Roper Named Cowboy RTC Executive Director and Senior Level RTC Coach

Oklahoma State’s Cowboy RTC announced their new Executive Director and Senior Level RTC Coach today and that man is Lee Roper - formerly an assistant coach at the University of Northern Iowa. Roper had spent the last nine years on staff at UNI - the first as a volunteer assistant and the last eight as an assistant. 

During his time at Northern Iowa, the Panthers have produced 69 national qualifiers, 16 conference champions, 12 NCAA All-Americans, and two first-team All-Americans from the canceled 2020 national tournament. Also in that time, Northern Iowa has produced a pair of NCAA champions (Drew Foster and Parker Keckeisen), both at the 184 lb weight class. Before Foster’s title in 2019, the most recent UNI wrestler to win a national title was Tony Davis in 2000. 

Roper’s final season at Northern Iowa was the best for the current staff and the best in decades. Northern Iowa finished the year ranked fourth in InterMat’s dual rankings and went on to finish ninth at the NCAA Tournament. That finish was the best for the Panthers since the 1962 tournament. They also sent all ten wrestlers to nationals for the first time since 1986. 

The move to bring in Roper is one of a host of Oklahoma State/Cowboy RTC-related transactions this week. In addition to Roper’s hire, Thomas Gilman has left the Cowboy staff, and Zoheir El Quarraqe was named the Cowboy RTC’s Developmental Coach.