Wrestling
- Title:
- Head Coach
- Email:
- wrestle@calpoly.edu
Entering his 11th season as head coach of Cal Poly wrestling in 2026-27, Jon Sioredas has engineered one of the most complete program transformations in all of Division I wrestling.Â
When Sioredas took over the program in 2016, the Mustangs had no NCAA qualifiers at the time. Now the Mustangs are a fixture in the Top 25 nationally year in and year out, produced six All-Americans in the past seven seasons, set records in the classroom and raised more private support than at any point in its 78-year history.
A two-time Pac-12 Coach of the Year (2022-23, 2025-26 seasons) and the only coach in program history to earn the award, Sioredas also currently serves as President of the National Wrestling Coaches Association for the 2026-28 term. In October 2025, Cal Poly extended his contract through the 2030 season.
The Mustangs have earned a national Top 25 ranking six straight years, broke into the top 10 for the first time in 39 years in 2022 and achieved a Top 15 InterMat Team Tournament ranking in 2024-25.
A record-setting 2025-26
Sioredas' 10th season at the helm was a decorated one for the Mustangs:
- Crowned a program-record three Pac-12 champions in Koda Holeman (125), Ceasar Garza (184) and Trevor Tinker (285), on its home mat while hosting the Pac-12 Championships for the first time in 21 years.
- Sent four wrestlers to the NCAA Championships for the fifth straight season, a run matched only once before in program history.
- Placed a program-best fourth at the Ken Kraft Midlands Championships with a record six placers
- Earned its best finish in 16 years at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational with a record five placers.
- Secured a national Top 25 ranking for the sixth consecutive year.
- Produced a program-record six NWCA Scholar All-Americans.
The Mustangs did it all after losing 2025 All-American and Pac-12 Wrestler of the Year Zeth Romney to a season-ending injury in December. Sioredas was named Pac-12 Co-Coach of the Year, and Michigan State transfer Ceasar Garza earned Co-Newcomer of the Year honors after an impressive 18-4 season.
Built from the ground up
When Sioredas arrived in San Luis Obispo before the 2016-17 season, Cal Poly had just finished last in the Pac-12. On his first day he wrote down a single goal: a Top 25 program within five years. The Mustangs lost every dual in his second and third seasons, and instead of chasing quick fixes, Sioredas rebuilt the foundation, launching the Mustang Wrestling Foundation, overhauling fundraising and anchoring the program to a set of core values.
Five years later, Cal Poly finished 25th in the nation, and it has not left the Top 25 since. The program broke into the top 10 for the first time in 39 years in 2022, went 5-0 to capture its first-ever Pac-12 dual title in 2023, and has earned six All-Americans since 2020, including three by Bernie Truax, a third-place finish from four-time All-American Evan Wick in 2022 and most recently Romney capturing third at 133 pounds at the 2025 NCAA Championships.
Purpose over outcome
"Our purpose is to create remarkable men for life after wrestling," Sioredas said. "Winning wrestling matches is the secondary benefit. It's a different way of doing things, but we've had a lot of success doing it that way."
Every Mustang is measured against four core values: Attitude, Effort, Growth and Respect and the standard is the same for the staff. Sioredas lifts and trains alongside his athletes, meets with his student-athlete leadership group weekly and has built mental-performance training into the program.
The results show up in the classroom as much as on the mat. Cal Poly wrestling posted the highest team GPA in program history in 2025 and had half its roster earn a 3.5 GPA or better in the winter of 2026.
Trevor Tinker is the template. A lightly recruited walk-on who joined the room as a practice partner, Tinker left Cal Poly as the first two-time Pac-12 heavyweight champion in program history, a four-time NCAA qualifier, a three-time Scholar All-American and a postgrad certificate in fire protection engineering.
Building an enterprise
Cal Poly wrestling set a fundraising record in 2025-26, raising the most money in program history and growing total support 20 percent year over year, with more individual donors than ever before.
