David Dierken is entering his second season as an assistant coach with the Gannon women’s wrestling team in 2019-20.
Dierken helped navigate the Lady Knights through their first season of competition in 2018-19, including the program’s first two dual meet victories and a 30th-place finish at the Women’s Collegiate Wrestling Association national championships. This came just 13 months after the university announced it would be adding a women’s wrestling program.
A two-time NAIA national qualifier as an undergraduate at the University of the Cumberlands in Williamsburg, Kentucky, Dierken joined his alma mater’s women’s wrestling staff as a graduate assistant in 2011. In that role, he helped mentor six WCWA All-Americans and one national champion.
Dierken has also coached wrestlers at University Nationals, the U.S. Open, Senior World Team Trials and the 2012 Olympic trials.
A 2009 graduate of the University of the Cumberlands with a bachelor’s degree in accounting, Dierken received his master’s in Christian studies in 2012. He is married to Gannon head coach Christen, and the couple have two children.
