Wrestling
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OSU Wrestling Coaching Staff
John Smith
Head Coach
(This information was provided by Oklahoma State Athletics Media Relations)
John Smith is a name synonymous with wrestling success.
The Oklahoma State head coach won six consecutive world championships as a competitor from 1987-92, including gold medals at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul and at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona. Additionally, he owns five national championships as head coach of the Cowboys.
Entering his 29th year, Smith accepted the head coaching position at Oklahoma State in 1992 and the numbers and accomplishments since that time speak for themselves. He has led his alma mater to five NCAA team titles in 1994, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006, and he has coached 32 NCAA individual champions and five Olympians. Under his watch, the Cowboys have brought 19 team conference tournament championships, two Big 12 regular season titles and 120 individual conference titles back to Stillwater. He has seen his student-athletes earn All-America recognition 134 times, an average of 4.8 All-America honorees per year. Smith also has coached two Hodge Trophy recipients in Alex Dieringer and Steve Mocco.
He was recognized as the National Wrestling Coaches Association coach of the year in 1994 and 2003 and is a 15-time selection as his conference’s coach of the year (1994 and 1996 in the Big Eight and 1997, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2010, 2011, 2013 2014, 2015 and 2016 in the Big 12).
Most recently, Smith led his squad to its seventh consecutive Big 12 tournament title, with six Cowboys claiming individual Big 12 Conference titles in 2019.
In 2019 the Cowboys finished with a 15-0 dual mark, completing a perfect season for the 46th time in program history and the seventh in Smith’s tenure. It was the first undefeated team for the Cowboys since 2005. The Pokes earned spots at nine weights for the NCAA Championships in Pittsburgh, where Nick Piccininni (125), Daton Fix (133), Dakota Geer (184), Preston Weigel (197) and Derek White (HWT) claimed All-America honors.
OSU brought home a third-place finish from the national tournament for the second time in three years and finished in the top three for the 15th time with Smith at the helm.
A native of Del City, Okla., Smith owns a 426-62-6 career dual match record as a head coach (.862 winning pct.).
The Pokes took a full squad to the NCAA Championships in St. Louis in 2017, where Dean Heil finished off an undefeated season at 32-0 to take home his second-straight NCAA title at 141 pounds.
Joining Heil on the podium were seven other Cowboys to tie a program record: Nick Piccininni (4th, 125), Kaid Brock (5th, 133), Joe Smith (4th, 157), Chandler Rogers (5th, 165), Kyle Crutchmer (7th, 174), Nolan Boyd (6th, 184) and Preston Weigel (6th, 197). Brock and Piccininni combined to become the first pair of Cowboy freshmen to notch fifth-place-or-better finishes in the same year since 2001.
The Cowboys finished the 2017 national tournament in third despite scoring 103 team points to mark the 12th time that an OSU wrestling team has surpassed 100 points at the event, wrapping up a campaign that saw the Pokes go 14-1 in dual action.
Smith led OSU to four consecutive NCAA team championships from 2003 through 2006.
The 2003 squad compiled a perfect 17-0 dual meet record, won the Big 12 team title, crowned six individual Big 12 champions and featured a pair of NCAA individual champions in Johnny Thompson and Jake Rosholt.
The NCAA Champion Chris Pendleton-led squad sported a 17-2 dual meet record, won the Big 12 team title and crowned four individual Big 12 champions in 2004.
Under Smith’s watch, Oklahoma State compiled a 21-0 dual meet record in 2005, the most recent undefeated dual season before the 2019 season. That team capped the season with one of the most dominant showings in the history of the NCAA Championships when an NCAA-record five Cowboys were crowned NCAA champions. Zack Esposito won at 149 with Johny Hendricks taking the 165 championship. Pendleton repeated as an NCAA champion at 174, Jake Rosholt claimed the title at 197 and Steve Mocco won the heavyweight championship. OSU wrestlers compiled a 38-9 record at the NCAA Championships that year and the Cowboys set school records for points, margin of victory and national champions. Oklahoma State scored 153 team points to top second-place Michigan by 70 points.
Smith and the Cowboys went 16-2 in dual meets en route to claiming their fourth consecutive NCAA team title in 2006, under the leadership of Hendricks and Rosholt, who both claimed their second consecutive NCAA individual championships.
Smith won his first of five NCAA team championships in 1994 when the Cowboys compiled a 13-1 dual meet record, won the Big 8 team championship, crowned four individual Big 8 champions and three NCAA individual champions in Alan Fried, Mark Branch and Smith’s younger brother and first-ever four-time NCAA champion, Pat Smith.
