Centerville, IA – The Indian Hills Athletic Department has announced the hiring of Darren Wynn as the first head women's wrestling coach in program history. A former assistant coach at Indian Hills, Wynn began his tenure as head coach of the Warriors on March 25.

Wynn will re-join the Warrior staff as the first full-time head coach of the women's team as the wrestling program will shift into two separate programs between the men's and women's squads. Cole Spree, the head coach of the men's and women's wrestling teams since its inception in 2019, will take over as the men's head wrestling coach on a full-time basis.

"We are excited to welcome Darren back to Indian Hills," stated Brett Monaghan, Indian Hills Vice President Student Development & Operations and Athletic Director. "During his time here as an assistant, Darren showed great promise as a future head coach and I'm happy we are able to provide that opportunity for him here."

Wynn, who spent the previous season at NCAA DI Lindenwood University as an assistant coach, served  as an assistant coach at Indian Hills for two seasons from 2021-2023. During his tenure in Centerville, Wynn helped lead the women's wrestling program to back-to-back national championships, including the first-ever National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Women's Wrestling Invitational in 2023. Wynn, who worked primarily with the women's program while at Indian Hills, helped lead four individuals to national titles along with 17 NJCA AAll-Americans and 11 National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) Scholar All-Americans during his final season in Centerville.

"I am blessed to have the opportunity to come back to a successful wrestling program and a caring institution," Wynn stated. "At the same time, I'm excited to push these student-athletes to become greater individuals, greater students, and when it's all said and done – great wrestlers."

Wynn spent the past season on both the men's and women's staff at Lindenwood, helping both program advance to the National Collegiate Wrestling Association (NWCA) Championships in Louisiana. The men's program captured the NWCA Southwest Conference Tournament championship with six individual conference champions.

With Wynn taking over as the women's wrestling head coach, the program that has seen a meteoric rise on both sides will shift into two separate programs under the directions of Wynn and Spree. The women's program has captured four consecutive national titles in its first four seasons of existence while the men's program has placed in the top-10 of the national tournament in each of its first four years, including a program-best seventh-place showing in 2024.

"The separation of head coaching duties for our wrestling teams will strengthen both our men's and women's programs and we are excited to watch Darren take the reigns of our women's program while also providing more time for Cole to focus on the men's team," Monaghan added. "We look forward to seeing the continued growth of both of these young programs."

Prior to his time at Indian Hills, Wynn served as the graduate assistant coach at Life University in Georgia, guiding the program to a third-place finish at the 2019 NAIA National Tournament, capturing five All-American honors and seven scholar All-Americans.

A native of Champaign, IL, Wynn was a standout wrestler at McKendree University  where he was inducted into the program's Hall of Fame in 2023 after becoming a four-time All-American on the mat. Wynn was the 2016 NCAA Division I 141lb National Champion and finished his career with 158 victories.

Wynn graduated from McKendree in 2017 with a degree in Psychology and received a master's degree in Positive Psychology from Life.