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Brandon Eggum
Head Coach
Brandon Eggum enters his sixth season as head coach at the University of Minnesota in 2021-22, after spending five previous seasons as the program’s head assistant coach.
Last season was Eggum’s 20th season as a part of the program’s wrestling staff. Prior to assuming an assistant coach role in 2004, Eggum served as the team’s strength and conditioning coordinator (2001-2004).
Since joining the staff in 2000-01 following a decorated career as a Golden Gopher wrestler, Eggum has helped train and develop 11 individual national champions, 32 individual conference champions, and 96 all-americans. Eggum helped play a crucial part in the national title runs of Luke Becker, Jared Lawrence, Dustin Schlatter, Jayson Ness as well as two-time champions Damion Hahn, Cole Konrad, Tony Nelson, and Gable Steveson.
Minnesota has also had a remarkable run of team success throughout Eggum’s tenure, a stretch that has included all three of the program’s national team titles, five Big Ten championships, and seven National Duals crowns.
Prior to his coaching career, Eggum was a four-time letterwinner for the Gophers from 1997-2000. As a sophomore earned his first All-America honors at 177 pounds when he placed fifth at the 1998 NCAA Championships. Starting in 1999, Eggum bumped up to 184 pounds, where he would place second and third in consecutive NCAA championships, respectively. Eggum also won the Big Ten title at his weight in both of those season, and helped Minnesota win the 1999 Big Ten championship, which was the program’s first since 1959.
Still to this day, Eggum’s name holds a presence in the program’s record books, where his 115 career wins, .833 career winning percentage, and 61 career dual victories all rank among the Top-25 in Gopher history.
On the international circuit, coach Eggum has been able to find success not only as an athlete, but as a coach as well. As a wrestler, Eggum earned a silver medal at the 2001 World Championships at 85kg, while also becoming a silver medalist at the 2002 Pan American Freestyle Chmapionships, and a bronze medalist at the 2003 U.S. National Freestyle Championships. As a coach, Eggum has served as the personal coach for Gable Steveson, who became an Olympic Gold medalist at the 2020 Olympic Games after defeating multiple-time world champions Taha Akgul (Turkey) and Geno Petriashvili (Georgia) en route to the Olympic Gold. Steveson also won the 2021 Pan American gold under Eggum.
Luke Becker
Head Assistant Coach
Luke Becker has served as the team's head assistant coach since 2016-17 after spending the previous eight seasons as the program's assistant coach. He's been on the Golden Gopher staff for 17 seasons now. Prior to his current role, Becker served as the program's assistant and volunteer assistant coach and, previous to that, as the team’s marketing and promotions director. A former middleweight champion, Becker often workers closely with the Gophers' current crop of middleweights.
After serving as one of the key contributors on the mat for Minnesota's first two national titles in 2001 and 2002, Becker was on staff during the team's run to the 2007 National Championship. Becker was a part of the staff that helped guide the Gophers to back-to-back Big Ten titles in 2006 and 2007, as well as five National Duals championships. Minnesota has placed in the top-10 nationally 11 times since Becker has been on staff, including trophy finishes in 2012, 2013 and 2014 with Becker serving as assistant coach.
Equally impressive to his coaching resume are his accomplishments when he wore the Gopher singlet as a four-time letterwinner from 2000 to 2003. Becker was an All-American all four seasons, winning an individual national title in 2002. He was a key contributor to the program’s first two national championships (2001, 2002). He also won two individual Big Ten titles (2002, 2003) and was part of three Big Ten championship teams (2001-03). He remains one of the most-accomplished wrestlers in program history, ranking among the program’s 16 best in career wins (126), career dual wins (60) and career pins (29).
Prior to joining the Gophers, Becker was a three-time Minnesota state champion from Cambridge, Minn. He finished his high school career as the winningest high school wrestler in Minnesota history at that time, with 210 prep victories.
Trevor Brandvold
Assistant Coach
Trevor Brandvold is entering his fourth season with the Golden Gophers after being named assistant coach prior to the 2018-19 season. He came to Minnesota from the University of Wisconsin. Brandvold works closely with the Gophers upper-weights, and is Gable Steveson’s primary training partner. Steveson became Minnesota's fourth two-time NCAA champion in 2022.
In his six years with the Badgers, Brandvold coached alongside Barry Davis who left Wisconsin. He was the head recruiter for the Badgers where he primarily coached the five heaviest weight classes, helping bring nine NCAA qualifying spots, three All-Americans, a national finalist and a Big Ten Medal of Honor winner over the past two seasons. Along with his coaching accomplishments on the mat, he has also been in charge of academics, community service, high school outreach and was the Badger Regional Training Center liaison.
On the mat, along with being a two-time Big Ten Champion, Brandvold was a two-time All-American and also has experience in international wrestling. He finished second at the USA Olympic qualifier, and top six at the U.S. Open and Olympic trials in 2012.
A River Falls, Wisconsin, native, Brandvold was one of the nation's top recruits coming out of high school and finished his career by earning a 46-0 record and Wisconsin State title at 189 lbs. his senior season.
Zach Sanders
Volunteer Assistant Coach
Volunteer Assistant Zach Sanders joined the University of Minnesota wrestling staff as an administrative assistant following a successful career on the mat for the Gophers. The 2016-17 was his first as the team's volunteer assistant coach, but fifth on the program's staff.
In 2012, Sanders became the seventh four-time All-American in Gopher history with a third-place finish in the 125-pound division at the NCAA Championships. He finished his career ranked sixth on the Gophers' all-time wins list with a record of 134-27-1.
Sanders was ranked as high as No. 1 nationally during his senior season. He was named Team MVP for the second year in a row after going 32-4. Sanders took second at the Big Ten Championships, his best finish following two consecutive third-place showings.
Sanders finished sixth at the NCAA Tournament as a freshman before finishing fifth his next two years. He was named to the Amateur Wrestling News All-Rookie Team and voted both Most Outstanding Freshman and Most Exciting Wrestler by his teammates in 2009. Sanders was also an Academic All-Big Ten honoree during his career.
Following the end of his senior season, Sanders competed at the U.S. Olympic Trials in freestyle wrestling. Sanders has represented USA Wrestling abroad numerous times, including the 2019 World Cup. Sanders has qualified for the World Team Trials nearly ten times in his career.