Ames, IA- Iowa State University will be adding women’s wrestling to the program ledger in 2027-28 under the direction of Alli St. John, a two-time World Wrestling Championships silver medalist whose husband is an assistant coach for the men’s program. St. John will be bringing a former Tiger along with her as Jake Kadel was announced as her first staff hire yesterday, May 4th.
Kadel, a New London alum, went 189-13 in his career with the Tigers that included four trips to state, which ended in three bronze medals and one silver. He then wrestled at the University of Iowa where he accumulated a 28-20 career record.
But once a Tiger always a Tiger, Kadel was hired to join Iowa Wesleyan’s men’s and women’s wrestling staff from 2020-2023, including a head coach stint for the final season before the university’s closure. That 2022-23 season produced 11 national tournament qualifiers, which saw five earn All-America status, including a national champion in Adaugo Nwachukwu.
After Iowa Wesleyan’s closure, he was quickly hired by William Penn University to head the women’s wrestling program. He turned a program that finished outside of the top 30 at the NAIA National Championships into a program that finished 4th twice and as runner-up this past season in his three seasons leading the Statesmen.
“I am incredibly excited for the opportunity to work alongside coach Alli St. John and the rest of the staff at Iowa State University,” Kadel said. “I’ve been fortunate to follow her career as an athlete, and I have tremendous respect for what she brings to the sport.
“I look forward to investing in the student-athletes and building on the already strong wrestling tradition at Iowa State. I’d also like to thank the Iowa State administration for their continued investment in women’s wrestling, and Coach St. John for her belief in me.”
As a program builder, Kadel directed nine national champions and 18 All-Americans across his three seasons at William Penn. Additionally, William Penn captured their first Heart of America Athletic Conference team title in program history, which included five individual champions. The Statesmen were 27-13 in dual action, as well.
“I am excited to have Jake join our program as an assistant coach,” St. John said. “He brings a wealth of wrestling knowledge, experience building a women’s program and recruiting acumen with him to Ames, and he was one of the first people I had in mind when I started to build out my staff. What he was able to build at William Penn was amazing and his athletes saw great success on the mat and in the classroom.”
If you think that the jump from NAIA to Division I might be too much for Kadel, here is an excerpt from his Tiger Nation episode from October in 2022,
“We have high expectations for our program in general. We have a good chunk of our staff, we all wrestled at the Division I level, so that’s kind of how we run our program is like a Division I program. The expectations are high, and the kids know that, but we just got to put our athletes in the best position to reach their goals whether that be academically or athletically. Obviously, our goal is to win…”