Iowa State men’s wrestling has added another assistant coach.

Noah LaBlanc | Sports Reporter, Iowa State Daily

AMES — Iowa State men’s wrestling added Javier Maldonado as an assistant coach amid a reshaping of the program. Maldonado spent the past seven seasons on the coaching staff at Little Rock.

Maldonado will fill the final spot on Iowa State’s coaching staff, finalizing its restructured leadership for the 2026-27 season.

When Maldonado began his tenure as an assistant coach at Little Rock, it was the program’s inaugural season. The Trojans steadily rose under the staff and were ranked in the top 25 by four major publications prior to the 2025-26 season.

In 2022, Maldonado was promoted to associate head coach under head coach Neil Erisman. He helped lead Little Rock to a Pac-12 championship in 2025.

Under Maldonado, 14 Trojans competed at the NCAA Championships and five earned All-America honors.

“I am honored to be named an assistant coach at Iowa State University,” Maldonado said in a release. “I look forward to serving such a storied wrestling program and supporting coach Brent Metcalf in any way I can.”

“My family and I are excited to join the Iowa State family and continue building on the foundation Kevin Dresser established,” Maldonado said. “I believe strongly in the vision Coach Metcalf and Coach St. John have for this program, and I am confident we will help take Cyclone Wrestling to the next level.”

The Kissimmee, Florida, native built a reputation as a program builder. Prior to his time at Little Rock, he was the first head coach at Southeastern University in Lakeland, Florida, where he led 18 wrestlers to national qualifications, six of whom earned NAIA All-America status.

Southeastern went 41-31 in dual meets during Maldonado’s tenure.

A seasoned wrestler himself, Maldonado was a three-time NCAA qualifier at 125 pounds for Chattanooga. He won Southern Conference titles in 2006, 2007 and 2008.

He is also a two-time Florida state champion at Osceola High School, where he later returned to coach before taking the job at Southeastern.

Maldonado joins a restructured Iowa State coaching staff for the 2026-27 season. After Dresser entered a new role as Iowa State’s director of wrestling, Metcalf was announced as the Cyclones’ next head coach.

Former assistant coach Derrick St. John was promoted to associate head coach under Metcalf.

Iowa State also made waves with the addition of assistant coach Drake Ayala. Ayala is a two-time NCAA finalist at Iowa and will begin his coaching career at Iowa State immediately following the final season of his collegiate career.

Joining an established program will present a different challenge for Maldonado at Iowa State, but he arrives during a period of transition for the Cyclones, both on the coaching staff and on the roster.

After more than a decade spent building programs from the ground up, Maldonado will now have the opportunity to help rebuild one.