Kevin Jackson Named ISU Head Wrestling Coach

AMES, Iowa – Former Olympic gold medalist and two-time World Champion Kevin Jackson has been named Iowa State’s head wrestling coach. Director of Athletics Jamie Pollard will introduce Jackson – often referred to as one of the greatest freestyle wrestlers in United States history – at an 11 a.m. news conference Friday in the Jacobson Athletic Building (Hunziker Auditorium).

Jackson captured gold medals at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain and at the World Championships in both 1991 (Varna, Bulgaria) and 1995 (Atlanta). He is one of just five wrestlers in U.S. history with three career world-level titles.  Jackson is a member of the FILA International Wrestling Hall of Fame, the United States National Wrestling Hall of Fame (as a distinguished member) and the Iowa State University Athletics Hall of Fame (2007 inductee).

“We are very excited to welcome Kevin back to the Cyclone family,” Pollard said. “He was captain of the last Cyclone national championship team and is a member of our Athletics Department’s Hall of Fame. His competitive intensity, combined with his technical skills as a coach, will make an immediate impact on our wrestling program. For the last decade, Kevin has coached and trained the best United States wrestlers. He has excelled at the highest levels of international wrestling as both an athlete and coach.”

Jackson’s return to Iowa State brings back fond memories for him.

“Winning a national team championship at ISU remains a career highlight and I’m grateful for the opportunity to come back to Ames and lead such a distinguished program,” Jackson said. “There is no ceiling to what we can accomplish on and off the mat at Iowa State and I couldn’t be more excited to get started. I’m pleased to inherit such an outstanding team and we’ll begin immediately to focus on hard work and technique with the goal of competing for the NCAA title. We’ll build a wrestling environment at Iowa State in which our student-athletes will flourish in and our fans will respond.”

Currently head coach of the Sunkist youth development program, Jackson served eight years (2001-08) as the National Freestyle Coach for USA Wrestling. He was the first full-time freestyle wrestling coach for the organization and took two United States’ teams to the Olympics. Two of his athletes – Cael Sanderson (2004) and Henry Cejudo (2008) – won gold medals. His 2001 freestyle team won the World Cup, the 2003 team placed second and the 2006 squad finished third at that meet.

Prior to his appointment as the nation’s head freestyle coach, Jackson was freestyle resident coach at the Olympic Training Center and head coach for the U.S. Army team at Fort Carson (1998-2001). During that tenure, he personally trained 2000 Olympic champion Brandon Slay.

As a college wrestler, he attended Louisiana State and earned All-America honors three times before the school dropped the sport. He transferred to Iowa State for his senior year and captained the Cyclones’ last NCAA championship team (1987), earning another All-America award with a NCAA runner-up finish and registering a 30-3-1 record.

After college, Jackson won two Pan American Games titles and was a member of World Championship teams for the United States in both 1993 and 1995. He won three U.S. National Titles and placed second five times. Jackson also became the first American to win the prestigious Takhti Cup (1998) in Tehran, Iran.

During his post-collegiate competitive career, Jackson also assisted with the Cyclone Wrestling Club (1989-92) and volunteered with the Arizona State (1997) program.

Jackson’s success earned him a number of major awards, including the 1995 John Smith Award as National Freestyle Wrestler of the Year, 1992 Amateur Wrestling News Man of the Year and 1991 USA Wrestling and USOC Wrestler of the Year.

He earned a bachelor of sports science degree from the U.S. Sports Academy / University of Americas in 2005.

The native of Lansing, Mich., won two state high school championships for Eastern High School before becoming a Junior National Greco-Roman champion.

Jackson and his wife, Robin (a native of Emmetsburg, Iowa), have five children: Cole, Bailee, Trinity, Brynn and Kira.

