Kevin Dresser's top goal at Iowa State: Reignite rivalry with Iowa

AMES, Ia. — Kevin Dresser envisions the day when Iowa and Iowa State are once again rivals on the wrestling mat.

And he wants that day here as soon as possible.  

“It’s the benchmark,” Dresser said. “Let’s face it: Iowa is pretty good, and I don’t see them getting any worse. So, if we’re competing at that level, we’re in the hunt.”

The 54-year-old Dresser, introduced Wednesday as the Cyclones coach after a decade leading Virginia Tech, is tasked with revitalizing a somnambulant Iowa State program. Chief among Dresser's goals: beating the Hawkeyes.

Iowa has won 13 straight duals over the Cyclones 43 of the past 45 showdowns. And there’s a little bad blood off the mat between Dresser and Iowa coach Tom Brands. Most recently, Dresser accused Iowa of avoiding a showdown with Virginia Tech in the National Duals.

On Wednesday, Dresser, a standout for the Hawkeyes during his wrestling career, embraced the in-state rivalry.  

 “Let’s face it: We’re in the entertainment business and we have to put a good product out there, and we know Iowa is going to have a good product out there,” Dresser said. “That needs to come back. I can’t say enough about it. It’s one of the greatest rivalries in college wrestling.”

Statements like that hooked Iowa State athletic director Jamie Pollard on Dresser. 

“It’s awesome because it’s great for the sport,” Pollard said. “You guys know us well enough to know, we’ll have fun with that. I mean, who wouldn’t? You guys will have fun with that. Tom and Terry (Brands, an Iowa associate head coach) will do their part to stoke the fire. We won’t have to bring the gas or the matches.”

That said, Dresser has his work cut out for him. The Cyclones have struggled to maintain elite status since Iowa State star Cael Sanderson left for Penn State in 2009. Sanderson guided the Cyclones to top-five finishes at the NCAA Wrestling Championships in all three of his seasons.

He was replaced by Kevin Jackson, who is among Cyclones wrestling royalty. He coached Iowa State to a third-place finish in the 2009-10 campaign, his first season.

But the Cyclones have been on a downward spiral since. Iowa State hasn’t cracked the top 10 since his first season and finished this dual season with a 1-12 mark. The struggles prompted Jackson late last month to resign and accept another position within the athletic department.

In the resulting search, Pollard zeroed in on Dresser, a Humboldt native of Humboldt. Dresser was a two-time state champion in high school before starring at Iowa, where he won an NCAA title and was a two-time All-American. As a coach, he was a proven program-builder. He helped rebuild a Virginia Tech program that went 1-16 the season before he got there. By his third season, the team went 20-2.

Dresser coached 13 wrestlers who accumulated 20 All-American honors at Virginia Tech, and he led the Hokies to two ACC tournament titles and three dual meet titles. The culmination was the 2015-16 season, when he guided the team to a fourth-place finish nationally and was named the National Wrestling Coaches Association’s national Coach of the Year.

Pollard, along with Iowa State football coach Matt Campbell, flew out to Blacksburg, Va., on Feb. 9 to try to lure Dresser.

“(I) essentially told Kevin, 'This is your job to have,” Pollard said. “We aren’t here to interview you — we’re here to court you.”

Pollard said that Dresser told him last Saturday that he was ready to come to Ames. A day later, after Virginia Tech’s dual with Nebraska, Dresser officially accepted the job. The two agreed on a seven-year deal worth a total of $2.25 million in guaranteed salary, plus incentives.

Dresser also wants to heighten the emphasis on Iowa State’s post-grad wrestling program with a Cyclone Regional Training Center.

Dresser plans to get out and sell his program to recruits and fans. 

“I want to be great,” Dresser said. “I want to have a great program at Iowa State. ... Saying it is the easy part, and doing it’s the difficult part. So, we’ve said it and now we’ve got to do it.”

Jackson will continue coaching the team during the Big 12 Championships and NCAA Championships in the coming weeks. In the meantime, Dresser will focus his effort on recruiting. He said he won’t make any decisions on a staff until after the NCAAs in mid-March.

“The opportunity to compete with Iowa and pack Hilton Coliseum, where we’ve got black and gold and we’ve got cardinal and gold (in the stands) is exciting,” Dresser said. “And that’s got to happen fast.”