state semifinals after sustaining a concussion in a quarterfinal match where he defeated eventual three-time state champion and two-time NCAA Division I champion, Donny Pritzlaff. He finished the year 30-1 and repeated as league, county, district and region champion.

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As a junior wrestling at 126 pounds, Logan finished the year 29-1. He captured his third district and region individual title, and his second individual New Jersey State championship. He was voted the Most Outstanding Wrestler in the both the Region 2 and State tournaments.

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And as a senior wrestling at 135 pounds, he finished 30-2, and won his fourth District 8 and Region 2 title, and his third individual state championship. He finished with a career record of 122-6. He helped SJR to an undefeated 17-0 season and the Parochial B State Team Title.

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Logan’s other high school wrestling achievements include victories at the prestigious Dapper Dan classic, multiple Fargo All-American plaques, as well as being named to the NJSIAA wrestling team of the century and to two of the top honors in high school wrestling, the ASICS Tiger All-American first team and USA Wrestling Magazine’s All-American Dream Team (1996).

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Damion Logan currently resides in Pompton Lakes, New Jersey with his wife, Tina, and their three boys, Gabriel, Elijah, and Raphael.

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Logan’s proudest moment as a wrestling coach: “Witnessing students learn techniques and styles from the Apex staff, and in turn, watching the excitement that is shared between the staff and the students during that process.  Also, experiencing the athletic and general life growth and development of not only the athletes we train, but of the sport of wrestling as a whole over the years”