Adding to the hotbed of young coaches patrolling the hallways ofKing University is sixth year assistant coach of the men’swrestling team, Derek Harrison. As a former King wrestler anddisciple of current head coach, Nate Moorman, Harrison is deeplyinvolved with his alma mater as well as multiple area youthwrestling organizations to help grow the sport and the strength ofTornado wrestling. He also serves as the strength and conditioningcoach at King, serving the needs of all 25 Tornado varsity athleticprograms.
Harrison helped guide the Tornado to an 8-7 dual record in2013-14, including winning streaks of three and four matches. Healso helped Kign finish 12th at the NCAA Regional whileBryce Killian and D'Marcus Spencer finished sixth in theirrespective weight classes, just one spot short of qualifying forthe NCAA National Championships.
In 2012-13, he helped the Tornado post a dual match record of5-3, while going 3-0 in conference matches. King also competed inmany tournaments and had two wrestler's finish in the top-6 of theNCAA Division II Regional, Dyvon Passmore and Cody Davis. BothTrevor Wentt and Jeremy Miller earned Academic All-AmericanHonors.
Harrison immediately returned to King after completing hisundergraduate degree to serve as a graduate assistant coach for themen’s wrestling team. While an assistant he also took onresponsibilities as King’s strength and conditioning coach, aposition he still holds today. During his time at King, Harrisonhas helped transform athletes’ physique and conditioning asthe University underwent the transition from NAIA to NCAA DivisionII, a move that brought many first-year successes for Tornadoathletes in 2011-12 including one regular season championship, oneconference tournament championship, two individual nationalchampions, six Olympic qualifiers, 15 All-Americans, 10 individualconference champions, and two top-5 team finishes at theirrespective national competitions.
As an assistant coach with King men’s wrestling, he helpednurture two All-Americans, one (Frank Morgan) achieving suchaccolades at both the NAIA and NCAA levels, and six NCAA nationalqualifiers. In 2011-12 the Tornado reached as high as No. 11 in thecountry and stayed inside the top-25 all season, finishing theseason ranked No. 20 overall in Division II.
Harrison devotes much of his time away from King to multiplenortheast Tennessee youth wrestling programs as both a coach andadministrator. He serves as the assistant coach for Team TornadoWrestling Club College Division and is the head coach for TeamTornado Wrestling K-12 Division, both positions he has held since2009. Between the two programs, Harrison works with boys ages 8-18and teaches Freestyle, Greco, and Folkstyle wrestling.
In 2010, he led Team Tennessee to a top-20 finish at the JuniorNationals for the first time in the state's wrestling history. In2010 and 2011, the Tennessee Wrestling Federation has named himCoach of the Year. In May 2012, Harrison was named SoutheastDevelopmental Coach of the Year for his continued work in theregion.
As if he did not have enough on his plate with his duties atKing and coaching at the amateur level, Harrison has also taken onduties with USA Wrestling to serve on the Tennessee Board ofDirectors and was recently voted to become the Treasurer for theTennessee Wrestling Federation.
Harrison is dual graduate of King obtaining both his bachelor'sand master's degree from the University. He graduated in 2009 witha degree in marketing and coaching minor then went on to receivehis master's in business administration in 2010. He was a four-yearstarter for the Tornado varsity wrestling team and was a teamcaptain during his career. Before graduating, Harrison qualified towrestle at NAIA Nationals and competed overseas against the Turkishand Bulgarian national teams.
Prior to coming to King, he won over 100 matches for ClevelandHigh School where he was a state champion in Greco-Roman andFreestyle before going on to compete for the Tennessee JuniorNational team.
He and his wife, Crista, reside in Bristol (TN).
