Tom Erikson - Assistant Coach - Wrestling Coaches

Tom Erikson

Title:
Assistant Coach
Email:
thomas.erikson@duke.edu
Phone:
(919) 681-0249

Veteran coach Tom Erikson joined the Duke coaching staff in August of 2020.

In Erikson’s fourth season as the assistant coach for the Blue Devils wrestling team, Duke saw a strong showing from the upper-weight classes, led by heavyweight redshirt freshman Connor Barket in 2023-24. The native of West Lafayette, Ind., entered his second season as the team's victories leader with 16 wins, a significant improvement from his rookie season, during which he appeared in only three matches.

Erikson has more than 30 years of coaching experience to his name and was also a standout on the mat himself. Widely recognized as one of the top U.S. heavyweight wrestlers of all-time, he was an elite competitor on the international level for several years, a two-time All-America honoree at Oklahoma State and a two-time NJCAA Junior Collegiate Champion at Triton College.

Lanham and Erikson are very familiar with each other as they both served as assistant coaches at Purdue from 2007-10 after being teammates at OSU in 1987.

Erikson made his way to Durham after spending the last five years as the head men’s wrestling coach at Lyon College in Batesville, Ark. He also served double duty as the school’s head women’s wrestling coach for his first two seasons as well.

At Lyon, Erikson coached the program's first ever NAIA All-American in Dustin Miller. He also mentored NAIA National Qualifiers Jacob Hill and Dustin Miller (2017-18) along with individual American Midwest Conference champion Troy Mercer during 2016-17. Erikson guided the Scots to a fifth-place finish in the AMC Championship during the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons as well.

Prior to his time in Batesville, Erikson served as an assistant wrestling coach at Hamilton Heights High School from 2012-15.

Before that, Erikson spent 13 years (1999-2012) at Purdue as an assistant coach. There he helped lead the Boilermakers’ upper weight classes to several conference and national honors, including two-time All-American Jake Vercelli and three-time NCAA qualifier Nathan Moore.

Erikson has also been involved with U.S.A. Wrestling and Team U.S.A. during his coaching tenure. He has also served as the team leader of Team Indiana from 2004-15, was a club coach at River City Wrestling Club from 2000-07, and worked with the Indianapolis Sports Corporation as Vice Chair of Ticket Sales, Marketing and Promotion for the 2003 World Team Trials and 2004 Olympic Team Trials.

Erikson was a member of the Freestyle National Team for many years and a member of the 1997 U.S. Senior Freestyle World Team, placing fourth in the World Championships at 130 kg. He was also a former amateur wrestler and mixed martial artist who competed in the super heavyweight division.

Erikson first attended Triton College in River Grove, Ill., where he was a two-time NJCAA Collegiate Champion in 1984 and 1985. After earning his Associate of Arts degree, he went on to Oklahoma State where he became a two-time NCAA All-American in 1986 and 1987 and a member of the All-Big 8 Academic Team in 1986. He left OSU early to focus on training for the Olympics but later went back to school and graduated from Western Governors University, with a Bachelor's of Science degree in Marketing and Management.

Erikson, who is in the Bloom High School Athletics Hall of Fame ('86), the Illinois Wrestling and Officials Association Hall of Fame ('96), the National Junior College Athletic Association Hall of Fame ('96), the Midlands' Hall of Fame ('04) and the Indiana Wrestling and Officials Association Hall of Fame ('10), was an U.S. Olympic Wrestling Team alternate in 1988, 1992 and 1996.

He and his wife, Randi, have two children, a son, Bowdie, and a daughter, Jadlynn.