{"id":2113,"date":"2006-04-05T06:28:05","date_gmt":"2006-04-05T11:28:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/w2113\/"},"modified":"2006-04-05T06:28:05","modified_gmt":"2006-04-05T11:28:05","slug":"iowa-iowa-state-replacing-wrestling-coaches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/w2113\/iowa-iowa-state-replacing-wrestling-coaches\/","title":{"rendered":"Iowa, Iowa State replacing wrestling coaches"},"content":{"rendered":"

ESPN.com news services,\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

DES MOINES, Iowa — Iowa State announced Friday that former Cyclone
\nwrestler and Olympic gold medalist Cael Sanderson will replace coach
\nBobby Douglas, who announced his retirement from coaching.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Iowa fired coach Jim Zalesky and announced that the
\nschool would move “quickly and efficiently “to name a replacement
\nafter the team’s lowest finish in the Big Ten Championship in 39
\nyears.<\/p>\n

Douglas said his decision to step down was made to guarantee that
\nSanderson, a 2004 Olympic champion and the only undefeated (159-0),
\nfour-time NCAA champion, would take over as Cyclone head coach.<\/p>\n

“The future of ISU wrestling is what I care about most. “Douglas
\nsaid in a statement released by the school. “I wanted to ensure that
\nCael Sanderson was that future. It is what fueled my decision to
\nstep down.”<\/p>\n

Sanderson said the chance to coach at his alma mater was a “dream
\ncome true.”<\/p>\n

“I’m introduced today as Iowa State’s wrestling coach because of the
\nselfless sacrifices of my college coach, Bobby Douglas, “Sanderson
\nsaid in a statement. “I promise to work as hard as I did as a
\ncompetitor to build upon the traditions I’ve inherited as head
\ncoach. Iowa State University is a special place to our family. I’m
\nhumbled and excited at the same time about my opportunity.”<\/p>\n

Douglas will remain with the ISU athletics department as an
\nassistant athletics director.<\/p>\n

The university also announced the establishment of an endowed
\nscholarship in Douglas’ name to honor the Hall of Fame coach.<\/p>\n

Iowa athletic director Bob Bowlsby announced Wednesday that coach
\nZalesky, who replaced Dan Gable at Iowa in 1997 and won national
\ntitles his first three seasons, will be replaced.<\/p>\n

“I want to thank Jim and his staff for their efforts and I want to
\nacknowledge the success they have helped to achieve, “Bowlsby said
\nin a statement. “Unfortunately, at this point in time it is not
\narguable that we are making the kind of progress that will once
\nagain place our program among the elite in the sport.”<\/p>\n

Bowlsby said the search for his replacement will begin immediately.<\/p>\n

Zalesky led Iowa to national runners-up finishes in 2001 and 2004.
\nBut in 2006, Iowa failed to produce an individual champion in the
\nBig Ten or NCAA tournament for the second consecutive year. Iowa
\nfinished 11-7 in dual meets this season and placed sixth at the Big
\nTen championships, its lowest showing since 1967.<\/p>\n

Zalesky was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in
\n2004. He was a four-time All-American and a three-time NCAA champion
\nfor the Hawkeyes from 1981-84.<\/p>\n

The Associated Press contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ESPN.com news services,\u00a0 DES MOINES, Iowa — Iowa State announced Friday that former Cyclone wrestler and Olympic gold medalist Cael Sanderson will replace coach Bobby Douglas, who announced his retirement from coaching. Meanwhile, Iowa fired coach Jim Zalesky and announced that the school would move “quickly and efficiently “to name a replacement after the team’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-wrestling"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":6}},"acf":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2B7Di-y5","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2113"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2113\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}