One Olympic gold medalist was replaced by another.

Thursday afternoon — 13 days after former wrestling coach Cael Sanderson left for Penn State, athletic director Jaime Pollard told the wrestling team that Kevin Jackson would be their new leader.

Jackson is a high-profile name in wrestling circles, having been the head US National Team coach for the past two Olympic cycles.

He wrestled on the Cyclones’ last NCAA Championship-winning team in 1987. 

“He’s an individual that has a clear fire and intensity, and the skill to help this program get back on the top of the podium as a national-championship caliber team,” Pollard said.

Jackson was the US National Team coach from 2001-2008. Last year he resigned his post as US National Team coach and became the Sunkist Kids Wrestling Club coach.

He was inducted into the ISU Hall of Fame in 2007, though he only wrestled for one season as a Cyclone. Jackson placed second at the 1987 NCAA tournament, helping Iowa State beat Iowa by 25 team points. He was a three-time All-American for Louisiana State but transferred when the program was dropped.

Jackon is one of five Americans to have won three wrestling World Championships, including the 180.5-pound freestyle Olympic gold medal in 1992. He later pursued a career in mixed martial arts fighting, winning the UFC 14 middleweight title in July of 1997. He lost his belt to Frank Shamrock five months later, and went 1-1 in The Octagon in 1998 before beginning his coaching career as an assistant with USA Wrestling.

He was promoted to the head coaching position three years later.

“In the last two decades, every team that’s won the NCAA Championship has been coached by somebody who either was an Olympian or coached in the Olympics,” Pollard said. “And those are pretty tough statistics to overlook.”

Jackson will be introduced at a press conference in the Jacobson Athletic Building Friday at 11 a.m.

He was a popular choice, according to Pollard and several wrestlers.

Multiple sources claimed that Ohio State assistant and former ISU NCAA Champion Joe Heskett was the other top candidate. Reportedly Tennessee-Chatanooga coach and ISU alumnus Chris Bono, current U.S. National Team coach Zeke Jones, Nebraska coach Mark Manning and Iowa assistant Terry Brands were also contacted about the position.

“I think [Jackson] was quite a few guys’ top pick,” said junior heavyweight David Zabriskie. “Probably not everybody is happy, but I don’t think anybody is upset about the pick. Everyone kind of has their own opinion, but I think the general consensus is that everybody is pretty happy with the pick.”

Zabriskie said Jackson is who he “wanted from the start.” Jackson said in a press release that he was “pleased to inherit such an outstanding team.”

“Winning a national champion at ISU remains a career highlight and I’m grateful for the opportunity to come back to Ames and lead such a distinguished program,” said Jackson, who is the seventh coach in the 93-year history of the program. “There is no ceiling to what we can accomplish on and off the mat at Iowa State, and I couldn’t be more excited to get started.”

The Lansing, Mich. native has limited college coaching experience. He was a Cyclone Wrestling Club assistant (1989-1992) and a volunteer assistant with Arizona State (1997).

“It’s something, you know, that he’s going to have to deal with, and we’re going to have to deal with,” said Pollard of Jackson’s lack of college coaching experience. “But we have a great support system. And his attributes on the other side are just so overwhelmingly positive that he can surround himself with good people, and who he hires as his assistant coaches is going to be critical to his future success and our future success. And I don’t think that’s going to be a problem.”

Pollard, who is in his fourth year as athletic director, said that  “no one group had more input” in the decision than the wrestlers. He said he sought out opinions from alumnus and “numerous people” in the wrestling community.

“I’ve gone on the record as saying I think I’d sign up to do a hundred football searches before I’d ever do another wrestling search,” Pollard said. “The wrestling world is so different because everybody knows everybody. It’s a very integrated family, so part of that process was we identified individuals we felt needed to have an opportunity to help give input.”

Attention now shifts to retaining the ISU wrestlers and recruits. All 10 starters from last year’s team have remaining eligibility. Seven are juniors, including Sanderson’s younger brother, Cyler, who was waiting until the coach was named to make his decision.

He was unable to be reached for comment. Junior 197-pound NCAA Champion Jake Varner declined to comment Thursday, but will return for his senior season according to multiple sources.

Junior Mitch Mueller said that he thought the team would “feel drawn” to stay for a coach and wrestler of Jackon’s caliber.

“He’ll bring a lot of technique to the table and show us a lot of what — not just what the U.S. is doing, but what everyone is doing around the world,” Mueller said. “So I think it’s going to be a positive, definitely.”

True freshman Andrew Long said that he thought Jackson was a good choice.

“He’s got of a lot of experience, so it’s going to be interesting to see how he puts it to use, and how he just incorporates the stuff he’s working on and his own style that I’m sure will be there after all his wrestling years,” said Long, whose brother, Dylan, was an assistant for Sanderson. “It’ll be fun to watch and to learn a little bit different style, technique. [His] capabilities on the mat are endless.”

Long, a 125-pounder, said that he’d be fine with an upper weight as a head coach “as long as there are adequate workout partners and guys to push me in the room, which there are now.”

The potential for the reassigning of scholarship money exists as well, which is a concern to wrestlers.

“You’re always thinking about it, but usually you’re not too picky with what you get and who gets what,” Long said. “So as far as that goes, it’s more of an after-the-fact type of thing — see where everybody else lies, too.”