University of the Ozarks adds women’s wrestling, first NCAA program in Arkansas

Clarksville, AR — Eagles Athletic Director Jimmy Clark announced earlier today that the University of the Ozarks will bring women’s wrestling to campus for the fall of 2020.

The program will be the first NCAA program for women’s wrestling in Arkansas—the state has one other program, Lyon College in Batesville, which is an NAIA member institution.

“Women’s wrestling is one of the fastest-growing sports in this country in both college and high school and we’re excited about offering this opportunity for women who want to compete on the collegiate level,” Clark said. “We’ve been considering adding it for a couple of years and with our men’s wrestling program thriving, we felt it was the right time to add it. We’ve got the facilities and infrastructure in place, so it just seemed like a natural fit.”

The program will operate as a club team for 2020-21 before being established as an NCAA DIII program for the 2021-22 season.

LeRoy Gardner will expand his role as the head men’s wrestling coach to be the head women’s coach as well. The university will be hiring an assistant coach to build the new women’s program.

There are now 10 new NCAA DIII programs expected to launch in the fall of 2020 or 2021.

Press Release: University of the Ozarks

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