Contos ready to roll for IW wrestling

We're potentially just months away from the first men and women's wrestling competitions for Iowa Wesleyan University, and the Tigers are all ready at the top, as new men's head coach Shawn Contos is getting comfortable in his new role.

Contos was hired in March to head the men's team, joining Robert Powell in the Tiger coaches club. Powell, who was hired last September, immediately began recruiting for both teams but will be the head coach on the women's side.

'The process was pretty easy,” Contos said about his hire. 'I spoke to Director of Athletics, Derek Zander, and I came out tointerview and met some of the other coaches at IW. We all seemed to see things in a similar light, and I felt like I fit in well with them, and with the mission of the school.”

Contos has a wealth of knowledge in both freestyle and folkstyle wrestling, and has over 20 years of experience under his belt. Contos coached at Iowa State, with Cael Sanderson and at Penn State with both Cody Sanderson and Casey Cunningham. He most recently coached at his alma matter, St. Jon's Jesiut High School, where he served as head coach in 2018-19 and 2019-20.

'Leaving St. John's Jesuit was a pretty tough decision,” Contos says. 'I graduated from there in 1993, and the Administration has been tremendous. I would really like to thank the president, Mike Savona, and the Athletic Director, Bob Ronai for all their support and guidance.”

Contos says he is ready for the challenge of building a new Tiger probram. He says he has always dreamed of having his own college program, and starting from square one is only icing on the cake.

'I will have my hand in every aspect of the program development, and that is very exciting to me,” Contos says. 'The fact that we get to make our own history and tradition is a rare thing, and we are going to embrace it. Our team will be ready to lay a foundation that future Tiger wrestlers can be proud of, and we will establish a style of wrestling that is exciting for fans, as well as for our athletes.”

Contos is a decorated wrestler himself. He qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials in 2012 and was ranked in the top 10 in the United States in 2013. He has titles as the Junior National Champion in both Freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling, and was a four-time All-American.

Contos says he wants the Tigers to compete right away when the team begins having meets this winter. 'Obviously it is a learning process, but I expect us to compete immediately,” Contos says. 'I am not sure how long it will take us to be in the running for a National Championship, but we will be competing right away. Year in and year out, we will never focus on the results, only on the process.”

Contos says he plans on implementing an aggressive style, teaching his wrestlers to get points wherever and whenever they can get them.

'We are going to be putting a product on the mat that is fan friendly, aggressive and fun to watch,” Contos says. 'We will push the pace, and really try to score points all of the time. We will always be trying to score the next points, no matter how much time is on the clock ... Settling for a one-point victory when we can win by five isn't going to be acceptable.”

Contos and the Tiger men's wrestling team, along with the women's program, will begin meets around early November, that is as long as collegiate events have picked up after the fall out from the COVID-19 outbreak.