Matt Infranca was a successful high school wrestler.
Then he wrestled for a pair of Division I programs at the college level.
Once Infranca went into coaching, he had success at the club level and most recently as the head coach at St. Michael the Archangel Catholic High School in Lee’s Summit.
Now, the Oak Grove native will look to bring that same winning pedigree to the college level.
Infranca was officially named the head coach of Avila University Men’s Head Wrestling Coach on July 6, but he said he will juggle both jobs for the 2026-27 season.
Quick and to the point
Interested in wrestling for Avila University Men’s program. Reach out directly to Matt at: [email protected]
The Track Record
At the high school level, he’s guided the Guardians to three state trophies, including a team title in the 25-26 season, and has seen 11 individual state champions and 29 state placers. He’s had some standouts in the room, like current Missouri wrestler Sampson Stillwell, a three-state champion who likely would have been a 4-timer if he wrestled his senior season.
He will be replacing Eric Mateo, who had been the coach since 2023. Mateo left to take a job at fellow NAIA school Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas.
Now Infranca’s job is trying to revamp an Avila program that competes at the NAIA level.
A text message stated the path that led to Infranca’s hiring.
“I was really about it,” he said of the Avila job. “I didn’t want to leave SMA… I worked out a deal where I could coach both. I wanted to pursue this opportunity if I could, but I also know I committed to those kids because they committed to me at St. Michael’s. I went to St. Michael’s [staff] and I went to Avila [staff] and checked the rules and there were no rules against coaching both. I was like, I really want to try….”
Juggling Both
Infranca said he expected both teams could train together in the spring, summer and fall. He plans to run an RTC-type program out of Avila. During the season, he said there will be different practices, juggling times between SMA and Avila.
He foresees practices in the morning at Avila and afternoon practice at SMA or vice versa.
“Like I said, it’ll be hectic, but we can schedule around it and make it work,” he said in an interview with MissouriWrestling.com the day before leaving to go to Fargo for the 2026 U.S. Marine Corps Junior Nationals in Fargo.
There will be four competitions where the Eagles and Guardians will have some conflicts — two on the weekends and two during mid-week action. He said going forward, he will work on the schedule to try to limit overlaps, if at all possible.
The two most pressing ones would be the Platte County Tournament, which starts on a Friday and then the conference tournament for the Guardians. St. Michael’s also added dual tournaments at Columbia Hickman and Southeast Polk in Iowa.
Roster work
With his late hire, Infranca is now in the process of working on roster retention.
He said he’s reached out to the recruits who signed after the 2025-26 season.
The Eagles had five seniors on the team last year and he’s in the process of getting contact info to see who is on board for the 2026-27 season.
“I’m already looking for some recruits and trying to do some unique things with visits … that more kind of a D-1 feel or vibe,” he said. “Making it kind of special. I know we are NAIA, but I want to give it a bigger feel.”
The goal?
To be the second-best wrestling program in the Show-Me State.
A former Missouri wrestler, Infranca knows the Tigers are on a different level. However, he wants the Eagles to be competing for NAIA national championships.
“I have to learn the NAIA landscape a little better and see who we can compete against and who we can’t,” he said. “But besides Missouri, we want to be the best team in Missouri.”
He said he’s coached many kids who have been recruited by D-I and D-II schools and he has gotten feedback from them on the visits and what it is like.
Infranca said he will focus on the Kansas City area first, on both the Missouri and Kansas side.
“You know D-I is your top 1%, that leaves 99% of the kids open, right?” he said. “We will start with Kansas City first and then work out between Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Arkansas, but really focus on Kansas City first.”
He added he will look for wrestlers with a higher ceiling that maybe wasn’t in the best room in high school that could be developed under his guidance. He will also look at the JUCO level and those D-I bouncebacks that want a fresh start.
“Really, if you look at the guys that we get at St. Michael, we don’t get a lot of high-level youth kids that are winning national titles, right?” he said. “We get some kids that are scrappy, that have potential but haven’t really put it all together yet. That’ll be the same type of kid we’re looking for here. Kids that we can develop that maybe other schools are overlooking.”
