To say that the last two seasons under Air Force head coach Sam Barber have been “historically good” and the best of his Division I head coaching tenure is no exaggeration. 

In 2022-23, Air Force recorded an 8-6 dual meet record during the regular season. During the postseason, Barber and company had a program-high seven conference medalists. The Falcons finished eighth as a team at the conference tournament — setting program records in points earned (64.5 points) and final placement (eighth). As a result, half of the starting lineup qualified for the NCAA Championships in Tulsa, led by the 2022 and 2023 Big 12 champion at heavyweight Wyatt Hendrickson. 

The five NCAA qualifiers were the most for the Colorado Springs-based service academy since 1991. At the NCAA Championships, Air Force placed 18th, tied with Big 12 foe Oklahoma State; this was the highest finish for Air Force or a service academy since 1971.

Individually, Hendrickson finished third in the nation to give the USAF its first All-American of the Barber Era and the first Falcon to see the podium since 2003, when Kevin Hoy, also a heavyweight, accomplished the same feat in back-to-back seasons in 2002 and 2003, respectively. 

In 2023-24, the Falcons saw a slight drop-off. The Falcons were 5-7 in duals, took ninth at Big 12s, and qualified a trio of seniors for NCAAs in a trio of upper weights with Giano Petrucelli (165), Sam Wolf (184) and Hendrickson (285). 

Still, Barber and his three seniors achieved their second consecutive top-25 team finish, sitting in 21st at the end of the three-day national tournament in St. Louis. Hendrickson again finished in third to end his USAF career as a two-time All-American. Petrucelli finished NCAAs one win shy of the podium, ending his first trip to Nationals with a 3-2 record. Wolf — who battled a shoulder injury — was 0-2 in his second trip consecutive to NCAAs. 

While the Falcons have a head of steam coming into the 2024-25 campaign, the roster and coaching staff look quite a bit different than they have in years past, making it one of the most prominent storylines to watch as the college season unfolds at the United States Air Force Academy. 

The Many New Faces of Air Force Wrestling

This year, Barber returns just four starters from the 2023-2024 dual meet lineup — sophomore Owen Heiser, juniors Tucker Owens and Drake Buchanan, and senior Gage Musser. 

Only Tucker Owens has prior experience at the national tournament, having qualified in 2023 as the #33 seed as a freshman. Owens went 2-2 that year, avenging a loss by fall to South Dakota State’s Tanner Jordan from earlier in the year and beating Army’s Ethan Berginc in a tight 9-7 contest. Berginc was seeded #17. 

The rest of the roster includes a plethora of new faces, including 14 freshmen, eight of whom join the squad after spending last year at the Air Force Academy Prep School just a few miles away. 

The coaching staff also welcomes a pair of newcomers, including Elroy Perkin, who will serve as an assistant coach with the Falcon wrestling staff and the head coach at the Air Force Regional Training Center. 

Burke Paddock also joins Barber, who is now in year #11 leading the USAF program. Paddock began serving as the director of high performance this offseason.

“The job title, probably, it's a bit of an evolution, and we're not quite there yet,” Barber said. “But eventually, when that job, if we ever get to the point where we can have a full-time position, the vision for that role is this that's going to be someone that's going to coordinate all the other different personnel that we work with in our program (like) our nutritionist, our sports psychologist, our strength coach, those types of people.

“The director of high performance (Paddock) is going to be the person who coordinates integrating those people into our program, making sure to maximize their impact on our program. But also (someone who) understands the training that we're doing on the mat and making sure that everything's aligned.”

An Intentionally Challenging Schedule

Barber may have a young and inexperienced roster in 2024-25, but that has not stopped him from putting together a challenging competition schedule for his youthful Air Force Cadets. 

“Any great program, any great organization, focuses on the things you can control, and the one thing we can control is our schedule to a great extent,” Barber said. “We have eight Big 12 dual meets that we have to wrestle, but we get to choose when we wrestle them. 

