-- VIDEO: Sun Devil Olympians (by ASU Alumni Association, October of 2024)
-- How Zeke Jones has rebuilt the culture for ASU Wrestling
-- ASU Wrestling Coach Zeke Jones Reflects on the Loss of a Promising Season
-- ASU Wrestling: How a Leap of Faith Launched the Sun Devils to New Heights
-- ASU's 50 Best Professional Athletes No. 46: Olympic Wrestler Zeke Jones
“I said to Ray, either we're going to have a wrestling team that's going to compete for national championships, or we're not going to have a wrestling team. So you need to find the best person in the world to be our coach. Zeke Jones is our coach: A multi-time world champion; NCAA champion; ASU graduate - and at the time that Ray hired him - sitting coach for the United States Olympic Team. That is the person, the personage, the kind of character that we are looking for.” -- Dr. Michael Crow, ASU President | April 10, 2015, at the press conference to announce Bobby Hurley as head coach of Sun Devil Men’s Basketball
Three-time Pac-12 Coach of the Year and 1988 Sun Devil national champion Zeke Jones was hired to lead his alma mater in April 2014 and immediately turned the program into a national powerhouse while continuing the Sun Devils’ tradition of success in the conference. Jones is directly responsible for bringing six Pac-12 Championships to Tempe since his arrival - bringing ASU's total conference title count to 24. He developed a two-time national champion in Zahid Valencia, a 2024 national champion in 125-pounder Richard Figueroa, the program's first five-time All-American in Cohlton Schultz, a 125 national runner-up (2021), plus four-time All-Americans in Jacori Teemer, Kyle Parco and Brandon Courtney.
In 2022, he led the heavyweight Schultz to national runner-up honors, one of four top-four finishes he'd earn at NCAAs in his career. ASU has celebrated 34 All-Americans since Jones’ hiring, with at least one AA or more in every season since 2017. He guided the Sun Devils to a top-seven finish from 2021-24. The 2022 season marked the second consecutive season ASU finished fourth at the NCAA Championships - that's the first time the Sun Devils have earned back-to-back team trophies since the 1989 and 1990 seasons when ASU earned back-to-back silver medals.
Jones is directly responsible for more than 40 individual conference titles, five NCAA top-10 finishes, four Pac-12 Most Outstanding Wrestlers, seven Pac-12 Wrestlers of the Year and three Pac-12 Freshmen/Newcomers of the year.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">・3️⃣x Pac-12 Coach of the Year<br>・2️⃣5️⃣ All-Americans<br>・5️⃣ Pac-12 titles<br>・Back-to-back NCAA team trophies<a href="https://twitter.com/ZekeJones?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@zekejones</a> is our guy, and he's locked in through 2026-27 🔱</p>— Sun Devil Wrestling (@ASUWrestling) <a href="https://twitter.com/ASUWrestling/status/1552037039658471424?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 26, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">8⃣ years of Zeke Jones:<br>Back-to-back NCAA team trophies<br>2⃣5⃣ All-America honors<br>2⃣ individual national titles<br>4⃣ top-10 NCAA finishes<br>4⃣ Pac-12 team titles <a href="https://t.co/uRVs06d7W0">pic.twitter.com/uRVs06d7W0</a></p>— Sun Devil Wrestling (@ASUWrestling) <a href="https://twitter.com/ASUWrestling/status/1506362506826051586?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 22, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
INDIVIDUAL NATIONAL CHAMPIONS UNDER COACH JONES:
Zahid Valencia, 174 (2018)
Zahid Valencia, 174 (2019)
Richard Figueroa, 125 (2024)
NATIONAL RUNNER-UP UNDER COACH JONES:
Brandon Courtney, 125 (2021)
Cohlton Schultz, HWT (2022)
Jacori Teemer, 157 (2024)
ALL-AMERICANS UNDER COACH JONES (BY YEAR, WEIGHT, PLACE):
