Upcoming Event: Wrestling versus Tiger Style Invite on November 9, 2025 at 10 AM
10 AM
Wrestling
vs Tiger Style Invite
University of Oklahoma Athletics
Wrestling
Roger Kish
- Title:
- Head Coach
Roger Kish was named Oklahoma's 15th head wrestling coach on May 2, 2023, and enters his second season in 2024-25.
Kish made quite a splash in his first season as Oklahoma’s head coach in 2023-24, helping the Sooners secure their highest NCAA finish (23rd) in eight seasons. Additionally, Kish helped elevate Stephen Buchanan to All-American status for the third time in his career. Buchanan put together a dominant 27-3 season, finishing third at the NCAA Championships in the 197-pound bracket to become OU's highest NCAA finisher in eight seasons.
Kish took the OU reins after presiding over Big 12 Conference affiliate member North Dakota State for 12 seasons and guiding the Bison to a winning record each of the last five years (48-20 combined).
Kish coached North Dakota State to a 108-70 (.607) dual record since taking over prior to the 2011-12 campaign, including a 50-30 (.625) mark in conference duals (33-26 in the Big 12 and 17-4 in the Western Wrestling Conference). The Bison have been on the upswing under Kish the last five seasons, posting a .706 team winning percentage during the stretch and a 21-7 (.750) record the last two years.
Kish's 2022-23 NDSU squad went 11-3 in dual competition and finished fifth out of 13 teams at the Big 12 Championship after tying for fourth place in the regular season with a 6-2 record. The Bison, who broke into the top 20 and never left after a 20-16 season-opening road win over No. 8 Nebraska, reached No. 15 in the National Wrestling Coaches Association Poll for their highest official coaches ranking since they moved to Division I in 2006-07. They also reached No. 12 in the InterMat rankings this past season, their highest in any poll in their D-I history. NDSU beat Oklahoma 21-12 in February in Fargo, N.D., and went on to finish 24th at NCAAs after scoring a Division I program-record 25.5 points at the event.
Kish coached 21 Bison wrestlers to NCAA Championships qualification over the last four seasons: six in 2023, five in 2022, four in 2021 and six in 2020 (before the event was canceled due to COVID-19). Those wrestlers earned a total of nine All-America honors, including two in 2023 by 157-pound senior Jared Franek (fourth place; was also the 2023 Big 12 champion) and 165-pound redshirt freshman Michael Caliendo (seventh place).
Kish's NDSU wrestlers also flourished in the classroom. His Bison earned 35 NWCA Scholar All-America honors since he became head coach and combined for 100 academic all-conference accolades. Clay Ream was named the 2017 and 2018 Big 12 Wrestling Scholar-Athlete of the Year and earned three consecutive NCAA Elite 90 Awards (2016-18), while Franek won two straight NCAA Elite 90 Awards. The Elite 90 Award is presented to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative GPA participating to the finals site of each year's NCAA Championships.
Kish was named Western Wrestling Conference Coach of the Year three consecutive seasons (2013-15) and directed the Bison to a pair of NCAA West Regional/Western Wrestling Conference championships (2014, 2015), as well as two WWC regular season titles (2013, 2015). He produced 19 NCAA West Region/WWC/Big 12 individual champions.
Prior to being named head coach at NDSU, Kish spent two seasons as a Bison assistant coach under the legendary Bucky Maughan. Kish joined the Bison program after a highly successful wrestling career at the University of Minnesota, where he also served as a graduate assistant for the 2008-09 season. He was a two-time All-American and NCAA runner-up with the Golden Gophers at 184 pounds.
Kish, who graduated from Minnesota in May 2008 with a bachelor's degree in business and marketing education, posted a 117-27 career collegiate record and went 35-7 as a sophomore en route to a Big Ten title and a second-place NCAA finish. As a team captain his junior season, he finished 37-3, was the Big Ten runner-up and finished third nationally.
A Lapeer, Mich., native, Kish was also a two-time cadet national champion and captured a USA Wrestling junior national title. He was a four-time state champion at Lapeer West High School.
Kish and his wife Jessalyn are parents to a son, Huxley, and a daughter, Emry.
