Talented U.S. coaching staff complete for U20 Worlds in Bulgaria, Aug. 15-21
by Taylor Gregorio, USA Wrestling
Photo of Emma Randall by Tony Rotundo/WrestlersAreWarriors.com
USA Wrestling is sending a rockstar coaching staff to lead the U20 team at the World Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria, Aug. 15-21.
Competition begins with men’s freestyle, followed by women’s wrestling and wrapping up with Greco-Roman. Fans can watch all the action live on FloWrestling and follow along on Twitter @USAWrestling for live updates.
Men’s freestyle
Competition dates: Aug. 15-17
Leading the team is newly named National Men’s Freestyle Development Coach James Green, a two-time Senior World medalist and five-time World Team member. Green, who was a 2017 World silver medalist and 2015 World bronze medalist, made his USA Wrestling coaching debut in July at the U17 World Championships, where he coached nine athletes to four golds, three silvers and two bronzes. Ultimately, the USA ran away with the team title in an historic performance, beating second-place India by 64 points.
Alongside Green will be two-time Olympian and 2003 World silver medalist Kerry McCoy and 2016 World champion Logan Stieber.
McCoy, who was also a U20 World champion in 1992, has an extensive and impressive coaching resume, including head coaching stints at Stanford and University of Maryland and assistant coaching stretches at Penn State and Lehigh. McCoy has been heavily involved in USA Wrestling, coaching at several international tournaments, including the 2008 Olympic Games, in addition to serving on the Executive Committee, Athlete Advisory Committee and DEI Committee. Currently, the 2014 National Wrestling Hall of Fame inductee is the Executive Director and Head Coach of the Lehigh Valley Wrestling Club.
Stieber, a four-time NCAA champion for Ohio State, will make the trip. This will be his second World-level event to coach as he was a personal coach at the 2021 Senior Worlds for Canada’s Amar Dhesi. He also led athletes at the 2021 Matteo Pellicone, a UWW Ranking Series event, and the 2022 U20 Pan American Championships. In Spring 2021, Stieber was named to the Buckeye coaching staff as an assistant coach. In his first year on staff, he helped four Buckeyes to All-America honors.
Women’s freestyle
Competition dates: Aug. 17-19
Heading up the women’s freestyle team is National Women’s Freestyle Development Coach Jessica Medina Bunker, who was on the 2009 and 2010 World Team and several U.S. National Teams. Medina Bunker has been on staff with USA Wrestling since 2019 and made an immediate impact. Since taking over, at the World Championships she has led the U.S. to four golds, one silver and one bronze at the U20 level, three golds, three silvers and one bronze at the U17 level and six golds, six silvers and one bronze at the U15 division. In 2021, Medina Bunker helped the Red, White and Blue to U17 and U20 World Team titles, both a USA Wrestling first. Prior to her national coaching job, Medina Bunker was the head women’s coach at Ferrum College, the girls wrestling coach at Beat the Streets Philadelphia and assistant boys coach at Montini Catholic, a storied high school program.
By her side will be former National Women’s Freestyle Development Coach Emma Randall and two-time World silver medalist Alli Ragan.
Randall has a remarkable coaching history. She is the only female to hold USA Wrestling’s Gold level coaching certification and one of less than 80 coaches nationwide. As mentioned before, from 2012-2018, Randall was the National Women’s Freestyle Development Coach, assisting several athletes to World and Pan American medals. She was also on the coaching staff for the 2016 Rio Olympics. Currently, Randall is the women’s head coach of the New York City RTC and leads Columbia University’s women’s wrestlers. Prior to joining the NYC RTC, she was the head girls coach and program director for Beat the Streets New York.
Ragan, who won World silver medals at the 2016 and 2017 World Championships, recently began her coaching career. She is the graduate assistant coach at Grand View University, where she helped six athletes to NAIA All-American status in her first season. She is also a member of the USA Wrestling Coaches’ Council. In addition to her World medals, as an athlete Ragan was a six-time World Team member and a 2017 Pan Am champion. She also won two World bronze medals at the U20 level.
Greco-Roman
Competition dates: Aug. 19-21
Heading up the U20 Greco-Roman squad are coaching standouts Zac Dominguez and Mohamed Abdelfattah.
Dominguez has been a standout Greco-Roman volunteer for USA Wrestling, attending many international tournaments and hosting several domestic events over the years. This will mark his seventh World Championships trip, with two Senior Worlds, two U20 Worlds and two U17 Worlds already under his belt. As the head coach of the MWC Wrestling Academy in Nebraska, Dominguez has helped eight athletes to age-group World Teams and two of those to World medals as well as several Pan Am medals. He also serves as the personal coach for Senior World Team members Alan Vera and Sam Jones. As an athlete, he was a three-time U.S. Open medalist and notched a third-place finish at the 2004 Olympic Trials.
Abdelfattah recently served as the National Greco-Roman Assistant Coach for several years, working closely with the Olympic and Paralympic Training Center resident athletes and helping wrestlers like Adam Coon (silver, 2018) and G’Angelo Hancock (bronze, 2021) to World medals. Abdelfattah came to USA Wrestling with a successful athletic career, which included a 2006 World Championship and a 2002 World bronze medal, competing for Egypt. He also earned bids to three Olympic Games. Additionally, Abdelfattah was a U20 World silver medalist in 1998.