#WomensWednesday: The women who are head coaches of women’s college varsity teams
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by Gary Abbott, USA Wrestling
Photos of Nicole Tyson of Oklahoma City (left) and Shauna Kemp of Jamestown (right).
One of the signs of the growth of women’s wrestling on the college scene is not only the number of programs being created, but also the new opportunities available for women to coach women’s college wrestling teams.
The 2020-21 women’s college wrestling season has started for a number of programs (mostly those in the NAIA), with a number of other teams looking to get their season started after New Years Day. When things get rolling, we will find 14 women on the sideline serving as head coaches of their varsity college women’s wrestling teams.
The first trailblazers among women to serve as head coaches of women’s college teams were both Olympians, Marcie Van Dusen at Menlo College and Toccara Montgomery at Lindenwood. Since the helped open the door for other women, there has not been this many women heading college wrestling programs as we see this year.
Many of these coaches also had outstanding competitive careers, led by two-time World champion and nine-time World medalist Kristie Davis at Emmanuel and World champion and two-time Olympian Elena Pirozhkova at New Jersey City. 2015 World bronze medalist Leigh Jaynes is head coach at Delaware Valley. Junior World champion Nicole Tyson, whose maiden name was Woody, is head coach at her alma-mater, Oklahoma City.
Many of the other coaches were either members of the Senior Women’s National Team as athletes, or were nationally-ranked Senior levels on the USA Wrestling circuit. This includes Christen Dierken at Gannon, Brandy Green (maiden name Rosenbrock) at Limestone, Brieana Delgado at Central Methodist, Carlene Sluberski at Eastern Oregon and Shauna Kemp at Jamestown.
Others were successful college women wrestlers, including Breonnah Neal of Ferrum, Cara Romeike of Hastings and Kate Hill of Lourdes. Amy Hildebrandt of Trine, sister of World medalist Sara Hildebrandt, was a successful high school women’s coach before jumping to the college level.
Sluberski is the only person in the group to serve as head women’s coach for two universities. She served as head coach for the University of Jamestown before accepting the head coaching spot at Eastern Oregon last week.
One route to become a college head coach for a women’s team is to serve as an assistant coach at the college level to learn the ropes. Among the current head coaches, Tyson perhaps has the deepest resume of assistant coaching positions, doing stints at Missouri Baptist, King and Campbellsville before returning to her alma mater to take over the OCU program.
Jessica Medina, a USA Wrestling Assistant National Women’s Coach, understands the importance of developing young women in the coaching profession, especially with the increased number of college women’s programs that need qualified coaches. She was a head coach for the women’s team at Ferrum College before accepting the USA Wrestling coaching job.
“I felt really strongly about this topic when I left Ferrum for USA Wrestling. In my experience as a college head coach, I needed mentorship and support in learning to do my job. For all of these new programs, it is important that we provide this kind of mentorship and education,” said Medina.
USA Wrestling’s three Women’s National Coaches, Medina, Terry Steiner and Clarissa Chun, have started a coaches education project for women’s college coaches, both men and women. Medina has also reached out to female coaches for additional support.
“I have started a smaller mentorship group for females. We are getting together and I am providing whatever information and experience I have to share with them. It is an opportunity for them to communicate with each other, and helps coaches get better connected," said Medina.
As part of the USA Wrestling National Coaching staff, Medina also spends time working with the current Senior and age-group level elite women wrestlers who are currently competing. These are potentially the next generation of women who could head up college programs in the future, an option some are for sure considering.
“They are not sure at what capacity they might coach, club, youth or college. For sure, they are talking about possibly being a coach in the future,” said Medina.
NCAA programs
Delaware Valley College, NCAA Div. III (PA), Head Coach Leigh Jaynes
Emmanuel College, NCAA Div. II, (GA), Head Coach Kristie Davis
Ferrum College, NCAA Div. III (VA), Head Coach Breonnah Neal
Gannon University, NCAA Div. II (PA), Coach Christen Dierken
Limestone College, NCAA Div. II (SC), Head Coach Brandy Green
New Jersey City University, NCAA Div. III (NJ), Head Coach Elena Pirozhkova
Trine University, NCAA Div. III (IN), Head Coach Amy Hildebrandt
NAIA programs
Central Methodist University, NAIA (MO), Head Coach Brieana Delgado
Eastern Oregon University, NAIA (OR), Head Coach Carlene Sluberski
Hastings College, NAIA (NE), Head Coach Cara Romeike
Life University, NAIA (GA), Head Coach Ashley Sword
Lourdes University, NAIA (OH), Coach Kate Hill
Oklahoma City University, NAIA (OK), Head Coach Nicole Tyson
University of Jamestown, NAIA (ND), Head Coach Shauna Kemp
One of the signs of the growth of women’s wrestling on the college scene is not only the number of programs being created, but also the new opportunities available for women to coach women’s college wrestling teams.
