World silver medalist Mike Zadick ready to return to college coaching at Virginia Tech

Mike Zadick didn’t have any trouble finding anything to do during his three-year hiatus from college wrestling.


He dove into another one of his big passions – hunting – after returning to his native Montana.


He helped bring a Starbucks to his hometown of Great Falls.


He even worked as a volunteer coach for a high school wrestling team that won a state title.


And he grew a bushy, much-talked-about beard that would make the cast of “Duck Dynasty” envious.


The 37-year-old Zadick didn’t have any trouble staying busy, but something was missing.


“I wanted to get back in the big leagues,” Zadick said.


Zadick, an assistant coach on three NCAA championship teams at Iowa from 2008-10, is returning to the “big leagues” of college wrestling after accepting a position as an assistant coach at Virginia Tech.


Zadick, a 2006 World silver medalist and 2008 Olympian for the U.S. in freestyle wrestling, joins the staff led by Virginia Tech coach Kevin Dresser. Zadick was an assistant coach at Iowa, where he and Dresser both wrestled, from 2004-12.


“I’m excited about this opportunity,” Zadick said. “Virginia Tech has a good program that has been in the top 10 in the country and I’m looking forward to working with the coaches and the wrestlers there. I am ready to jump back into college coaching.”


Zadick spent this past season helping as a volunteer assistant coach at Choteau High School in his native Montana.


“One of the parents asked me initially to come in and help with the wrestling team,” Zadick said. “And then the head coach, Steve French, welcomed me in. They only had 12 kids, but they won a state title this year for the first time in 25 years. They won it really handily, by 40-some points, which was a really good reflection on the program and the kids.


“For me personally, it kind of got that whole coaching bug going again. With that little bit of success, I got the itch back in me to get back involved again.”


During his initial time away from wrestling, late in 2012, Zadick said he spent “three or four months hunting.”


He then became involved with cleaning up some of his family’s property in Montana. He wanted to put a business there and he contacted the mega-coffee company Starbucks.


“We built a relationship with them and we eventually opened a Starbucks on our land in Great Falls in September 2014,” Zadick said. “Starbucks rents the ground from us and they take care of the rest. It’s been exciting to see that take off. That was fun and we’re starting to make a little money. It is a project that worked out well for all parties involved.”


Zadick said a grocery store is looking to become a tenant in the ground his family owns adjacent to the Starbucks.


Zadick also spent considerable time hunting in the mountains back home before starting work as a guide for an outfitter. He took clients into the wilderness on horseback. They went on week-long hunts.


“It was very fun and very entertaining,” he said.


Zadick wasn’t having much fun sitting in the stands during the 2015 NCAA Championships in St. Louis.


“It drove me nuts,” Zadick said. “I sat and I watched, and I realized I really wanted to be down there coaching. I believe in my ability to coach kids and have an impact when I am in a kid’s corner. I watched matches at the national tournament where I felt like I could help a kid that wasn’t reaching his potential.”


Shortly after the NCAAs in March, Zadick received an e-mail from Dresser, an NCAA champion for Iowa who has built a strong program at Virginia Tech.


“Kevin Dresser contacted me and asked if I had any interest and if I would be willing to come out,” Zadick said. “It was an actual job and an actual income. Being at the higher level again was something that interested me, and I am ready to dive in and get involved again.


“Virginia is a long way from home, but you could’ve put me in Zimbabwe. I want to be back in that college environment where I can coach and where I can make an impact.”


Zadick said his visit to the Virginia Tech campus went well.


“I really hit it off with the kids and the team,” Zadick said. “The athletes fired me up – they’ve got some really good kids and some good recruits coming in. I will have an opportunity to run some practices and do more than what I’ve done in the past.


“This is an opportunity for me to grow and evolve as a coach. I was really excited after spending some time at Virginia Tech. I will be a volunteer assistant coach. I will be in there coaching again and that’s what I want to do. I want to develop kids and get them to believe.”


Zadick’s long, flowing beard also grabbed its share of attention when he coached at the USA Wrestling Junior and Cadet Nationals last month in Fargo, N.D.


“I haven’t shaved since I left Iowa three years ago,” he said. “We will see what happens when I go to Virginia Tech, but I love the beard. I want to keep it.”


Zadick said he is ready for a change.


“I have been living the dream – living up in the mountains and hunting and fishing, and doing what I want,” he said. “But I’m obviously ready to be a college coach again. I can’t wait to start doing that full-time again.”


Zadick said he sees big potential in the Virginia Tech program.


“They’ve been a top-10 team, but they are looking to build on that and I’m looking to do the same thing,” he said. “They have some really good potential to do some really great things.


“I’m excited about the opportunity and I’m looking forward to the challenge. I really appreciate Kevin Dresser giving me this opportunity. The guy wants to work and he wants to win. That is the mindset I have always had. It’s great to be back.”