Stephen Eldridge coached the Coast Guard wrestling team for 47 seasons from 1967 through 2014, leading the Bears to more than 300 dual meet wins and five New England Division III championships (1979, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1986).

Coast Guard finished second in New England four times, including once (1967) when schools of all sizes (Division I, II and III) competed together and twice (1973, 1975) when the tournament included Division II and III teams. Two of Eldridge’s Coast Guard teams finished without a loss in 1967 (11-0-1) and 1975 (11-0).

In his career, he had athletes that qualified to compete in the NCAA Div. I, Div. II and Div. III national tournaments.

He coached seven wrestlers who earned Div. III All-American honors 12 times, including two-time All-Americans Jim Murray, Mike Nuzum and three-time All-Americans Chris Fertig and Nathan Giorgio. Fetrig was a two-time Division III finalist.

Eldridge served twice as the president of the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) and was named the New England Wrestling Association Coach of the Year four times. 

Eldridge was inducted into the Connecticut Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2004, the Coast Guard Athletics Hall of Fame (1989), the New England Wrestling Association (NEWA) Hall of Fame (2002) and the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) Division III Hall of Fame (1996).

Eldridge also served as the men’s cross country coach at Coast Guard for 43 seasons, retiring from that position in 2011. He helped the cross country team earn berths to the NCAA Division III national championship meet five times (1977-79, 1989 and 2001), finishing as high as 12th in 1978. He also started the women’s cross country program at the Academy and coached the team for the first four years of their existence.

After graduating from high school in St. Louis, Missouri, Eldridge attended the University of Missouri, where he won three varsity letters with the Missouri wrestling program.