“So everything about our schedule this year has been intentional, and I think, starting, setting the bar at the Big 12 level, and letting our team understand this is where we need to be if we want to be competitive in March, and these the types of the caliber of competition we're going to face. That's always a better line in the sand for the guys to understand what it looks like.”

So far, less than a month into the season, Barber has taken his squad on the road for two open tournaments and welcomed a then-top-20 opponent in Big 12 foe Oklahoma to Colorado Springs for the Falcons’ first dual of the young season.

First, Air Force traveled to Charleston, South Carolina, for the Battle at the Citadel — an open tournament with Appalachian State, The Citadel, Duke, George Mason and NC State — to kick off the season on Nov. 3. 

The Falcons left South Carolina with two finalists and five placers. In total, there were five Falcons to finish fourth or better at their respective weights: senior Jack Ganos (second at 174 pounds); sophomore Bubba Wright (second at 125 pounds); freshmen Brian Burburija (third at 197); sophomore Antonio Ramos (third at 285) and sophomore Soren Herzog (fourth at 285). 

Air Force finished the dual in third behind NC State and host Citadel.

It was touch-sledding on Nov. 8 against the Sooners, as Air Force dropped the dual, 32-3, losing nine of the 10 bouts, with the lone win coming at 165 from freshman Andrew Harmon.  

Despite the tough showing, Air Force bounced back at the Warren Williamson Daktronics Open in Brookings, South Dakota, on Nov. 17. There, Air Force wrestlers competed amongst a field of mostly Big 12 and Big Ten schools — many of whom are top-15 teams like Nebraska, South Dakota State, Minnesota, Arizona State, and others. 

In Brookings, some young Falcons shined. Arguably, the biggest highlight was when 197-pounder Burburija bested ranked Bradley Hill of Oklahoma by a 5-0 decision. The win came just eight days after Hill recorded a 4-1 win over Burburija at the dual in Colorado Springs. 

“I would say, the evaluation so far as that, we've had outstanding buy-in from our athletes and understanding who we are and what that looks like on a wrestling mat,” Barber said of his team’s performance thus far. “That's setting a hard pace early, competing for points, being stingy, winning third periods, fighting, you know, just the effort — the effort that it takes to go out there and open up (and) put your hard work on display.”

The decision to wrestle a tough schedule is done by choice, according to Barber. 

“We have to make decisions from where we are, not where we think we are. It has to be based on subjectivity and in facts,” Barber said. “How do you figure that out? When you go out, and you wrestle teams in the Big 12 and in the Big Ten, and then you're gonna find out exactly where you're at, and then based on that information, you can make assessments and adjustments of where you need to go. So it's, for sure, very intentional. It's a balanced schedule.”

Next up for the Falcons, they take the mat Friday night for another Big 12 dual — this time against California Baptist — the program that new USAF assistant coach Elroy Perkin helped transition from a Division II program to Division I. 

An Eye Toward January

Barber says the starting lineup is far from decided three events into the season. 

“We like to set our lineup based on outside competition,” Barber said. “I want guys focused on what it looks like to be successful and competitive on the national landscape. I want guys striving for a 70-percent win percentage. I want guys in matches that will end up being matches to put them in the coaches’ ranking and then high in the RPI. That's the gold standard. That's how you get an allocation for the Big 12 conference tournament and then go to the NCAA tournament in Philadelphia in March.

“So with the guys we're putting on the mat right now… we know that we won't be the best versions of ourselves yet. That’s going to take some time. We have open tournaments on our schedule until January; that will give us a lot more data and opportunities to see where we're at and how we compare against the field.”

Between now and January, the Falcons will have quite a few marquee events that USAF wrestling fans will surely want to mark on their calendars for — none more enticing than a trip to Gallagher-Iba in Stillwater, Oklahoma, on Jan 3 to scrap with the David Taylor-led Cowboys of Oklahoma State, who currently sit as the #3 team in the country.

