Dan Dresser, the brother of new Iowa State wrestling coach Kevin Dresser, trained wrestlers in Iowa City when he was in his late 20s.

During that time, two-time Iowa State All-American Willie Gadson was also down in Iowa City, in the Iowa wrestling room helping train wrestlers. When Dan wasn’t available, he’d have Willie take over the workouts.

Dan eventually got out of the world of training wrestlers and got into the world of business.

Now, Dan is the director of the Cyclone Regional Training Center (CRTC), on top of his full-time job at a technology company managing accounts.

He has the opportunity to work with another Gadson, Willie’s son, Kyven.

Kyven and Dan talked recently at an event.

“I got to know his father Willie very well because we were together in the room a lot,” Dan said. “I had a great deal of respect for the guy, and as I told Kyven, ‘I have to share a few stories with you about how infectious Willie’s smile was and I really enjoyed getting to know and spend time around your father.’”

Willie died from cancer in 2013.

Other people’s experiences are the only way Kyven gets to hear stories about his father.

“I always like hearing stories about my dad because he’s not here to tell his anymore,” Kyven said. “It’s cool to know that so many people have fond and special memories of him.”

Kyven is currently a part of the CRTC, and if it was up to Dan and Kevin, he’d stay part of it.

“Kyven is a great kid and I heard that from everybody,” Dan said. “From the wrestling accolades, I would say it’s very exciting because he’s got a tremendous skillset, and I know he has a tremendous work ethic from what I understand. You couldn’t ask for a better start in a guy that can work with the upper weights at Iowa State.”

Right now, the CRTC has three guys in it, Kyven, Mike Moreno and Dom Bradley – holdovers from the Cyclone Wrestling Club. Kevin said his goal is to get five to six guys total spread out through the weights.

To do that, the CRTC must have the funding available. That’s where Dan’s business acumen comes into play.

“I think the biggest thing that I envision and from what Kevin and I have talked about – this goes back to weeks and weeks before he took the job,” Dan said. “One of the big things that comes into play when you’re talking about the Regional Training Center is to bring in what we call the ‘elite level athletes’ to a training environment.

“And a lot of that is, can you attract them? A big part of that is being able to fund those individuals because that becomes their full-time job. That means you have to be able to find the resources to be able to support the athletes. A lot of that is fundraising and developing that financial wherewithal to support that financial effort.”

At Virginia Tech, Kevin did all of that himself, starting with a grassroots fundraising campaign. But he realized that’s too much to do on top of being a coach.

Dan has wrestled his whole life, and since he got out of college, his expertise was in the business realm. He told Kevin he could bring the two together with his connections and fund the athletes.

That’s a big key for Moreno. He’s on his own now, paying for things like his own insurance and paying back his student loans. He needs more than what the Cyclone Wrestling Club was able to provide him.

That’s why he wants to go into coaching, whether that’s following former Iowa State assistant coaches Travis and Trent Paulson or another opportunity. But if he’s able to make a decent salary, he has no problem competing more and working with the CRTC.

“If the money is right, then I can compete full time and not really have to even worry about it because I’m getting taken care of,” Moreno said. “And that makes wrestling probably a lot easier. When you’re fighting for scraps it’s kind of hard.

“I’m just trying to keep it as open as possible, whether it’s in a mentor role — obviously there are no coaching positions left — but if it’s a mentoring role, great. If it’s from an athlete role, even better.”

Kyven also has to weigh his options. But he seems less on the fence about it.

“I haven’t got to sit down with coach Dresser and map out what that looks like for me yet,” Kyven said. “Right now I’m just letting everything play out to see what’s the best fit for me. If it’s going to be in Ames – I’ve always been a Cyclone, always will be. We’re going on 25 years in July of being a Cyclone. Looking at it from that perspective, born and bred I guess.”

If they choose to compete with the CRTC, they’ll be coached by former rival Brent Metcalf.

But Kyven wants to become an Olympic gold medalist, and if Metcalf can get him there, it doesn’t matter what school he went to.

“I’m going to trust him to give the tools I need to be successful with the position that I’m in,” Kyven said.

Kevin believes his three assistant coaches — Mike Zadick, Derek St. John and Metcalf — will help Kyven accomplish his goals.

“I think Kyven is kind of getting that hunger back like he had when he was a college competitor,” Kevin said. “I see it in his eye a little bit. I think these guys will really pull it out.”

If they can get Kyven to reach his full potential, which they’ve seen glimpses of, it will help every other part of the program. By enhancing the freestyle part of Iowa State with the CRTC, Kyven believes it will enhance the folkstyle and colligate part of it as well.

“He’s trying to get people talking about the program again, he’s trying to get high school kids that will be some of the best in the state and in the nation in the room earlier,” Kyven said. “The earlier, the better. When you do that, that gives you an opportunity when it comes time to recruit those young men because you already have a relationship with them.

“If you’re going to recruit the best kids in the nation with the type of high school wrestling we have in the state of Iowa, I think starts with getting the best kids in your backyard.”

Kevin, Dan and the assistants are trying to let everything play out just like everybody else.

“We’re going to re-evaluate after some of these spring events and start looking for more guys — decide if these guys want to stay or go, but obviously, we want to try and keep them,” Kevin said.