The resurgence of the Cal State Fullerton wrestling program under seventh-year Head Coach Dan Hicks has been sudden yet methodical. The "overnight success" has been the result of fundamental values instilled in the program by Hicks and adopted by the wrestlers.

In 2002-03, confidence was restored when the Titans ended a five-year Pac-10 losing streak and just missed posting a winning dual meet record at 9-10. They moved up two notches at the Pac-10 Championships and sent four qualifiers to the NCAA Championships.

In 2003-04, the Titans came within one controversial decision of winning the Pac-10 Championship, settling for third place, their highest place ever. Fullerton totaled 89.5 points to trail only Boise State (94.5) and Cal Poly SLO (91.0).

In 2004-05, theTitans posted a school-record .763 winning percentage for dual meets with a 14-4-1 slate, which equalled the mark for most wins and would have broken it had Hicks not let an injury-riddled opponent out of its contracted late-season match.

Last year the Titans were in the hunt for the Pac-10 championship after winning all but one regular season Pac-10 dual match to go 8-1 and 14-5 overall. But Sauer suffered a career-ending injury in the final bout of the final regular season match at Northern Colorado and the Titans placed fifth despite piling up their most points ever at the finals. Atkinson became the first Titan to repeat as conference champion in 28 years.

A long dormant community and alumni support base has been invigorated and the potential for California's only Div. I wrestling program south of the Tehachapi Mountains is again robust. Hicks has worked tirelessly at clinics and tournaments to bring a personal message of the program's improved health. High school wrestling days at the season's opening afternoon match have averaged better than 1,000 wrestlers in attendance.

An assistant coach the previous five years at Oregon State where he wrestled at 142 pounds and won NCAA championships in 1978 and 1979, Hicks replaced Ardeshir Asgari, who retired after 10 years at the post.

"I have recruited wrestlers from California and have been impressed with the quality of the wrestling and the dedication of the coaches both at the high school and junior college levels," said Hicks upon his June, 2002, hiring. "Because of its location, Cal State Fullerton has tremendous potential to be competitive at the Pac-10s and the NCAA Tournament."

Selected the NCAA']s wrestler of the decade for his weight class in the 1970s, Hicks preaches an aggressive, attacking style of wrestling based upon superior conditioning. His immediate results with the Titans were remarkable as they won their first three dual meets including Pac-10 wins over UC Davis and Stanford. Fullerton hadn't won a Pac-10 dual match in five years yet they finished with a 3-5 mark for Hicks and his all-volunteer staff.

The 2003-04 team lacked the necessary depth to compete consistently in dual matches but the quality was there. Besides the strong showing at the Pac-10s, the Titans were third at the California Collegiate Invitational in San Francisco and tenth at the Reno Tournament of Champions. The Titans doubled their number of NCAA qualifiers from two to four led by Pac-10 125-pound champion Jesse Miramontes.

In 2004-05 the Titans lost only four dual meets but managed only an eighth-place showing at the Pac-10s at Cal Poly. Still, they had a pair of Pac-10 champions for the first time in Juan Mora (141) and Leonel Sanchez (174) and sent three qualifiers to the NCAAs.

In 2005-06 the Titans struggled in Pac-10 dual matches, losing all seven to bog down the overall record at 6-12. But they still managed a pair of NCAA qualifiers in Jesse Taylor at 184 and Morgan Atkinson at 149.

In 2006-07 the Titans produced four NCAA qualifiers with a Pac-10 champ in Atkinson and an All-American in Sauer, who placed sixth at the NCAA Championships after a third-place showing at the Pac-10 meet.

Hicks, a native of Corvallis, Oregon, graduated from OSU with a degree in applied physical education (1980) and later earned a master¹s degree in counseling (1990) from OSU. He is a licensed professional counselor and worked for the Beavers in that capacity from 1989 to 1997, when he became the top assistant to Coach Joe Wells.

Hicks was inducted into the Oregon State Wrestling and Sports Halls of Fame. He began his coaching career with Athletes in Action in 1979 in Long Beach, California, and moved up through the high school ranks in Oregon. He served one year as a graduate assistant coach at Oregon State in 1988-89.

Hicks' wife, Jill, is a former OSU gymnast and was an assistant women¹s gymnastics coach at Oregon State. She joined the Titans' staff in a similar position and now is in her third season as head coach. They have three children -- daughters Jenna and Jesse and son Jordan and live in Rancho Santa Margarita. Dan's father, Ron, and his brother, Mike, also were wrestlers for the Beavers.

Hicks became only the fourth wrestling coach at Fullerton, succeeding Don Matson (1968-82), Dan Lewis (1983-92) and Asgari (1993-02), who moved to Nicaragua.