Kevin Jackson, an all-American on Iowa State’s last NCAA team championship in 1987, will return to campus as the Cyclones’ new wrestling coach.

Listen:

The 1992 Olympic gold medalist and two-time world champion in freestyle wrestling replaces Cael Sanderson, who resigned earlier this month to become coach at Penn State.

Jackson is in his first year as head coach of the elite-level wrestlers for the Arizona-based Sunkist Kids club program. He served as USA Wrestling’s national freestyle coach between 2001 and 2008 — and led the team during the most recent Olympics in Beijing, China.

This will be his first college head coaching job. He was a volunteer assistant at Arizona State between 1995-98.

He was selected from a group of at least five men who spoke with Pollard about the job. The others, according to Register reporting: Tennessee-Chattanooga coach Chris Bono, Ohio State assistant Joe Heskett and USA Wrestling national freestyle coach Larry “Zeke” Jones.

Jackson was a three-time all-American at Louisiana State. He transferred to Iowa State after Louisiana State dropped its program, and Jackson finished second to Royce Alger of Iowa at 167 pounds in the 1987 national tournament.

The Lincoln Journal-Star reported today that Nebraska coach Mark Manning confirmed he spoke to Pollard about the Iowa State job. The newspaper said Manning was offered the position and turned it down, but did not quote or attribute that information to a named source.

Manning, who did not return telephone calls earlier this week from The Des Moines Register, confirmed to the Lincoln newspaper Iowa State had contacted him about the job.

“I talked with them a couple of times, and that was it,” Manning told the Journal-Star.

Manning was 23-24-2 in three seasons as head coach at Northern Iowa. He left Northern Iowa in 2000 for Nebraska.

The Register contacted Nebraska officials earlier this week about Manning. A statement from athletic director Tom Osborne indicated Iowa State handles those situations professionally — but stopped short of confirming that the Cyclones asked permission to speak with the Cornhuskers coach.

Pollard also asked for permission to speak to Iowa assistant Terry Brands about the job. Brands is the twin brother of Iowa coach Tom Brands.

Iowa athletic director Gary Barta confirmed that Iowa State athletic director Jamie Pollard expressed interest in Terry Brands, but that he was not considering the position.

Bono and Heskett were NCAA champions at Iowa State, with Bono also serving as a Cyclone assistant coach under Bobby Douglas. Jones’s older brother, Johnnie, was an all American at Iowa State in 1976 and 1977.


http://www.desmoinesregister.com/art...20603/90430032

YAY!!! I couldn't be happier with the selection. Coach KJ is a highly decorated and respected freestyle wrestler with a connection to ISU. Although he doesn't have any head coach experience at a D1 school, neither did Cael Sanderson and we gave him a shot.

So, hopefully all our wrestlers return and Coach KJ can win a national championship and prove to a former ISU coach who will remain nameless...that it is not that difficult to win champsionships in Ames (and Iowa in general for that matter---see Dan Gable/Tom Brands at UI). Good luck Coach KJ.

Good Luck KJ. I hope he keeps the recruiting class in tact.

Smart hire. He will do well.

Damn... I was holding out for Thom Oritz

Announcement attached

Originally Posted by vaisforlovers

Smart hire. He will do well.

I agree

A lot of the wrestlers wanted Jackson and are happy he was the choice. That's key, that the wrestlers are going to wrestle hard for him. As has been said elsewhere, he's got nationwide connections, and should be able to get the ear of nearly anyone he wants to be an assistant.