After his 34th season as the head wrestling coach at SUNY Oswego, Mike Howard will be inducted into the Upstate New York Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame for his lifetime service to wrestling on September 29, 2024 at the Double Tree Hotel in East Syracuse.

Mike started his wrestling career on the mats at Oswego State where his father Jim Howard was coaching the Lakers. Jim would later be inducted into the Chapter's Hall of Fame in 1997 following a stellar career of coaching. During Mike's high school wrestling career, one of his highlights was when he won the first Section III title that Oswego High School ever had. While at Oswego High School Mike wrestled under the guidance of Elmer Akley, another Hall of Famer, who later would become his father-in law. In addition, Mike won many local scholastic high school tournaments and was highly regarded by many excellent collegiate programs.

Howard began his collegiate wrestling career with the University of Buffalo, and wrestled there from 1981-1983 before transferring to SUNY Oswego where he wrestled from 1984-1986. During his time with the Lakers, Howard wrestled in the lB7-pound weight class and was a two-time co-captain.

After spending three seasons as the assistant wrestling coach for the Lakers Howard was hired by SUNY Oswego in 1989 to be the associate head coach with the Oswego State wrestling program. Howard and the Lakers has had a lot of success from the start, making 20 straight team NCAA championship appearances from 1990-2009 and 27 appearances total throughout his tenure. During this time, he has had 72 NCAA championship individual qualifiers. Howard has been named Empire Collegiate Wrestling Conference [ECWC] coach of the year on two separate occasions, once in 1998 and again in 2001.

The wrestlers he has coached over the years have racked up a high number of accolades under his command. He has had 22 individuals earn All-America honors, 28 conference champions, and 199 conference place winners. Five of his wrestlers have been honored as the Conference Most Outstanding Wrestler and two have earned Conference Rookie/Freshman of the Year awards. Eight individuals have won the New York State Collegiate Championships with 13D total NYS place winners. Since 2013 when the NCAA created regional competition in the sport of wrestling, he has coached three regional champions and 34 regional place winners. Twenty-eight of his wrestlers have been named to the National Wrestling Coaches Association Division III Scholar All-America team. Mike Howard has certainly carried on the torch for the Howard family at SUNY Oswego.

Furthermore, Mike has been a very successful coach of golf at Oswego State. In 2019 and 2022, Howard was selected as the Empire 8 Conference Coach of the Year. During his 28 years at the helm of the Lakers golf team, his team has won numerous championships to add to his remarkable coaching resume.

During his tenure Howard has also served as the Chair of the NWCA Division III Ranking Committee and served multiple years on the NCAA Championship Seeding Committee. In 2022, Coach Mike Howard was recognized by the SUNY Oswego Alumni Association with the Oswego Impact Award, which is given to an individual who has made outstanding contributions to the college and the students. A very fitting award to such a deserving coach and leader.

For all that Mike Howard has accomplished in collegiate athletics, the Upstate New York Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame is pleased to enshrine him into the State Chapter Room of the Hall of Fame and Museum in Stillwater, Oklahoma