Longest Tenured Coaches
These are the top ten coaches in DIII in terms of tenure at their current schools. The teams at these colleges have had remarkable stability over the past quarter century or more, and each of these coaches has influenced hundreds of wrestlers over the years.
1. Steve Eldridge – USCGA – 41 Seasons – Eldridge has hosted the NCAA Championships twice, served twice as the NWCA President, and has had 8 All-Americans.
2. Ned McGinley – King’s – 38 Seasons – McGinley was a 2x NCAA qualifier at Wilkes University and has over 350 dual meet wins at Kings. This past season, he had two All-Americans, including National Champion David Morgan.
3. Don Murray – Brockport – 36 Seasons – Murray’s Brockport teams have won five national championships (most recently 1992) and he has coached over 100 All-Americans on his way to nearly 300 wins.
4. Gary Franke – Washington & Lee – 34 Seasons – In addition to coaching W&L’s first wrestling All-American in 1989, he coached the men’s tennis team to the 1988 National Championship.
5. Bob Del Rosa – Case Western Reserve – 32 Seasons – The head coach for the past 32 years, Del Rosa is actually in his 45th year at Case. He has had three national champions and 12 All-Americans since 1980. He also was the captain of the 1958 University of Cincinnati football team.
6. Dave Icenhower – TCNJ – 31 Seasons – Like Murray, Ice has won five championships, the most recent in 1987. He has over 400 wins, over 130 All-Americans, and has never finished outside the top 20 at the DIII National Championships.
7. Don Parker – UW-Eau Claire – 29 Seasons – Starting with six wrestlers, Parker built a team that has had 12 All-Americans. He was also a two time national champion wrestler for the University of Northern Iowa.
8. Leo Kocher – University of Chicago – 28 Seasons – Kocher has had 21 All-Americans, 2 National Champs, and four top 15 finishes. He also is heavily involved with helping to save college wrestling programs by attempting to change the interpretation of Title IX and bring awareness to the issue.
9. Bob Gaudenzi – Hunter – 27 Seasons – A Hunter alum, Gaudenzi has been at the helm of Hunter’s team for 27 seasons. This year, he had two All-Americans, including champion Terry Madden. This earned Hunter its first top ten finish in the program’s history.
10. Bill Racich – Ursinus – 26 Seasons – Racich’s teams have won the last five Centennial Conference championships and nine overall. Racich achieved his 400th career win in 2007 and has had 15 All-Americans. His Ursinus teams have never had a losing record.
I often hear people asking questions about eligibility, transfers, seasons of competition, and other procedural issues. Most questions can be answered by taking a look at the NCAA Division III Bylaws, which can be downloaded and searched 
Here’s a recap of how the season went for each team that had a new head coach in 2006-2007. Obviously, these teams were built mostly by the previous coach, or, in two cases, the coach before that.
