Northern Iowa’s Doug Schwab named WIN’s Dan Gable Coach of the Year

By Tristan Warner 

Since 1997, WIN has annually named its Coach of the Year by Dan Gable.
Gable is arguably the greatest coach the sport has ever produced. As a wrestler, the native of Waterloo compiled a 118-1 record and won two NCAA titles (1969 and 1970) before capturing the 1972 Olympic gold medal in freestyle. As a coach, he led the Iowa program for 21 years (1977-97) and produced 15 team championship, 45 individual titlists and 144 All-Americans.
The 2025 Dan Gable Coach of the Year is Northern Iowa’s Doug Schwab, who is making his mark and impacting the lives of student-athletes in Cedar Falls, just eight miles down the road from Gable’s hometown. “Obviously it is a great honor,” Schwab stated. “I appreciate the recognition. I got to be coached by Gable and an award named after him is pretty cool. I am pretty proud of that.
“People have to understand it is beyond you as the head coach. It is the whole staff. I have a high level of responsibility in being the guy leading the charge, but it doesn’t happen without the assistants and the support staff following up behind you and doing so much of the work.”
The 2024-25 season was a historic one for Schwab’s program, as the Panthers’ ninth-place finish at the 2025 NCAA DI Championships in Philadelphia was the highest since 1962. Parker Keckeisen also became the first-ever five-time All-American in UNI history, registering a runner-up finish at 184 pounds.
Named the 2025 NWCA National Coach of the Year, Schwab’s UNI squad was just one of four schools (Penn State, Cornell and Ohio State) to qualify all 10 wrestlers for the national tournament, a feat which had not occurred at UNI since 1986. Northern Iowa’s other All-American, Cael Happel, registered a fifth-place finish at 141 pounds, the highest finish for a Panther at the weight class since Dylan Long reached the finals in 2003.
The Big 12 runner-up Panthers, who were narrowly edged by Oklahoma State in the tournament’s final match, secured the program’s best Big 12 finish with three conference champions and 149.5 team points. The Panthers’ dual-meet season was equally impressive, as the squad posted a 14-1 record with a 7-1 mark in Big 12 action, only falling to Oklahoma State, 22-14. UNI defeated national contender Nebraska, ranked fourth at the time, 24-9, on Jan. 5 and toppled storied Big 12-rival Iowa State, ranked No. 14 at the time, … more at … https://www.win-magazine.com/2025/05/30/northern-iowas-doug-schwab-named-wins-dan-gable-coach-of-the-year/

June 3, 2025 Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized | ncaa, sports | Leave a comment