Yesterday, Iowa State made a splash in the wrestling community by making a series of announcements related to their school programs. In addition to announcing a women’s program, Athletic Director Jamie Pollard also announced that men’s head coach Kevin Dresser would be moved to a Director of Wrestling Operations role to oversee both the men and women’s team.
The change to Dresser’s title meant elevating former assistant coach Brent Metcalf to the head coaching position, and fellow assistant Derek St. John also got a promotion to Associate Head Coach. That means that Iowa State has at least one, and technically they can have four full-time coaches on the staff.
With Iowa State being one of the sport’s more historic programs, that would make the current opening (or two) an attractive landing spot. Here are a few names that we think could be potential targets for Metcalf.
David Carr
The most successful wrestler to compete for Iowa State during Kevin Dresser’s tenure at Iowa State would be a solid candidate for an official coaching role on the staff. A two-time NCAA champion for the Cyclones and a 2024 graduate, his success on the mat in college is still fresh in the minds of many perspective recruits out there.
What makes Carr an unlikely candidate is that his success on the mat does not appear to be over. In 2025 he made the U.S. Senior World Team at 74 kg where he finished fifth at the World Championships. He has racked up numerous wins and is currently ranked fifth in the UWW rankings.
Anymore its considered uncommon to see one of USA Wrestling’s National Team members on a coaching staff versus them focusing solely on competing.
Chris Perry
During the press conference announcing the staff changes, Metcalf made a comment that he is not looking to shake a bunch of things up as far as filling out his staff. That could be a nod to the fact that former Oklahoma State assistant Perry, who has been a coach with the team’s Cyclone Regional Training Center the past couple of seasons, is already in Ames, is familiar with the team, and has coaching experience.
Tony Ramos
I don’t include Ramos purely for the sake of adding a big name to the list. I genuinely think if Brent Metcalf picked up the phone to call Ramos, he would pick up and listen.
Keep in mind while the two did not wrestle together in college, they were in the same Iowa wrestling room for years. The two wrestled together at the Hawkeye Wrestling Club and they wrestled together at the 2014 and 2015 Senior World Championships.
The two have a shared history, and with Ramos being an Illinois native the move would certainly put him closer to his home state.
The flip side of the argument is many have been speculating Ramos as being a potential head coach in waiting for several years, and while not a certainty he would likely be a prime candidate to succeed Rob Koll at North Carolina should the day come where Koll decides to retire.
While that could be true (Ramos being the heir apparent in Chapel Hill), a move to Ames and joining the Iowa State coaching staff wouldn’t have a knock on effect to his candidacy as a potential head coach.
Willie Miklus
Another former wrestler that competed at Iowa State during the Dresser and Metcalf era. Miklus would be a solid upper weight addition for the Cyclones. For starters he has already coached with Metcalf and St. John, serving as a graduate assistant after wrapping up his career at Iowa State.
From there he spent five seasons at Michigan State under Roger Chandler and he just finished his first season at North Dakota State.
The attractive qualities for Miklus are his ability to work with the upper weights, and overall most view Miklus as a pretty likable guy. I am sure that is true for a lot of coaching candidates out there, but the most telling item you can point to is when Miklus joined Iowa State, even Iowa fans viewed Miklus positively – which is a true rarity amongst the Cy-Hawk rivalry.