Air Force also welcomes South Dakota State and North Dakota State to town in late January. The Falcons have their final home dual against Mark Branch and the Wyoming Cowboys in the friendly confines of Clune Arena on Valentine's Day, Feb. 14. 

Additionally, Feb. 9 at CSU Bakersfield and Feb. 23 at Northern Colorado are of note because NCAA champions AJ Ferrari (CSU Bakersfield) and Andrew Alirez (Northern Colorado) will be facing Falcon wrestlers. 

Air Force’s Mission-First Culture

Even with an exceptionally young and largely new roster, Barber is not concerned. He does not expect a huge decline in performance. He said he believes he has recruited the right athletes to find success. 

“Sometimes, it's just an idea of doing things the right way on a consistent basis over a long period of time, which is supposed to lead you to good results,” Barber said. “I feel like that's what we were able to create. Again, we will have a young team this year coming off of those two good years (in 2023 and 2024), but we won't have a huge drop-off because we continue to do the right things. We're mission-first. We're values-based. And, we have big goals of being a championship program.”

Barber went on to clarify this mission-first mindset, a standard that is integral to his program.

“(Being) mission-first, it starts at the individual level,” Barber said. “So it's recruiting guys into your program that want to be part of what we do here (at Air Force) in all three areas. It’s about getting a world-class education. It’s about selflessly serving and being a part of something bigger than yourself. It's about pursuing goals at the highest level in wrestling, and that starts just by finding guys who have the right attributes — high character, high integrity, great work ethic, furious, competitors that have big goals on and off the mat.”

Regardless of the results, regardless of which 10 wrestlers earn the starting nod for the team wearing the blue and silver as the second semester begins, one thing you can be sure of is that the wrestler — and each coach on Barber’s staff for that matter — will abide by the values of “integrity first, service before self, and excellence in all we do,” all of which are deeply rooted in daily life at the United States Air Force Academy, on campus, in the classroom and in the Falcons’ wrestling room. 

Air Force wrestlers certainly find success off the mat as well. Under Barber, 21 Falcons have become NWCA Scholar All-Americans. At the same time, his athletes have been named to academic all-conference teams 90 times.

In addition, five former starters have gone on to attend medical school in the last six years, and multiple others have attended grad school. Numerous others are regularly pursuing pilot training and roles with Air Force Special Operations and Space Force. 

“Our culture doesn't graduate. The expectations that we have in our program don't graduate, how guys show up, with their work ethic and their desire to excel doesn’t graduate. The one thing that we graduated was experience (on the mat),” Barber said. “And we're going to gain that experience quickly with this young team, and we're going to be right back to where we were because it's built on a solid foundation of culture, values, and a bigger picture about what our programs about, and how being in a championship-caliber program produces the best leaders, officers, and men for our country.”

Why You Should Watch Air Force Wrestling This Season

There is no denying that Air Force wrestling looks substantially different this year than it has in recent years. The roster is noticeably different, and the coaching staff has changed. The sport has even changed considerably considering the transfer portal and NIL — both issues Barber says he does not concern himself with much these days as a result of coaching at a service academy. 

Still, despite all the changes within the sport and early uncertainty regarding the lineup just three events into the season, Barber is optimistic and excited for what is to come. 

“The most important thing for me is just the opportunity to take this young team and really go and develop them,” Barber said. “We're not placing any expectations on them, and we're not (going to be) frustrated maybe if we don't get the result we want, November (or) December. We understand that it's going to be a process. 

“So I think the cool thing … if you want to follow something with Air Force wrestling, just follow the growth of development. Follow this team and look at how they wrestle and who they wrestle in November and December, and then see where the growth and development (happens) … the difference in the results we produce in February and March.”

Catch Air Force home duals this season and watch the Falcons Friday night at California Baptist live on Flowrestling.