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#15	Anonymous Coward   May 3 at 9:01pm what happened to sanderson? I havent really been keeping up with this reply
#14	TX Ref   May 3 at 12:59pm To Politically Awake, yes you are correct LSU was ranked in the top 10 when the program was cut. Along with the likes of Florida and UNLV, that were also cut around that same time. With the cuts of LSU and Florida, the South Eastern Conference took an exit from the sport of wrestling. I have met Kevin Jackson and he is a class act. I think that he will be a very good fit at ISU. I hope that Kevin will put pressure on the other BIG 5 schools (BIG 12) to bring back wreslting. I just wanted to see ISU go out and make the same kind of waves that PSU did. They could have spent more money to lure Terry away from Iowa. Doesn't everybody have a price? They could have shaved some money from the football and basketball program to get Terry over. Have you seen the football or basketball teams records? I am glad that wrestling does as well it does at ISU. Why didn't ISU try and lure J Robinson away from Minnesota? Talk about stoking the fire. J wants to get the record for a dual meet attendance back, he could have done that if he was at ISU. I hope that this will bring a little more parity to college wrestling. With Mark Branch going to Wyoming and you have Boise State, there could be a few different teams to challenge Tom and the Hawks for the next title. reply
#13	Champion By Design   May 3 at 10:43am Champion By Design at Beat the Streets! AT EVERY STAGE OF LIFE. http://www.ChampionByDesign.com http://www.Twitter.com/ChampionXDesign reply
#12	Robert Jackson(Northwestern)   May 2 at 3:08pm Egor! reply
#11	Politically Awake   May 1 at 11:12pm Isn't it remarkable that Louisiana State University's program folded in the middle of Kevin Jackson's intercollegiate All-American career despite its success? I heard it was ranked Top 10 nationwide at around the time of its folding due to Title IX. Kevin Jackson's a Michigan native. I wonder if they regularly started any wrestlers from Lousiana, or even the South, on that program? Perhaps that would have inspired more elected officials, local fans and alumni boosters to lobby to keep the program intact. Same goes for the University of Tennessee's impressive program that folded right around that time, too. Thanks Washington (D.C. that is)... reply
#10	Cliff Fretwell   May 1 at 10:18pm "Former" Olympic champion? I didn't know after a certain period of time you were no longer an Olympic Champ. Good luck KJ. reply
#9	Ohio Wrestling Fan   May 1 at 8:51pm I don't think either David Taylor or Jamie Clark will attend ISU...I forsee them at Penn State with the Alton's...He is going to have a strong team in about 3 years at PSU! reply
#8	BillyWhiteShoes   May 1 at 5:06pm KJ is good, but i should have been Terry Brands. Can you imagine the electricity that would have generated- the dual meets would have been electric. reply
#7	Johann Gerlach   May 1 at 3:33pm KJ will get ISU in the mix for a National Title. reply
#6	Anonymous   May 1 at 1:07pm Jackson will do well as the cyclones coach. Also I think he should try to bring in Nate Carr to help out. reply
#5	Rick Hahne   May 1 at 12:21pm A little respect please for the Olympic gold medalist - World Champion KJ. I will say after watching his press conference he is a very well spoken individual, much unlike the former!! Let's give him a chance before we throw in the towel! reply
#4	Red Dog   May 1 at 12:07pm Well, that officially finishes our beloved Cyclone program for 10 years. Please come back Cael, PLEASE!!! And David Taylor is leaving to PSU, you can take that to the bank! reply
#3	Guy Rigsby   May 1 at 12:05pm At least KJ gets a GREAT a blue chipper in D. Taylor to start his new job!!! reply
#2	Rick Hahne   May 1 at 9:15am Can Kevin Jackson keep ISU together this year. He may not have collegiate coaching credentials but his international sucess is pretty stout! Nate Carr was a stud! reply
#1	Another Coward   May 1 at 7:30am Well good luck Mr Jackson! Can you get Nate Carr to come and be your assistant? Guess money was'nt good enough to get Terry to leave Iowa.....this year reply