UNC wrestler 'rises from the ashes'

People love and respect a man who rises from the ashes.

Ziad Haddad first heard those words from his uncle following his freshman year. They reverberated in his head like a challenge, but one he wasn’t used to.

Less than a year later, those words are his story.

A former high school national champion, Haddad fell into the fire of academic ineligibility at the end of his redshirt freshman campaign. Now the Pennsylvania native is back on the mat, riding a four-match win streak and ranked No. 21 in the nation after regaining it.

Developing a champion

Haddad was born a competitor. Three brothers, one sister and countless games of Monopoly. It isn’t what’s written about North Carolina’s 6-foot-2, 240-pound heavyweight wrestler in any media guide. It’s just who he is.

Haddad spent his high school years at Bethlehem Catholic in Pennsylvania where his father, Tarik, coached football.

“My father was the catalyst in everything I’ve done up to this point,” Haddad said. “He’s been my biggest supporter, my biggest fan and he’s also been my biggest critic.

“He always calls a spade a spade and I couldn’t ask for anything more from a father.”

Haddad started under his father for three years and wrestled throughout high school, but it wasn’t until his junior year that he had something special with wrestling.

Wrestling was his ticket.

A full season of tirelessly practicing placed Haddad in the state finals match as a junior. Twenty-eight seconds later, Haddad was the state runner-up.

“I worked so hard and wanted it so bad and knew in my heart that I was going to achieve that dream,” Haddad said. “And then when I got pinned in 28 seconds, I wanted answers.”

But there weren’t any — not at first.

“There was only one person that I could ask for answers why, and that was the Lord,” Haddad said. “It was at that moment that I said, ‘OK, God, I’m going to praise you in this storm.’ From that moment on, I became a man of faith.”

One year later, Haddad’s answer was validated. He won both the state and national championship.

Recruitment process

Haddad had a horde of serious offers from schools like Indiana, Oklahoma State and Michigan.

North Carolina isn’t a traditional wrestling powerhouse. It isn’t the Iowa of the South, and when Haddad spoke to UNC coach C.D. Mock, the prized recruit was staring at a large part of the program’s history. Haddad saw himself becoming a part of that history.

As UNC’s first wrestling national champion in 1982, Mock inspired Haddad to believe that he could once again become a national champion at North Carolina.

“I believed that from the minute I signed the paper,” Haddad said.

During his redshirt season, he quickly learned that collegiate wrestling was no simple task. It took Haddad nearly two months to record his first takedown, a proficiency he mastered in high school.

“I think a lot of Z’s problems had to do with the fact that he wasn’t used to getting worked in practice,” Mock said. “That’s hard to swallow if you’re not ready for that.”

Friend in food

Craig Samuels first met Haddad when the redshirt freshman walked into Franklin Street Pizza & Pasta, which Samuels owns. A long-time supporter of UNC’s wrestling team and a wrestling coach at Culbreth Middle School, Samuels befriended Haddad.

The restaurant became one of Haddad’s favorites for a number of reasons. He enjoyed everything from its signature penne in a pink basil sauce to his talks with Samuels about wrestling and life.

What Haddad orders isn’t on the menu. It’s called “the usual.” By now, the employees know exactly what that entails. A garden salad, the penne with pink basil sauce, a slice of Sicilian pizza and the occasional Philly cheesesteak for that familiar taste from home. It totals $22.45.

“I’ve never actually seen a human being eat as much as he does,” Samuels said. “He used to order, well, still does, like three main courses and I’m like, ‘This guy can’t finish this food, no way.’ And I look up, and all the plates are empty.”

Often Samuels and his eighth-grade son Jake, a 119-pound wrestler at Culbreth, attend UNC wrestling matches to support the team and Haddad, who has offered Samuels and his son wrestling advice.

“We have that sort of relationship where Craig can open up to me and ask me for help when it comes up because, you know, I was there once,” Haddad said. “I was an eighth-grade wrestler.”

This year, when Jake wrestled a rematch against the only opponent who had beaten him, Haddad  gave Samuels advice to pass along to him.

“I just said to him, ‘Every time you step out on the mat nerves are a part of everything. Nerves are a part of your life and everything you do in every aspect of life.’”

Classroom struggles

Not too far into the spring semester, open wrestling tournaments wrapped up and Haddad was a free man — free from his time-consuming commitments to the wrestling team and free to do what he wanted.

Without the structure and competition of wrestling, Haddad stagnated.

At first, sophomore Thomas Ferguson noticed his teammate hadn’t been coming to their math class.

“I knew he was a freshman, he was probably caught up in the things freshmen get caught up in,” Ferguson said.

Ferguson texted Haddad, encouraging him to come to class despite math being “his thing.”

Haddad didn’t listen and Ferguson reached out again, offering to help Haddad with his homework and studying if he would come to class, but when Haddad didn’t show, Ferguson stopped trying.

The result for Haddad was a 0.6 GPA for the semester.

“I was in a dark place my freshman year second semester,” Haddad said. “I lost focus. And, when I lost focus, I mean, I lost focus. I hit rock bottom. When that semester was over, I was just sitting there saying, ‘I possibly could’ve just ruined my life.’”

Haddad’s cumulative GPA dropped to 1.2, below what he needed to be eligible to wrestle.  Haddad wasn’t allowed to compete in what would have been his first semester on the team.

Mock wrote Haddad a letter telling him that he still had a great opportunity and to give it some serious thought because “you don’t get do-overs.”

“When I sent him home in the summer, I started recruiting another heavyweight,” Mock said.  “I just didn’t know.”

The turnaround

That summer, Haddad took three classes. Like wrestling, it was go hard or go home, except literally this time.

It was during that time, while searching for inspiration, that his uncle told him, “People love and respect a man who rises from the ashes.”

That was all he needed.

“I really had to dig deep and find my faith and continue to pray throughout the storm,” Haddad said. “That was a point in my life where I didn’t know which way was up.”

Haddad, with the help and support of his family, earned two A’s and an A- to boost his GPA above the minimum for eligibility.

Still, it would be a long process.

Returning in the fall semester, Ferguson found himself in another math class with Haddad. It was déjà vu for Ferguson, but a redemption opportunity for Haddad.

“I was like, ‘I’ll help you out, but if I feel like you’re using me to get the work done and you’re not using me as an aid to help you learn, I’m going to stop helping you right then and there,’” Ferguson said.

In addition, Haddad worked with senior associate athletic directors John Blanchard, Beth Miller and Larry Gallo, Jr.

All three directors spent time making sure Haddad would be eligible and tracking down Haddad’s teachers to stress that his final grades were submitted in time for him to rejoin the team for its tournament in Reno, Nev., on Dec. 20.

With one challenge out of the way, Haddad can move to the next. He is 11-5 this season since rejoining the lineup and is climbing the ranks at No. 21 in the country, according to WrestlingReport.com.

“I needed that same strength that I needed to get back up and pick myself back up after I got pinned in 28 seconds, to get up and pick myself back up from the 0.6,” Haddad said.

It wasn’t fairy-tale perfect, but perhaps it’s better that way.

Haddad emerged victorious from the tribulations like the familiar image he displays when winning a match — arms raised high and a smile that reached higher.

“I’m loving where I’m at,” Haddad said. “I love and I enjoy waking up everyday and going to work out and doing the things that I’m supposed to be doing.”



Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.