By Joel Wauters, UNI Athletics
PHILADELPHIA — UNI head wrestling coach Doug Schwab has been named the National Wrestling Coaches Association’s (NWCA) NWCA Division I Men’s National Coach of the Year, as announced by the NWCA on Saturday afternoon.
Schwab, who is in his 15th season as the leader of the Northern Iowa wrestling program, is the first Panther coach to earn the Division I national coaching honor from the NWCA.
Finalists for this year’s honor also included Tony Robie (Virginia Tech), Cael Sanderson (Penn State), Matt Azevedo (Drexel), Mike Grey (Cornell), Matt Hill (Edinboro), Neil Erisman (Little Rock) and Ryan LeBlanc (Citadel).
UNI posted a 14-1 record in dual meets this season, its most wins since the 1990-91 season with six wins over ranked opponents in South Dakota State (twice), Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, West Virginia and Iowa State. The Panthers also reached a fourth-in-the-nation team ranking, its highest mark since 1988. UNI also captured the NWCA Multi-Division National Dual Meet Championship title in the UNI-Dome in January.
Northern Iowa crowned three Big 12 Conference champions in Cael Happel (141 pounds), Parker Keckeisen (184 pounds) and Wyatt Voelker (197 pounds), coaching the Panthers to a second-place team finish, tying the program’s highest ever conference tournament finish since joining the league in 2017-18 and coming just four points shy of a team title.
For the first time since 1986, the Panthers qualified for the NCAA Championships in all ten weight classes with nine automatic qualifiers and one at-large selection. Both Happel and Keckeisen earned All-American honors, extending the program’s streak of having at least one All-American to ten consecutive seasons and having multiple contested All-Americans for the first time since 2017.
In Schwab’s career, the Panthers have won 127 duals, ranking third-most in the 101-year history of the program. Schwab has posted 92 NCAA Championship qualifiers with 22 All-American selections.
An Osage, Iowa native, Schwab was named Northern Iowa’s ninth head wrestling coach in May 2010 after previously serving as an assistant coach at Iowa and Virginia Tech. A three-time All-American at 141 pounds, he captured the 1999 NCAA title and finished his career with 130 wins, currently ranking tenth in Hawkeye history.
Following his college career, Schwab continued to compete in freestyle competition, placing fifth at the 2007 World Championships in Azerbaijan, while also winning the 2007 U.S. Senior freestyle national title and bronze at the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He also won titles at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials and U.S. Nationals and represented the United States at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China.
Schwab currently resides in Cedar Falls with his wife, Allyson and their four children, Hayden, Hendrix, Jenna and Lennon.