Bobby Douglas named NWCA College Coach of the Year
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Annie Gable (USA Wrestling)
06/27/2000
Bobby Douglas of Ames, Iowa has been named College Coach of the Year by the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA). The award was presented at the NWCA awards banquet in Dallas, Texas June 21. Douglas serves as head coach for Iowa State University, whose team placed second at the NCAA Div. I tournament in March. Iowa State held a 22-2 dual meet record for the 1999-2000 season and placed second at the Big 12 tournament. Douglas produced five All-Americans in the NCAA tournament including two-time national champion Cael Sanderson, who was also named Outstanding Wrestler of the tournament. A coach for 27 years, Douglas has been at Iowa State since 1992 and has compiled a dual meet record of 113-43-3. His Iowa State teams have finished in the top-10 seven of the past eight years including second place finishes in 1996 and 2000. Prior to coming to Iowa State, Douglas was the head coach at Arizona State University for 17 years. At Arizona State his accolades included nine conference championships, 10 top-10 NCAA team placings and four top-two finishes, including a first place finish at the 1988 NCAA Championships, a first-ever for Arizona State wrestling. Overall, Douglas has compiled a career mark of 342-129-9. Douglas also served as the 1996 Olympic assistant coach in Atlanta and as head coach of the 1992 U.S. Olympic Freestyle team in Barcelona. Olympians coached by Douglas include Zeke Jones, Townsend Saunders, Billy Rosado, Rob Eiter, Gary Bohay and Marco Sanchez. In 1999, Douglas was named the Big 12 Conference Coach of the Year and in 1993 was named the Big 8 Conference Coach of the Year. In 1987 he was inducted in to the National Wrestling Hall of Fame and in 1999 became a member of the Arizona State Hall of Fame.