Virginia Tech Director of Athletics Whit Babcock confirmed Monday that Kevin Dresser has resigned his position as wrestling coach to become the next head coach at Iowa State.
Dresser's hometown of Humboldt, Iowa, is approximately 80 miles from Ames. Dresser was a two-time All-American at the University of Iowa and won a national championship for the Hawkeyes in 1986. He was a 2014 inductee into the Iowa Wrestling Hall of Fame.
"While the in-season timing is admittedly not ideal and disappointing to hear, the opportunity for someone to return home is rare in collegiate athletics," Babcock said. "We appreciate all of Kevin's contributions to Virginia Tech. We will always be grateful for that fact that Kevin took over a program in a very tenuous position and transformed Virginia Tech into a top five wrestling program in the nation. I have respect for Kevin and Iowa State Director of Athletics Jamie Pollard. We wish Kevin and his family the very best."
Under Dresser in 2016, the Hokies claimed the ACC dual meet championship and finished fourth at the NCAA Championships, the best finish in program history and the highest finish ever by an ACC squad. Virginia Tech claimed the ACC dual meet title under Dresser once again this season with a 20-14 win over N.C. State on Feb. 11. The Hokies finished the 2016-17 dual meet season with an 18-1 record and are currently ranked fifth in the NWCA/USA Today coaches poll.
"Virginia Tech and the Hokie Nation have been wonderful to me and my family," Dresser said. "I appreciate all of our student-athletes, coaches and staff who helped make the Hokies one of the elite programs in the nation. We'll always cherish the time we spent at Virginia Tech and wish the Hokies much success going forward. While the timing of this move isn't perfect, making this very difficult decision is what is best for our family and I am excited to return home to Iowa and ISU."
Babcock indicated that Tony Robie, who is in his 11th season as associate head coach at Virginia Tech, will serve as interim head coach, effective immediately for the remainder of the season. A former head coach at Binghamton University, Robie was a two-time All-America selection and an NCAA runner-up as a student-athlete at Edinboro University. His resume also includes assistant coaching tenures at Michigan, West Virginia and his alma mater.
"We have great confidence in Tony as our interim head coach and also in assistant coach Mike Zadick and Derek St. John to successfully lead our squad during the championship season," Babcock continued. "Tony has previous head coaching experience, he recruited many of the young men currently on our team and has served on our wrestling staff for a decade. A three-time All-American and Olympian, Mike has been a tremendous asset to our team since his arrival a year ago, while Derek is a former NCAA champion who has also been a solid addition to our staff.
"We are committed to finding a head coach who can continue our success and ultimately bring a national championship to Blacksburg," Babcock concluded. "We will conduct a comprehensive search at the conclusion of the season to find the right individual to lead the Hokies with both internal and external candidates to be considered. In the meantime, our focus must be solely on our team and student-athletes, and supporting them in every way possible. They've worked incredibly hard to get us to this point and they deserve nothing less."
Dresser joined the Hokies in April of 2006 and guided the program to a 160-51 record in 11 seasons. He came to Virginia Tech after previously serving as head coach at a pair of Virginia high schools in Christiansburg and Grundy, Virginia.
Comments
Best of luck Coach Dresser and your family. Thanks for all you did for the Hokie Wrestling program.
I get that it's home, but it's also Iowa.
In all seriousness though, best of luck to him.
If they build it he will come?
So, Whit needs to throw a wrestling mat in a cornfield near campus?
Going to miss him and for what he did for both Christiansburg and Virginia Tech Wrestling.
We've been Dresser-dumped :(
To have been "Dresser-ed" has been a good thing for us...taking us from nowhere to #5... thanks!!
Base salary of 300,000 plus incentives.
Okay, we get it. We should donate more to the Hokie Club. I'm a Hokie Club member, and I just doubled my donation from last year. Yes, we need to give more, but the fact of the matter is, it's wrestling. The ACC needs a conference network up and running fast so we can support the olypmic sports while putting the greatest emphasis on football and basketball. I'm pissed that Dresser is leaving, but it's wrestling. The Hokie Club needs to grow, but badgering people on here is preaching to the choir. If the ACC got their act together and made a TV network worth a damn, we wouldn't have to worry about non-revenue sports.
Edit: I should be able to turn my TV on and watch an ACC Network. Fuck John Swofford, because it isn't possible.
Does the Big 12 have a tv channel that shows ISU sports other than Texas? While I agree the ACC has screwed the channel up along with many other things but a channel isn't why ISU could offer him more money. I also didn't mention Hokie Club in that post you brought it up.
ISU can offer that for the same reason we can build the biggest indoor practice field, it's their core sport. Hokie wrestling is not comparable to ISU in budget, donor interest, fan interest, recruit interest or anything else.
Dresser elevated us to contention, hopefully to the point to which we can replace him with a new high caliber coach. But to get the money from donors for wrestling would take some national championships, individuals and team, so that it becomes more commonly known identity for VT. Whit is doing the good work to elevate and support, but we have a ways to go.
looking forward to a good hire to energize the program to new levels.
As good as ISU is as a program I don't think they would consider it their "core sport". Their best sport historically? Sure. Wrestling is never going to bring in the revenue of a basketball or football though.
largest revenue sport is different than core sport. the entire state of Iowa views wrestling as an identity. they will spend disproportionately for wrestling. it being a smaller budget does not mean it is not core.
