Powell officially introduced as IW wrestling coach

MT. PLEASANT - Iowa Wesleyan University held a news conference last week to officially announce Robert Powell as the head coach of the Tiger wrestling team, which will hit the mats in the winter of 2020.

In accordance with IW's strategic athletic vision launched in the summer of 2017, the Tigers have added three sports in two years, and six teams total. Men and women's cross-country kicked off last season, men's and women's track and field will be starting up this spring and both men and women's wrestling will follow closely behind.

'Through looking at additional opportunities for our student athletes, wrestling rose to the top,” IW Athletic Director Derek Zander said. 'Wrestling was important to us for a couple of different reasons. One, it's one of the fastest growing high school sports across the country, specifically on the women's side. Secondly, the state of Iowa has a rich history of wrestling. It just makes sense for us.”

When cross-country was announced early on in the vision, Zander gave new head coach Chris Creal a year to recruit before the team was launched, and that same plan is in place for wrestling. Powell will take the year to recruit for both the men and women's teams before a second coach is hired leading up to the first winter of action.

Zamder says Powell stuck out among the many candidates the school looked at to lead the charge.

'We went through a national search … and a very competitive search, I might add,” Zander said. 'We were able to identify a candidate who not only aligned with the vision of the university, but also had the mission and vision of the wrestling program that aligned perfectly with our athletic department.”

Powell has spent the last two years as the assistant coach at New England College in Henniker, New Hampshire. He fell in love with wrestling after going out in middle school to get in shape for the next football season.

'I'm grateful for this opportunity,” Powell says. 'I'm glad to be here on campus and to be a part of the Iowa Wesleyan community. It's a perfect fit. I'm meant to be here. This program is going to go far. There's no better place to be and no better time than now.”

Powell wasn't too familiar with the state of Iowa at first, but he says he is ready to hit the recruiting trail, not just in Iowa but around the nation.

'To be successful anywhere, you have to win your backyard,” Powell says. 'So we want kids from Iowa here at Iowa Wesleyan to help us be successful, and then we're going to make a national search for as many great wrestlers as we can find.”

Powell says he has seen the growth within the athletic department at IW, and that he is motivated to continue to grow the school as he searches to fill the first ever Tiger wrestling roster.

'I'm very excited to be on the trail,” Powell says. 'I've already got my recruiting scheduled mapped out. I'm ready to get out and get the name of Iowa Wesleyan across the map.”