AMES, Iowa - After a storied 20-year collegiate coaching career that saw Iowa State and Virginia Tech return to national prominence, Kevin Dresser will transition into a new role within the Iowa State Athletics Department as Director of Men's & Women's Wrestling, Endowed Cyclone Director of Athletics Jamie Pollard announced Thursday. In his new position, Dresser will provide mentorship, leadership and fundraising acumen to both the ISU men's and newly launched women's wrestling programs.
"Iowa State University has been so good to me and my family, and I look forward to my new role and the fact that I'm not really going anywhere," Dresser said. "I am honored for the opportunity Jamie Pollard gave me to coach the Cyclones nine years ago and believe we are handing off the program in great shape to one of the sport's top young coaches in Brent Metcalf.
"My memories of Hilton and sitting in the corner during some of those crazy and packed dual meets will be something I always treasure," he added. "We built something special and exciting over the last nine years, and I look forward to staying in Ames and contributing to these programs and this university in my new position. The future is so bright, and we are well positioned to continue to climb."
As head coach of the Cyclones, Dresser brought Iowa State wrestling back into the national conversation, highlighted by a pair of top 10 NCAA finishes, a 2024 NCAA team trophy and a 2024 Big 12 title. He inherited a program that scored just one point and finished tied for 57th at the 2017 NCAA Championships. Since then, Iowa State has finished T-45th, 16th, T-13th, 17th, 11th, 4th, T-27th and 8th at the national tournament.
Dresser, who has coached the sport for 38 years at multiple levels, leaves behind a coaching legacy as one of wrestling's greatest program builders. He is one of six NCAA Division I coaches all-time to lead two different schools to an NCAA Trophy finish.
"Kevin has enjoyed a very successful run as a Cyclone and Iowa State will forever be indebted to him for restoring the proud tradition of ISU wrestling," Pollard said. "He and his staff have worked incredibly hard to return our program to national prominence, and we are grateful for his leadership and vision in making that a reality.
"Kevin will be a tremendous asset to Coach Metcalf and Coach St. John as they begin their head coaching careers at Iowa State," he added. "His mentorship to them will be invaluable as they build their programs."
Dresser compiled a 265-86 (.755) record as a head coach, including a 105-35 (.750) mark at Iowa State. His 105 dual wins as a Cyclone are the fourth-most by a head coach in program history.
After graduating from the University of Iowa in 1986, Dresser embarked upon a decorated 18-year high school coaching career in Virginia where he guided Grundy High School to eight-consecutive state titles from 1989 to 1996. He later coached at Christiansburg High School where his teams would capture five state titles. Dresser turned his programs into high school powerhouses, with four of his teams finishing in the top 10 nationally, with seven ranked in the top 25.
Dresser moved up to the college ranks in 2006 when he took over as head coach at Virginia Tech. He led the Hokies to ACC dual meet titles in 2015, 2016 and 2017 and league tournament championships in 2013 and 2014. Dresser concluded his time in Blacksburg with four-straight top 10 NCAA finishes, culminating in a team trophy in his final season, and his .758 winning percentage (160-51-0) at Virginia Tech ranks third all-time in ACC history.
He assumed the reins of the tradition-rich Iowa State wrestling program in February 2017. It was a methodical rebuild for Dresser based on fundraising, fan support, recruiting, development and creation of the Cyclone Regional Training Center where postgraduates could pursue their world-level and Olympic dreams. After having just one NCAA Qualifier in his first season, Dresser's ISU squads have qualified eight or more wrestlers for the national tournament in every season since.
One of Dresser's top priorities when arriving to campus in 2017 was bringing blue-chip recruit and Cyclone legacy David Carr to Ames. A catalyst in turning the program around, Carr won four individual Big 12 titles and a pair of NCAA titles in 2021 and 2024.
Fan support was critical to Dresser's revival of the program and Cyclone fans are once again turning out in droves to watch wrestling in Hilton Coliseum. Iowa State is one of three schools in the country, and the only one in the Big 12, to average 5,000-plus fans per dual in each of the last four seasons. Iowa State's top five average season attendance marks on record (since 1997) occurred during Dresser's tenure.
On Nov. 30, 2025, Dresser led Iowa State to its first dual win over Iowa in 21 years. The No. 6 Cyclones took six of 10 bouts to defeat No. 3 Iowa, 20-14, for their first victory over the Hawkeyes since 2004. A crowd of 12,292, the 10th-largest wrestling crowd in program history, traveled through a foot of snow to see the Cyclones snap a 20-match losing streak to their in-state rivals.
In his 20-year collegiate coaching career, Dresser coached his wrestlers to two national titles, 37 All-America honors and 39 conference titles. He is a two-time Big 12 Coach of the Year (2019, '24), five-time ACC Coach of the Year (2013, '14, '15, '16, '17) and the 2019 NWCA National Coach of the Year.
Dresser is a member of the Iowa High School Athletic Association Wrestling Hall of Fame (2009), the Iowa Wrestling Hall of Fame (2014) and the Roanoke Valley Wrestling Hall of Fame (2015). He was also presented a Lifetime Service Award by the Virginia chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2013.
The Humboldt, Iowa native and his wife, Penny, have three children: Emma, Anna and Jack.