For all of the championships and success he continues to enjoy as a coach, it is his career as a wrestler that is the stuff of legend. Smith truly was the best wrestler in the world.
In brief, Smith compiled a 105-5 record as a high school wrestler at Del City High School in Del City, Okla., before beginning his collegiate career at Oklahoma State, where he put together a 152-8-2 record that included a pair of NCAA individual championships in 1987 and 1988. He was a three-time All-America selection in 1985, 1987 and 1988. On the international stage, Smith rolled to a 100-5 career record that included six world championships (1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991 and 1992), two Olympic gold medals (1988 and 1992), two Pan American Games gold medals (1987 and 1991) and two Goodwill Games gold medals (1986 and 1990).
To this day, Smith holds Oklahoma State school records for career victories (152), single-season victories (47 in 1988), career bonus-point wins (113), single-season bonus-point wins (39 in both 1987 and 1988) and single-season bonus point win percentage (90.7 in 1987). A three-time Big Eight Conference individual champion in 1985, 1987 and 1988, Smith wrestled primarily at 134 during his collegiate career, where he strung together a 124-4 overall record. He also competed at 126, compiling a 27-4-2 overall mark, and won his lone career match at 142.
After Smith’s junior year at Oklahoma State, he won the first of his six world championships in Clermont-Ferrand, France. Smith was the only collegiate wrestler to win a world championship while still in college until 2017 when Kyle Snyder (Ohio State) claimed a title in Paris. Following his graduation in 1988, Smith qualified for the U.S. Olympic freestyle team and came away from the Seoul Olympics with the first of two Olympic gold medals and the second of six consecutive world titles.
Three more world championships ensued in 1989, 1990 and 1991 before Smith claimed the second of his Olympic gold medals at the 1992 Barcelona games to cement his legacy as one of the greatest wrestlers of all time.
His list of awards and honors received befits someone who earned the distinction of being the best wrestler on the planet. Smith was honored as the first wrestler to ever claim the James E. Sullivan Award as America’s outstanding amateur athlete when he won the award in 1990. He was the first American ever chosen as the Master of Technique and Wrestler of the Year by the International Wrestling Federation (FILA) when he received the honor in 1990. In 1992, he was presented with the Amateur Athletic Foundation’s World Trophy, becoming the first North American wrestler to earn the honor. A 2003 inductee into the FILA International Wrestling Hall of Fame, a distinguished member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame and a 1997 inductee into the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame, Smith was recognized as one of the 100 Greatest Olympians of All Time at the 1996 Atlanta Games. That same year, Smith was inducted into the OSU Athletic Hall of Honor.
Smith was the 1991 selection as FILA’s Outstanding Wrestler of the Year after earning Man of the Year honors from Amateur Wrestling News in 1988, Athlete of the Year recognition from USA Wrestling in 1989 and Sportsman of the Year honors from the U.S. Olympic Committee in 1990.
In 2004, the U.S. Olympic Committee presented Smith with the Titan Award, and the next year, he joined his brother Pat as one of 15 wrestlers named to the NCAA’s 75th Anniversary Team.
The Smith family legacy is strong at Oklahoma State, as John’s older brother Lee Roy was a three-time All-American in 1977, 1979 and 1980 and claimed the 1980 national championship. John was a three-time All-American in 1985, 1987 and 1988 with a pair of national titles in 1987 and 1988 and younger brother Pat was a four-time All-American with four national championships in 1990, 1991, 1992 and 1994.
Smith also successfully established a wrestling club that allows wrestlers from across the country to prepare and train for international competition. The Gator Wrestling Club sent three former Oklahoma State wrestlers to compete in the 2004 Olympic Games. Jamill Kelly won the silver medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics, with Daniel Cormier finishing fourth and Eric Guerrero also representing the USA in Athens.
In 1995, Smith married the former Toni Donaldson. The couple has three sons – Joseph, Samuel and Levi and two daughters – Isabelle and Cecilia.
