Bio

Justin Schlecht was named the head coach of Blue Hawk Wrestling in July of 2015. Prior to being the head wrestling coach, Schlecht was the assistant coach and worked tediously under Coach Thadd O’Donnell for 4 seasons.

In his first year as Head Coach, Schlecht had 5 individuals earn All-American Status at the 2016 NAIA National Tournament. He also had his first Top Ten Team finish as Head Coach with the Team finishing 8^th in the Nation. Coach Schlecht has led 5 individuals to NWCA All-Academic team Honors. As well he has coached 6 NAIA All-Americans. Bluehawk Wrestling under Leadership of Coach Justin Schlecht has taken 23 Wrestlers to the NAIA National Tournament.

Prior to the collegiate level, Justin was the head wrestling coach and a teacher at Belle Fourche School District in South Dakota. Schlecht resided in Belle Fourche for 4 years until returning to his alma mater to assist the Dickinson State Wrestling program and teach art classes for the Dickinson Public School District.

As a member of the DSU wrestling team, Schlecht became one of the most decorated athletes ever to attend the university. The Whitewood, S.D. native finished his career with 69 pins and a 140-22 overall record. He was 17-1 in four national tournament appearances with 13 pins. Schlecht recorded three national championships and one 3rd place finish as a Hawk. Justin attended DSU from 2002-2003 before deploying for an 18 month tour of duty in Iraq. Schlecht followed his stint in the Army National Guard with an extremely successful return to the program from 2004-2008. In both 2007 and 2008 Schlecht was recognized as the NWCA Wrestler of the Year. In 2007 Schlecht was voted as the Outstanding Wrestler of the NAIA National Tournament. To this day, Schlecht still holds or shares six Dickinson State school wrestling records.

Justin graduated Dickinson State University with a Bachelor Degree in Art Education. His wife, Meagan Schlecht is also a DSU graduate and is the Technology Integrationist at Dickinson Middle School. They have two daughters Katy (11) and Sophy (9), and one Son Elijah (4). They all are big DSU Wrestling fans.