Hall of Fame 2025: Dad's Advice Led Sentes to Life-Changing Decision
9/24/2025 2:20:00 PM | General, Wrestling, Our Stories
Scott Sentes Photos2025 Hall of Fame AnnouncementMarcy Weston Athletics Hall of FameHall of Fame Members
Two-Time All-American Scotti Sentes to be inducted into Marcy Weston CMU Athletics Hall of Fame on Friday
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – Father knows best?
Scotti Sentes lived it.
At the insistence of his dad, Sentes attended a wrestling camp at Central Michigan University in the summer of 2007, ahead of his senior year at Riverdale High School in North Fort Myers, Fla.
"I didn't want to go, wasn't really interested, never heard of Central," Sentes said. "I even told the guys when I visited, 'My dad's making me come here; I'm not really interested,' and they were like, 'Ah, it's OK, just come and check things out.'
"I got to meet some of the wrestlers, got to meet coach (Tom) Borrelli …"
That camp, that meeting with the legendary Borrelli, and the subsequent decision to enroll at CMU changed Sentes' life. On Friday, Sentes will be inducted into the Central Michigan University Marcy Weston Athletics Hall of Fame during a ceremony in McGuirk Arena in the Kulhavi Events Center.
Sentes and other members of the Class of 2025 will then be introduced during the CMU-Eastern Michigan football game on Kramer/Deromedi Field at Kelly/Shorts Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 27.
Sentes quickly went from not knowing CMU to buying into Borrelli's program. Shortly thereafter, he became the first freshman All-American in program history.
"I saw what Tom was doing," Sentes said, recalling that pivotal summer, "and I just knew it was right for me. You could tell they had a lot of pride, they wrestled really hard, and they really believed in what coach was telling them.
"I felt like if coach Borrelli could turn these kids into phenomenal wrestlers and people, then what could he do with me? I saw what I needed to see. After that I just canceled all my visits everywhere else. Didn't need to see anything else."
In 2009, Sentes became the first CMU true freshman in a dozen years to earn a Mid-American Conference championship and he would go on to become a four-time NCAA Championships qualifier and a two-time All-American, placing seventh as a freshman and fourth as a junior in 2011.
He posted a 108-33 career record and is one of 28 wrestlers in program history in 100-Win Club.
Sentes is the 27th member of the CMU Athletics Hall of Fame who is associated with the Chippewa wrestling program, including the revered Borrelli.
"Here's what I tell people all the time: I would have never recruited me," Sentes said. "There's no way. Just (because of) sort of my lifestyle coming out of high school and going to college. I liked to go out, I liked to have fun; I wasn't like your typical blue-chip recruit. I had a little edge to me. I knew that Tom was going to treat me right, treat me fairly. He wasn't going to put up with the bullcrap."
Sentes' father, Steve, was a highly successful high school wrestling coach in Florida. So successful was he that he is now a member of the Florida Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. He knew what his son needed, and, just as importantly, what Borrelli offered.
"My dad had followed Central Michigan wrestling and what Tom was doing," said Sentes, whose older brother, also named Steve, had wrestled at Michigan. "At that time (CMU was) one of the best teams in the country. Specifically at that time Tom was really good at developing kids who nobody had heard of."
Under Borrelli's structured program and his demand-accountability philosophy, Sentes thrived.
"I couldn't have coached me," Sentes said, laughing. "Tom, he can coach anyone; he can take a kid with an edge and teach him to live right and to eat right and to think right and to do the right things and be a better man and a better husband. He can teach those things. He's a phenomenal coach.
"He was just going to lay out the expectations and I was either going to have to get on board or get out. I think if he would have given me wiggle room or had treated me differently … I don't think I would have made it."
Sentes, 36, earned a Bachelor of Science degree with a major in English from CMU and with his pedigree and the Borrelli influence, a career in coaching was a natural next step.
He started as an assistant at Cal Poly before moving on to Campbell, where he led the Camels from 2020-25. He recently left Campbell to become the executive director of the Wrestlers in Business Network, a division of the National Wrestling Coaches Association.
He and his wife, Katie (née McColly), a former CMU long jumper/triple jumper, have three children and are relocating to Manheim, Pa.
Sentes remains close to Borrelli.
"To this day, if something in my life hits the fan, even if it's outside of coaching, Tom would be one of my first calls," he said. "My dad and then coach Borrelli.
"I've called him a lot. I don't know how many times since I graduated I've called him with problems. A lot of times he'll just ask you questions to make you figure it out on your own."
And now, Sentes joins his mentor – along with so many other Chippewa wrestling greats – in the hall.
"The history is so great within Central Michigan wrestling that to be in that elite club with some of the people I know and who I was teammates with and who I used to watch and look up to, it's a great honor," he said. "You almost have to be super elite to join some of those guys in there. I'm not saying I'm super elite, but I know I'm joining some people who are.
