New Jersey City University Women's Wrestling

Barry Hart took over as head coach of New Jersey City University's women's wrestling program in July 2022. Prior to that, he served as NJCU's top assistant women's wrestling coach since January 2020. Hart has overseen much success since taking over as the leader of the perennially-ranked NJCU women's wrestling squad. The team in constantly ranked within the top 20 in the nation by the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA), including as high as #9 in the nation during the 2023-24 season. As head coach, he has produced two National Collegiate Women's Wrestling Championship (NCWWC) regional champions, two NCWWC All-Americans and one NCWWC NATIONAL CHAMPION — Sandy Guerrero in 2023-24; she was also named the entire meet's Most Outstanding Wrestler. During his time as the top assistant, Hart was responsible for the program's wrestling development, recruiting, social media management and culture building. He also helped Jersey City earn three All-American honors and six National Collegiate Women's Wrestling Championship (NCWWC) qualifiers. In addition to all his assistant coaching roles, Hart now adds the responsibilities of practice curriculum, academic monitoring and development, community service, in-match strategy and oversight and much more. Hart joins NJCU full-time after spending nearly a decade with Beat The Streets in New York. He has been with the organization in some capacity since 2013, serving in various roles such as program associate, assistant coach and — most recently — the head boys coach from September 2020 until June 2022. In 2019, he was named BTS' Assistant Coach of the Year. Hart helped guide his programs to multiple outstanding team finishes, highlighted by five runner-up accolades over a four-year span from 2017-20, as well as two championships: 2018 Public School Athletic League (PSAL) Girls Individual Freestyle Team Champions and 2018 Gotham City Girls Open Champions. Individually, Hart oversaw a pair of All-Americans, four New York State Freestyle Champions, a Greco State Champion, 10 state placers, four PSAL Champions, 21 PSAL placers and two Brooklyn Borough Champions. In addition to his roles with BTS, Hart served as a high school assistant coach with the Wingate Educational Campus in Brooklyn from September 2016 to December 2019. During that time, the program amassed a 40-21 overall record, including a 2019 Blended 2 Division Championship and the 2017 Girls Brooklyn Division title. A collegiate wrestler himself, Hart was a 2017 graduate of Hunter College. He spent two full seasons from 2014-16 as a 149-pounder with the Hawks's Division III program. Before that, he was a two-year member of the Niagara County Community College program from 2012-14, where he was named a NJCAA All-Academic team selected. A native of Brooklyn, Hart currently resides in Jersey City with his partner and their two young daughters.

Walid Elashri joined the New Jersey City University women's wrestling program prior to the 2022-23 season as an assistant coach. He is a member of the Egyptian National Freestyle Wrestling Team and has won African and Arabian championships.

Ira Thor is Associate Vice President for University Communications and Chief Communications Officer at New Jersey City University and the long-time chair of the NJCU Athletics Hall of Fame. In his role as Associate Vice President, he oversees all executive, external, internal, crisis and legislative communications, and social media at the University, and is the spokesperson for the University. Additionally, he manages the university's brand and enrollment marketing strategies and initiatives and oversees NJCU's Department of Marketing and Communications. Prior to April 2023, Thor was previously the Senior Director of University Communications and Media Relations, handling all communications efforts at NJCU. Thor served 20 years in the athletics department from 2000-2020 as Assistant Director of Athletics for Strategic Communications and Marketing and previously as sports information director, prior to moving into university administration in August, 2020. The next Hall of Fame induction is tentatively scheduled for Fall/Winter 2024. Full bio on NJCU.edu