Coaching Career
:: Oklahoma State’s All-Time Winningest Coach with a 426-62-6 career record
:: Two-Time NWCA National Coach of the Year (1994, 2003)
:: Five-Time NCAA Champion Coach (1994, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006)
:: 21-Time Conference Champion Coach (1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2010, 2011, 2012 (reg seas), 2013 (reg seas/tourn), 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019)
:: 13-Time Big 12 Coach of the Year (1997, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016)
:: Two-Time Big Eight Coach of the Year (1994, 1996)
:: 32 NCAA Individual Champions Coached
:: 134 NCAA All-Americans Coached
:: 120 Conference Individual Champions Coached
:: Coach, USA Olympic Wrestling Team (2000, 2012)
:: Coach, USA Men’s World Championships Team (1998, 2009, 2010, 2011)
:: Coach, USA Women’s World Championships Team (2017)
:: Coach, USA World Cup Team (1997)
:: Coach, USA Women’s Cadet World Team (2018)
Wrestling Career
:: Six-Time World Champion Wrestler (1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992)
:: Two-Time Olympic Gold Medalist (1988, 1992)
:: Two-Time Pan American Games Gold Medalist (1987, 1991)
:: Two-Time Goodwill Games Gold Medalist (1986, 1990)
:: Two-Time NCAA Wrestling Champion (1987, 1988)
:: Three-Time NCAA All-American (1985, 1987, 1988)
:: Three-Time Big Eight Champion (1985, 1987, 1988)
:: First North American wrestler to claim the Amateur Athletic Foundation World Trophy (1992)
:: First Ever American to earn FILA’s Master of Technique Award (Best technical wrestler in the world, 1990)
:: First Wrestler to win James E. Sullivan Award (Nation’s top amateur athlete, 1990)
:: U.S. Olympic Committee Sportsman of the Year (1990)
:: FILA Outstanding Wrestler of the Year (1991)
:: USA Wrestling Athlete of the Year (1989)
:: Amateur Wrestling News Man of the Year (1988)
:: U.S. Olympic Committee Titan Award (2004)
:: Named one of the 100 Greatest Olympians of All-Time (1996)
:: Member, FILA Hall of Fame (Inducted in 2003)
:: Distinguished Member, National Wrestling Hall of Fame (inducted in 1997)
:: Member, Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame (inducted in 1997)
:: Member, NCAA 75th Anniversary Team (2005)
:: NWCA College Wrestler of the Year (1987)
Records as a Wrestler
International Record: 100-5
Domestic Freestyle Record: 77-3
Collegiate Record: 152-8-2
High School Record: 105-5
Zack Esposito
Associate Head Coach
(This information was provided by Oklahoma State Athletics Media Relations)
Esposito starts his second year as the associate head coach at Oklahoma State, following five years spent as an assistant.
The 2007 OSU graduate served as a club coach for the Cowboys for the 2010 and 2011 seasons, assisting with the Stillwater-based Gator Club.
In the first six years of his coaching career, Esposito helped guide the Cowboys to six team Big 12 championships and 48 individual Big 12 titles.
Esposito has coached 44 All-Americans and most recently helped lead Dean Heil to NCAA titles at 141 pounds in 2016 and 2017. He also helped coach Alex Dieringer to his three individual national championships at 157 pounds and 165 pounds, respectively, Chris Perry to two-consecutive NCAA titles in 2013 and 2014 at 174 pounds and Jordan Oliver to a 133-pound national championship (2011) and 149-pound title (2013).
Esposito has compiled an impressive coaching resume on the world stage as well. He served as a coach for the title-winning 2018 World Cup Team. In 2017, as a coach for the United States’ Junior Freestyle World Team, he guided the U.S. to its first team title at the event since 1984. He has also served as a three-time coach for the U.S. Cadet World Team, including the 2016 squad which took second. He also served as a coach for the U.S. Senior World Team in 2010.
Esposito was a standout wrestler for the Cowboys from 2002-2006, compiling a 120-12 overall record during his time in the orange singlet.
He put together a 35-1 record en route to the NCAA 149-pound title in 2005 and has the distinction of being a starter on four Oklahoma State NCAA championship-winning teams from 2003-06. The Cowboys also claimed team Big 12 championships all four years of his impressive career.
The Cowboy played a vital role in his team’s titles, as he finished second, first and third, respectively, in his three NCAA Championship appearances. Esposito earned one runner-up finish and three straight conference titles at the Big 12 Tournament.
Esposito garnered a notable amount of experience as an international competitor, including a spot on the 2008 World Cup Team that competed in Russia.
Esposito’s name can be found throughout the Cowboy record book, as his 120 career victories ties him for 10th all-time at OSU and his 32 career major decisions stands sixth on the Cowboys’ all-time list.
The Three Bridges, N.J., native is married to the former Brandy Baker. The couple has two daughters, Evelyn and Goldie and a son, Rocco.