At the center of that momentum is the Mustang Wrestling Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 2018 that unites Cal Poly wrestling alumni and supporters in partnership with Cal Poly Athletics. The Foundation provides additional funding for the coaching staff, scholarships, revenue sharing, operations and the Central Coast Regional Training Center, and it hosts the program's annual Alumni Weekend, headlined by the Foundation’s golf tournament and the Alumni & Supporter Banquet. Its growth reflects the strength of its volunteer leadership, beginning with founder and former Cal Poly wrestler Bob Whitaker, continuing under former chairman Randy Fleury, a member of the 1979 Cal Poly team that upset top-ranked, defending national champion Iowa, and today under chairman Ben Polando.
Sioredas also directs the Mustang Wrestling Camp, which brings hundreds of young wrestlers to SLO each summer, and in June 2026 he added Iowa All-American Nelson Brands to the Mustang coaching staff.
A national voice
Elected NWCA President-elect in 2024, Sioredas assumed the presidency for the 2026-28 term, giving Cal Poly a seat at the head of the table as college wrestling navigates a period of unprecedented change. He also represents the Pac-12 on the NWCA Division I Leadership Group and in 2026 was appointed to the NCAA Division I Men's Wrestling Rules Subcommittee, with a term running through 2030. A panelist at the NWCA National Convention, he is a frequent clinician and speaker, working with high school and club programs across the country on technique, culture, leadership and building sustainable programs.
Before Cal Poly
Sioredas came to Cal Poly from Grand Canyon University, where as head coach he guided the program's transition from Division II to Division I and signed a nationally ranked recruiting class with three Top 100 recruits in just two seasons. Before that he spent two seasons as an assistant at his alma mater, Chattanooga, helping the Mocs to a No. 19 national ranking and a sweep of the Southern Conference regular-season and tournament titles, and six seasons at Old Dominion, where the Monarchs cracked the Top 25 four times and produced four All-Americans and an NCAA finalist.
In 20 seasons of college coaching, 12 of them as a head coach, Sioredas has been part of 11 nationally ranked teams and has coached 10 NCAA All-Americans, 70 NCAA qualifiers and 24 Academic All-Americans, while recruiting seven Top 25 classes.
As a competitor
Sioredas was an NCAA All-American at Chattanooga, placing fifth at 165 pounds in 2005, and was a two-time Southern Conference champion, SoCon Wrestler of the Year and tournament MVP. He was later inducted into the UTC Athletics Hall of Fame. At Great Bridge High School in Chesapeake, Virginia, he was a state champion, national champion and All-American who compiled a 181-13 record, the fourth-most wins in Virginia high school history.
He earned a degree in sociology and anthropology from Chattanooga in 2005, an MBA from Nova Southeastern University in 2009 and a Postgraduate Certificate in Performance Leadership from Cornell University in 2023.
Sioredas and his wife, Michele, live in San Luis Obispo with their son, Braden.
SIOREDAS AT A GLANCE:
Leadership- Pac-12 Coach of the Year: 2022-2023, 2026 (only coach in program history to earn the award)
- President, National Wrestling Coaches Association: 2026-28
- NCAA Division I Men's Wrestling Rules Subcommittee: 2026-30
- Pac-12 representative, NWCA Division I Leadership Group
- Contract extended through 2029-30
- National Top 25 ranking: six straight seasons (2021-26); Top 10 in 2022, Top 15 in 2025
- NCAA All-American finishes: 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2025
- Four or more NCAA qualifiers: five straight seasons (2022-26)
- First Pac-12 dual title in program history (2023, 5-0)
- Program-record three Pac-12 champions (2026)
- Program records at Midlands (fourth place, six placers) and Cliff Keen Invitational (five placers) in 2025-26
- Program-record six NWCA Scholar All-Americans (2026)
- Highest team GPA in program history (2026)
- NCAA Academic Progress Rate: Top 10 nationally (2017-19); perfect APR (2023)
- 11 Top 100 recruits (2019-26)
- Seven nationally ranked transfers (2020-25)
- Top 25 recruiting class (2019)
- Record fundraising totals (2026); up 20 percent year over year
- Most individual donors in program history
- Mustang Wrestling Foundation (est. 2018)
