A four-time NCCAA national individual and team champion as a wrestler for the Flames from 1976-81, Jesse Castro (’81, ’85, ’15) made even more of a mark on Liberty University’s men’s wrestling program as the longest-serving and winningest head coach before stepping down last summer after 20 seasons.
Castro posted a 101-20-2 record during his wrestling career at Liberty and was inducted into the Liberty Athletics Hall of Fame (for his accomplishments as a student-athlete) in 2012. He compiled a coaching record of 218-94.
Castro served as a graduate assistant for three seasons under the late Bob Bonheim, who founded the program in 1976, and was an assistant coach for two seasons under Don Shuler before becoming head coach in 2005 at the request of Liberty founder Dr. Jerry Falwell to restart the program at the NCAA Division I level.
Castro became a four-time NCAA Division I East Region Coach of the Year and led the Flames to five NCAA DI East Region titles, coaching 25 NCAA Division I national qualifiers from 2005-11.
The Flames were reclassified as an NCWA program, operating under Liberty’s Club Sports program, for the 2011-12 season, and Castro went on to lead wrestlers to 31 individual NCWA national championships and 117 NCWA All-American performances. Even more impressively, he guided Liberty to five NCWA Grand National team championships and six NCWA National Duals team titles in 14 seasons.
Castro coached the Flames to five NCAA DI East Region titles from 2005-11 and five NCWA Grand National and six NCWA National Duals team championships from 2012-25.
“I hope and pray that I did well to carry on the vision and the mission of the founder, Dr. Jerry Falwell, and to continue the legacy of Coach Bonheim and Coach Shuler to not only build up the program but also build strong men in every area of life,” Castro said.
The spiritual impact Castro and his coaching staff have had on the hundreds of student-athletes who have come through the program is immeasurable.
“I’ve often quoted one of my wrestlers, that ‘Wrestling is but a tool in the hand of God that He uses to build character in our lives,’” Castro said. “In my humble opinion, that is a great parallel to life and very applicable to the legacy we want to keep instilling, to use wrestling as a tool to hone men, to mold them and shape them. I’d like to think that’s what we’re doing. Whether we plant, whether we water, or whether we harvest, God’s the One responsible for that. So, we don’t know the fruit of our labor until years later.”
He said leading wrestlers to Christ and discipling them afterward has always been his motivating desire.
“We want to stay mission-minded,” Castro said. “It is a continual reminder for me, the very fact that the history of the program, the very regimen that I was under here as a student-athlete was to be Training Champions for Christ and instilling biblical principles through the sport of wrestling. I know in my own life, I would not be who I am if it wasn’t for that spiritual emphasis. As a young believer, Liberty was my foundation, and the formation of my faith was established here. That’s what I’m drawing from, and I desired to instill that into the hearts and minds of every young wrestler who came through our program.”
In August, Castro’s son-in-law Chris Williamson — who spent six seasons as assistant coach before serving as head coach at Cornerstone (Mich.) University for the previous four seasons — replaced him at the helm of the Flames.
Though he has been hands-off since passing the torch, Castro is still around the Club Sports Department, serving as a part-time spiritual mentor for student-athletes from men’s wrestling and various teams as a holistic development assistant.
“The longer I’ve worked with him, the more amazed I get,” Williamson said. “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.”
