By Brian Reinhardt
USA Wrestling

For the 2026-27 collegiate season, there are six new head coaches in DI men’s wrestling. Today we meet Lehigh’s Brad Dillon; Iowa State’s Brent Metcalf, who was the Michigan and Midwest Region winner of the DSHSEA in 2005; and Southern Illinois University Edwardsville’s (SIUE) Daryl Thomas.

In the first part of this series last week, we introduced Rider’s Nic Bedelyon; Air Force’s Joe Johnston, who was the Kansas winner of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame's Dave Schultz High School Excellence Award in 2001; and The Citadel’s Tim McCall.

Question: As a first-year head coach, what is your personal excitement level as the season is about to get underway?

Brad Dillon (Lehigh): Extremely high. I'm having a lot of fun so far and just looking forward to seeing what level we can get these guys to by March. It's been a fun transition as I’ve taken on a couple of new roles, but also a lot of comfort. And having been here for so long, I have a ton of relationships with admissions, with financial aid, with our administration. So, I feel like most of the time when you take on a new role, there's all these establishing relationships that you kind of have to have and systems and protocols. So, it's been nice to not necessarily have to go through that piece.

Brent Metcalf (Iowa State): Obviously, I'm really excited. What gets me the most excited is when you take over a program, the messaging and the mantra and all that stuff becomes yours. Six months ago, when I took over, I kind of intentionally was sending the message to our team of how I want them to compete, how I want them to operate day in and day out. What's exciting to me is getting to go and see that product. I think there's been some great feedback. And by feedback, I mean from the athletes or just me watching and seeing guys kind of buy in. So, my excitement is, this is an opportunity for us to test ourselves. We've started this process and to kind of see where we're at in it and then continue to evaluate and keep building.

Daryl Thomas (SIUE): It's really exciting. I feel like I have paid my dues and put the time in, put the effort in. I've worked really hard throughout my career to try to someday put myself in position to do this. So, I’m thankful to be able to do it. I still have a lot of energy and fire and passion about what we're doing, about what we're building and for the coaching profession in general. I’m just excited about where we can take it, and being from Edwardsville, doing it here as a head coach now is special. Not a lot of people can say they're the head coach in their hometown.

Question: All three coaches have unique ties to their new position as head coach. Dillon was an All-American and now coaches his alma mater, Metcalf was a multiple time national champion at rival Iowa and Thomas is a native of Edwardsville. How do you feel today knowing about your connections to the program?

Dillon: I think it's special to be at the place that you kind of built, where you grew up. I'm a Lehigh Valley guy, born and raised, there's so many pieces to that that's just so much fun. I completely understand the pride that every kid should have when they have Lehigh across their chest.

Metcalf: Certainly, when you're in the throes of it and its Iowa State-Iowa, I think there's maybe some ingrained hatred there at the time. But Iowa State has been amazing. I love this town; I love the university. To me, this is a dream job for me, a huge blessing that I get to continue to raise my family here. It's been awesome.

Thomas: I think you can't even put into words how it feels to be the head coach here. It comes with a lot of great responsibility, but also some perks. For the program, having a lot of familiarity with alumni and people that are supporters of the program, knowing you know the landscape of the area and just having a little bit of a good understanding of everything that goes into this area and in the program and the university is definitely an advantage.

Question: Do you have any specific advice that you’ve received that you hold close to you as you're making this transition?

Dillon: I think just simply continuing to ask for help and continuing to try to grow and evolve. In the new landscape of college wrestling with the changes between opt in and opt out schools and NIL and all that infrastructure that's created, you must adapt or die. I think continuing to celebrate the rich tradition that we do have while also becoming a little bit more modern in some of the ways that we're going about things.

Metcalf: I think the biggest thing that sticks out to me is just staying true to who I am and what I'm all about. And the things that help me be successful, the things that in my coaching career I saw helped a program be very successful, and the things that I really believed in and bought into. I think the biggest thing is now you get thrown into this position and it certainly is something where it's like, hey, am I right? Am I wrong? And just go all in with what you believe. I'm certainly the sort of person that's open-minded enough to continue to keep your eyes open enough, see where changes need to be made or see where you can get better in certain areas.

Thomas: I would say at the end of the day, recruiting is really important, so I've always tried to hang my hat on that area. It's the lifeblood and lifeline of any program. We all think we're really good coaches, but if you don't have the athletes that can compete at a high level, you're going nowhere fast. So, you have the recruiting piece, building good relationships with your athletes is really important and something that I learned early on. Then just knowing, from a technical standpoint, the basics win at every level. You don't have to reinvent the wheel from a training perspective and have understanding it doesn't have to be flashy. You just have to get your guys to wrestle hard, compete hard at a high level for seven minutes, and be able to repeat that.

Question: What are the strengths of this year’s team?

Dillon: I would say that we're not as proven a squad compared to the last few years. Obviously, we have Luke Stanich, a world champ and ranked number one coming in. So that's obviously a huge positive. I think the schedule that we wrestle, we're going to be tested right from the shoot. I think regardless of how all that goes, I think our guys are going to know where they're at, and then we're going to make a heck of a lot of adjustments. And then we're really going to be ready by March. So, I'm excited to wrestle some of those top teams, especially so early.

Metcalf: What I have seen out of this team, and again, when I talk about my excitement, I have seen them really buy into throwing it out there on the bat, go out there and be an entertaining product, believing in yourself and believing in that if I go out there and I make a mistake early, I still have lots of time to make up for it. So, my hope is that that will be our strength, that we have a lot of guys that compete fearlessly, a lot of guys that are out there trying to hold on for the win, and that they're going out there and trying to score a lot of points.

Thomas: Depth. I would say we've got great depth at almost every weight class, where there's going to be some really good competitions. Competition that fuels whoever comes out of it on the other side. I’m excited to watch it unfold, watch these guys go to battle and make each other better every single day. I think we've got a good balance across our lineup, and there will be some exciting battles.

Question: Lehigh won another conference title last year and followed up with a top 20 finish at the NCAAs. What are the keys to keeping the momentum going?

Dillon: I think those things never really change as far as the training part, keeping people hungry, excited, and just wanting to compete. I think when kids are happy, they're obviously going to be more successful. So just continuing to build and not getting static in all aspects of their life to make them the best version of themselves. Continue to concentrate on what's important, which is getting better on a regular basis. So that, again, when you do put your foot on the line at the NCAA Championships you know that you're prepared and you're not going to face anything or see anything that you haven't all year.

Question: Iowa State had another top 10 showing at the NCAA Championships and opens the new season with a lot of competition at different weights. What are the keys to keeping the momentum going?

Metcalf: I think it's athlete development. What got us from where we started back when this place was, Iowa State was last in the country to winning a team trophy. Then obviously last year we finished in the top 10. It’s the development of our athletes. So, continue to dive into that development of our athletes. And then obviously continuing to go and get great wrestlers and great people that buy into what we're doing. So, to me, that's the path is from a recruiting point of view, doing a great job there and then just keep pouring into our guys.