Iowa Western's Josh Watts named 2022 Man of the Year
Iowa Western head coach and director of wrestling, Josh Watts, was named the NJCAA Wrestling Coaches Association's Man of the Year Award.
Watts was voted the winner of this year's award by the members of the NJCAA Wrestling Coaches Association for both his lifelong commitment to wrestling and his team's performance during this year's season. The Reivers finished 6th place as a team at this year's NJCAA national championships with five All-Americans, including three finalists and one champion. Watts was hired in 2011 after the decision to add wrestling as a sport. Since then, he has coached 93 National Qualifiers, 34 All-Americans and now four national champions.
Coaching is not his only commitment to the sport as Watts was also a standout wrestler himself at Davenport Assumption. At the end of his high school career his record was 190-4 which was at the time the state record for wins in a career. Watts also finished with 114 career pins and was ranked fourth in the nation in his class. After high school Watts continued his wrestling career at the University of Northern Iowa and after battling knee injuries then transferred to Loras College where he was a two-year varsity letter winner. It was also at Loras where Watts started his career in coaching, as an assistant for the program.
In 2019, Watts was inducted into the IAHSAA Wrestling Hall of Fame for his storied high school career at Davenport Assumption. Watts was also honored as National Coach of the Year in 2020 by the NJCAA Wrestling Coaches Association for his effort developing and elevating his program. Watts has lived most of his life on the matt and continues to be an ambassador for the sport and growing wrestling in all areas.