Esposito’s NCAA Team Championships
2003 - 141 pounds
2004 - 149 pounds
2005 - 149 pounds
2006 - 149 pounds
Esposito’s NCAA Individual Championships
2005 - 149 pounds
NCAA Individual Champions Coached
2011 - Jordan Oliver, 133 pounds
2013 - Jordan Oliver, 149 pounds; Chris Perry, 174 pounds
2014 - Alex Dieringer, 157 pounds; Chris Perry 174 pounds
2015 - Alex Dieringer, 165 pounds
2016 - Dean Heil, 141 pounds; Alex Dieringer, 165 pounds
Big 12 Team Championships as a Coach
2010 - Club Coach
2011 - Club Coach
2012 Reg. Season - Assistant Coach
2013 Reg. Season - Assistant Coach
2014 - Assistant Coach
2015 - Assistant Coach
2016 - Assistant Coach
Big 12 Individual Championships As A Wrestler
2004 - 149 pounds
2005 - 149 pounds
2006 - 149 pounds
Senior Level Experience
2010 Senior World Team
2012 Cadet World Team
2015 Cadet World Team
2016 Cadet World Team - Second place
2017 Junior World Team - First place
2018 World Cup Team - First place
Senior Level Experience
2008 World Cup Team (Russia)
Chris Perry
Assistant Coach
(This information was provided by Oklahoma State Athletics Media Relations)
Chris Perry was promoted to the role of assistant coach in the summer of 2017 after serving for two seasons as a volunteer assistant coach and two seasons as a club coach for the Pokes.
During his time in the coaching ranks at Oklahoma State, Perry helped guide Daton Fix to a bronze-medal finish at 2018 Junior Worlds, oversaw a pair of national championships from 141-pounder Dean Heil in 2016 and 2017 and Alex Dieringer’s third NCAA Championship in 2016 at 165 pounds.
In 2017, Perry helped guide Heil to his title, while also seeing eight total Cowboys bring home All-America honors to tie a school record and finish third at the NCAA Championships. The 2017 season also saw eight Cowboys earn Big 12 individual titles as the Pokes en route to a team title.
In his first season, he saw Alex Dieringer earn his third NCAA individual title, Dean Heil win his first national championship and four other Cowboys earn All-America status. He had a key role in coaching seven Pokes to Big 12 titles and a team championship.
In 2013 and 2014, Perry, a native of Stillwater, Okla., won back-to-back NCAA titles at 174 pounds under the direction of John Smith.
Perry produced a dominant 122-11 career record with 59 bonus-point wins. He was a four-time Big 12 champion, the 2014 Big 12 Championship’s Outstanding Wrestler and a three-time All-American.
Perry graduated with a degree in education in 2014.
Perry’s NCAA Individual Championships
2013 - 174 pounds
2014 - 174 pounds
NCAA Individual Champions Coached
2016 - Dean Heil, 141 pounds; Alex Dieringer, 165 pounds
2017 - Dean Heil, 141 pounds
Big 12 Team Championships as a Coach
2015 - Club Coach
2016 - Volunteer Assistant Coach
2017 - Volunteer Assistant Coach
Big 12 Individual Championships As A Wrestler
2011 - 184 pounds
2012 - 174 pounds
2013 - 174 pounds
2014 - 174 pounds
Senior Level and Other Experience
2013 Ziolkowski International Tournament - Bronze
2013 Sargsyan International Tournament - Bronze
2014 University World Championships - Silver
2014 U.S. World Team Trials - Third place
2015 U.S. Open - Second place
2016 Paris International Tournament - Bronze
2017 U.S. Open - Fifth place
Tyler Caldwell
Recruiting Coordinator
(This information was provided by Oklahoma State Athletics Media Relations)
Tyler Caldwell enters his first season as recruiting coordinator for the Cowboys after a successful collegiate career at Oklahoma State and Oklahoma.
After his graduation from OSU, Caldwell served as a volunteer assistant coach at West Virginia during the 2015-16 season.
As a collegiate wrestler, Caldwell was a two-time NCAA finalist and four-time All-American. Transferring to Stillwater from the University of Oklahoma for the 2013 season, he finished his career at 126-29 overall, including a 63-9 record at OSU.
Caldwell has also found success on the international stage, winning a University World Title in 2014. He has also placed fourth at the U.S. Open, and finished in the top six at the World Team Trials.
A Wichita, Kan., native, Caldwell graduated from OSU in 2014.