James (Jim) Zalesky (born January 15, 1961) is an American college wrestling coach and is currently an assistant coach at Cal Poly Humboldt. Previous, he was the head coach at the University of Jamestown. He was the former head wrestling coach for the

Oregon State Beavers The Oregon State Beavers are the sport, athletic teams that represent Oregon State University, located in Corvallis, Oregon. The Beavers compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I (NCAA Division I ...

. Prior to joining the Beavers, he was the coach of the University of Iowa wrestling team from 1998 to 2006. At Iowa, he succeeded

Dan Gable Danny Mack Gable (born October 25, 1948) is an American former folkstyle and freestyle wrestler and coach. Considered to be one of the greatest wrestlers of all time, Gable is a two-time NCAA Division I national champion, a World gold medalist ...

as head coach, under whom he was a three-time

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

champion. As head coach for Iowa, he guided the Hawkeyes to three NCAA team championships in 1998, 1999, and 2000. In 2004, he was inducted into the

National Wrestling Hall of Fame The National Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum and hall of fame for amateur wrestling, headquartered in Stillwater, Oklahoma. In 2010, it began operating the Dan Gable Museum in Waterloo, Iowa. History The museum was awarded to Stil ...

as a Distinguished Member.

Career

Wrestling

Zalesky was a four-time All-American at Iowa from 1981 to 1984. He won the NCAA individual title in the 158 pound weight class in 1982, 1983, and 1984. He went undefeated his last two years, ending his college career with an 89 match winning streak. At the 1984 NCAA Championships, he was named the Most Outstanding Wrestler. Amateur Wrestling News named him "Wrestler of the Decade" for the 1980s. His competitive college career occurred during the streak of which the University of Iowa wrestling team won seven consecutive national titles. He narrowly missed making the 1984 Olympic wrestling team, finishing second in the 163 pound weight class at the US Olympic trials. Zalesky was inducted into the

as a Distinguished Member in 2004.

Coaching

Despite coaching the Hawkeyes to three NCAA team championships in nine years, with a runner-up finish in 2004 and a 4th place finish in 2006, Zalesky was fired as Iowa's head coach on March 30, 2006. Athletic Director Bob Bowlsby cited a decline in the program under Zalesky and the need for a change as the reasons. Oregon State's prior head coach, Joe Wells, retired a few days later leaving the program on a high note ending with a 13–2–1 record for the 2005–06 season. Zalesky was announced as Oregon State's new head coach on April 14, 2006. Under Zalesky, the Beavers won seven Pac-12 team titles from 2006 to 2020. The Beavers were 147-75-2 in dual meets during Zalesky's tenure. On March 9, 2020, Zalesky was dismissed as head coach by Oregon State University. On May 4, 2021 the University of Jamestown in North Dakota hired Zalesky as the new men's wrestling coach. Zalesky overall coaching record is 274-109-2, with him having coached over 50 All-Americans.

References

1961 births Living people American male sport wrestlers American wrestling coaches Iowa Hawkeyes wrestlers Iowa Hawkeyes wrestling coaches Oregon State Beavers wrestling coaches 20th-century American sportsmen {{US-wrestling-bio-stub