Former Hawkeye All-American wrestler Ty Eustice was hired as an assistant coach at South Dakota State last week.

The move will be the first time Eustice, a native of Blue Earth, Minn., will coach at the Division-I level, although he coached at lower-level schools after graduating from Iowa.

"[South Dakota State is somewhere] I can really nest in personally," he said. "I can really focus in on the athletes and how I can help them build the program."

He said he expects the biggest adjustment to his prodigies’ level of commitment and intensity.

"Kids who go to the Division-I level … understand it’s a lifestyle, the way they live every day," he said. "It’s a year-round thing. I’m excited to work with guys that want to make that commitment."

Eustice, 28, was a standout at Iowa from 2001-2006. He compiled a 111-26 record with the Hawkeyes, including a 28-3 mark as a senior, and was named an All-American his junior and senior years. Eustice placed third at 149 pounds at the Big Ten championships his junior and senior seasons, and he finished second in the country at the NCAA championships in the 2005-06 campaign.

Eustice said he hopes the success he had at Iowa will translate to how he helps run the Jackrabbits’ program.

"Coming from a premier wrestling program at Iowa, I just want to show these guys the right way to do things," he said.

South Dakota State head coach Jason Liles said he was excited to bring a wrestler with as bright an education as Eustice’s to his program.

"We’re a bringing a guy who has proven [to be] successful at this level as an athlete," Liles said. "He has a proven track record as a coach."

That record includes a two-year stint as the head coach at Iowa Lakes Community College in Estherville, where he produced a two-time national champion and six All-Americans.

Prior to his time with the Lakers, he was an assistant coach for one year at Division-III Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa, and for two years at Division-II Minnesota State-Mankato.

Eustice’s wrestling education began at an early age. His father, Jack, was the principal and head wrestling coach at Blue Earth High. His older brother, Luke, also wrestled for the Hawkeyes and is now Iowa’s director of wrestling operations.

"Ty has had some great mentors in his life, starting with his father," Liles said.

Another mentor was current Iowa head coach Tom Brands, who was an assistant with the Black and Gold through Eustice’s sophomore season.

"Ty Eustice is a fine young coach [who] belongs in Division-I," Brands wrote in an email to The Daily Iowan. "South Dakota State will feel his energy immediately. From a personal standpoint, I am fired up to watch him grow as a wrestling mentor and coach."