Arizona State has hired ISU assistant wrestling coach Thom Ortiz as the Sun Devils new head coach.

Ortiz has been an assistant with Iowa State for nine seasons. In 2000, Ortiz was named Assistant Coach of the Year runner-up.

“He was a valuable asset to our program and he was a good friend,” said ISU wrestling head coach Bobby Douglas.

Ortiz will replace former ASU head coach Lee Roy Smith, who stepped down from his position after nine years at the helm, and will be the fifth coach in the 38-year history of Arizona State.

“This is my first head coaching job and I’m hoping it’s my last,” Ortiz said in a press release. “I want to retire as the head wrestling coach at Arizona State.”

Associate Athletic Director Tom Collins said Ortiz had an outstanding r‚sum‚.

“Bobby gave [Ortiz] a lot of responsibilities and he’s grown from that,” Collins said.

Collins said that because Ortiz is a former student-athlete at Arizona State he made a “perfect fit.”

Douglas said that when other teams look at Iowa State’s coaches, it is a compliment to his team.

“This is one of the highest compliments a wrestling program can get when people come in and take your assistants,” Douglas said.

Despite losing a valuable coach, Douglas said that he believes his team will be able to replace him.

“We have an abundance of talent that’s graduating out of our system that we’ll use to replace him,” Douglas explained.

Ortiz was responsible for recruiting and mentoring three-time national champion Cael Sanderson. Sanderson is 119-0 in an ISU uniform.

Douglas coached Ortiz when he was at Arizona State. In 1987, as a freshman, Ortiz won the Pac-10 title at 150 pounds. In his second year at Arizona State, Ortiz achieved All-American status by finishing fourth in the NCAA championships along with winning his second straight Pac-10 title, this time at 142 pounds.

As a junior Ortiz finished second in the Pac-10, but gained All-American status by finishing sixth at 150 pounds.

Ortiz won his third Pac-10 title in 1990 as a senior and became an All-American for the third straight year, finishing as the national runner-up at 142 pounds.

Ortiz’s career record at Arizona State was 118-34-2.

He served as a graduate assistant under Douglas at Arizona State and followed Douglas to Iowa State in 1992.

“I wish him well, except when he wrestles the Cyclones,” Douglas joked.