In the House #Fargo2017: Husband and wife World Teamers Joe and Deanna Betterman plus more coaches and stars

Deanna Betterman and Joe Betterman, the wife and husband team that is helping run Team Colorado at the USMC Junior and Cadet Nationals in Fargo, are both past World Team members.

As the week continues, more top wrestling celebrities are on hand in Fargo, N.D. at the combined USMC Junior and Cadet Nationals. TheMat.com has a growing list of these leaders who are on the floor in the FargoDome in a variety of roles.

People are paying attention, because we have heard from some people who spotted a few that have not made our list year. Thanks to everyone who is helping out on this project.

Among the new past Senior World Team members on the floor today who were spotted:

• Deanna Betterman, who placed fifth in the World Championships twice for Team USA, was on the coaching staff for Team Colorado.

• Joe Betterman, who competed on the 2007 U.S. Greco-Roman World Team which won the World Team Title, is the state chairperson of Colorado USA Wrestling and has been coaching and supporting all the Colorado athletes.

In case you didn’t know, Joe and Deanna are married. Check out the record books in Fargo for Deanna Rix of Maine, who won Junior Women’s National titles in Fargo (and also competed in the boys Greco-Roman Junior division one year). Joe Betterman was good enough to win an Olympic Trials in Greco-Roman competing for Northern Michigan and the Army WCAP. Joe and Deanna have two kids, and Deanna is still competing on the Senior level. You not only find them at major national events, but also a ton of Colorado local events. They made sure to wear their Team Colorado gear for the picture with this story. Joe coaches a kids club, while Deanna is on the staff of a high school wrestling team where she coaches mostly boys.

• Women’s World Team member and past Junior World silver medalist Veronica Carlson is helping the girl wrestlers from her home state, Team Illinois.

These stars join World Team members Reece Humphrey, Tom Erikson, Nick Marable and Obe Blanc, Brent Metcalf, Tony Ramos, Angel Escobedo, Chris Bono and Jessica Medina already reported in this series.

We didn’t see any new Olympic medalists today, but with Greco-Roman coming up, we should expect a different group on the floor starting tomorrow.

So far, the Olympic medalists in the house in Fargo have been Rulon Gardner, Jim Martinez, Brandon Paulson, Nate Carr, Ben Peterson and John Smith.

• We did see a 1988 Greco-Roman Olympian, and multiple World Team member Ike Anderson in the house, working with the athletes on Team Colorado. Anderson coaches all three disciplines on a regular basis, women’s freestyle, Greco-Roman and men’s freestyle, plus is one of the top high school coaches in Colorado.

The other Olympians here in Fargo have been Ben Askren, Rob Eiter, Jesse Thielke, Shawn Sheldon, Jake Deitchler, John Morgan, Lee Kemp, Mike Zadick, Doug Schwab and Jared Frayer

• We did see three Olympic Games public address announcers, Sandy Stevens, Ken Berger and Jason Bryant. Stevens has been announcing her 46th Junior Nationals, only missing one year since the event began due to the passing of her husband Bear. The other two are not on the PA this week. Berger is working as a referee, while Bryant is on press row, creating content for his Short Time podcasts and other media outlets.

A few more college head coaches were in the house, seen for the first time by our team of people watchers, including:

• Mark Manning of Nebraska

• Todd Stedley of Central Oklahoma

So far, the head coach list has included Steve Martin of Old Dominion, Roger Reina of Penn, John Stutzman of Buffalo and Steve Marianetti of Elmhurst, Tony Ersland of Purdue, Teague Moore of American, Jeremy Spates of SIU Edwardsville, Roger Kish of North Dakota State, Mike Denney of Maryville, Mike Ritchey of Southern Oregon, Joe Galante of The College of New Jersey, Leo Kocher of the University of Chicago, Jeff Breese of Buena Vista Univ, John Oostendorp of Coe College, Tom Erikson of Lyon, Sam Barber of Air Force, Troy Steiner of Fresno State, Matt Storniolo of Northwestern, Nick Mitchell of Grandview, Dana Vote of Midland, CJ Campbell of Oklahoma City, Tom Carr of Central Christian, Neil Schuck of UWW-Whitewater, Chris Bono of South Dakota State, Doug Schwab of Northern Iowa and John Smith of Oklahoma State.

A few more women’s college head coaches were roaming the FargoDome, including:

• Shauna Isbell of Jamestown University. Isbell was just named as the head coach for the WCWA program just 90 miles down the road from Fargo.

• Geneva Gray of Bacone College

• Kevin Corbett of Lyon College

So far, the women’s college head coaches in Fargo have been Link Davis of Emmanuel College, Matt Stevens of Oklahoma City University, Ashley Sword of Life University, Donnie Stephens of the University of the Cumberlands, Lee Miracle of Campbellsville University, Sam Schmitz of McKendree University and Andy Cook of Grays Harbor CC.

Men’s college assistant coaches continue to arrive on a daily basis. In addition to those we noted earlier this week, the following were in the FargoDome today

• Cody Cleveland of Navy

• Michael Lightner of Oklahoma

• Jon Reader of South Dakota State

• Michael McMullen and Bryan Piersall of Penn

• Tyler Grayson of Brown

They are added to the list of college assistants already identified to include Chris Williams of Michigan State, Mike Grey of Cornell, Drew Headlee and Jordan Leen of Pitt, Randy Hinderliter of Ottawa University, Alex Radsky of Washington & Lee, Jarod Garnett of North Dakota State, Jake Kettler of Minot State, Nick Marable of West Virginia, Brent Metcalf of Iowa State, Tony Ramos of North Carolina, Angel Escobedo of Indiana Obe Blanc of NC State, Derek St. John of Iowa State, Randy Pugh of Northern Iowa, Ryan Morningstar of Iowa, Kevin Roberts of Oregon State, Zach Esposito and Chris Perry of Oklahoma State, Israel Silva of Fresno State, Lee Pritz of Arizona State, Nate Engel of Navy, Damion Hahn of Cornell, Sean Bormet and Josh Churella of Michigan, Joe Pollard of Rutgers, Adam Hall of NC State, Tyrell Todd of Purdue, Dave Hoffman and Nick Bruscetta of Chattanooga, Neil Erisman of North Carolina, Mike Zadick of Iowa State, and Jared Frayer of Virginia Tech.

Women’s Assistant coaches have included Michaela Hutchison Schmitz of McKendree University and Julia Salata of King University.

Some of the other prominent people seen somewhere on the football field in the FargoDome were:

• NCAA champion from Oklahoma, Dan Chaid, who was a U.S. Open freestyle champion and a Veterans World Champion, was in the house

• Former U.S. Marine Corps head coach and National Team Greco-Roman athlete Dan Hicks was among the coaches on the FargoDome floor. Hicks did

• NCAA All-American for Minnesota, Billy Pierce, was coaching Team Minnesota, including a Cadet Nationals All-American at heavyweight, his son Nicholas Pierce. Billy was one of the most successful age-group athletes in USA Wrestling history

• Senior level women’s wrestler Candace Workman, who returned to her home state of Utah to help coach the women’s team

We may not post these stories every day the rest of the week, but we are keeping our list going until the last whistle on Saturday in the Dome. Expect at least one more update.