HEAD WRESTLING COACH STEVE KIMPEL

Steve Kimpel is in his fifth season as the head wrestling coach at Colorado School of Mines. Kimpel’s duties at Mines also include Directing the Physical Activities Program at CSM.

During his first four seasons at the helm, 12 of Kimpel’s grapplers have qualified for the NCAA Division II National Championships after placing in the top-four at the NCAA II/RMAC West Regional Championships.

Two years ago, Kimpel guided Peter Jenson to a fifth place finish at 165 pounds and heavyweight Derek Thompson to an eighth place finish at the NCAA Division II National Championships.

At the 2003 National Championships, senior Greg Chirieleison became the first CSM wrestler to earn All-American honors since 1998 when he placed eighth at the 165-pound weight class in 2003.

In 2004, three of the four Orediggers who qualified for Nationals earned All-American honors marking the most All-Americans at CSM in a single year since 1996.

Kimpel came to Golden after two years at Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Ind. In 2001-02, he led Wabash to a sixth place finish out of 12 teams at the NCAA Division III Midwest Regional Qualifying Tournament. He also coached two NCAA Division III Coaches Scholar All-Americans in 2002.

Kimpel has also seen coaching time as an assistant at Fort Hays State University and at USC. During his time at Fort Hays, Kimpel helped produce six NCAA Division II All-Americans.

A two-time NCAA II All-American and one-time NAIA All-American, Kimpel wrestled competed at the collegiate level at the University of Wisconsin - Parkside as well as the University of Southern Colorado. In addition, Kimpel was a member of the 1994 NCAA Division II Academic National Champion Wrestling Team.

Kimpel has earned several awards throughout his wrestling career, including two victories at the AAU National Championships. Kimpel has also had several wrestling articles published throughout the years in wrestling magazines and on internet sites.

He and his wife, Julie, reside in Golden with their daughters, Courtney, Katrina and Kayla.