Graceland University Wrestling Head Coach Zack Mullins Earns Heart Wrestling Coach of the Year for Second Straight Season

Lamoni, IA (02/26/2020) — For the second straight season, Graceland University Wrestling head coach Zack Mullins was named the Heart of America Athletic Conference (Heart) Coach of the Year.

Mullins was selected as head wrestling coach in 2013 when Graceland reinstated its wrestling program after more than 30 years without the sport. Since then, Mullins has coached a number of national qualifiers and all-conference selections, and he has helped lead the program to several dual victories in each of his seven seasons as head coach.

In the 2019-20 season, Mullins led his team to seven dual wins, including a home win over #16 Missouri Valley College in December. This past weekend, his team earned 109 points at the Heart championships for 4th place in the conference. In addition, five of his wrestlers qualified for the NAIA National Championships.

Graceland Athletic Director Brady McKillip commented, "To be back-to-back conference coach of the year says a lot to the amount of respect Zack has earned in his young career. He leads by example and expects the best out of his wrestlers every day. I am very proud of him. Zack and assistant coach Kris Fisher have done a tremendous job with their program. To go from reinstatement to being nationally ranked in their short amount of time speaks to their work ethic and commitment to excellence that they bring to their program. I am very proud of both them and their athletes as they continue build a powerful program."

Under Mullins, Graceland's wrestling program has been recognized as a top-15 program in the country academically, and has seen members of the team recognized multiple times as Graceland's freshman male athlete of the year and sophomore male athlete of the year. The wrestling program is currently #14 in the most recent NAIA Coaches' Poll and has led two individuals to back-to-back conference championships in the Heart.

Mullins commented, "I can't thank the members of our program, our coaching staff and our medical staff enough for everything they do for Graceland Wrestling day in and day out. This award is and always will be more about them than it ever will be about me. I am blessed to have a group of guys that buy in to working hard and being a part of a family. Those two things drive everything we do in this program, and my hope is these young men walk away from their experience in our program with those two things driving them the rest of their lives. I'm honored to be named Conference Coach of the Year for the second consecutive year. Thank you to everyone that played a role in our season so far. We aren't done!"

Coach Zack Mullins is originally from Lincoln, Illinois. He graduated from Briar Cliff University (BCU) in Sioux City, Iowa, in 2001 with a Bachelor of Arts in sport management, and he earned his Master of Arts in human resource management in 2013, also from BCU. Mullins was a four-year varsity letterman in both wrestling and track and field at BCU from 2007-11 in weight classes ranging from 141-157 lbs. He was BCU's 2nd-ever four-time NAIA wrestling national qualifier and Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) champion his senior year at 157 lbs. Mullins was also a three-year team captain and first team all-conference selection in the GPAC.

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