Kevin Hoogenboom was named the first head wrestling coach in Lake Erie history in November 2009, charged with the task of building the program from the “mat up.”

The Storm's inaugural season of 2010-11 could only be deemed a success as Hoogenboom led his squad to five dual wins and a regional ranking as high as eighth during the course of the season.  Two wrestlers, Josh Linden and Sam Delpra, earned top five individual regional rankings and Andrew Gasber finished sixth at 165-pounds at the Super 2 Regional. 

Following the season, Hoogenboom was one of only 45 coaches nationwide selected to attend the NWCA Coaching Leadership Academy in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. 

Prior to Lake Erie, Hoogenboom was a student-athlete and assistant coach at Mercyhurst College . He was part of the first wrestling recruiting class in Mercyhurst history and after his career ended in 2004, he headed to the bench as an assistant coach under Tony Cipollone. 

During his tenure, he coached 11 Division II All-Americans and 26 national qualifiers.  The Lakers never finished worse than third in the Division II East Regional Championships during his time.  As impressively, he coached 26 student-athletes who garnered all-academic team recognition.

Hoogenboom earned his bachelor’s degree from Mercyhurst in business administration.  Outside of athletics, he has been a part of several successful ventures, including sales and real estate.

A native of Twinsburg, Ohio, Hoogenboom is engaged to Nicole Green and resides in Concord Township.

Eric Lakia is in his second season as a graduate assistant coach at Lake Erie. 

A Painesville native, the former Division II All-American joined the Storm staff after two years coaching at the high school level at Loudonville and his alma mater Painesville Riverside,  where he was a four-time state qualifier. 

Lakia was a four-year varsity letterwinner and three-time national championships qualifier at Ashland University, earning All-American honors with a fourth-place finish at 165 pounds in 2007. He was also named the team's most valuable wrestler that season.

In 2010, Lakia started the Great Lakes Crusaders summer wrestling club to help young wrestlers with fundamentals of the sport and to help them in achieving individual and team goals.

Lakia earned his bachelor's degree in physical education from Ashland in 2009 and is currently pursuing his master's in education at Lake Erie. He resides in Painesville.    

Former Lake Erie student-athlete Alex Palmer is in his first season working with the Storm as a volunteer assistant coach. Prior to graduating from LEC, Palmer competed for the wrestling, football and track and field teams.

Palmer was a four-year wrestling standout at Franklinville High School in Franklinville, N.Y.  Off the mat, he is an accomplished Highland Games performer with several junior championships as well as Junior National and Junior Olympic championships in Judo martial arts.

He currently is a small business owner pursuing his MBA at Lake Erie. He resides in nearby Fairport Harbor.

Former Division II All-American Ryan Kirst is in his first season as a volunteer assistant coach at Lake Erie.  He joined the Storm staff following five seasons coaching at the high school level. 

Krist was a four-time national qualifier as a student-athlete at Ashland University, earning All-American honors at 197 pounds in 2006.  He graduated from Ashland with a degree in recreation in 2007 and is currently a personal trainer in Bay Village, Ohio. He resides in Lakewood.