[Wrestling] Bo Bettinson named head wrestling coach

St. Ambrose University Director of Athletics Mike Holmes announced today that Bo Bettinson has been hired as the University's head wrestling coach. He will begin his duties Nov. 1. St. Ambrose recently announced the decision to add wrestling as a varsity sport beginning in 2021-2022.

Bettinson has served as an assistant wrestling coach at Montana State University Northern since 2017. In his time with the Lights, the program has registered 18 NAIA national qualifiers, 10 All-Americans and six national finalists, including one National Champion (Nick Kunz at 125 pounds in 2020). Montana State Northern finished fourth at the 2018 NAIA Championships, 10th in 2019 and 12th in 2020.

"I want to thank Mike Holmes and the search committee for giving me this opportunity," Bettinson said. "Starting a program is a unique challenge, and I am excited to get to work to build a program that the St. Ambrose community can be proud of. Go Bees!"

His teams have also found success in the classroom, ranking in the top three among all NAIA schools on the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) Scholar All-American Team list in each of the last three seasons.

Bettinson has ties to Iowa, having wrestled and coached for Waldorf University in Forest City. At 125 pounds for Waldorf, he was a four-year team captain and four-time NAIA national qualifier. He finished second at the Northern Plains Last Chance World Team Trials in 2013. Bettinson won 105 matches in his career with the Warriors.

He got his coaching start as a graduate assistant coach at Waldorf from 2015-17. He also volunteered with the Waldorf women's wrestling team from 2011-15.

Bettinson received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Foundations of Education from Waldorf in 2015. He earned a Master of Arts degree in Organizational Leadership and Sports Management in 2017.