George Edwards spent 25 years as the University of Virginia’s wrestling coach.

Edwards coached the Cavaliers from 1969-1993 and he had 36 individual Atlantic Coast Conference champions, six Outstanding Wrestler winners at the ACC tournament, and three NCAA All-Americans.

He led his teams to a 158-133-1 dual meet record, setting the school record for most career wins by a coach with 158, a mark that stood until 2019. UVA won three ACC championships, with the first in 1974 ending Maryland’s 20-year run as league champion. The Cavaliers 12-win season in 1975 was the best single-season dual meet mark in school history and his teams also compiled a school-best win streak of 14 matches from February of 1973 through February of 1974.

Edwards wrestled at Penn State University and earned All-America honors as a senior with a fifth-place finish at the NCAA tournament and had a dual meet record of 27-2. He also captained the wrestling team as a junior and senior, and was named PSU's Most Outstanding Wrestling Alumnus in 1991.

His goal was to not only build strong wrestlers, but also strong students. In 1974 his wrestling team earned the 7 Society award for outstanding contribution to the University of Virginia. Eighteen of Edwards wrestlers were named ACC Scholar Athlete and two were recipients of the Jim Weaver Scholarship.

Even after resigning as head coach, Edwards remained an invaluable supporter of the UVA wrestling program.

His successor Lenny Bernstein said that George built a strong base for me to continue building upon; without it, we would not have realized our current success.”