UALR names first coach

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock named Neil Erisman as the first head coach of its new wrestling program, Athletic Director Chasse Conque said Wednesday.

Erisman has coached six seasons at the Division I level, including at Oklahoma State and North Carolina, while coaching 20 NCAA All-Americans and four NCAA individual champions.

The Trojans’ inaugural season is 2019-2020, and UALR said a news conference to formally introduce Erisman will be held in the coming weeks.

In the last four seasons, Erisman led North Carolina to an overall record of 41-28. Troy Heilmann and Ethan Ramos both won ACC titles in the 2017-2018 seasons, and Heilmann went on to place fourth in the NCAA Championships.

Erisman is from DeSoto, Kan., where he wrestled and won both a state and cadet national championship while compiling a 150-5 record. He competed at Oklahoma State, where he earned an overall record of 92-36 from 2007-2011, winning the individual Big 12 championship at 157 pounds in 2011.

Erisman began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Oklahoma State from 2011-2013, and in those two years under Coach John Smith, the Cowboys won the Big 12 championship in 2013 and finished second at the NCAA Championships that same season. Erisman then spent one season as the assistant wrestling coach at Stillwater High School in Oklahoma, where he helped the Pioneers to the 2014 Oklahoma 6A state championship.