Jeff Murphy/Cyclone Wrestling Club
Ames, Iowa – Steve Knight has recently been named Executive Director and Club Coach of the Cyclone Wrestling Club, the support arm for the Iowa State University wrestling program.
Knight’s duties as Executive Director will include building membership, sponsorship and coordinating special events for the Cyclone Wrestling Club. Knight will also work with wrestlers to continue their careers beyond college while training for international competition and expand the regional training site concept. Iowa State wrestling has been designated as an official USAW Regional Training Site.
“I’m excited to be back in Cyclone country and I’m honored and proud to be a part of this program again. I have great memories here. My wife and I are also pleased to be back around family,” said Knight this past week from the Iowa State campus.
“We feel fortunate to have the opportunity to hire someone with Steve’s experience and background, ” stated Jeff Murphy, Cyclone Wrestling Club president. “Coach Douglas and his staff are doing a great job of bringing the best wrestlers in the nation to Iowa State. Our top mission at the Cyclone Wrestling Club is to provide those wrestlers with the opportunity to pursue their post collegiate wrestling goals, and the addition of Steve Knight will help us to achieve that mission.
Steve Knight received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Iowa State University. He was an Iowa State NCAA All American and Big 8 Champion at 126lbs. He went on to win the 1992 Pan American Championships at 136.5lbs. He wrestled on the US Freestyle circuit through 1992 competing both nationally and internationally. He was also a five time Senior National Freestyle All American while competing for the Cyclone Wrestling Club.
Knight was an assistant coach for three seasons at Iowa State under Head Coach Jim Gibbons. After finishing his competitive career, he and his wife settled in Colorado.
For the past ten years, Steve was the Head Coach for Team Excel, a USA Wrestling club that competed on both the Senior Olympic freestyle level as well as the Junior level. Team Excel has seen much success in 10 years with many Senior level All American performances. On the junior level, Team Excel wrestlers earned 62 High School State Championships with many of these wrestlers going on to wrestle on the college level. Two wrestlers from the program have achieved Division I NCAA All American status.
Knight has been a member of the USA Wrestling National Teams coaching pool for 12 years. He is a USA Wrestling bronze level certified coach and has lead many teams abroad. He was the Head Coach of the US Pan Am team in 2004 that won the Freestyle Pan American Championships in Guatemala City, Guatemala. In 2005, he coached the US World Cup team to Tashkent, Uzbekistan. He has served on two US Olympic Coaching staffs in 2000 and 2004. He also worked for two years with the Australian National team coaching in two World Freestyle Championships in 1998 and 1999.
In Colorado, Knight was also the founder of the Colorado state chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. He was instrumental in developing USA Wrestling’s very first Junior Olympic Program model that is currently being utilized today in several states. Knight is also a committee member for the USA Wrestling Federation of Clubs board. Steve and his wife Kristin have three children, Evan, 13, Colby, 11, and Mackenzie, 9.
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