The first year of Josh Watts’ tenure proved to be an unquestionable success. Many markers reached by Concordia University, Nebraska Wrestling in 2024-25 had not been achieved since 2019-20 as the program advanced forward in many tangible ways. In early March, the Bulldogs brought eight wrestlers to the national stage while announcing themselves ready to return to prominence. In the years to come, Watts will expect more from the program, but this past season set a solid foundation.
After his hiring in July 2024, Watts immediately went to work fortifying the roster with such high-impact transfers as Steven Barnes, Hagen Heistand and Cole Price. The pieces came together, and Concordia enjoyed a second semester that turned heads.
As Creighton Baughman said of Watts just prior to the national tournament, “I know he had a lot of success at Iowa Western and had established a very good program there. I was definitely shocked to see him walk away from that, but clearly he had a vision for here and saw it as a worthy opportunity. People are buying in and things are clicking. The results are coming.”
In addition to the eight national qualifiers, the results this past season included GPAC place finishes of second in the regular season and third in the postseason, an NAIA national championships finish of 17th and two All-America awards. The season continued into the national finals as Heistand competed on the big stage at 149 pounds. Heistand was joined at the national tournament by fellow All-American Creighton Baughman in addition to Steven Barnes (149), Cole Price (157), Barret Brandt (184), Hunter Weimer (184), Torrance Keehn (197) and Mason Garcia (285).
The run at the NAIA Championships for the 11th-seeded Heistand included wins over opponents seeded sixth, third and 10th. He became the fourth wrestler in program history to advance to the national finals. Meanwhile, Baughman took advantage of one last opportunity to reach the podium. The former Iowa Western All-American placed eighth at 141 pounds. In addition, Barnes and Garcia contributed to the team scoring in a solid overall showing at the national tournament.
“Any time you’re at the national tournament, it’s always a rollercoaster,” Watts said. “A lot of stuff is going on over a three-day period. I’m really happy with the team’s effort. We competed hard. Hagen was the 11 seed and upset a lot of people all the way to the finals. He wrestled very well and executed match game plans very well. He’s a hard worker and a tough kid. Much like Hagen, Creighton’s an incredibly hard worker. Both guys do everything the right way and they deserve everything they get. It’s very satisfying to get Creighton back on the podium.”
After graduating from Concordia in May of 2024, Baughman had moved on and was not expecting to wrestle in 2024-25. However, Watts managed to convince Baughman (124 career collegiate wins) to use his final season of eligibility. That development signaled a key recruiting win in an offseason that quietly set Concordia up to climb the GPAC ladder. Both Baughman and Heistand were named to the All-GPAC first team while Price and Tommy Wentz landed on the second team and Barnes and Weimer were tabbed honorable mention all-conference.
Whether a newcomer or a returner, each Concordia wrestler seemed to find his role on the team. Watts effectively intertwined a roster featuring holdovers and late transfers alike. A senior who has spent his entire career at Concordia, Weimer said, “I love all the guys that have come in. A lot of us guys hang out every single night. As someone who has been here, you start to wonder, what are these guys going to do when they come in here? Are they going to be like, ‘I’m the top dog?’ You don’t know how they might respond to a new place. They came in and were instantly really good parts of the program.”
Before the 2024-25 team tasted success during the second semester, it had to endure through first-semester challenges. There were injuries to navigate, new weight classes to get accustomed to (like Garcia’s move to heavyweight), and Heistand was not yet eligible after transferring from NCAA Division I Campbell University. In the leadup to bigger and better, Concordia was dealt conference dual losses by scores of 32-10 and 46-3.
The breakthrough came the weekend of Jan. 24-25 at the Missouri Valley Invite, where the Bulldogs placed sixth out of 53 NAIA squads. Major moves were made by Weimer (eight wins on the weekend) and by Keehn, both of whom soon crashed the NAIA national rankings. Immediately following the Missouri Valley Invite, Concordia made its way into the NAIA top 25 for the first time since 2020. The Bulldogs then finished the dual season strong with three comfortable victories at GPAC Day of Duals No. 2 in February.
Confidence was building inside the Concordia Wrestling room. After being narrowly defeated in the GPAC championship match, Heistand expressed supreme confidence. He was ready for a rematch if it would happen to come on the national stage. The swagger he carried became infectious among his teammates. Heistand wasn’t surprised when he reached the national finals.
As Heistand said after placing as the NAIA runner up, “One match at a time. That’s how I approached it. I just kept winning. People couldn’t take me down. In the finals, I came up short, but I’ll be back.”
Said Watts of Heistand, someone he trained as a young wrestler, “There are obstacles in every season. He missed the first part of the season. He came out and lost a match early at the Hastings tournament and then went on a roll. He got a little dinged up and we had to get him back healthy. There was a lot for him to overcome, but he bought into everything we wanted to do in terms of physical therapy and training. He had a positive mindset through everything. He’s a great kid and a hard worker and I’m very proud to have him here at Concordia.”
In discussing other happenings at the national tournament, Watts referred to Barnes as “a warrior” and lauded Garcia for bouncing back and defeating an opponent he had lost to during the season. Only Baughman and Garcia had prior experience wrestling at the NAIA National Championships. Though he went 0-2 at nationals, Brandt recorded 11 pins as a sophomore and has already collected 35 through his first two seasons.
As the Bulldogs enter the offseason, Watts and top assistant Isaiah Crosby have ramped up their efforts to increase the depth inside the program. Baughman, Garcia and Wentz have all used up their eligibility. However, there are seniors with options for coming back in 2025-26. As many as seven of the team’s national qualifiers could return next season.
“The majority of our lineup is coming back,” Watts said. “I think that’s big. We have guys who understand the system now. We just need to continue to grow with the guys that we have and hit recruiting hard. We need a little more depth and a little more competition in the room. We just need to keep building … We’re already recruiting. We’re working on it. We won’t stop lifting. We’ll keep rolling with that. We’ll start getting back on the mat and working on fixing stuff and getting going. It’s a lot of training and a lot of recruiting.”