Jim Zalesky Position: Head Coach Experience: Sixth Season Alma Mater: Iowa '84

One of the winningest programs in college wrestling history got one of the sport's winningest coaches when Oregon State hired Jim Zalesky on April 14, 2006.

Zalesky, who coached Iowa to three NCAA team championships, is the 17th head coach in Oregon State wrestling history. The 2011-12 campaign is his sixth at the helm of Oregon State wrestling.

In five seasons at OSU, his teams have finished first or second in the Pac-10 four times. He's mentored three All-Americans and seven conference champions. His 66 victories are third-most in school history.

Oregon State had one of its most successful seasons under Zalesky in 2010-11. The Beavers finished 21st at the NCAA Championships, sending eight wrestlers, the most in more than a decade. OSU finished second at the Pac-10 Championships with both Colby Covington (174) and Clayton Jack (heavyweight) winning their respective weight classes.

In 2009-10, the Beavers earned their second Pac-10 title under Zalesky in just four seasons. Covington earned the lone Pac-10 title at 174 pounds with five others joining him at the NCAA Championships. During the regular season, Zalesky led Oregon State to a career-best tying 18 dual meet wins, finishing with an 18-3 record and going on a 17-meet winning streak, the longest since 1984. A number of wrestlers broke into various single season and career lists for wins, pins and winning percentage, and Zalesky earned his first Pac-10 Coach of the Year accolade, while redshirt freshman Mike Mangrum was named Pac-10 Freshman of the Year.

In the 2008-09 season, the Beavers produced one All-American in 149-pounder Heinrich Barnes. Oregon State sent four to the NCAA Championships with two automatic bids and two at-large after a second place finish at the Pac-10 Championships.

The 2007-08 season proved to be a rebuilding year for the Beavers. But under Zalesky's leadership, the team still earned a third place finish at the Pac-10 Championships, sending three individuals to the NCAA Championships.

In just his first season at Oregon State during the 2006-07 season, Zalesky coached the Beavers to a first place finish in the Pac-10, the first time since 1994 and to a ranking as high as No. 16 in the nation. He led Ty Watterson to an fourth place All-American finish at the NCAA Championships and led the team to 900 all-time dual meet wins, the third in the nation to do so.

Zalesky compiled a 127-34 dual meet record at Iowa, serving as head coach from the 1997-98 season through the 2005-06 season. His teams won NCAA titles in 1998, 1999 and 2000, and the Hawkeyes finished second in 2001 and 2004. Zalesky's teams captured three Big Ten team titles and his wrestlers won 10 NCAA individual titles and 45 All-America honors.

While at Iowa, Zalesky was named the Big Ten Coach of the Year in 2000 and 2004 and the National Wrestling Coaches Association Coach of the Year in 1998 and 1999.

Zalesky wrestled for Iowa in the early 1980s and was a four-time All-American and three-time NCAA champion at 158 pounds, ending his Hawkeye career with an 89-match winning streak. He was named Outstanding Wrestler at the 1984 NCAA Championships and Amateur Wrestling News named him the Wrestler of the Decade for the 1980s; he narrowly missed earning a place on the 1988 United States Olympic Team as he placed second in the U.S. Nationals at 163 pounds.

Zalesky was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2004, the University of Iowa Letterman's Club Hall of Fame and the Iowa High School Athletic Association Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2002, and the Iowa Wrestling Hall of Fame in 1994.

Zalesky's coaching career also includes three years as an assistant coach at Minnesota and seven seasons as an assistant under legendary Iowa coach Dan Gable, with Zalesky serving as head recruiter. As an assistant at Iowa,

Zalesky was named the National Wrestling Coaches Association Assistant Coach of the Year in 1992 and 1997.

Zalesky is a 1984 graduate of Iowa. He and his wife, Teri, have four children - Nicolette, Jaclyn, Zackery and Lucas.