West Virginia University Athletics

West Virginia University is proud to have one of the most successful coaches in college wrestling lead the Mountaineer wrestling program, as coach Tim Flynn sits ninth among active coaches with 254 career victories and enters his sixth season at the helm after being named the ninth head coach in April 2018.
 
Under his guidance, West Virginia has seen 19 Mountaineers qualify for the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships and four earn All-America status. WVU has enjoyed great success off the mat as well, earning 64 Academic All-Big 12 and 10 NWCA Scholar All-America honors.
 
West Virginia’s 2023 campaign was one for the history books, seeing the Mountaineers eclipse the double-digit win mark for the 17th time in program history and the first time since 2014. The team made its first appearance in the NWCA Top 25 since January 2016, ranking as high as No. 23 after capturing a pair of wins over Ohio and No. 21 Pitt.
 
WVU experienced great individual success as well. The squad saw eight wrestlers break into the national rankings for the first time since 2003, while six went on to compete on the national stage for the first time since 2012. It marked the fourth consecutive year in which four or more grapplers qualified for the NCAA Championships since the Flynn era began in 2019.
 
Fifth-year senior Killian Cardinale capped off the season by capturing his second All-America honor with an eighth-place finish at nationals. Cardinale became the eighth WVU wrestler to receive multiple All-American honors in their careers, while the Mountaineers have had one All-American wrestler in four consecutive seasons.
 
In 2022, West Virginia claimed four NCAA qualifiers for the second straight season, in addition to its third Big 12 Champion and third All-American in as many years. The team also eclipsed its record for most wrestlers on the Academic All-Big 12 team with nine, including a record-breaking seven on the first team.
 
The Mountaineers scored 62 points to place seventh in the Big 12 Championship, while landing seven wrestlers on the podium to match a program-best set by the 2015-16 squad.

Redshirt senior Killian Cardinale (125) and sophomore Peyton Hall (165) led off the postseason run by becoming the first Mountaineer duo to reach the Big 12 finals of their respective weight classes since the combination of Zeke Moisey (125) and Jake Smith (197) made the finals in 2018. Top-seeded Cardinale recoded a 8-3 decision over 2021 Big 12 Champion and third-seeded Brody Teske (Northern Iowa) to join former WVU standouts Dylan Cottrell (2017) and Noah Adams (2020) as the only other Mountaineers to reach the top of the Big 12 since West Virginia moved to the conference in 2012, and becomes the second to do it during Flynn's tenure.
 
Success continued as Cardinale and Hall reached the quarterfinals at the 2022 NCAA Wrestling Championships in Detroit. Both finished in the top 12, while Hall secured his spot on the podium as an All-American after scoring an 11-3 major decision over No.19-seed Justin McCoy of Virginia. The Chester, West Virginia, native joined Jimmie Cox, Mike Mason, Sam Kline, Brandon Rader, and Noah Adams as the sixth WVU wrestler from the state of West Virginia to be named an All-American. In addition, Hall is the first WVU grappler to take home the honor at 165 pounds; Mark Banks reached the feat twice at 167 pounds back in 1990 and 1991.
 
In 2021, Flynn guided the Mountaineers to a 7-3 record for their first winning season since 2014 and a 31st place finish at the NCAA Championships to close out the abbreviated campaign. He went on to witness Cardinale earn All-America status at 125 pounds. Cardinale is the second All-American during Flynn’s tenure and the first since Mountaineer standout Noah Adams earned the honor at 197 pounds in 2020. The Bristow, Virginia, native was also the first to earn the honor at 125 pounds since Zeke Moisey in 2018.

WVU placed 10th at the 2020 Big 12 Wrestling Championship before the season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Adams’ performances highlighted the 2019-20 season, as he won the 197-pound title at the conference tournament to cap an undefeated season at 32-0. Adams, a two-time NCAA Qualifier, was the nation’s second-seeded wrestler heading into the NCAA Tournament.
 
The 197-pound grappler earned All-America First Team honors from the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA), becoming WVU’s first All-American since 2018, and received the 2020 Harman Award, an honor given to West Virginia’s amateur athlete of the year. He also became the first wrestler in program history to be named the Big 12 Wrestler of the Year and the second to be picked as a finalist for the WIN Magazine/Culture House Dan Hodge Trophy.
 