Kish made quite a splash in his first season as Oklahoma’s head coach in 2023-24, helping the Sooners secure their highest NCAA finish (23rd) in eight seasons. Additionally, Kish helped elevate Stephen Buchanan to All-American status for the third time in his career. Buchanan put together a dominant 27-3 season, finishing third at the NCAA Championships in the 197-pound bracket to become OU's highest NCAA finisher in eight seasons.
Kish took the OU reins after presiding over Big 12 Conference affiliate member North Dakota State for 12 seasons and guiding the Bison to a winning record each of the last five years (48-20 combined).
Kish coached North Dakota State to a 108-70 (.607) dual record since taking over prior to the 2011-12 campaign, including a 50-30 (.625) mark in conference duals (33-26 in the Big 12 and 17-4 in the Western Wrestling Conference). The Bison have been on the upswing under Kish the last five seasons, posting a .706 team winning percentage during the stretch and a 21-7 (.750) record the last two years.
Kish's 2022-23 NDSU squad went 11-3 in dual competition and finished fifth out of 13 teams at the Big 12 Championship after tying for fourth place in the regular season with a 6-2 record. The Bison, who broke into the top 20 and never left after a 20-16 season-opening road win over No. 8 Nebraska, reached No. 15 in the National Wrestling Coaches Association Poll for their highest official coaches ranking since they moved to Division I in 2006-07. They also reached No. 12 in the InterMat rankings this past season, their highest in any poll in their D-I history. NDSU beat Oklahoma 21-12 in February in Fargo, N.D., and went on to finish 24th at NCAAs after scoring a Division I program-record 25.5 points at the event.
Kish coached 21 Bison wrestlers to NCAA Championships qualification over the last four seasons: six in 2023, five in 2022, four in 2021 and six in 2020 (before the event was canceled due to COVID-19). Those wrestlers earned a total of nine All-America honors, including two in 2023 by 157-pound senior Jared Franek (fourth place; was also the 2023 Big 12 champion) and 165-pound redshirt freshman Michael Caliendo (seventh place).
Kish's NDSU wrestlers also flourished in the classroom. His Bison earned 35 NWCA Scholar All-America honors since he became head coach and combined for 100 academic all-conference accolades. Clay Ream was named the 2017 and 2018 Big 12 Wrestling Scholar-Athlete of the Year and earned three consecutive NCAA Elite 90 Awards (2016-18), while Franek won two straight NCAA Elite 90 Awards. The Elite 90 Award is presented to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative GPA participating to the finals site of each year's NCAA Championships.
Kish was named Western Wrestling Conference Coach of the Year three consecutive seasons (2013-15) and directed the Bison to a pair of NCAA West Regional/Western Wrestling Conference championships (2014, 2015), as well as two WWC regular season titles (2013, 2015). He produced 19 NCAA West Region/WWC/Big 12 individual champions.
Prior to being named head coach at NDSU, Kish spent two seasons as a Bison assistant coach under the legendary Bucky Maughan. Kish joined the Bison program after a highly successful wrestling career at the University of Minnesota, where he also served as a graduate assistant for the 2008-09 season. He was a two-time All-American and NCAA runner-up with the Golden Gophers at 184 pounds.
Kish, who graduated from Minnesota in May 2008 with a bachelor's degree in business and marketing education, posted a 117-27 career collegiate record and went 35-7 as a sophomore en route to a Big Ten title and a second-place NCAA finish. As a team captain his junior season, he finished 37-3, was the Big Ten runner-up and finished third nationally.
A Lapeer, Mich., native, Kish was also a two-time cadet national champion and captured a USA Wrestling junior national title. He was a four-time state champion at Lapeer West High School.
Kish and his wife Jessalyn are parents to a son, Huxley, and a daughter, Emry.
WR Highlights: Big 12 Championships (Day Two)
Sunday, March 09
WR Highlights: Big 12 Championships (Day One)
Saturday, March 08
WR Highlights: OU 32, Arizona State 6
Sunday, February 16
WR Highlights: OU 23, Missouri 13
Saturday, February 01