"There is certainly a sense of pride, and I still have my Central Michigan wrestling shirts and even as a coach and everywhere I've gone, there's a lot of pride that I have from having been a part of that program."
Scotti Sentes lived it.
At the insistence of his dad, Sentes attended a wrestling camp at Central Michigan University in the summer of 2007, ahead of his senior year at Riverdale High School in North Fort Myers, Fla.
"I didn't want to go, wasn't really interested, never heard of Central," Sentes said. "I even told the guys when I visited, 'My dad's making me come here; I'm not really interested,' and they were like, 'Ah, it's OK, just come and check things out.'
"I got to meet some of the wrestlers, got to meet coach (Tom) Borrelli …"
That camp, that meeting with the legendary Borrelli, and the subsequent decision to enroll at CMU changed Sentes' life. On Friday, Sentes will be inducted into the Central Michigan University Marcy Weston Athletics Hall of Fame during a ceremony in McGuirk Arena in the Kulhavi Events Center.
Sentes and other members of the Class of 2025 will then be introduced during the CMU-Eastern Michigan football game on Kramer/Deromedi Field at Kelly/Shorts Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 27.
Sentes quickly went from not knowing CMU to buying into Borrelli's program. Shortly thereafter, he became the first freshman All-American in program history.
"I saw what Tom was doing," Sentes said, recalling that pivotal summer, "and I just knew it was right for me. You could tell they had a lot of pride, they wrestled really hard, and they really believed in what coach was telling them.
"I felt like if coach Borrelli could turn these kids into phenomenal wrestlers and people, then what could he do with me? I saw what I needed to see. After that I just canceled all my visits everywhere else. Didn't need to see anything else."
In 2009, Sentes became the first CMU true freshman in a dozen years to earn a Mid-American Conference championship and he would go on to become a four-time NCAA Championships qualifier and a two-time All-American, placing seventh as a freshman and fourth as a junior in 2011.
He posted a 108-33 career record and is one of 28 wrestlers in program history in 100-Win Club.
Sentes is the 27th member of the CMU Athletics Hall of Fame who is associated with the Chippewa wrestling program, including the revered Borrelli.
"Here's what I tell people all the time: I would have never recruited me," Sentes said. "There's no way. Just (because of) sort of my lifestyle coming out of high school and going to college. I liked to go out, I liked to have fun; I wasn't like your typical blue-chip recruit. I had a little edge to me. I knew that Tom was going to treat me right, treat me fairly. He wasn't going to put up with the bullcrap."
Sentes' father, Steve, was a highly successful high school wrestling coach in Florida. So successful was he that he is now a member of the Florida Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. He knew what his son needed, and, just as importantly, what Borrelli offered.
"My dad had followed Central Michigan wrestling and what Tom was doing," said Sentes, whose older brother, also named Steve, had wrestled at Michigan. "At that time (CMU was) one of the best teams in the country. Specifically at that time Tom was really good at developing kids who nobody had heard of."
Under Borrelli's structured program and his demand-accountability philosophy, Sentes thrived.
"I couldn't have coached me," Sentes said, laughing. "Tom, he can coach anyone; he can take a kid with an edge and teach him to live right and to eat right and to think right and to do the right things and be a better man and a better husband. He can teach those things. He's a phenomenal coach.
"He was just going to lay out the expectations and I was either going to have to get on board or get out. I think if he would have given me wiggle room or had treated me differently … I don't think I would have made it."
Sentes, 36, earned a Bachelor of Science degree with a major in English from CMU and with his pedigree and the Borrelli influence, a career in coaching was a natural next step.
He started as an assistant at Cal Poly before moving on to Campbell, where he led the Camels from 2020-25. He recently left Campbell to become the executive director of the Wrestlers in Business Network, a division of the National Wrestling Coaches Association.
He and his wife, Katie (née McColly), a former CMU long jumper/triple jumper, have three children and are relocating to Manheim, Pa.
Sentes remains close to Borrelli.
"To this day, if something in my life hits the fan, even if it's outside of coaching, Tom would be one of my first calls," he said. "My dad and then coach Borrelli.
"I've called him a lot. I don't know how many times since I graduated I've called him with problems. A lot of times he'll just ask you questions to make you figure it out on your own."
And now, Sentes joins his mentor – along with so many other Chippewa wrestling greats – in the hall.
"The history is so great within Central Michigan wrestling that to be in that elite club with some of the people I know and who I was teammates with and who I used to watch and look up to, it's a great honor," he said. "You almost have to be super elite to join some of those guys in there. I'm not saying I'm super elite, but I know I'm joining some people who are.
"There is certainly a sense of pride, and I still have my Central Michigan wrestling shirts and even as a coach and everywhere I've gone, there's a lot of pride that I have from having been a part of that program."
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