Bio

Mike DeRoehn was named head wrestling and assistant strength and conditioning coach on June 10, 2014.  He and his staff have worked hard to reinvigorate the Pioneer Wrestling program.  

In his first season, the Pioneers finished tied for third place as a team at the 2015 NCAA West Region, the highest finish ever for UW-Platteville since the NCAA instituted the Regional Format for wrestling.  Six student-athletes finished in the top six at the Regional, marking the most individual place winners the Pioneers have ever earned at the event.  Under DeRoehn, three student-athletes qualified for the NCAA National Tournament in Hershey, Pennsylvania. This was the most NCAA qualifiers in a season for UW-Platteville since 2007. The eight dual meet wins in 2015 was the most in a season for the Pioneers since 2010. DeRoehn led Trent Larson to the first individual WIAC Championship for UW-Platteville wrestling since 2010. 

Building upon the success experienced their first season, the 2016 Pioneers finished in third place outright as a team at the NCAA West Region.  Eight student-athletes finished in the top six at the Regional, setting a new program record for the second season in a row.  Five student-athletes qualified for the 2016 NCAA National Tournament in Cedar Rapids, IA, the most Pioneers in a single season since 1998.  UW-Platteville was one of only eleven teams in the nation to have five or more wrestlers competing at the NCAA Tournament.  Three student-athletes were also recognized by the National Wrestling Coaches Association earning Scholar All-American honors.  At the 2016 WIAC Tournament, three Pioneers competed in the championship finals, the most in a season since 2006.  Scottie Arneson was named "John Peterson Wrestler of the Meet" for his individual championship at 133 pounds, becoming just the fifth Pioneer wrestler ever to gain that recognition in the 43 year history of the event. 

In 2017, the Pioneers continued to climb the conference and national standings under DeRoehn's leadership. The team was ranked as high as #11 in NCAA Division III and spent the majority of the season inside the top 20 programs in the country.  UW-Platteville finished in third place at the WIAC Championship, the best performance since 2005.   Four student-athletes represented UW-Platteville at the 2017 NCAA National Tournament in LaCrosse, WI. The Pioneers also excelled off the mat, as the team earned a 2017 National Wrestling Coaches Association NCAA Division III team scholar-award, and had two athletes garner individual Scholar All-American honors. As a team the Pioneers finished 25th overall in the NWCA with a cumulative team GPA of 3.18.

In the fourth season under Coach DeRoehn's leadership, the 2018 Pioneers continued trending positive.  Garnering a national ranking as high as #9 in the country, the Pioneers were represented consistently throughout the season in the top 25 nationally.  For the fourth season in a row, the wrestling program qualified three or more student-athletes to the NCAA tournament. The Pioneers climbed to 21st in the final team standings, the top performance since 2007.  Jon Goetz made a historic run becoming the first wrestler from UW-Platteville to make the NCAA Finals, ultimately finishing as the national runner-up.  The wrestling team continued to excel off the mat as well with three student-athletes earning Academic All-American honors.  

In 2019, the Pioneers were primarily led by successful sophomore, Lucius Rinehart.  Competing as one of the top heavyweights in the nation, Rinehart was a runner-up at both the WIAC Championship as well as the NCAA Regional tournament.  He then qualified to compete at the 2019 NCAA National Tournament in Roanoke, VA.  The Pioneers excelled in the classroom with a 3.359 GPA, as the team earned a 2019 National Wrestling Coaches Association NCAA Division III scholar-team award, and had two student-athletes (Scott Arneson & Grant Wedepohl) garner individual Scholar All-American honors. 

Prior to UW-Platteville, DeRoehn spent four seasons at Lakeland College, and led the Muskies to two Northern Wrestling Association team championships. During that span he also guided 10 individual conference champions and two national qualifiers. His student-athletes were just as successful in the classroom as they were on the mat with two Academic All-American honors. He put the Muskie wrestling program in position to continue in the future, as he helped develop a stand-alone on-campus wrestling facility, which was completed in 2013. 

Earlier in his career, DeRoehn was the head coach at WIAC-foe UW-Oshkosh for six years.  The Titans finished as high as fourth in the WIAC in 2009, tying for the program's best finish since placing third in 1997. 

In addition to coaching collegiately, DeRoehn has been heavily involved in coaching at the youth and grass roots level. He served as the state coach of the Wisconsin Wrestling Federation, an organization that works to improve Wisconsin wrestling for all ages from 2006 to 2010.  He led Team Wisconsin to the 2008 Cadet National Dual Meet Championship (Greco-Roman), 2009 Cadet National Championship (Greco-Roman) and the 2010 Junior National Dual Meet Championship (Greco-Roman).  He was named 2011 Kids/Cadet Person of the Year and the 2010 Junior National Greco-Roman Coach of the Year by USA Wrestling, the national governing body for the sport of wrestling in the United States.  

DeRoehn wrestled collegiately at Plymouth State University in Plymouth, N.H., where he earned a bachelor's degree in physical education in 2005. He later received a master's in educational leadership from UW-Oshkosh in 2009.