Former assistant coach Williamson returns to replace Castro at helm of men’s wrestling program

Chris Williamson coaches alongside graduate assistant Josh McIlhenny — In January 2020, Chris Williamson encourages Flames wrestlers during the NCWA National Duals at the LaHaye Ice Center, standing beside graduate assistant Josh McIlhenny, who succeeded him as primary assistant coach under Head Coach Jesse Castro.(Photo by Luke Bobbey)

In mid-August, exactly 10 years after launching his coaching career as a graduate assistant on Liberty University's men's wrestling team, Chris Williamson will succeed Jesse Castro as the fourth head coach in the history of the program started in 1976.

Castro, who won four NCCAA titles under founding Head Coach Bob Bonheim and served as an assistant coach under Don Shuler, retired after his 20th season at the helm. He first hired Williamson on the recommendation of his collegiate head coach, Bryan Brunk at NCAA Division III Messiah University.

Chris Williamson portrait — Chris Williamson

Williamson, who received his undergraduate degree in ministry from Messiah before earning his master's through Liberty's School of Business in 2017, coached with Castro for six seasons, the last four as his primary assistant. He married Castro's daughter, Rachel, and they had two daughters (Salem, 6, and Josephina, 5) before moving to Grand Rapids, Mich., to start Cornerstone University's NAIA men's wrestling program. The Golden Eagles were ranked No. 25 in the nation at the end of the 2024-25 season.

"For him to take a brand-new program and build it the way he did to a Top 25 team in the NAIA national rankings as fast as he did it speaks volumes," said Castro, who did the same thing at Norwich (Vt.) College from 1988-97, leading the new program to a ninth-place national ranking by his ninth year, later returning to revamp Liberty's program — which had been dormant since 1994 — at the Division I level in 2005. "He got it up and running and had the patience and the tenacity to stay with it. I know what it's like, starting two programs from scratch, and it is an arduous task to say the least."

Since relocating to Michigan, the Williamsons have welcomed three more children to their family: Zadok, 2, and 9-month-old twins Beniah (Ben) and Sunny.

"I didn't really plan on coming back," Williamson said. "After our first two years (at Cornerstone), I thought we would be here for a long time. I kind of burned all of our boats when we got here, but the Lord worked everything out for us."

What sold him on the open position was hearing the vision for the program from Liberty Club Sports Athletic Director Kirk Handy and Deputy Athletic Director Jeff Boettger.

"They showed that they were really bought into wrestling, and wanted to see Liberty's brand of wrestling and the program's success continue," Williamson said. "That was a really big game-changer, how clearly they want to continue to support the team at a high level."

"Liberty does the student experience better than any other school in the country, and I'm really excited to be a part of something like that," he added of the holistic approach to developing student-athletes academically, athletically, spiritually, and socially. "That was a huge draw. That was really exciting, and really hard to turn down."

The facilities inside the Liberty Club Sports Complex, which include ample wrestling room space, a weight room, hot sauna, and cold tub, and resources such as an available athletic training and strength and conditioning staff, are comparable to those offered by NCAA programs.

"Any wrestler looking for a great collegiate experience can have an extremely high-level experience at Liberty, which offers any tool they need to succeed," Williamson said, noting academically, with 700-plus programs to choose from, Liberty has a recruiting advantage over many public and private universities and colleges with wrestling programs. "Cornerstone is a smaller school, and occasionally we would lose recruits due to a lack of a program. If a student reaches out and wants to come to compete at Liberty and study X, Y, or Z, not only are we going to have that program, but we're probably going to be among the best at it."

Williamson said while at Cornerstone, where former Flames wrestler Sam Karel ('20) served as one of his assistant coaches, creating a strong Christian culture and student-athlete experience were paramount for the program, and he plans to continue that approach at Liberty.

"Though the facilities and amenities are very different, we trained very similarly to how we did at Liberty," he said. "That was kind of the main job — helping guys to grow in their faith and also preparing them for being good husbands and fathers one day. Wrestling provides such a seamless avenue to get into conversations about those things with the guys."

Williamson looks forward to continuing those conversations with the Flames, and building on the solid foundation of faith Castro has fervently nurtured over the past two decades.

