Iowa State wrestling is facing NCAA punishment after an investigation found that two transfer prospects were improperly contacted during the spring of 2025. The case centers on Chris Perry, an assistant coach at the Cyclone Regional Training Center, who reached out to the two athletes about Iowa State even though he was not employed by the university. One of those contacts came before the wrestler had entered the NCAA Transfer Portal, putting the Cyclones at the center of a tampering case.

On September 22, Iowa State’s men’s wrestling program was placed on one year of probation and fined $25,000, plus 0.5% of its program budget. The Cyclones will also be barred from recruiting communication with transfers during the first week of the transfer windows in both 2026-27 and 2027-28. Perry must be disassociated from the program for two years, while former head coach Kevin Dresser, now the director of men’s and women’s wrestling, will serve a two-contest suspension during the 2026-27 season.

The violations date back to the 2025 offseason, when then-Iowa State head coach Kevin Dresser communicated with an outgoing head coach at another university and expressed interest in recruiting two of that coach’s wrestlers. Perry later contacted the prospects through his role at the Cyclone Regional Training Center, where Dresser was also serving as head coach of the training center team.

One of the wrestlers had not yet entered the Transfer Portal when Perry contacted him. According to the NCAA, Perry called the prospect twice and sent 14 text messages. The messages contained requests for a transcript, information on possible revenue-share payments, a cost-of-attendance explanation, and an explanation that the wrestler should request a “do not contact” tag upon entering the portal.

Perry also gave the second prospect some sort of commitment graphic to post on social media once he committed to Iowa State. Both athletes ultimately committed to the Cyclones on the same day they entered the Transfer Portal. During interviews with NCAA enforcement staff, both identified Perry as their first point of contact and primary recruiter for Iowa State.

The fact that Perry was not an Iowa State employee did not remove the school from the case. The NCAA determined that he had been acting individually to represent Iowa State’s recruiting interests, which gave him “booster” status under NCAA rules. His contact with the two prospects was consequently deemed impermissible, while the contact with the wrestler who had not yet entered the Transfer Portal was classified as tampering.

Dresser’s involvement was also examined. The NCAA said the school and enforcement staff determined that he did not know Perry’s conversations were about recruiting the wrestlers to Iowa State rather than to the Cyclone Regional Training Center. Because of that, head coach responsibility did not apply. Still, Iowa State and NCAA enforcement agreed that a suspension for Dresser was appropriate.

Dresser is now in a different role after being named Iowa State’s director of men’s and women’s wrestling. He will serve a 10% suspension of the men’s wrestling season during the 2026-27 academic year, which the NCAA said is equivalent to two contests. Following the ruling, Iowa State athletics also released a statement.

Iowa State addresses the latest case as its NCAA history comes back into focus

Iowa State athletics has also released a statement following the NCAA’s decision. “We cooperated fully with the NCAA enforcement staff to thoroughly investigate and resolve the infraction. We accept responsibility and the associated penalties. We will use this incident as a learning opportunity for our wrestling program and as a teaching moment for coaches across all our sports,” the university said in its statement. It also said it takes pride in following NCAA rules and thanked the enforcement staff for its handling of the case.

However, this is not the first time Iowa State has faced NCAA recruiting violations. In 2013, the NCAA found recruiting violations across the university’s athletics department, with more than 1,400 impermissible recruiting calls made to nearly 400 prospects over a three-year period. The case also involved a former student men’s basketball coach who sent 160 impermissible text messages and made additional recruiting calls.

The violations led to two years of NCAA probation and several recruiting restrictions for Iowa State. While the case involved the athletics department as a whole rather than one specific program, it adds to the university’s history of NCAA recruiting violations and is separate from the current men’s wrestling case.