The 2020-21 women’s college wrestling season has started for a number of programs (mostly those in the NAIA), with a number of other teams looking to get their season started after New Years Day. When things get rolling, we will find 14 women on the sideline serving as head coaches of their varsity college women’s wrestling teams.
The first trailblazers among women to serve as head coaches of women’s college teams were both Olympians, Marcie Van Dusen at Menlo College and Toccara Montgomery at Lindenwood. Since the helped open the door for other women, there has not been this many women heading college wrestling programs as we see this year.
Many of these coaches also had outstanding competitive careers, led by two-time World champion and nine-time World medalist Kristie Davis at Emmanuel and World champion and two-time Olympian Elena Pirozhkova at New Jersey City. 2015 World bronze medalist Leigh Jaynes is head coach at Delaware Valley. Junior World champion Nicole Tyson, whose maiden name was Woody, is head coach at her alma-mater, Oklahoma City.
Many of the other coaches were either members of the Senior Women’s National Team as athletes, or were nationally-ranked Senior levels on the USA Wrestling circuit. This includes Christen Dierken at Gannon, Brandy Green (maiden name Rosenbrock) at Limestone, Brieana Delgado at Central Methodist, Carlene Sluberski at Eastern Oregon and Shauna Kemp at Jamestown.
Others were successful college women wrestlers, including Breonnah Neal of Ferrum, Cara Romeike of Hastings and Kate Hill of Lourdes. Amy Hildebrandt of Trine, sister of World medalist Sara Hildebrandt, was a successful high school women’s coach before jumping to the college level.
Sluberski is the only person in the group to serve as head women’s coach for two universities. She served as head coach for the University of Jamestown before accepting the head coaching spot at Eastern Oregon last week.
One route to become a college head coach for a women’s team is to serve as an assistant coach at the college level to learn the ropes. Among the current head coaches, Tyson perhaps has the deepest resume of assistant coaching positions, doing stints at Missouri Baptist, King and Campbellsville before returning to her alma mater to take over the OCU program.
Jessica Medina, a USA Wrestling Assistant National Women’s Coach, understands the importance of developing young women in the coaching profession, especially with the increased number of college women’s programs that need qualified coaches. She was a head coach for the women’s team at Ferrum College before accepting the USA Wrestling coaching job.
“I felt really strongly about this topic when I left Ferrum for USA Wrestling. In my experience as a college head coach, I needed mentorship and support in learning to do my job. For all of these new programs, it is important that we provide this kind of mentorship and education,” said Medina.
USA Wrestling’s three Women’s National Coaches, Medina, Terry Steiner and Clarissa Chun, have started a coaches education project for women’s college coaches, both men and women. Medina has also reached out to female coaches for additional support.
“I have started a smaller mentorship group for females. We are getting together and I am providing whatever information and experience I have to share with them. It is an opportunity for them to communicate with each other, and helps coaches get better connected," said Medina.
As part of the USA Wrestling National Coaching staff, Medina also spends time working with the current Senior and age-group level elite women wrestlers who are currently competing. These are potentially the next generation of women who could head up college programs in the future, an option some are for sure considering.
“They are not sure at what capacity they might coach, club, youth or college. For sure, they are talking about possibly being a coach in the future,” said Medina.
NCAA programs
Delaware Valley College, NCAA Div. III (PA), Head Coach Leigh Jaynes
Emmanuel College, NCAA Div. II, (GA), Head Coach Kristie Davis
Ferrum College, NCAA Div. III (VA), Head Coach Breonnah Neal
Gannon University, NCAA Div. II (PA), Coach Christen Dierken
Limestone College, NCAA Div. II (SC), Head Coach Brandy Green
New Jersey City University, NCAA Div. III (NJ), Head Coach Elena Pirozhkova
Trine University, NCAA Div. III (IN), Head Coach Amy Hildebrandt
NAIA programs
Central Methodist University, NAIA (MO), Head Coach Brieana Delgado
Eastern Oregon University, NAIA (OR), Head Coach Carlene Sluberski
Hastings College, NAIA (NE), Head Coach Cara Romeike
Life University, NAIA (GA), Head Coach Ashley Sword
Lourdes University, NAIA (OH), Coach Kate Hill
Oklahoma City University, NAIA (OK), Head Coach Nicole Tyson
University of Jamestown, NAIA (ND), Head Coach Shauna Kemp
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