Additionally, Adams went 5-0 to claim the 197-pound bracket at the prestigious Southern Scuffle. For his efforts, he was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Wrestler. He also gained NWCA Scholar All-America status as well.
 
In his first season guiding the Mountaineers, Flynn led the program to a four-win dual season, which included a 19-17 win over No. 20 North Dakota State at the South Beach Duals on Dec. 30, 2018. The squad would go on to finish ninth at the 2019 Big 12 Championship.
 
WVU also produced five podium finishers at the conference tournament and sent five wrestlers to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2014. Four Mountaineers earned automatic bids, while one grappler received an at-large selection to punch his ticket. Adams was one of the five wrestlers to make an appearance, competing on the national stage for the first time in his career.
 
Flynn came to West Virginia from Edinboro, where he spent 21 years building the Fighting Scots into a wrestling powerhouse. He compiled a 223-95-5 career record to become the school’s all-time winningest coach and a member of its Hall of Fame.
 
His accomplishments at Edinboro totaled 150 national qualifiers, 38 All-Americans, 64 Eastern Wrestling League (EWL) champions and 97 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) champions. He led the Fighting Scots to five top-10 finishes at the NCAA Tournament, 14 top-20 finishes and 18 top-25 finishes.
 
Flynn engineered two of the best seasons in Edinboro wrestling history, with his 2014-15 squad placing third at nationals – the program’s highest-ever finish – and earning four All-America honors. His 2013-14 squad recorded a fifth-place finish at the national tournament, with three All-Americans. The Fighting Scots ended the year with an 11-3 record, winning 10 of their last 11 duals, including a 17-16 win over No. 6 Pitt. He received NWCA NCAA Division I Coach of the Year honors, shared InterMat Coach of the Year honors with Minnesota’s J Robinson and was selected as WIN’s Dan Gable Coach of the Year.
 
He was the EWL Coach of the Year seven times and the PSAC Coach of the Year 13 times. Flynn also coached three national champions (John Koscheck at 174 in 2001, Gregor Gillespie at 149 in 2007 and Jarrod King at 165 in 2009) and eight NCAA runners-up.
 
Under the former Penn State All-American, Edinboro dominated eastern wrestling circles, winning the EWL Championships 15 times, including eight straight from 2003-10, along with 16 PSAC tournament titles in his 21 campaigns. At one point, Edinboro won 34 of 35 EWL dual matches, which included a 29-match winning streak.
 
Before taking over the head coaching duties, Flynn was an assistant at Edinboro under legendary coach and Olympian Bruce Baumgartner from 1992-97. Flynn assisted Baumgartner to a 56-21 record, including a 14-0 dual-match mark and a sixth-place finish at the 1996 NCAA Tournament.
 
Following three standout seasons at Vista High in Vista, California, Flynn moved east to finish his prep career at Annapolis Senior High in Annapolis, Maryland. He went on to enjoy a stellar career at Penn State, captaining the 1986-87 squad, while earning All-America honors at 134 pounds. He went 30-10-1 as a senior, winning the EWL title and finishing seventh at nationals. The Nittany Lions enjoyed one of their greatest seasons ever with an 18-1-1 record and a third-place finish at the NCAA Tournament.
 
Flynn finished with a 105-32-2 collegiate record, still ranking among the all-time career leaders in victories at Penn State. He also won the EWL 126-pound title as a junior in 1986, finishing with a 30-7-1 mark, and qualified for nationals as a sophomore after finishing second at the EWL Championships. He was a four-time Midlands Championships place winner, a two-time Mat-Town USA champion and was an Espoir National freestyle runner-up in 1984.

For all his efforts as a coach and wrestler in the Keystone State, Flynn was officially inducted into the Pennsylvania Wrestling Coaches Association (PWCA) Hall of Fame on Sunday, Oct. 17, 2021.
 
Flynn, who is currently a member of the NWCA Leadership Group, graduated from Penn State in 1987 with a bachelor's degree in business management. He later earned his master's degree in business administration from Penn State with a concentration in finance in 1990. He and his wife, Tanya, have two children - Logan and Riley.

Career Record