UALR hires head coach for new wrestling program

Neil Erisman
Neil Erisman

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock has named Neil Erisman at the first head coach of its new wrestling program, Athletic Director Chasse Conque said Wednesday.

Erisman has coached six seasons at the Division I level, including Oklahoma State and North Carolina, while coaching 20 NCAA All-Americans and four NCAA individual champions.

“My family and I would like to thank Chasse Conque, Chancellor Andrew Rogerson and the UA Little Rock community for welcoming us to the Trojan family,” Erisman said in a statement. “I am very excited for this opportunity, and I’m looking forward to getting to Little Rock to begin my work as the Trojans’ first head wrestling coach.”

The Trojans' inaugural season is in 2019-20, and UALR said a news conference to formally introduce Erisman will be held "in the coming weeks."

In the last four seasons, Erisman led North Carolina to an overall record of 41-28, and the Tar Heels finished third in the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2015-16 and 2017-18. Troy Heilmann and Ethan Ramos both won ACC titles in the 2017-18 seasons, and Heilmann went on to place fourth in the NCAA Championships.

Erisman is from DeSoto, Kan., where he wrestled, and he won both a state and cadet national championship while compiling a 150-5 record. He then competed at Oklahoma State, where he earned an overall record of 92-36 from 2007-11, winning the individual Big 12 championship at 157 pounds in 2011.

He graduated with a bachelor's degree in business administration from Oklahoma State in 2011.

Erisman began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Oklahoma State from 2011-13, and in those two years under Coach John Smith, the Cowboys won the Big 12 championship in 2013 and finished second at the NCAA Championships that same season.

Erisman then spent one season as the assistant wrestling coach at Stillwater High in Stillwater, Okla., where he helped the Pioneers to the 2014 Oklahoma 6A state championship. That season, Eriman was named the Oklahoma High School National Team Coach.

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