One of the most successful wrestlers in Indiana University history, Angel Escobedo became the eighth head coach in program history on April 6, 2018.
Escobedo assumed the reins of the program after spending one year as IU’s associate head coach along with three years on the Iowa State staff.
“We are very excited about the future of Indiana Wrestling under Angel’s leadership,” IU Vice President and Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Fred Glass said. “As a wrestler, he excelled at the high school, collegiate and international levels. As a coach, he has mentored All-Americans and NCAA qualifiers. With a new state-of-the-art $17 million facility set to open, Angel is the right person to lead the program into this new, exciting era.”
A native of Gary, Ind., Escobedo was a dominant wrestler for the Hoosiers from 2007-10. As a sophomore, he won the 2008 NCAA title at 125 pounds, and he captured Big Ten titles in the weight class three times (2008-10). He’s the program’s only four-time All-American, and his 137 career wins (second) and 42 pins (third) rank among the best in IU history.
After wrapping up his IU career in 2010, Escobedo competed internationally and was a member of Team USA. Among his top performances was a fifth-place finish at the 2013 World Championships in Budapest, Hungary, and a second-place finish at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto.
While training full-time for the international circuit, he spent three years on Iowa State’s coaching staff from 2015-17, where he helped develop a handful of the Cyclones’ lightweight wrestlers into national contenders. Among his most notable wrestlers was two-time All-American and four-time NCAA qualifier Earl Hall.
He plans to make Indiana a force in the nation’s premier college wrestling conference, the Big Ten.
“It's having that IU logo on your chest when you're wrestling," Escobedo said. "I want to put the state Indiana back on the map of collegiate wrestling and I've always wanted to make Indiana known for what it is: a great state for wrestling.”
Angel and his wife, Pauli, have three children – Malachi, Saniyah, and Zoe.
Riley Lefever begins his first season with Indiana wrestling in 2021.
Lefever, who grew up in Fort Wayne, Indiana, wrestled at Wabash College, where he was a four-time DIII National Champion (three times at 184 and once at 197).
Lefever posted a 158-6 record at Wabash and graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in English. He was a team captain and a CoSIDA First Team Academic All-American. Lefever earned two NCAA DIII Most Domination Wrestler awards and was also a junior national team member in freestyle.
Lefever graduated from Wabash in 2017 and moved to State College, Pa., to train freestyle with the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club for the last five years.
In 2018 he earned the bronze medal at the Dave Schultz International Memorial tournament at 92kg and bronze medal at the Outstanding Ukrainian Tournament. In 2019 he earned third place in the World Team Challenge Tournament.
Brian Anderson took over as the Wabash College wrestling coach for the 2004-2005
season and has fashioned one of the top Division III programs in the nation.
Anderson guided Wabash to second place at the 2022 NCAA Division III National
Wrestling Tournament, its best finish in program history while finishing one point
behind national champion Wartburg College. Five Little Giants earned All-America
honors with Carlos Champagne, Kyle Hatch, and Jack Heldt finishing in second place
in each of their respective weight classes. Heldt was also named the 2022 NCAA Elite
90 Award recipient for the Division III Wrestling Championships as the student-
athlete competing at the championships with highest cumulative grade-point
average. Heldt, Grant Johnson, and Tyson Nisley were recognized as Scholar All-
Americans by the National Wrestling Coaches Association, while Wabash was
named a Scholar All-America Wrestling Team by the organization. All-American
Chase Baczek was named to the 2022 D3wrestle.com All-Freshmen Team. Anderson
ended the season as the 2022 NCAA Division III Wrestling Coach of the Year,
D3wrestle.com Coach of the Year, and NCAA DIII Central Region Coach of the Year.
The Little Giants finished tenth at the 2023 NCAA championships. Senior Jack Heldt
capped his career by winning the 285-pound title. Chase Baczek joined Heldt as an
All-American by placing seventh at 184 pounds. Wabash sent six of its ten regional
entries to the national championship tournament.
Anderson spent two years as an assistant at Manchester College, where he helped
the program produce seven national qualifiers and three All-American wrestlers. The
Spartans produced a 15th place finish at the NCAA Division III National
Championship meet in 2003 and an 18th place finish last season with his assistance.
Anderson wrestled for four seasons at Manchester, graduating in 1999 before
heading to Michigan City High School as the head wrestling coach for three years.
While wrestling at Manchester, Anderson helped the squad to two sixth-place
finishes at nationals while picking up more than 100 victories in his career. He was
two-time Indiana Collegiate Athletic Conference champion and earned a Heartland
Collegiate Athletic Conference title at 184 pounds. In 1999 he was an Academic All-
American and earned the Manchester College Senior Leadership Academic Award.
He also received the 1999 Jim Gratz Leadership Award.
He and his wife, Lauren, reside in Crawfordsville. They have three daughters, Brynn,
Kelsey, and Annabel.
Blake joined the RTC staff in 2022. Blake wrestled at The Ohio State University 2005-2007, where he became an NCAA Qualifier before injury ended his career. Prior to wrestling in college, Blake was one of the most accomplished Indiana High School athletes of all time, winning 4 IHSAA State Championships and earning multiple All-American honors at Fargo and finishing his high school career #1 in the country. Since college, Blake opened Maurer Coughlin Wrestling Club where he has coached many State Champions, National Champions, and All Americans.
“I am grateful for this opportunity to work with such talented athletes and coaches. The Indiana RTC is a great opportunity for any wrestler who is serious about trying to make world and Olympic teams. I cannot wait to see what the future holds for this RTC, with all the amazing resources that this place has.”
Dixon coached on the Indiana staff under Escobedo in the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons and is an Indiana Wrestling alumnus, graduating in 2001. He was a past coach at Old Dominion university, James Madison University, the University of Indianapolis, and prior high school coach at Arsenal Tech in Indianapolis.
Prior to his return, Dixon worked as the Director of Wrestling and Enrichment for the wrestling club, Beat The Streets Chicago. The organization’s mission focuses on helping Chicago-area youth from age five to 18 develop and compete in the sport of wrestling, while also teaching valuable life skills. He started working for the club in September 2020.
Following his time at Beat The Streets Chicago, Dixon is back in his previous role at Indiana as associate head coach.
In his time as a student, Dixon was a 2001 graduate of Indiana University with a degree in management from the School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Dixon was an NCAA qualifier at 275 lbs. in 1998. He earned the team's Most Improved Wrestler award in 1998 and the prestigious Billy Thom Leadership award in 2001. Also in the 2001 season, Dixon became a University National Freestyle Champion and earned a fourth-place finish in the 2001 Pan-American Games at 97kg.