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Cyclone Wrestling Staff |
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Kevin Jackson |
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Head Coach at Iowa State University |
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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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Yero Washington |
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Assistant Wrestling Coach |
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Iowa State head wrestling coach Kevin Jackson announced in June that former Columbia head assistant wrestling coach Yero (yah-ROO) Washington is joining the ISU wrestling staff as an assistant coach. Washington was a club and volunteer wrestling coach at Columbia for the 2008-09 season. He has coached at Columbia for a decade, including a stint as head assistant wrestling coach from 2004-07.
Washington first joined the Columbia staff in 2002, as a graduate assistant. After a year as a resident athlete at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, pursuing a berth on the United States Olympic Wrestling Team, Washington returned to Columbia in 2004.
“The primary reason I’m headed to Iowa State is Kevin Jackson,” Washington said. “Kevin is an extraordinary leader. The fact that Iowa State is a collegiate wrestling powerhouse was also a factor in my decision.”
Washington also participated in the Olympic Trials for the 2000 Games after winning the Northwest Regional Qualifier. The 1998 Sunkist International Tournament champion, he has been a member of the U.S. National team, America’s World Cup team and America’s Nations Cup teams.
Born in Berkeley, Calif., Washington was a California state champion in high school in Porterville. A two-time junior college All-American at Fresno City (Calif.) College, Washington won the California State Junior College Championships. Transferring to Fresno State, he twice made All-American, in 1996, when he finished sixth in the nation at 134 pounds, and 1997, when he was third in the nation.
He served as chief assistant wrestling coach at Fresno City College from 1997 to 1999, and was on the 1999-2000 Fresno State staff, working closely with Stephen Abas, a three-time NCAA champion, along with Stan Greene, a two-time NCAA All-American.
Washington earned his bachelor of science degree from Fresno State in 1999.
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Molly Donnelly |
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Director of Wrestling Operations |
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Molly Donnelly began her duties as director of operations for the Iowa State wrestling program in January of 2008. The Independence native serves as a liaison with the Cyclone Wrestling Club. She coordinates special events and team travel for the ISU program.
Donnelly is the administrator for the Iowa State Wrestling Camps and works with ISU athletics communications and with other student staff that assist the Cyclone program.
Donnelly graduated with a bachelor's degree in marketing from Iowa State in 2007. She had previously assisted the Cyclone wrestling program as a statistician and director of student assistants while an undergraduate. |
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Nate Gallick |
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Volunteer Coach |
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Former Iowa State wrestler and 2006 NCAA champion Nate Gallick (2002-06) is returning home to be a volunteer coach in the Iowa State wrestling program. Gallick, a three-time All-American, has served as an assistant coach at Tennessee-Chattanooga for the past two seasons, while still competing internationally at 60 kilograms (132 pounds).
Gallick, the 2006 Iowa State Student-Athlete of the Year was perfect in his senior Cyclone season, going 35-0 and winning a NCAA 141-pound title. Gallick placed second and fifth previously.
Gallick, a native of Tucson, Ariz., won Big 12 titles at 141 pounds in his sophomore, junior and senior seasons. He finished his career with 106 victories.
"Obviously, returning to my alma mater in a program that is actively working to bring in top wrestlers from around the country is the kind of situation I am looking for," Gallick said. "It is an ideal situation for me. I know many of the older guys on the team so this is exciting for me."
In the freestyle arena, Gallick has been nothing short of stellar, having been ranked by TheMat.com as one of the top wrestlers at 60 kilograms on several occasions. Gallick took third at the 2008 Olympic Team Trials and was the winner of the 2007 U.S. Senior Nationals.
Nate Gallick is older brother of current two-time All-American Cyclone Nick Gallick. |
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