Blake Stauffer, 2015 (184/4th)
Zahid Valencia, 2017 (174/3rd)
Tanner Hall, 2017 (HWT/3rd)
Zahid Valencia, 2018 (174/1st)
Josh Shields, 2018 (157/7th)
Jason Tsirtsis, 2018 (149/7th)
Zahid Valencia, 2019 (174/1st)
Josh Shields, 2019 (165/6th)
Christian Pagdilao, 2019 (157/7th)
Josh Shields, 2020* (165/First-Team)
Anthony Valencia, 2020* (174/First-Team)
Tanner Hall, 2020* (HWT/First-Team)
Brandon Courtney, 2020* (Second-Team)
Jacori Teemer, 2020* (Second-Team)
Kordell Norfleet, 2020* (Second-Team)
Brandon Courtney, 2021 (125/2nd)
Michael McGee, 2021 (133/6th)
Jacori Teemer, 2021 (157/4th)
Cohlton Schultz, 2021 (HWT/4th)
Anthony Valencia, 2021 (165/8th)
Brandon Courtney, 2022 (125/6th)
Michael McGee, 2022 (133/6th)
Kyle Parco, 2022 (149/8th)
Jacori Teemer, 2022 (157/6th)
Cohlton Schultz, 2022 (HWT/2nd)
Brandon Courtney, 2023 (125/3rd)
Michael McGee, 2023 (133/3rd)
Kyle Parco, 2023 (149/5th)
Cohlton Schultz, 2023 (HWT/7th)
Richard Figueroa, 2024 (125/1st)
Kyle Parco, 2024 (149/5th)
Jacori Teemer, 2024 (157/2nd)
Cohlton Schultz, 2024 (HWT/6th)
Cohlton Schultz, 2025 (HWT/3rd)
SUN DEVIL WRESTLING PAC-12 TEAM CHAMPIONS AND COACH:
Zeke Jones (6): 2024, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2018, 2017
Thom Ortiz (3): 2006, 2005, 2003
Lee Roy Smith (5): 2001, 1998, 1997, 1995, 1993
Bobby Douglas (8): 1991, 1990, 1989, 1988, 1987, 1986, 1985, 1980
MOST SUN DEVIL PAC-12 TEAM CHAMPIONS WON BY COACHES:
Randy Lein, Men's Golf (8): 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 2008
Bobby Douglas, Wrestling (8): 1980, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991
Zeke Jones, Wrestling (6): 2017, 2018, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2024
Linda Vollstedt, Women's Golf (6): 1987, 1988, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996
Lee Roy Smith, Wrestling (5): 1993, 1995, 1997, 1998, 2001
SUN DEVILS IN THE POSTSEASON UNDER HEAD COACH ZEKE JONES
| Year | Conference | NCAAs |
| 2024-25 | 11th (Big 12) | T-18th |
| 2023-24 | 1st | 6th |
| 2022-23 | 4th | 7th |
| 2021-22 | 1st | 4th |
| 2020-21 | 1st | 4th |
| 2019-20 | 1st | N/A (Ranked #4 in last poll |
| 2018-19 | 2nd | 12th |
| 2017-18 | 1st | 10th |
| 2016-17 | 1st | 14th |
| 2015-16 | 2nd | 33rd |
| 2014-15 | 2nd | 29th |
In the Sun Devils' first season in the loaded Big 12 Conference in 2024-25, new rivalries were formed and great memories were made. At the 2025 NCAA Wrestling Championships, heavyweight Cohlton Schultz became the first five-time All-American in Sun Devil Wrestling history thanks to a 15-5 major decision win against No. 14 Gavin Hoffman (Lock Haven). Schultz beat No. 7 Isaac Trumble (NC State) the following day to secure a third-place finish, clinching the third top-four finish at NCAAs in his career. Defending 125-pound champion Richard Figueroa was regarded as a top-three wrestler in the country all season long, and redshirt freshman Nicco Ruiz (165) emerged as a key piece for the Sun Devils in the seasons ahead. At the team's first Big 12 Championships in Tulsa, Schultz placed second and Figueroa was third.
Jones took the helm with a resume that features accomplishments at the collegiate and international level. The Ann Arbor, Michigan, native was a three-time All-American, three-time Pac-10 champion, and national runner-up at 118 lbs with the Sun Devils from 1987-1990 before going on to earn the 1991 52kg World Champion title. He followed his world title with a silver medal-finish (52kg freestyle) while representing the U.S at Barcelona 1992. He finished his professional career with four World-Cup titles before shifting over to coaching, guiding U.S. Olympians at the 1996, 2000, 2004 and 2012 Games. His accomplishments earned him an induction into the Arizona State Athletics Hall of Fame in 2004.
