Head Coach Cole Houser is the first head coach in Salem men's wrestling history, and enters his first season going into the 2024-2025 season.
Houser comes to Salem from King University in Tennessee, where he has been an assistant coach with the wrestling program this season. Prior to King, Houser had a successful career as a student-athlete just down the road at Glenville State where he was regularly one of the top competitors in the region alongside serving as a team captain for the Pioneers. Additionally, Houser earned multiple Academic All-American honors during his time at Glenville State. Prior to Glenville, Houser competed for and attended Urbana University in his home state of Ohio prior to that school’s unfortunate closure. Outside of the collegiate realm, Houser has also spent time coaching at the youth, club, and high school levels of wrestling.
In regards to this big step for the newest sport here at Salem, Athletic Director Alex Joseph had this to say, “Throughout the search process, we were very aware that our first men’s wrestling head coach is going to be in the challenging position of building a program completely from scratch. I feel that Cole is particularly suited to take on that task because of his coaching experiences, work ethic, and his vast knowledge of the wrestling landscape in West Virginia, Ohio, and our region as a whole. We look forward to supporting him in building that program in any way we can.”
Houser was asked his thoughts on being named the first ever head coach in Salem men’s wrestling history and made the following comments, “I am excited about the opportunity to be the first men's wrestling coach at Salem University. I am looking forward to building this program into a power house while bringing future national champions to Salem. I first want to thank Alex Joseph for allowing me this opportunity. I also want to thank Coach Blaze Shade and Coach Dylan Cottrell for their advice and encouragement through this whole process. Let’s go Tigers!”
