The University of the Ozarks announced today that LeRoy Gardner would be taking over for Jason Zastrow as head wrestling coach. Gardner was a national champion for Wartburg and most recently was coaching the NCWA program at the University of Houston-Downtown since 2014. Gardner was a 2003 graduate of Wartburg and has also coached at his alma mater and the Navy Academy Prep School. The school will embark on its third season of wrestling in 2016-2017. Read on for more.
Hall of Fame Wrestler To Lead Wrestling Program
Jun 02, 2016
Clarksville, Ark.-Collegiate Hall of Fame wrestler LeRoy Gardner III has been named the new head men’s wrestling coach at the University of the Ozarks, it was announced Thursday by Athletics Director Jimmy Clark.
Gardner, a native of Golden Valley, Minn., has been the head coach at University of Houston-Downtown since 2014, where he was named the 2016 National Collegiate Wrestling Association (NCWA) Southwest Conference Coach of the Year. There, he coached the university’s first All-American and Academic All-American. Prior to UH-Downtown, Gardner coached at the United States Naval Academy Preparatory School and Wartburg College. He wrestled at Wartburg where he was a three-time All-American and led his team to a pair of national championships. He was inducted into the National Wrestling Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2010.