For the Appalachian State wrestling program, the 2024-25 season has been a bit of an emotional rollercoaster for coaches, wrestlers, and fans alike.

In June, head coach JohnMark Bentley received a contract extension through the 2028-29 season, much to the joy of many in Boone, North Carolina. 

Bentley’s extension was certainly well-deserved and a testament to the Mountaineers’ dominance within the SoCon over the last 15 seasons under his leadership.

The statistics are staggering, to say the least. 

During his first 15 seasons in Boone, Bentley’s teams went 144-79-1 (86-16 in the SoCon)in duals with seven SoCon regular-season titles, including five outright, unbeaten championships. Over the last decade in particular, Bentley and company have amassed a 66-6 record in conference duals (now 71-6 including the current season to date), which, according to the App State sports information department, ranks third among the best conference records in Division I. Only Penn State and Cornell have fared better within conference duals during that 10-year span. 

Most recently, the Mountaineers built up significant momentum heading into 2024-25, having won the SoCon tournament crown in back-to-back seasons and earning a pair of consecutive top-25 national team rankings. 

“Appalachian State (has) always had a great tradition in wrestling, and I was very familiar with it,” Bentley said when asked why App State was the right fit for him as a head coach back in 2009 and still is today in 2025. “My brother (Matthew) wrestled here (from 1992-96), and I've been around the program a long time (since 2006), so I know a lot about it.

“… I felt like this would be a great place to coach and build a program. And I felt like this program could be really, really good. It was a program where we could do what we're doing, like being top-25 in the country … and getting guys on the podium at NCAAs.”

To date, Bentley has been responsible for 61 NCAA qualifiers, 29 of which came during the last five seasons, and five total All-American podium finishes since 2012, most recently with Jon Jon Milner back-to-back in 2021 and 2022.

Recent dominance and accolades aside, the 2024-25 campaign has been anything but easy for Bentley and his Mountaineer wrestlers. 

Weathering The Storm

Before the ink on Bentley’s contract extension dried, App State faced unexpected adversity less than two weeks before the 2024-25 season was set to begin.

That adversity was Hurricane Helene, which reached landfall in late September.  

“The hurricane affected us greatly,” Bentley said. “It happened, I think, two weeks before we were supposed to start preseason practice, so we ended up losing about a week of practice because school was canceled.

“Our guys were not able to train, (and) our facilities were impacted by the hurricane. We lost access to our locker room for a couple of months. We didn't have a locker room. Our wrestling room had to be renovated. We lost one of our mats, so it took a little time to get through that stuff and get our wrestling room back to where it was functional and operational.”

By late January, new lockers were ordered and installed, and the wrestlers had a legitimate locker room again for the first time in four months. 

“It's been a growing process, and it's been painful at times, but I believe adversity makes it stronger; I really do,” Bentley said. “And overall, I think this tough experience will hopefully make us a better team and make these guys tougher over the long run.”

Even in the face of serious adversity, Bentley prefers to see the bright side in the face of adversity rather than the negative. 

“It's starting to come together. I think our facilities are gonna be nicer than they've ever been. So I guess (we’re) making a little bit of lemonade out of lemons.”  

The Hits Just Kept Coming

A natural disaster like Hurricane Helene is not traditionally on a coach's bingo card of expected adversities to overcome during the five-month gauntlet that is the Division I wrestling season. 

Transfers and injuries, on the other hand, are far more likely, albeit unfortunate, realities of a collegiate season in this new wrestling landscape. 

Regarding transfers, four former App Staters left the program in the offseason, most notably Tommy Askey, a two-time SoCon champ and automatic NCAA qualifier at 157 pounds in 2023 and 2024. Additionally, 133-pounder Ethan Oakley, a 2023 and 2024 NCAA qualifier, who was a 2024 SoCon champion and 2023 SoCon finalist. Askey landed in Minnesota in the Big Ten, while Oakley wound up at North Carolina in the ACC. 