The 2020-21 season was one for the record books, despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. No. 6 ASU earned five titles at the conference championships to post 138 total points en route to earning its 20th title in the Pac-10/12 era. Brandon Courtney (125), Jacori Teemer (157), Anthony Valencia (165), Kordell Norfleet (197) and Cohlton Schultz (HWT) brought home gold, and nine total trophies were earned in Corvallis, Oregon. Jones’ athletes went on to collect five All-America nods at the NCAA Championships, with No. 3 Courtney taking silver in 125. The year was capped off with Cohlton Schultz earning a spot on Team USA with his second-place finish at the Olympic Trials, Anthony Valencia earning CoSIDA Academic All-America status, and Cade Belshay earning a Pac-12 Postgraduate Scholarship. Jones earned his third Pac-12 Coach of the Year honor in four years in 2020 after leading the Sun Devils to their highest conference tournament point total (141.5) since 1993 while winning the program's 19th Pac-10/12 title. He became the first ASU wrestling head coach to win the conference award three times since Thom Ortiz did so in 2003, 2005 and 2006.
As an Olympic head coach, Jones’ athletes earned two gold medals and one bronze at the London Games in 2012. His athletes in the 2004 Athens Games, where he was the freestyle coach, earned a gold and two silvers. In the four World Championships the U.S. competed in with Jones on the coaching staff, Team USA placed seventh in 2009, third in the 2011, and fifth in 2013. He also led the U.S. to five individual World-Champion medals, with Jordan Burroughs earning two World Champion crowns.
The United States competed in three Freestyle World Cups during the Jones era, placing third in 2012 and 2013. With Jones at the charge, the U.S. won eight Junior World medals, five University World medals and four Cadet World medals. Jones came to USA Wrestling after coaching at the University of Pennsylvania from 2005-07, where he amassed a record of 33-17-1. Following the 2006 campaign that saw an NCAA Champion, two All-Americans, two Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA) champions, and a third-place finish at the EIWA Championships, Amateur Wrestling News named Jones the Rookie Head Coach of the Year.
Zeke Jones Coaching History:
Bloomsburg: 1990-92
Arizona State (Assistant): 1993-98
West Virginia: 1998-05
Penn: 2005-08
USA Wrestling: 2008-14
Arizona State (head coach): 2014-Current
Jones has either led or been on the staff of teams that reached the NCAA Final Four twice, placed in the national top-10 six times, and who won seven team conference championships. Since he started coaching, Jones’ wrestlers have won seven NCAA titles and 46 individual conference titles. He’s overseen 10 NCAA finalists, 38 All-Americans, 90 NCAA Qualifiers, and 11 wrestlers who competed in the NWCA All Star Meet.
Jones is a Distinguished Member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, member of the Arizona State University Hall of Fame, and Michigan Wrestling Hall of Fame. He and his wife, Renee, have four children: Jessica, David, Rebecca, and Jacob.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Brick by brick. We're building 🧱 <a href="https://t.co/iCATx5rL5D">pic.twitter.com/iCATx5rL5D</a></p>— Sun Devil Wrestling (@ASUWrestling) <a href="https://twitter.com/ASUWrestling/status/1641862838829617153?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 31, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Coaching Accomplishments:
Pac-12 Coach of the Year: 2017, 2018, 2020
Head Coach, United States Freestyle Wrestling Team Head Coach, 2004
US Olympic Freestyle Wrestling Team Head Coach, 2003
Pan-American Games Team 2001
National Freestyle Coach of the Year, USA Wrestling Head Coach, 2001
World Championship Team Head Coach, 2000
World Cup Team Assistant Coach, 2001
World Cup Team Coaching Staff, 1996 and 2000 Olympic Games Coach,
2000 Pan-American Championships Head Coach,
2000 NCAA International All-Star Team Assistant Coach,
1999 NCAA International All-Star Team Head Coach,
1998 World Cup Team Champions
Wrestling and Leadership Accomplishments Winner of FILA’s “World’s Most Technical Wrestler” – 1 of 3 Americans to win the award (also: John Smith and Chris Campbell)
1991 World Champion
1992 Olympic Silver Medalist
Four-time World Cup Champion
Six-time National Champion Pan-American Games
Gold Medalist Goodwill Games
1995 World Bronze Medalist NCAA Division I National Team Champions member,
1988 NCAA Division I National Team Runner-Up member
1989, 1990 World Championships Team Champions member
1993, 1995 Eight-time World and Olympic Team member
Espoir National Champion and Outstanding Wrestler
Espoir World Silver Medalist NCAA Finalist and three-time NCAA All-American
Three-time Pac-10 champion
Midlands Champion
Pac-10 Tournament Grand Marshall Distinguished Member,
National Wrestling Hall of Fame
Arizona State University Hall of Fame
Michigan Wrestling Hall of Fame Runner-up
Amateur Wrestling News USOC Board of Directors
USA Wrestling Board of Directors Chairman, Athlete Advisory Council, USA Wrestling