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NJC hires Arsenia Barksdale to be Plainsmen’s head wrestling coach
Posted: Sep 14, 2020

NJC hires Arsenia Barksdale to be Plainsmen’s head wrestling coach

By  | hpisani@journal-advocate.com |

 

NJC won't be having any live sports until January, but that hasn't stopped them from making sports headlines.

NJC announced the hiring of Arsenia Barksdale to be the Plainsmen's new head wrestling coach. The announcement came via the team's social media page.

"We are happy to announce the hiring of @northeasternwres Head Coach Arsenia Barksdale," read the Instagram post from NJC athletics.

Barksdale comes to NJC with a strong resume. He was most recently a wrestling coach for Northwest Kansas Technical College. In 2018, the Mavericks finished in the top 10 at the NJCAA National Championship under his tutelage, with 3 All-American selections and one national champion wrestler.

Barskdale was first hired at NKTC in 2015. Prior to that, he was an assistant coach at Adams State University for 3 years. In that time, he helped coach one national champion wrestler and multiple All-Americans.

Barksdale was familiar with Adams State already, as he wrestled at the Division II college from 2006-2010. He was selected as an All-American all four years and won a national championship in 2009 wrestling in the 125 lbs. weight class.

Originally from Virginia Beach Virginia, Barksdale was both a state and national champion wrestler at Kempsville High School. Barksdale also had a brief career as a professional MMA fighter, going 1-0 in his career.

Barksdale will replace Adam Fierro, who was named interim head coach in 2019 following the departure of Mike Mendoza. Fierro eventually succeeded Mendoza on a permanent basis, coaching 6 wrestlers to the National Championships in Hutchinson, Kansas this past March.

The NJCAA announced two weeks ago that they've opted to push all fall sports to the spring, meaning the soonest NJC would begin wrestling would be in January. On the upside, that gives Barksdale all the time in the world to get to know his new team and prepare them for what could very well be an unusual season once the time comes to wrestle.