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Iowa State wrestling was dealt NCAA sanctions.
The Iowa State wrestling team was dealt NCAA sanctions related to impermissible recruiting violations on Tuesday. As a result of the findings, one booster has been forced to disassociate with the program for two years.
In addition to that disassociation, the former coach has been suspended. He will miss time in his new role as Director of Men’s and Women’s Wrestling.
The NCAA released its punishment to the self-imposed infractions this week.
Iowa State wrestling dealt sanctions.
The NCAA report was released on September 22, 2026. It confirmed tampering violations involving the Cyclones wrestling team.
Impermissible contact violations occurred in the Iowa State men’s wrestling program when local regional training center assistant coach Chris Perry had contact with two transfer student-athletes and one of those student-athletes was not yet in the Transfer Portal…
The school and enforcement staff agreed that the violations in this case occurred after the then-head men’s wrestling coach communicated with an exiting men’s wrestling head coach at another university and expressed interest in recruiting two of that coach’s student-athletes.
After that exchange, Perry, who worked as an assistant coach at the Cyclone Regional Training Center (where the then-Iowa State head men’s coach also served as head coach of the training center team) contacted the prospective transfers.
Perry called one prospect, who was not in the Transfer Portal, on two separate occasions and texted him 14 times, including requesting that individual’s transcripts, providing information about potential revenue-share payments and cost of attendance, and explaining that the prospect should request a “do not contact” tag when his name was entered into the Transfer Portal. Perry also provided a “commitment” graphic to the second prospect to share on social media when he committed to Iowa State.
Chris Perry was not employed by Iowa State but worked alongside then-head coach Kevin Dresser at a local training facility. His attempts to recruit the student-athletes to Iowa State triggered booster status as he worked “in an individual capacity to represent the school’s interests in recruiting conversations.”
He illegally recruited one wrestler prior to his entry into the transfer portal. He provided a second with a commitment graphic. Both subsequently committed to Iowa State on the day they announced their transfer portal intentions.
Due to self-reporting, the NCAA handed down Level II penalties. Those include the following:
- One year of probation.
- A $25,000 fine, plus 0.5% of the men’s wrestling program’s budget.
- Two, one-week bans on recruiting communications with transfers for the men’s wrestling program during the first week of the men’s wrestling notification-of-transfer windows for the 2026-27 and 2027-28 academic years.
- Disassociation from the booster for two years.
- A 10% (equivalent of two contests) suspension from the men’s wrestling season for the former head coach, who is now the director of men’s and women’s wrestling, during the 2026-27 academic year.
Kevin Dresser will be suspended.
Dresser served as the head coach of the men’s wrestling team for nine seasons. He was named the school’s first Director of Men’s and Women’s Wrestling this past April.
He will miss two contests in the 2026-27 academic year.
Dresser’s replacement, Brent Metcalf, will now work his first season under probation. His staff will also receive two, one-week bans on recruiting communications with transfers during the first week of the men’s wrestling notification-of-transfer windows for the 2026-27 and 2027-28 academic years.
Iowa State will be docked 0.5% of the men’s wrestling program’s budget, which comes on top of a $25,000 fine.
As for the booster, Chris Perry has been forced to disassociate with the program for two years. His tampering will bar him from being a supporter in a recruiting capacity.