Josh Hardman was elevated to Director of Wrestling at Manchester University in March of 2022. Hardman served as head men's wrestling coach during the 2022-23 season. Hardman will bring forth the new Women's Wrestling team in the 2024-25 season.
During the 2023-24 season, four Spartans placed at the NCAA Division III Central Regional Championships, as well as three Spartans earned NWCA Academic honors.
A Manchester alum, Hardman returned to his alma mater after spending five seasons at perennial NCAA Division III power Wabash College located in Crawfordsville, Ind. where he spent two years as an assistant coach before being elevated to associate head coach in 2019.
During his time with the Little Giants' program, Hardman helped develop one NCAA Division III National Champion, two National Runner-Ups, 15 All-Americans, 16 NWCA Scholar All-Americans, and the Elite 90 Champion in 2022. The Wabash program has garnered four Top 10 national placements in the past five seasons, including a runner-up finish in 2022. Additionally, Wabash earned three Top 15 NWCA Scholar Team rankings while Hardman was with the program.
Prior to his stint at Wabash, Hardman also served as an assistant coach at NAIA Morningside College in Iowa. Hardman coach six national qualifiers and two All-Americans while with the Mustangs.
Other coaching stops for Hardman include coaching two seasons at NCAA Division I South Dakota State University after serving for four seasons as the head wrestling coach at NAIA Dakota Wesleyan University. He also served as director of the sports management program at Dakota Wesleyan where he taught several different courses in addition to serving on the faculty development committee. Both stops saw Hardman's programs produce a combined 34 national qualifiers, eight All-Americans, and 14 NWCA Scholar All-Americans.
A 2000 graduate of Manchester, Hardman was a three-sport athlete during his time as a Spartan, competing in football, wrestling, and track & field. He was a three-time NCAA qualifier and a two-time All-American in wrestling and earned all-conference honors in football. Hardman was inducted into the the Manchester Athletics Hall of Fame in 2007. He graduated with a bachelor's degree of science as a K-12 physical education major and earned a master's degree in sports pedagogy from South Dakota State in 2004. Josh and his wife Sheri, have two daughters.
* Last Updated - June 16, 2023
