This is the second of a two-part series about NIL and the transfer portal. Today’s focus is on Division III wrestlers. Read Part 1 here. There are 443 wrestlers in the transfer portal as of May 14, 2024. 31 of those are Division III wrestlers, and two of the 31 were 2024 NCAA qualifiers. Compared to Division I, there are very few Division III wrestlers using the portal. One of the reasons for this is that DIII athletes have other options than the portal to talk to other schools. These three options are as follows: Fill out the DIII self-release form if the athlete wants to talk to anoth ..read more

Assistant Wrestling Coach/Mitchell Hall Facilities Coordinator (click for full posting) Assistant Wrestling Coach (9 month appointment): The Assistant Coach will assist in the management of daily operations of Division III intercollegiate wrestling program competing in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, with responsibilities including, but not limited to, assisting in the planning, recruiting, coaching, developing, implementing, and administering of the wrestling program to meet University and Department objectives. They will also be responsible for various administrative task ..read more

This is the first of a two-part series about transferring in college wrestling. The first article is about the transfer portal and NIL compensation for college wrestlers. Coming later is a shorter article about the portal and Division III wrestling. Two main stories have dominated wrestling news and social media this spring (I started writing this before David Taylor became the Oklahoma State coach). One is last month’s Olympic Trials and the upcoming Paris Games. The other is the NCAA Transfer Portal and its connection to Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) compensation for college athletes. Pen ..read more

Penn State Altoona has announced Pennsylvania native Tyshawn White as head coach for their reborn wrestling team. The Lions will return to the mat this fall for the first time since the 1980s. White spent last season as an assistant coach at Division II Chadron State in Nebraska and had previously coached for a season at Messiah University. Chadron State won the RMAC championship in 2024 and sent a pair of wrestlers to the NCAA Championships. White finished up his wrestling career with one season at Shippensburg in 2022 where he finished 2nd in the NCAA Division II Championships at 125 lbs. H ..read more

Five former Division III wrestlers competed in Greco-Roman at the 2024 Olympic Trials held this past weekend at Penn State. 2013 NCAA Champion Joe Rau was the top finisher, winning his weight class and earning a spot in the Olympic Games this summer. Read more about Rau’s tournament here. Four other DIII wrestlers competed alongside Rau at the event including those listed below. 60kg – Brady Koontz, University of Dubuque – Koontz wrestled for Team USA in the 2023 World Championships down at 55kg, but he moved up to the Olympic weight of 60kg this past weekend. He lost both his two matches 4-2 ..read more

Joe Rau has made the 2024 U.S. Olympic team as the representative at 97kg in Greco-Roman wrestling. The former Elmhurst national champion and three-time All-American defeated Alan Vera two matches to one in the final series at the Bryce Jordan Center in Pennsylvania on Saturday night. Rau had lost both of his matches with Vera prior to the trials and also lost the first match of the finals 7-1, putting him on the precipice of missing a chance to wrestle in Paris. He proceeded to win the second match 6-0 to set up the deciding match. Rau got off to a quick start in round three and ultimately e ..read more

Johns Hopkins University has taken the top spot in the team GPA competition, the National Wrestling Coaches Association announced today. They edged 2nd place Heidelberg and 3rd place Ohio Northern for the victory. We should all hope their celebratory video matches previous efforts. NWCA Announces the 2024 NCAA Division III Scholar All-American Awards Additionally, 418 wrestlers from 100 schools earned NWCA Scholar All-American Honors for 2024. Augsburg, Chicago, Coast Guard, UW-La Crosse, NYU, Stevens, and UW-Eau Claire each had 10 or more wrestlers honored. In order to be recognized, a wres ..read more

Go to the Augustana HR Website to Apply and to see the full description. Job Description: Overview: Is responsible for assisting in the overall management of the College’s men’s and women’s wrestling programs including coaching, recruitment and retention of student-athletes, scheduling and budget management, equipment ordering, scheduling contests, viable fundraising, public relations, and other duties.   Job Duties: Work under the direction of the Head Wrestling Coach to conduct and evaluate practice activities for designated team members. Provide group and individual assista ..read more

Landon Williams, previously the top assistant at Wartburg, has succeeded Eric Van Kley as head coach at Central College, the Pella, Iowa, school announced yesterday. The Iowa native was three-time All-American and two-time NCAA champion at Wartburg. Van Kley remains at Central as Vice President for Athletics and remarked on the hiring of Williams, “Landon’s own personal experience and passion for the Division III model is something we really prioritize and value at Central. He’s competed in Division III, he’s coached in Division III, he understands what we’re about and that is focusing on the ..read more

Today, Ferrum College announced plans to move to Division II for the 2025-2026 school year, and the Virginia school has accepted an invitation to join Conference Carolinas. Ferrum currently competes in the ODAC and will do so for one more season. The Panthers sent a pair of wrestlers to the NCAA Championships last month and will compete one more time as a member of Division III. Ferrum has had five NCAA All-Americans and two NWCA All-Americans since restarting the team for the 2013-2014 season. Ferrum College #TheJourney to Division II and Conference Carolinas ..read more