Unfortunately for App State, the injury bug did not wait long before rearing its ugly head in Boone this season. By the end of App State’s first dual meet, a Nov. 15 matchup against then-#6 NC State, Bentley saw two of his student-athletes and team captains — returning SoCon champ and NCAA qualifier Thomas Brooker (184 pounds) and sixth-year senior Sean Carter (141 pounds) — go down with a season-ending injury. 

“Not only did we lose a couple of guys in the transfer portal last spring, but we also lost two of our best wrestlers, the first dual meeting season in November against NC State, that are out for the year,” Bentley said. “So that was a big blow to us, to our team, and we had to do some soul-searching and figure out some weight classes and guys (had to) step up. But I feel like our guys are doing that and have responded well and provided an opportunity for some of our young guys to step up and make a name for themselves, and I think we're right where we need to be.”

Bentley said he believes many of the team's goals are still in reach. 

“I think we're in the hunt still for a conference championship. We're not currently ranked nationally, but if we keep winning, win out our remaining schedule, I think there's a chance maybe we can slip in there at the end. We just got to take one match at a time.”

Consistency Is Key 

The landscape of college wrestling has changed significantly thanks to the transfer portal and name image and likeness (NIL) opportunities. At a mid-major wrestling institution like App State, that can certainly present some challenges — especially for a program currently operating with just under nine scholarships. 

That said, Bentley overcomes some hurdles of leading a mid-major program by remaining consistent in his program's pillars, which include his team’s priorities, culture, and winning ways. 

The development of his athletes will always be a priority for Bentley and his staff. 

“You got to prioritize what's important to you and your program. And, we're always going to focus on the development of the student-athlete,” Bentley said. “And I don't think anyone in the country would argue that we are one of the best programs in the country for developing our guys. Our guys continue to get better. (We are) taking guys that were not highly recruited out of high school and making them really good.”

Building a consistent and longstanding culture is also of paramount importance for Bentley. 

“I try to show them examples,” Bentley said. “I'm not just talking. I'm trying to show them examples of guys who have come to our program and experienced those successes that we preach about, and I think that's why we try to sell that vision to them.

“But most importantly, they're going to grow into a better young man. By being in our program, they're going to be more equipped for life. They're going to be ready to be a productive employee, business owner, father, husband and whatever else they tackle in their next stage in life, they're going to be better prepared for it because of going here at Appalachian State.” 

While Bentley and his staff are a large reason for the sustained success in Boone, Bentley also acknowledged that support from the administration and the community is not something he takes for granted.

“Wrestling matters here; we've wrestled four home dual meets so far, and each one of those has been packed,” he said. “It matters in this community, and it matters in this at this university, and I think that that's one of the things that I can appreciate, is like, we may not have all the bells and whistles that some of the big schools have, but we do have some things that not necessarily everyone does, and that's a committed, loyal fan base that's passionate about our program, and, committed to seeing us continue to grow and thrive. And I think that's something that I don't take for granted, that we have here at App State.”

The Mid-Major Advantage

Bentley admitted that there are some unique challenges in mid-major college wrestling, but his situation also has advantages. 

“It's a little different here being a mid-major because we do have to probably be a little bit more fiscally responsible with resources because we have limited resources, and we have to fundraise a little bit more than some schools probably, but I would also say that we have some advantages over some schools,” Bentley said. 

“I use this in the recruiting all the time. When you're a part of this program, you're on a team that's consistently competing for championships.”

Not only does Bentley not take his circumstances leading the Mountaineers for granted, but it is a large part of why he is not interested in any opportunities in the sport at the Power Five level. 

“It would be hard for me to take another job unless the financial impact was so substantial that it would make a life-changing difference for my family; it would be really hard for me to take a job that I feel like we would struggle to ever compete for a championship.

“A lot of times in the recruiting process, when I'm talking to young men that are maybe looking at our program and one of the bottom teams of a P5 conference, I actually think it's easier to reach your goals and win here than it is in one of those conferences because our guys are used to winning. They see their teammates win. We still wrestle a competitive schedule where they get to see all the best guys in the country, but they also are not getting beaten down dual meet after dual meet and watching all their teammates get killed every match, and then having to step out and try to perform their best.”

