Upcoming Event: Wrestling versus Wrestle-Offs on October 26, 2025 at 2:00 PM
2:00 PM
Wrestling
Wrestle-Offs
Iowa State University Athletics
Wrestling
Travis Paulson
- Title:
- Assistant Coach
- Email:
- tpaulson@iastate.edu
- Phone:
- 4-2190
Travis Paulson closed out his fifth season on Olympic champion Kevin Jackson's staff. Paulson's main duties lie with the Cyclone middleweights (157-174 pounds).
Along with head coach Kevin Jackson, Paulson was seated in Kyven Gadson's corner for the 2014-15 season. Paulson helped coach Gadson to a 30-1 record that was capped off with a NCAA Championship. Gadson posted 23 bonus-point victories on the year, including 13 by fall.
To go along with the success of Gadson, Paulson also qualified two middle-weight wrestlers for the 2015 NCAA Championships in senior Michael Moreno and junior Tanner Weatherman. In the 2014-15 dual season, Weatherman led the team in dual scoring with 101 total points scored in dual matches.
In 2013-14, Paulson coached Moreno to his second-consecutive All-America season. Moreno led the team with 31 wins, finishing the year at 31-9, and tied for the team lead with 13 bonus-point victories (5 mdec., 2 tech falls, 6 pins). Moreno also led the team in takedowns, taking opponents to the mat 39 times in 2014.
Paulson played an integral role in one of the greatest single-season turnarounds in Iowa State wrestling history in 2012-13, as he coached Moreno to an All-American finish at the 2013 NCAA Championships. Moreno went 5-3 en route to taking sixth at 165 pounds.Moreno, with the guidance of Paulson, finished the year 31-10 after going 4-17 as a redshirt freshman in 2011-12.
As a collegiate wrestler, Paulson was a three-time All-American at Iowa State, ending his Cyclone wrestling career in 2007 with his best NCAA Championships showing. He scored a late come from behind victory to earn fifth-place honors at 165 pounds.
A native of Council Bluffs, Iowa, Paulson tallied a four-year record of 107-32 as a Cyclone. Paulson's impressive win total ties him with Torrae Jackson (1991-93), the younger brother of Kevin, at No. 27 on the ISU career win list. His performance on the mat was replicated in the classroom, as he earned Academic All-Big 12 honors all four years.
Paulson's identical twin brother, Trent, who was also a three-time All-American at Iowa State, serves as the head coach of the Cyclone Wrestling Club.
Paulson graduated from Iowa State in 2007 with a bachelor’s degree in business management and a minor in entrepreneurship studies.
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