Belleville, Ill. – After announcing the beginning of nine new athletics programs in the 2011-2012 school year, Lindenwood – Belleville recently announced the hiring of Paul Collum to lead the new men’s wrestling team.

Collum comes to the university with a five-year background as an assistant coach with Missouri Baptist University where he helped the team steadily improve through the years. His strong background and experience will be needed in order to build a team for next winter. 

Collum was also a top wrestler at the collegiate level. He began at Iowa Central Community College, where his team took home an NJCAA title in 2002, and he finished in fifth place. The next season, he won an NJCAA national title and helped his team to a second place finish.  Soon afterwards, he transferred to Missouri Valley College and, in 2005, helped his team to a second place NAIA finish behind Lindenwood University. In that season, Collum won an NAIA national title in his weight class.

In January, Lindenwood – Belleville announced the addition of wrestling to its line-up of sports. Collum will have a short period of time to develop a competitive team to put on the mat in the coming season, but believes it will be a great season for the Lynx. 

“I have a lot of confidence that we can be more than just competitive next season,” said Collum. “I have several contacts that I will utilize to build a winning program from the beginning. It will be tough, but I’m definitely up for the challenge set before me.”

More than just a college coach, Collum also runs two wrestling clubs: Collum Trained School of Wrestling and Team Missouri Select. Additionally, he is the head coach of the junior duels Missouri National Team and the assistant coach of the Missouri National Team.

Wrestling begins in the winter of 2011 with the team playing all home matches in the Lynx Arena at Lindenwood – Belleville.