Wrestling Coaching Staff
Mike Duroe, Head Coach (5th year)
Duroe, a successful coaching figure at the collegiate, national and world levels, enters his fifth season as Cornell's head wrestling coach.
Duroe's Rams are coming off back-to-back top-10 national team finishes for the first time since the 1950 and 1951 seasons. Cornell placed eighth at the 2009 NCAA Division III Championships and crowned three all-Americans, led by national runner-up Nick Nothern. The Rams took seventh in 2008, marking the program's highest national finish since 1963. The 2007-2008 squad fielded four all-Americans, the most in a single season in 58 years.
Duroe has fashioned a 51-37-1 overall dual mark and coached 10 all-Americans with 14 national qualifiers in four seasons with the Rams. He owns the top three winningest dual seasons in school history, going 15-9-1 in 2005-06 and 14-8 in both 2008-09 and 2006-07.
Duroe, a native of Charles City, has been an assistant on the U.S. Men's Freestyle coaching staff in the past four Olympic Games (1996, 2000, 2004, 2008) and also served as head coach of Guam's freestyle wrestling team at the 2008 Games in Beijing. He was a member of the U.S. coaching staff for the Pan American Games in 2003 and 2007 and was named Volunteer Coach of the Year by the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) in 2006 and 2007. Duroe coached the 2007 U.S. Pan American Games team which won seven medals, and was head coach of the U.S. Freestyle World Team in 2005 and 2006. He was head coach of the University of Iowa Hawkeye Wrestling Club from 2003-05 and selected USA Freestyle Coach of the Year in 2005.
Prior to coming to Cornell, Duroe was head coach at Northern Michigan University, head coach at New Trier (Ill.) High School, an assistant at the University of Pennsylvania and head coach of the Northwestern University Wildcat Wrestling Club.
At Northern Michigan from 1980-85, Duroe compiled an 82-27 record with 23 All-Americans and two NCAA champions. For two years he was in charge of the Northwestern Wildcat Wrestling Club before leading New Trier from 1986-98. From 1998-2001 Duroe was national resident coach at the U.S. Olympic Training Center. He was the head assistant coach at the University of Pennsylvania from 2001-03 before joining the Hawkeye Wrestling Club in 2003.
Duroe graduated from Drake University in 1978 with a bachelor's degree in education. He was a four-year letterwinner and two-time team captain for the Bulldogs. Duroe competed four years on the U.S. National Team (1981-84) and was crowned National AAU Freestyle champion in 1983.
Shawn Voigt, Assistant Coach (1st year)
Voigt, a four-time all-American and 1990 NCAA Division III national champion at Cornell College, returns to his alma mater as a full-time assistant coach on Mike Duroe's wrestling staff. He was hired on Aug. 11, 2009.
Voigt has 16 years of coaching experience at the high school and collegiate levels, including a previous stint as a Rams assistant from 1997-99. The Mount Vernon native spent the past 10 years at West Branch High School, where he taught social studies and was head wrestling coach from 1999-2007.
Voigt is Cornell's all-time wins leader with a glossy 148-19 career record and the only four-time all-American in the program's storied history. He is the Rams' last national champion in wrestling, claiming the 150-pound title in 1990. Voigt placed third as a junior and sophomore and sixth his freshman season.
A four-time Midwest Conference champion, Voigt helped lead the Rams to three conference team championships. He is a member of Cornell's Wrestling Hall of Fame and the NCAA Division III Wrestling Hall of Fame.
Voigt graduated from Cornell in 1990 with a bachelor's degree in history and education. He earned a master's degree in sport psychology from the University of Iowa in 1998.
Voigt held head high school coaching positions at Big Sandy (Colo.) School (1990-91), Louisa-Muscatine (1991-93), Des Moines Roosevelt (1993-94) and West Branch (1999-2007). He was a high school assistant at West Des Moines Dowling from 1994-97 prior to joining Steve Devries' staff during Cornell's first two seasons as a member of the Iowa Conference.
Voigt directed a turnaround at West Branch, leading the Bears to a 10th-place state finish in his final season. For his efforts, he was named the 2007 Southeast Iowa Class 1A Wrestling Coach of the Year. While at Dowling, Voigt was honored as the 1994 Scholastic Wrestling Iowa Assistant Coach of the Year.
Voigt, a three-time state placewinner at Mount Vernon High School, captured a state title at 138 pounds in 1985. He took second as a sophomore and third as a senior with the Mustangs.
Voigt and his wife, Karmin, have eight children: sons Alex, 14, Jackson, 13, Harry, 7, Graham, 7, and daughters Hannah, 13, Madison, 12, Emma, 11, and Mackenzie, 10.
Andrew Knaack, Assistant Coach (5th year)
Knaack begins his fifth season as assistant coach at Cornell after a distinguished prep and collegiate wrestling career. He graduated in 2001 from North Tama (Iowa) High School in Traer, where he was a two-time state qualifier for Gladbrook-Reinbeck North Tama (GRNT). He owns a high school record of 116-12 with a school-record 66 pins. Knaack placed fifth in Class 2A at 140 pounds in 2000.
A four-year letterwinner for Wartburg College, Knaack was a two-time NCAA national qualifier at 165 pounds. The Knights captured two national team titles and were runner-up twice. Knaack placed fourth in the Iowa Conference as a junior and third as a senior. He graduated in 2005 with a degree in fitness management.
Knaack and his wife Nicole have a son Kolt, 2. They reside in Clutier.
Kyle Burkle, Assistant Coach (2nd year)
Burkle, a native of Coggon, and a 2007 graduate of Upper Iowa University, begins his second season on Cornell's coaching staff.
Burkle was a student assistant coach at Upper Iowa during the 2006-07 season, in which the Peacocks placed eighth at the NCAA Division II National Championships and crowned one individual champion. He was a three-year starter at Upper Iowa, competing at 141 and 149 pounds. During his sophomore year, Burkle was voted Upper Iowa's Most Valuable Wrestler and led the team in wins and pins. Burkle earned a bachelor's degree in criminology with a minor in psychology.
Burkle compiled a 158-10 career record at North-Linn High School, where he was a four-time state qualifier and three-time state finalist. He captured the Class 1A state title at 130 pounds in 2002. Burkle placed second at state in 2001 (130) and 2003 (135).
