GREELEY, Colo.- Head Coach, Troy Nickerson announced the hiring of Garett Kiley as an assistant coach for Northern Colorado wrestling and the promotion of Michael Moreno to the primary assistant coach. Kiley joins the UNC staff after serving as an assistant coach at Campbell University for the past two seasons.
In the 2017, Kiley helped to guide Campbell to its first ever Southern Conference Championship and All-American at the NCAA Championships. During Kiley’s seasons, Campbell had seven wrestlers qualify for the NCAA Championships.
Prior to his stint at Campbell, Kiley was the director of operations for Iowa State University where he worked with Nickerson and Moreno on staff. Kiley was the director of operations for both the university and the Cyclone Wrestling Club.
Kiley has been moving up the ranks in college wrestling with assistant head coaching jobs at Concordia University in Nebraska and Wayland Baptist University in Texas. At Wayland Baptist, Kiley served as an assistant coach for both the men’s and women’s wrestling program.
He graduated from Simpson College in 2008 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Physical Education and in 2013 he earned his Master of Arts in Coaching and Athletic Administration from Concordia University-Irvine.
Moreno is starting his second season at UNC and has already made an impact in the program’s growth. In the 2017-18 season, UNC had its best finish in the NCAA Championships since returning to Division 1, tying for 38th. The Bears also had their best finish at the Southern scuffle, tying for 12th. The team had success in the classroom as well, ranking 15th in cumulative GPA by the National Wrestling Coaches Association. UNC also defeated Moreno’s alma mater Iowa State for the programs first win against a traditional Big 12 Conference school.
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Congratulations Garett!