Read the last sentence.
that's exactly what I am talking about. thanks
So looking at ISU and VT athletic budgets from USA Today list. Tech spends about 72 million, ISU 70 million. VT has 20 scholarship sports ISU has 18. So the two schools spend about the same amount of money in the grand scheme of things. But your right ISU places more money into wrestling. So we shouldn't be surprised when they can pay our coaches away.
So... question- this could not wait a few weeks until the season is over?
I'd like to think that part of the extravagant price they're paying is a little higher because of that.
Iowa State needed Dresser now to hold together their recruiting class.
Exactly
I was really hoping this would be a Beamer-esqe flirtation with ISU and he would come to his senses. I hope our guys aren't feeling let down and still bring their best to the NCAAs.
I don't see it impacting our postseason performance too much this year. Wrestling is such an individual sport that Dresser doesn't exactly do much coaching in the tournaments anyways.
I imagine it will fire up Robie and St John a bit more now as I bet they can share the Dresser ACC championship bonus money. They also have about a month to audition for the head coaching gig.
The challenge will be keeping the current player's from transferring. I'm not too worried about the juniors such as Haughty or Epperly, but we really need to hold onto the guys redshirting this year like Dunn and McFadden.
This makes sense for so many reasons but it still sucks. We're losing a good one. Dresser is maybe one of the most coveted coaches in wrestling because of what he was able to do at Tech. I fully expect him to build a powerhouse at ISU.
All I can say is that I hope the momentum built up at VT can continue without him.
I can guarantee you that any Iowa-ISU matches in the future will be must see. As someone with ties to the Hawkeye side of the equation, I can imagine that there will be a little extra juice in the rivalry, given both coaches backgrounds. I may have to root for ISU....just don't tell my wife. Best of luck to Coach Dresser. Sorry to see him go.
Already said it but best to Kevin and ISU. But.....kcuf kcuf kcuf kcuf kcuf kcuf kcuf!
300 grrrr....................kcuf!
Does Robie recruit?
Will those committed stay? kcuf!
If / when they follow Dresser I will be pissed!
Where is his wife from?
Someone said once, "Why can't we have nice things."
Jack and Diane were from Iowa, right....no that was Indiana. Oh well its all the same.
Last night, Cole Manley said that he was committed no matter what happened with Dresser. I'd imagine Hunter Bolen stays since he's from Cburg. He's a big time recruit. #17 overall for the 2017 class.
Word on the street from people who would know is Robie actually recruited a lot of the guys already; think he'll do a good job if he's given a long enough audition.
I think Dresser's coaching staff has been so good, the first choice to replace him should be Robie but only if the student-athletes want him to be the coach.
I think they should be consulted to get some insight but really don't agree with this mindset. Isn't this exactly like what people complain about in pro sports when star players appear to lobby for a certain coach?
I mean, it worked out perfectlly for Uncle Bill Stewart at WVU. /s
I think it would speak volumes about his coaching ability if the entire team rallied behind him.
Robie for Headcoach, Keep at least one of the Assistants assuming Dresser doesn't take them both and then bring on Devin Carter as an Assistant Coach.
Oh BTW. Devin did a great job as color commentator for the Neb. match.
met coach Dresser a couple of years ago at one of the Hokie Club things they do in the spring. Super nice guy. all I've got to say is thank you for what you did a VT and best of luck at ISU.
Hopefully they do some research and go out and get somebody if they don't think Robie or Zadick can keep the ship on course. Maybe Zadick could bring his brother in, only half way joking as I don't think he would take a step down. Coaching makes the difference in this sport above all else, just look at what Penn State has done since they got Sanderson to come there.
I dont know about St. John, but I believe Zadick is a favorite among the players and can pick up the recruiting right where Dresser has left off. At least I hope that is the case. Dresser is one heck of a recruiter, and will have ISU humming in a few years.
I have to believe that there's a talented wrestling coach who would LOVE to inherit what Dresser built at VT. Maybe he's already on staff...
I'm really hoping that a good bit of the rest of the coaching staff stays at VT. Maybe someone gets a promotion to the HC position, and everyone else gets a decent pay raise?
I just hope Dresser doesn't rob the staff, which you know will be tempting. He's a great guy, but there is an group of wrestling coaches gathered at VT.
Man, I am not even into wrasslin', but its nice to see the good guys competing at a national level, consistently.
Let us all hope that VT will be the destination, not the launching pad, in all sports. I don't want our coaches cherrypicked for better NCAA gigs - only for professional/olympic jobs.
Babcock has hit some homerun hires. I need to see Buzz and Fu hit their ceilings here. Perhaps its time i remove the VT donation center from my blocked call list.
we all know what time it is...
via GIPHY
Get to work Whit
I'm at work and every .gif is blocked, but based on the text I believe I'm correct in assuming
Very unfortunate. Kevin was a great family friend to myself and my family so we are all sad to see him go. Understandable though for reasons that I will not discuss.
You can't not discuss it now
I'd rather not. I'm fairly close with plenty of families around the athletic department and anybody can see this so I'd like to keep it to myself. I'm sure that eventually it will come out.
Why bring it up then?
bye felicia