West Liberty Wrestling Camps

Danny Irwin | Head Coach/Camp Director

Danny Irwin | Head Coach/Camp Director As he sets out on his fourth season as head wrestling coach at West Liberty University, Danny Irwin has his Hilltopper mat program firmly established as a perennial national championship contender.

Irwin enjoyed a spectacular third season on the hilltop, leading WLU to its second straight Mountain East Conference and NCAA Division II Super Region 3 championships and guiding the Black and Gold to a third-place finish at the NCAA D2 Nationals in St. Louis. That marked the highest national finish of the NCAA Division II era for the West Liberty wrestling program and the best in nearly three decades, dating back to a runner-up finish in the 1995 NAIA Nationals.
Eight of Irwin's wrestlers qualified for Nationals and five of them came home as NCAA Division II All-Americans. Cole Laya rolled to his second straight 125-pound national title and was a finalist for NCAA Division II Wrestler of the Year. Connor Craig was runner-up at 184 pounds for the second consecutive year, sophomore Ty McGeary placed third at 174, Ty Warner was fourth in the nation at 141 and senior Logan Kemp placed eighth at 197.

That followed hot on the heels of a dazzling 2021 campaign that saw Irwin’s Hilltoppers sweep the conference and regional titles and return home from Nationals with a fourth-place trophy to go along with four All-Americans and two national champions – Laya (125) and Warner (133). Irwin was not only voted MEC Wrestling Coach of the Year, he was honored as the Mountain East Conference All-Sports Coach of the Year, the NCAA Division II Super Region 3 Wrestling Coach of the Year and was a finalist for the 2021 NCAA Division II Wrestling Coach of the Year.

Irwin’s wrestlers have been just as successful in the classroom. Laya is a two-time NCAA Division II Academic All-American and four-time NWCA Scholar All-American. The Hilltopper wrestling program has produced a staggering 17 NWCA Scholar All-Americans in the past two seasons.
Irwin came to West Liberty after leading neighboring Wheeling University to a runner-up finish in the 2018-19 NCAA Division II Nationals at the Wolstein Center in Cleveland, Ohio. In just his second year as a collegiate head coach, Irwin’s Cardinals battled defending national champion St. Cloud State (Minn.) to the wire before falling just short of an NCAA Division II national title.

All six of Irwin’s national qualifiers earned NCAA Division II All-America status in Cleveland with two of them bringing home national championship hardware. Irwin put an exclamation point on his team’s thrilling run when he was presented with the NCAA Division II Coach of the Year trophy.
Irwin began his coaching career at the high school level, taking over a Bluffton (Ind.) High School squad that had won just 20 percent of its matches the previous year. In just two short seasons (2006-08), Irwin led Bluffton to a conference championship and regional tournament berth before moving into the college ranks as an assistant coach at NCAA Division III Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Ind.

The Little Giants posted four NCAA Division III Top 10 finishes and a trio of Top 5 finishes during Irwin’s nine years on the staff. He won three Regional Assistant Coach of the Year Awards and was a national finalist for the Best of Brands Social Media Award across all NCAA divisions before heading off to Wheeling.
Irwin was a regional champion and 2-time NCAA Division III national qualifier during his collegiate career at Manchester (Ind.) University. He graduated from Manchester with a bachelor’s degree in History.

Irwin and his wife, Andrea, live in St. Clairsville, Ohio with their daughter, Addison and son, J.P.

DANNY IRWIN AT A GLANCE
Head Coach
West Liberty University
2021-22: Dual Record: 10-3
    - 8 Scholar All-Americans / 8 National Qualifiers / 5 All-Americans / 1 National Champion / NCAA DII National Championships: 3rd
2020-21: Dual Record: 5-0
    - 9 Scholar All-Americans / 6 National Qualifiers / 4 All-Americans / 2 National Champions / NCAA DII National Championships: 4th
West Liberty University
2019-20 Dual Record: 9-8
    - 3 Scholar All-Americans / 2 National Qualifiers / 1 All-American / NCAA DII National Championships: Cancelled
Wheeling University
2018-19: Dual Record: 14-3
    - 7 Scholar All-Americans / 6 National Qualifiers / 6 All-Americans / 2 National Champions / NCAA DII National Championships: 2nd
2017-18: Dual Record: 6-6
    - 4 Scholar All-Americans / 5 National Qualifiers / 2 All-Americans / 1 National Champion / NCAA DII National Championships: 13th
Head Assistant Coach
Wabash (Ind.) College
2016-17: Dual Record: 7-2
    - 2 Scholar All-Americans / 7 National Qualifiers / 4 All-Americans / 1 National Champion / NCAA DIII National Championships: 3rd
2015-16: Dual Record: 13-1
    - 5 Scholar All-Americans / 6 National Qualifiers / 3 All-Americans / 2 National Champions / NCAA DIII National Championships: 4th
2014-15: Dual Record: 12-2
    - 6 Scholar All-Americans / 5 National Qualifiers / 4 All-Americans / 2 National Champions / NCAA DIII National Championships: 3rd
2013-14: Dual Record: 13-3
    - 5 Scholar All-Americans / 6 National Qualifiers / 2 All-Americans / 1 National Champion / NCAA DIII National Championships: 9th
2012-13: Dual Record: 9-5
    2 Scholar All-Americans / 2 National Qualifiers / 1 All-American / 0 National Champions / NCAA DIII National Championships: 39th
2011-12: Dual Record: 12-3
    - 3 Scholar All-Americans / 1 National Qualifier / 1 All-American / 0 National Champions / NCAA DIII National Championships: 38th
2010-11: Dual Record: 11-4
    3 Scholar All-Americans / 1 National Qualifier / 1 All-American / 0 National Champions / NCAA DIII National Championships: 35th
2009-10: Dual Record: 11-4
    0 Scholar All-Americans / 2 National Qualifiers / 0 All-Americans / 0 National Champions / NCAA DIII National Championships: 44th