"We want to continue to put together an excellent product, to compete at a high level and to see guys continue their education and get a degree while growing in their faith," Williamson said. "We want to plant seeds, water seeds, and harvest when appropriate. We want to continue to change lives for Christ. This is a training ground for the rest of their lives, and we want to train them to be ambassadors and Champions for Christ when they leave. From a competitive standpoint, we want to get back to the top of the NCWA and have individual and team championships."

Chris Williamson fourth from left — Williamson (fourth from left) stands with some of his wrestlers and coaching staff from Cornrstone University at NAIA nationals.

Williamson said leaving his Michigan community — friends, church family, and his Cornerstone wrestlers — will be bittersweet, but he is joyful about the opportunity to return to the Mountain to continue his father-in-law's legacy. The final piece of the puzzle that confirmed to Williamson God's calling was the fact that Castro would still be around Club Sports, as a part-time spiritual mentor through the Holistic Development staff.

"It is a unique scenario, to do something totally new, with Coach Castro staying around, and being able to continue to work with him is something I want to do," Williamson said. "The longer I've worked with him, the more amazed I get. The guy's a wizard; he's a genius. Now, the roles are flipped, and to be able to have him around is so cool."

"We are pretty much a culmination of our experiences," Castro added. "My experience with Bob Bonheim was equally impactful. On a personal level, passing on this mantle to my son-in-law is thrilling to me, an answer to prayer that didn't materialize until the 11th hour."

Castro said Williamson originally turned down the offer while in town to help coach at the July 13-16 Liberty Summer Wrestling Camp, but changed his mind days later, and he is thankful he did.

"At his age, he's a way better coach than I was at 32 or 33," Castro said. "I didn't take a head coaching position until I was 30, with five years of assistant coaching behind me. I was young and foolish, thinking I was going to change the world overnight, because it doesn't happen."

Chris Williamson sideline — Williamson provides encouragement from the sidelines during a match involving one of his Cornerstone wrestlers at NAIA nationals.

He said Williamson has gained wisdom as a head coach at Cornerstone that he will apply immediately upon his return to Liberty.

"He's excited, and he's got a vision for the program," Castro said. "Chris has experience here, knows what to expect, and the level of competition. The administration knows him and gets along with him. They're all excited that he's coming on board, and he is going to blaze a new trail. He's not just going to reproduce what we've done here. He's going to add his own flavor to that. After four years away, he is coming in here wanting to expand on it, breaking the mold."

Williamson said he has followed the servant leadership examples set by both Brunk and Castro.

"My style has morphed closer to (Castro's) over the years," he said. "When I first started coaching, I was kind of the really fiery, intense one. That has changed to where I have definitely gotten more cerebral and pragmatic over the years."

Williamson said he is just as much of a competitor as he was fresh out of college but is now better equipped to motivate his wrestlers psychologically and spiritually as much as to push them physically. He said he will encourage team members to sharpen their skills in the offseason by competing at Junior Nationals and in U20 and U23 summer tournaments, something he did at Cornerstone and Castro did when the Flames competed at the NCAA Division I level.

"Coach Castro does an amazing job of exhorting the guys to train with intensity," Williamson said. "He is from a different era of wrestling. He's from California and coaches more of a classic, old-school, West Coast style of wrestling. I'm 30 years later, from the East Coast, having learned to wrestle growing up in Pennsylvania. The end goal is very similar, and we are not very different in terms of philosophy or outlook. There are guys on the team who will be more physical and intense, and guys more technical who use more finesse, and you've got to be able to work with the different tools in your tool bag."

Rachel and Chris Williamson with family — Rachel and Chris Williamson have their hands full with five kids ages 6 and younger, including 9-month-old twins.

Williamson has a similar passion for the sport and compassion for his wrestlers as Castro.

"He brings a youthfulness, an excitement, and that kind of enthusiasm is contagious," Castro said. "He's got a great personality and young men, whether they're being recruited or they're wrestlers on the team already, will intuitively know that their coach cares about them."

Castro said he is looking forward to helping Williamson's whenever he can, including building a bridge to the alumni base, as he has connections to nearly every All-American wrestler in program history.

"I want to be careful not to overstep my boundaries because it is no longer my team. It's his team," he said. "There's going to be the normal woes of a transitional coach, and I hope he doesn't get discouraged by that. Kids are going to test him, but he is younger than me, and I am not concerned he can't handle that. Eventually, they'll buy in."

By Ted Allen/Staff Writer

Former assistant coach Williamson returns to replace Castro at helm of men’s wrestling program

Related Videos