Derek St. John - Wrestling Coach - Iowa State University Athletics

Derek St. John

Title:
Assistant Coach
Email:
dstjhn@iastate.edu
Phone:
515-294-6532

Derek St. John is entering his ninth season as an assistant coach for Iowa State wrestling.

St. John has helped head coach Kevin Dresser rebuild the Cyclone wrestling program from the ground up since his arrival in 2017. His efforts have seen Iowa State climb on the national stage, highlighted by a 2024 Big 12 title and fourth-place finish at the NCAA Championships, ISU’s best since 2010.

The ISU coaching staff inherited a program that scored one point and finished tied for 57th at the 2017 NCAA Championships. Since then, Iowa State has finished T-45th, 16th, T-13th, 17th, 11^th, 4^th and T-27 at the national tournament.

After a consistent upward trend, Iowa State suffered a setback in 2024-25 due to a wave of bad injury luck which saw four Cyclone starters, including three returning All-Americans, suffer season-ending injuries.

Iowa State had no conference champions in 2017 and failed to have a wrestler reach All-American status. Since then, St. John has helped develop 11 Big 12 Champions and 14 NCAA All-Americans and coached David Carr to four conference titles and two national titles.

St. John was a member of the Virginia Tech wrestling staff two seasons prior to coming to Iowa State, helping the Hokies achieve unprecedented success.

In 2016-17, St. John helped guide the Hokies to their sixth-straight top-10 finish at the NCAA Championships. VT finished sixth as a team with five individual All Americans. At the ACC Championships, Tech claimed its third conference title in school history, winning six individual titles.

The Hokies finished the 2016-17 campaign with an 18-1 dual mark.

In St. John’s first season at VT (2015-16), the team went undefeated in ACC duals and finished a program-best fourth at the NCAA Championships. The Hokies had eight NCAA qualifiers with six earning All-America status.

Tech’s record-setting 2015-16 campaign featured third-place finishes by Zach Epperly and Nick Brascetta. Brascetta became the second three-time All-American in program history, ending his career with three ACC championships and four NCAA Championship appearances.

The Hokies won their second-straight ACC dual meet title and finished runner-up at the 2016 ACC Championships in St. John’s first season in Blacksburg.

St. John came to Virginia Tech after one season (2014-15) as an assistant coach at North Dakota State. The Bison finished 9-4 overall, including a perfect 5-0 mark in Western Wrestling Conference action, and 23rd at the NCAA Championships.

St. John, who won the 2013 NCAA title at 157 pounds, became the 18th four-time All-American in Iowa history in 2014. He placed fourth at the NCAA Championships as a freshman, second as a sophomore, first as a junior and fifth as a senior, claiming his spot as one of the most decorated Hawkeye wrestlers of all time.

The Parnell, Iowa, native concluded his collegiate career with a record of 106-17. St. John was the 2012 Big Ten champion and a two-time Big Ten runner-up at 157 pounds. He posted a record of 31-2 in his national championship campaign of 2012-13, earning Iowa’s Mike Howard Most Valuable Wrestler Award.

St. John graduated from Iowa in 2014 with a degree in business studies. He is married to Alli St. John (Ragan), who is a two-time world silver medalist. Derek and Alli welcomed a baby girl, Stevie, in 2024.