The Same Old Mountaineers

App State may have been battle-tested in the preseason and the opening duals of the season, but now that they are in the thick of things in SoCon action, the Mountaineers are once again unbeaten in conference duals, currently sitting at 5-0. They also added another dual meet shutout to their resume with a 42-0 blanking of SoCon foe Presbyterian late last month. 

Overall, App State is 6-3 with a trio of losses to nationally ranked non-conference opponents, including the ACC’s NC State and Virginia Tech and the Big 12’s West Virginia. According to Flo’s latest dual rankings, all three are currently top-21 squads. 

Individually, App State is led by Will Miller, a senior and Helena, Alabama, native who is 16-1 in the year and ranked #7 nationally. Luke Uliano, a redshirt junior who came to the Tar Heel State from Powell, Ohio, is the other nationally ranked App State wrestler, currently #28 at 174 pounds thanks to a f18-7 overall record. 

All eyes will be on Miller, Uliano and the rest of the young Mountaineers starting line in two weeks on Feb. 23 when App State hosts SoCon rival Campbell at what will surely be a maximum-capacity crowd at  Varsity Gym with regular season conference title implications on the line.

Campbell is currently 4-0 in conference duals. 

Bentley’s View On The Future of College Wrestling

Just because Bentley and his staff have managed to adapt and even thrive, finding sustained success in this ever-changing world of Division I Wrestling, does not mean Bentley likes it and is not fearful of where the sport is heading. 

“(The portal and NIL), it's allowed for programs that have a substantial amount of NIL money to not only recruit off the high school rosters, now they're recruiting off college rosters as well,” Bentley said. “So I have to go and try to find high school talent to come in. Now, I'm (also) having to recruit my own guys every year.

“I think that in its current parameters, it's a trainwreck. I don't love it. I think it's really we're getting far off the track from what college athletics was intended to be, and that's just my take on it.”

Bentley is not an advocate for the 30-man roster limits, which will soon be introduced in college wrestling starting next year.  He sees them as having a negative impact on his program, which traditionally operates north of 30 student-athletes each year. 

“Well, obviously, we're going to be affected by it (the upcoming changes). We don't have the resources to ever get anywhere close to 30 scholarships,” Bentley said. “So, I think that puts us, in some ways, at a disadvantage, with some of the P5 that already had all the advantages that they're going to go to 30 scholarships.”

Scholarships aside, the roster size limitation bothers Bentley the most. 

“The roster cap really bothers me because it's going to cause some guys to lose out on opportunities,” Bentley said. “Walk-ons (especially). The sport changes their lives. Typically, I carry between 33 and 35 on a roster. So, we will have to reduce that number a little bit.” 

Bentley hates to see those opportunities go away for some young men and even said some of the biggest donors to App State wrestling were former walk-ons who would have been cut had the 30-man roster existed back then. 

The National Duals Are Back in College Wrestling

Last month, it was announced that The National Duals Invitational, sponsored by Paycom, will welcome 16 teams, including some of the nation’s best, to BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the weekend of Nov. 15-16 to kick off the season. 

It is a one-of-a-kind opportunity, with $1 million to be divided amongst the teams that finish in the top half of the 16-team field, which has yet to be announced. 

Bentley, a fan of the dual meets, especially when they take place on college campuses rather than at neutral site venues, had this to say about the new event hitting wrestling schedules in 2025-26. 

“I think if it's taken to a step for everybody's involved, everybody's participating, and it's something that there's an incentive for the mid-majors to participate in, like revenue sharing and stuff like that, then we will definitely be involved,” Bentley said. “I'm not sure that if all the programs are not involved and committed to it, it's really not a national dual. It's just really good duals that a lot of good teams are at.

“…And I like the dual meet on campus, to be honest with you. I've had a lot of coaches or a lot of people approach me about doing these (types of) events and going to a neutral site wrestling a couple of duals, but I'm a big proponent of dual meets on campus is where the student body can see it, and you get your fan base.”

Catch Appalachian State home duals this season live on Flowrestling.