Iowa State will officially unveil a new era in the wrestling program Friday morning.

At a press conference Friday, Athletics Director Jamie Pollard will announce the retirement of veteran Coach Bobby Douglas and announce the appointment of Cael Sanderson as the new leader of the Cyclones.

The event will begin at 11 a.m. at the Jacobson Building.

Douglas recently finished his 14th season as the Cyclone head coach. Sanderson was his assistant coach this past season after Chris Bono left in September.

“I didn’t see it coming,” said Travis Paulson, a junior All-American for Douglas this past season. “I knew it would happen. I just didn’t know when.”

The news of the retirement broke Wednesday evening, soon after the University of Iowa’s Athletic Director Bob Bowlsby announced the firing of Hawkeye coach Jim Zalesky.

Nate Gallick, the ISU team captain this past season, thought that Sanderson would be Douglas’ eventual successor. The timing, however, was unexpected.

“I know Coach Douglas has been getting Cael [Sanderson] ready,” Gallick said.

“He had him running a lot of practices lately . I just didn’t realize it was something that was going to happen so soon.”

Douglas was unable for comment, and Sanderson declined to comment until after Friday’s press conference.

Douglas joined the Cyclones in 1992 after coaching Arizona State for 18 years.

He was named the National Wrestling Coach of the Year in 2000, was a three-time conference coach of the year with the Cyclones and had a dual record of 182-13-3 at Iowa State.

– Luke Plansky