Franklin RTC Undy head coach Jason Warthon

[Coach Tonte]

Door 21 6 pm Wednesday. Let’s get after it with Coach Warthon and Uindy wrestlers.  
 

Jason Warthan heads into his 13th year at the head of the UIndy wrestling program in 2021-22. Warthan, the 2014 and 2017 NCAA Super Region #2 Coach of the Year and the NWCA's 2017 Bob Bubb Award for Coaching Excellence honoree, mentored the program's first National Champion in 2011, UIndy's second four-time All-American in Nick Crume and in total has coached 21 All-Americans and 49 National Qualifiers during his UIndy tenure.

In addition to success on the mat, Warthan has also had three teams earn National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) Academic National Championships. The 2016-17 edition of the team posted a 3.497 GPA to earn the program's third title. The 2010-11 Greyhounds posted a GPA of 3.419 to take the honor for the first time, and the 2014-15 Greyhounds came in with a 3.482 to earn their title. In all, Warthan has had 92 NWCA All-Academic honorees in 12 seasons, and has coached all four of the program’s four-time All-Academic selections in Ethan Harris (2009-12), Nick Crume (2014-18), Brody Conner (2017-20) and Matt McKinney (2018-2021).

Warthan, an alum of the Greyhound wrestling program, mentored UIndy’s lone National Champion in 2011, with Nick Walpole taking the 149 title.  He also coached the second four-time All-American in program history in Nick Crume, who placed 7th as a redshirt freshman at 133 in 2015, 2nd iat 133 in 2016, 3rd at 141 in 2017 and 8th at 141 in 2018. Warthan also mentored just the third four-time National Qualifier in UIndy history in Josh Kieffer, who earned All-American honors three times (2012, 2015, 2016), and has coached 11 of UIndy’s 27 Regional Champions.

The Greyhounds also won their only two NCAA Super Regional championships under Warthan, with the 2017 team besting second-place Ashland by just one point behind eight placers and four National Qualifiers. The 2014 team also took a Regional, taking the Super Region 2 championship and sending a tie for program-best seven to Nationals.  Four Greyhounds earned All-American status in 2014, also tying a program best, while Warthan’s 2014 team also earned the highest finish ever at a Midwest Classic by host UIndy, tying for second at the 26-team event.

Warthan returned to UIndy after a successful coaching career at Columbus North High School.  There, Warthan spent five years as the head wrestling coach, leading the team to five straight sectional championships, a regional title, a semi-state title and the school’s first team state appearance.  He mentored six all-state grapplers, including the school's first individual state champ, a runner-up and 11 state qualifiers.

At UIndy, Warthan was a three-time national qualifier, earning All-America status at 165 in 2000. The two-time Midwest Classic and 2000 Midwest Regional champion racked-up an impressive 88-28 (.759) career record as a Greyhound, and was also a three-time Little State champion, a two-time team captain, two-time team MVP and was named the 2000 Midwest Regional's Most Outstanding Wrestler. Warthan was also a letterwinner for the Greyhound cross country and track and field teams.

Warthan was the first of only two Greyhound wrestlers to be named an Academic All-American, earning the honor in his senior season. He earned his undergraduate degree in Elementary Education from UIndy in 2001, and his Master’s in Strategic Leadership and Design from UIndy in 2017..