Fresno State wrestling coming soon
Back on the mats and working hard to be back on the map, Fresno State’s wrestling program is back after ten long years.
President Joseph Castro announced the hiring of Head Coach Troy Steiner earlier this summer and says Steiner will be in charge of putting the wrestling program back together.
Steiner wrestled at Iowa State where he went on to become four-time all-American and a member of three Hawkeye national championship teams from 1991-93. Steiner won the 1992 NCAA Division I National Championship in the 142-pound weight class.
Steiner became an assistant coach at Oregon State and coached 22 All-Americans, 10 Big Ten Champions, seven Pac-12 Championship teams and six NCAA Division I Champions along with a Junior FILA World Freestyle Champion, all before being introduced as Fresno State’s new wrestling coach.
With a brief stint coaching the USA Women’s World Team and the USA Junior World men’s freestyle, it seems that Steiner was more than qualified for the job.
Steiner’s job will now require more than his wrestling expertise. His ability to engage the community in a program that has long been forgotten by the community will be his next challenge.
“I can’t win without the kids in this valley,” Steiner says. “I can’t win without the kids in this community. So I need them. I need them supporting that. And we are going to ask a lot of the community.”
Starting a brand new team from scratch will not be easy, but Steiner has hopes that Fresno will be able to help put the pieces back together by allowing him to pluck talent right from the valley.
To help the program flourish, Steiner hired assistant coach Israel Silva, who wrestled under him at Iowa State and is focused on recruiting local talent.
“A lot of people don’t know this, but the valley is actually one of the top areas in the country for wrestling and recruiting,” Silva said. “There wasn’t a program, so now that there is a program here at Fresno State, we want to keep all the talent here, and California is so rich in wrestling, we don’t have to go far.
Assistant coach Jason Chamberlain, who wrestled at Boise State against Steiner’s team, is thrilled to have Castro’s support and the chance to build a program from the ground up.
“I liked the opportunity of being a part of a building program and kind of have set my footprint and have something to do with the program at Fresno State,” Chamberlain said.
With Castro’s support, Steiner says the wrestling team is off to a good start and will be making its return with its first match in the fall of 2017.
But more than anything, more than winning championships, more than the support of the valley, Coach Steiner says he hopes to instill in these young men the good qualities that will make them successful.
“You don’t get championships if you don’t ever have guys doing the right things and leading the right type of life,” Steiner said. “But if we can do that and live the right way, and train the right way, we can win championships along the way, because you want to teach them the right skills to move on and be successful.”