Since Brian Anderson took the reins as coach of the Little Giant wrestling team in 2004–05, the program has risen to the top of Division III as an academic and athletic powerhouse.
When Brian Anderson was offered his first head collegiate coaching position at Wabash College, then-Athletic Director Vernon Mummert asked him one question: “Can you win the regional?”
With confidence, he responded, “I haven’t lost one yet.”
That confidence and leadership have propelled the wrestling program to where it is today—consistently smart and consistently dominant.
“When I was competing as a student, Wabash wasn’t winning,” Anderson recalls. “The year before I took over, when I was an assistant at Manchester, Wabash was kind of rising. Because I got to coach against them, I knew there was talent. They just hadn’t broken through yet.”
That first year, the team won the regional and sent three wrestlers to the national finals.
“We had a heck of a first year,” Anderson says. “And we just kept building.”
Since then, the team has had seven top-10 finishes at the NCAA Division III Wrestling National Championship meet, including a program-high second place at the tournament in 2022; 60 national qualifiers (including six this year); 27 All-Americans (two this year); and eight individual national champions (one this year). Jack Heldt ’23, this year’s heavyweight champion, was named DIII Most Dominant, while All-American Chase Baczek ’25 was named to the D3wrestle.com All-Freshman Team in 2022.
“We don’t only want to be the best wrestling team in the country, we also want to be the smartest wrestling team in the country,” says Anderson, who was named an Academic All-American at Manchester University in 1999. In Anderson’s tenure, the team has been named a Scholar All-America team 11 times and 62 individuals have been named Scholar All-Americans.
“If you look at our wrestling and academic performance the past decade, there is no other program in the top 10 that is doing what we’re doing,” he says. “It’s a big deal.”
Athletic Director Matt Tanney ’05 agrees.
“Consistent success at the national level is a tall order, and the wrestling team has a tradition that matches those lofty expectations each season,” he says. “Jack Heldt is the latest example of the caliber of scholar-athlete produced by the program. We talk often about Wabash as an ‘and’ place. Students can perform at the highest levels athletically and embrace the rigors of their Wabash education.”
While the culture of success Wabash wrestling has created attracts talent, keeping a program on top year after year is not easy.
“We’re getting very high-end recruits but it’s hard for those transitioning from a good high school wrestler to a great college wrestler,” Anderson says. “I tell them as they are going through that process, ‘Just keep coming back. Don’t give up. When you leave this place, you’re going to be such a better wrestler than you ever thought you could be.’ They may not ever be a national champ. But their growth is clearly seen in those four years.”
It helps having great athletes on the mat with them every day.
“You don’t have to look very far to find what it takes to be an All-American, a national finalist, or a national champ. We’ve got all these young, hungry guys looking to them. They can see what a Jack Heldt is doing or what a Riley Lefever ’17 was doing. They’re doing simple things on a daily basis—whether in the wrestling room, out running, in a weight workout, or in the classroom. We preach living a good, clean life and keeping their priorities straight about why they came here. Don’t fall off the tracks.”
Anderson knows it takes more than just good athletes and mats to keep a program successful.
“The alumni have helped advance this program in so many ways. This program would not be where it is without their help to keep us advancing,” he says. “Whether it be supporting the wrestling staff, helping with the facility, or recruiting, they have a hand in it. Even though they say they don’t, they do. One of the most enjoyable things I do on a weekly basis is talk to these super successful people who have a strong passion for the College and Wabash wrestling.
“I’m pretty doggone proud of what we have built here,” Anderson says. “What it’s turned into, and all the people who have surrounded and supported it, is very rewarding.”
Brian Anderson wrestled for four seasons at Manchester University, 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. Since taking over as head coach at Wabash College, Anderson has been named Regional Coach of the Year twice, D3wrestle.com Coach of the Year, and NCAA DIII Coach of the Year.
As a child, Anderson loved participating in any sport, particularly wrestling, swimming, and baseball. He first started wrestling in elementary school.
“My buddies were wrestlers so I tried it,” Anderson says. “The guys who were our coaches early on were the guys who were winning state titles at our high school. We were little guys. We wanted to do what those guys were doing when we got to high school.”
He and his wife, Lauren, reside in Crawfordsville. They have three daughters, who have all been student-athletes: Brynn, a senior at Hope College; Kelsey, a sophomore at Manchester University; and Annabel, a junior at North Montgomery High School.
“I don’t want to give advice to them at home,” Anderson says. “I wasn’t a soccer player. I didn’t run track. I just have a coach’s mindset. Unless they ask me a question, I try and keep my mouth shut and not push them unless they want to be pushed.”