Ryan LeBlanc, who was announced as an Appalachian State wrestling assistant coach on Aug. 5, 2016, completed his fourth season with the Mountaineers in 2019-20. He was promoted to co-head assistant coach in September 2018.
Moving forward from a fourth consecutive SoCon regular-season title in 2018-19, LeBlanc helped lead an App State program that went 9-3 overall in 2019-20 and had a school-record six NCAA qualifiers, including all four NCAA qualifiers who were products of North Carolina high schools.
With a dual meet winning percentage of .750 that ranked 14th nationally, App State led the country with four dual meet shutouts, was one of only three Division I teams with at least four conference champions and was one of only six teams that had all 10 starters finish the season with a winning record.
The 2018-19 team earned a share of the SoCon regular season title and sent four wrestlers to the NCAA Championships in Pittsburgh. The 2017-18 team captured a third straight Southern Conference regular season title, won the conference tournament to earn a sweep of SoCon titles and had four wrestlers compete at the NCAA Championships in Cleveland.
In his first year at App State, LeBlanc helped coach and mentor the Black and Gold to a historic season that ended in a perfect 7-0 Southern Conference record, a SoCon Wrestler of the Year, an NCAA All-American and a program-best ranking of No. 20.
LeBlanc joined Appalachian after spending two years working for the State University of New York at Cortland. He started as a graduate assistant before transitioning to a dual position in coaching and alumni engagement. LeBlanc helped guide the team to a seventh- and 13th-place finish in the NCAA Championships, totaling seven national qualifiers, four NWCA Scholar All-Americans, four NCAA All-Americans and two separate individual national champions. He also helped create the periodization plan for wrestling, strength and cardiovascular training throughout his seasons.
Prior to SUNY-Cortland, LeBlanc amassed a career wrestling record of 103-51 at Indiana University. During his collegiate career, he was a three-time NCAA qualifier (with a finish in the round of 12 as a senior), a three-time academic all-American, a two-year captain and a Big Ten Academic all-Conference team member for four straight seasons.
LeBlanc was also selected as the Big Ten Medal of Honor recipient, one of the most prestigious conference awards in college athletics. First awarded in 1915, the Medal of Honor is given to one student-athlete from the graduating class of each university who attains “the greatest proficiency in athletics and scholastic work.”
He graduated in 2014 from Indiana with a bachelor’s degree in exercise science before receiving his master’s in sports management in 2016 at SUNY-Cortland.
LeBlanc grew up in Morrisville, N.Y., where he also played both tennis and soccer in high school. He lives in Boone with his wife, Morgan.
