Concordia University, Nebraska Athletic Director Grant Schmidt announced today that Doug Reese has been named the head wrestling coach. Reese is a former world silver medalist in freestyle wrestling and a U.S. National Champion in both freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling. At Concordia, Reese will have the challenge of reviving an intercollegiate wrestling program that hasn't put a wrestler on the mat since the mid-1970s.
"Doug Reese is an outstanding addition to our coaching staff," said Schmidt. "His experience as a competitor and coach is deep, and he is a great fit for Concordia. We are blessed to have him be the coach that brings wrestling back to Concordia."
Reese comes to Concordia by way of Orange Lutheran High School in Orange, Calif. Before his position at Orange Lutheran he worked at the U.S. Olympic Education Center in Marquette, Mich.
Reese's 23 years of collegiate coaching experience include stints at Wheaton College (Ill.), Michigan Technological University, University of Minnesota-Morris, and King College (Tenn.). Reese is a USA Wrestling Gold Certified Coach and became a member of the USA Wrestling coaching staff in 1995.
As a coach he has tutored 140 All-Americans at the NCAA, NAIA, and in USA Wrestling's senior, university, and junior levels. Thirty-two of his wrestlers have earned Academic All-American honors in the NCAA and NAIA. He has coached wrestlers to 20 world medals in the Olympics, senior, university, and at the junior world championships. In addition the teams he has coached have won seven national championships.
Coach Reese is a frequent speaker at Fellowship of Christian Athletes events and is a popular wrestling clinician. Reese is also involved with Athletes In Action, having coached AIA wrestling mission trips in Russia, Honduras, Guatemala and Panama.
Reese is also a published author with more than 30 articles on training athletes for competition. He penned the popular sport devotional Take it to the Next Level, Performance Principles for Life and was a contributing author to the wresting classic Wrestle to Win and to the New Testament sport Bible nt:sport.