DAN MCCOOL AND TOM WITOSKY
REGISTER STAFF WRITERS
A major shakeup in college wrestling happened today when it was learned Iowa State had replaced coach Bobby Douglas with Cyclone legend and Olympic gold medalist Cael Sanderson, hours after the University of Iowa announced it had released head coach Jim Zalesky.
Douglas, who was in his 14th season as Iowa State’s coach, disclosed the change in his employment status to the Des Moines Register.
“Cael is the new coach at Iowa State, “Douglas said. “I am no longer the coach.”
The reason for the change was not immediately clear, although Iowa State officials told the Register two weeks ago that they planned to position Sanderson as their eventual coach because they knew other programs would attempt to lure him away.
“It’s everybody’s intent, at some point in time in the future, that Cael will be our head coach, “Iowa State athletic director Jamie Pollard said then.
Pollard could not be reached for comment this afternoon. Department officials said a news conference will be held at 11 a.m. Friday to “announce the resignation of Bobby Douglas as head coach and hiring of Cael Sanderson as the new head coach.”
Sanderson, 26, was a four-time NCAA champion wrestler and the 2004 Olympic freestyle gold medalist. He will inherit a wrestling squad that finished in 13th in the most recent NCAA championships and fourth out of five schools in the Big 12 Conference championships.
Sanderson also could not be reached for comment, but said earlier this month that he would like the opportunity to be Iowa State’s head coach.
“I’m an alumnus here and I love Iowa State, “Sanderson said. “It’s been home for a long time, so Iowa State is obviously my first choice.”
Douglas will leave the Cyclone’s head coaching job after 33 years as a head wrestling at three different schools. Douglas began his career in 1973-74 at University of California-Santa Barbara, spent 19 years as head coach at Arizona State and his final 14 seasons at Iowa State.
During his tenure at Iowa State, Douglas compiled a 198-75-3 dual meet record, but never won the NCAA team championship.
The Cyclones best team finish was second place in 2002, 2000, and 1996.
Halfway across Iowa, Hawkeye officials were revealing that Zalesky and his staff were not being retained.
“As we do each year with every sport, we have completed an evaluation of all aspects of our wrestling program, “Bob Bowlsby, Iowa athletic director, said in a statement. “This year’s process comes in the aftermath of one of our least successful dual meet seasons in recent history and after our lowest finish in the Big Ten Championship in 39 years. Regretfully, we have come to the conclusion that it is time for new leadership within our wrestling program.”
Zalesky, a three-time national champion wrestler at Iowa, was hired to succeed wrestling legend Dan Gable as the head wrestling coach in 1998. Zalesky had one year left on his current contract.
Iowa finished sixth at the 2006 Big Ten championships and fourth at this year’s NCAA championships. Iowa did not have an individual champion at either event for the second consecutive year.
Zalesky’s teams compiled a 127-34 dual meet record, a mark that included wins in 56 of 75 matches against Big Ten opponents. However, Iowa’s dual meet records in 2005-06 were 11-7 overall and 4-4 against league opponents. This year’s record against Big Ten opponents follows records of 5-3 in 2004-05, 6-2 in 2003-04 and 7-1 in 2002-03.
Iowa won the national championship in each of Zalesky’s first three seasons (1998, 1999 and 2000) as the UI’s head coach. The Hawkeyes finished second in 2001 and again in 2004. Iowa finished in seventh place in the 2005 national meet.
“We will move just as quickly and efficiently as we can to focus on those candidates around the country who possess the talent and experience to lead our program back to its traditional position of prominence within the Big Ten and at the national level,” Bowlsby said.
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