The trip to the Junior Duals showcased not only the talent across the state on the mat, it also showcased some new faces coaching the teams.
One of the new faces this summer is Ruben Chavez, who will be coaching this winter at Murray State College in Tishomingo, Oklahoma. He comes to the junior college after being the women’s coach this past school year at Friends University in Wichita.
Chavez had prior coaching stops including the Iowa City MatPac Wrestling Club, the Ubasa Wrestling Academy, Iowa City High School and the Carrollton Thunder Wrestling Club. He was also on the Iowa roster from 2003-06 and was a Hawkeye Wrestling Club member from 2009-11. Chavez produced a record of 112-18 at West Liberty High School and was a three-time state qualifier at West Liberty, along with a pair of all-state finishes — third and fifth.
The connection to the Carrollton Thunder Wrestling Club helped pave the way for his new job, working with head coach Paul Mayfield at Murray State College. Mayfield has been the girls’ head wrestling coach at Bixby High School since 2022.
Mayfield is friends with Clay Goodloe, now the Rockwall wrestling coach. Prior to the switch this spring, Goodloe was the head coach at Carrollton Creekview and had interactions with Chavez when he was helping with the Thunder Wrestling Club.
Chavez is excited for the move to Murray State and helping coach the Team Texas also doubled as a chance to look at recruits not only in the Lone Star State, but everywhere else in Milwaukee last week.
The school is doing a $2.3 million renovation of a former military armory building, which started this spring.
The building will become a state-of-the-art wrestling facility and the new home of the Murray State College Athletic Hall of Fame.
“We are getting our own standalone wrestling facility with coaches’ offices, locker room and wrestling room and that is where we will compete,” Chavez said. “There’s a lot of space inside.
