Staff Directory

Chris Heilman

Title:
Associate Head Coach & Director of Recruiting
Email:
Phone:
719-333-2811

In his 12^th season at the Air Force Academy, coach Chris Heilman has been elevated to Associate Head Coach and Director of Recruiting for Falcon wrestling, announced by head coach Joe Johnston in 2026.

Heilman has been instrumental in recruiting efforts for the Falcons as he helped reel in nine top 30 nationally ranked recruiting classes. He has a pair of top 20 nationally ranked recruiting classes and has reached as high as No. 18 in 2024. In addition, he has helped hone that talent into numerous conference medalists and NCAA Championship qualifiers.

Heilman helped guide Falcons to three top-25 NCAA team finishes, three NCAA Div. I All-American honors, 33 National Qualifiers, two Big 12 Champions, and 42 Big 12 medalists. He helped lead eight cadet-athletes that have competed on the international stage garnering a United World Wrestling World Champion and Pan-American Champion. In addition to success on the mat, Heilman has also mentored the Falcons in the classroom, as he guided 22 Falcons to become NWCA Scholar All-Americans. At the same time, his athletes have been named to academic all-conference teams 91 times.

Heilman helped the Falcons to new heights in 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons. In 2023, the team finished 8-6 in duals with six wins over Division I programs, including Pac-12 Champions Cal-Poly. At the Big 12 Championships, Air Force had a program-high seven medalists and placed fifth as a team. Five Falcons qualified for the NCAA championship, the most since 1991. At the NCAA Championships, Air Force placed 18th, tied with Oklahoma State; this was the highest finish for Air Force or a Service Academy since 1971. The team was led by Wyatt Hendrickson, who earned All-American honors placing third. Hendrickson was the program's first All-American since 2003. In 2024, Hendrickson repeated his third-place finish to tally his second All-America honor. Three Falcons qualified for the national tournament and finished 21st in the championship field. Heilman's 2026 Falcons finished No. 25 at the conclusion of the season behind All-American Carter Nogle and national qualifier Karson Tompkins.

The 2019-20 season was AF's most successful yet at the Big 12 Conference Championships, as Heilman helped lead a squad with just one senior in the starting lineup. Heilman helped coach four individual Falcons to podium finishes at Big 12s, all underclassmen, including freshman Cody Phippen, who placed fifth. Phippen was also a semifinalist, the first for Air Force since joining the conference prior to the 2015-16 season. At season's end, AF had two wrestlers within the top 10 in falls in the country in Cody Surratt (11) and Randy Meneweather (10). AF was the only school in NCAA wrestling to have two in the top 10.

Heilman came to Air Force from Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he was named 2014 NCAA DIII Midwest Regional Assistant Coach of the Year. Prior to coming to the Academy, Heilman led UW-Whitewater to the DIII Runner-up finish in 2014 and third-place finish 2013 during his two years there.

Prior to his tenure at UW-Whitewater, Heilman spent two seasons as the head coach at Davenport West High School, in Davenport, Iowa. Heilman also spent two years as a graduate assistant at St. Cloud State University, helping the team to two top 10 team finishes. The 2010 team at St. Cloud posted the highest GPA amongst NCAA Div. II wrestling programs.

Heilman is a 2008 graduate of Cornell College (Iowa) where he was a three-time All-American. He was inducted into the Cornell College Athletics Hall of Fame in 2023.