COACHING STAFF
MEET OUR COACHES
Every coach at Cavalier Wrestling Club brings NCAA, international, or Olympic experience to the room. Learn more about the people shaping the next generation of champions.
Trent Paulson
RTC HEAD COACH
Trent Paulson comes to Charlottesville from Ames, Iowa where he served as member of the Iowa State University wrestling staff and the Cyclone Wrestling club in various capacities since 2009. In addition to being one of the most decorated folkstyle wrestlers of his era, Trent spent many years on the senior level freestyle circuit. His vast international experience and relationships around the globe uniquely position the Cavalier Wrestling Club and our senior level athletes for continued success.
On the senior level circuit, Paulson focused on the freestyle discipline, where he was a four-time member of the United States National Team, US Open national champion and earned a spot on the 2009 world team. Paulson added several international titles to his resume, winning the 2008 Dave Schultz Open, 2011 Sunkist Open and 2010 NYAC Open. The Council Bluffs, Iowa, native is one of the most decorated wrestlers in Iowa State history, wrestling to a national title, three All-America honors and 116 career victories. Paulson is one of just 11 in Cyclone history to achieve all three milestones in a Cardinal and Gold singlet. Paulson also picked up two Big 12 titles, as well as a pair of titles at the University National Championships in 2005 (Greco) and 2006 (Freestyle).
As a coach, Paulson got his start as a volunteer at Nebraska from 2008-09 before joining the Iowa State support staff. He coached the Cyclones for four years before being named the head coach of the Cyclone Wrestling Club in 2012. Paulson worked with the club's senior-level athletes for a year before making his return to the Iowa State program as one of four former world-team members on staff.
Travis Paulson
RTC COACH
Travis Paulson, a three-time All-American at the NCAA Division I level, is in his ninth season with the Virginia wrestling program and serves as the associate head coach. Over the course of his eight seasons in Charlottesville, Paulson has helped develop four All-America selections, an NCAA finalist in Jack Mueller (2019), five individual ACC Champions and 48 NCAA qualifiers.
Paulson joined the Cavaliers after spending eight seasons at his alma mater Iowa State. He served as an assistant coach for the Cyclones from 2009 through 2017 before being named the interim head coach at Iowa State in February of 2017 after the resignation of then-head coach Kevin Jackson.
Prior to his coaching position at Iowa State, Paulson spent a season as an assistant coach at Nebraska. During that 2008-09 season, he helped develop four All-Americans and one NCAA Champion in Jordan Burroughs. Paulson also helped coach Nebraska to the Big 12 championship that season and a fourth-place finish at the NCAA Championships.
A four-year letterwinner at Iowa State, Paulson redshirted during the 2002-03 season. He was a three-time All-American for the Cyclones, a U.S. Open National Champion and a senior level World Team member. Paulson also earned first-team Academic Big 12 Conference honors, first team Academic All-America honors and was named to the Dean’s List.
Following his collegiate wrestling career, Paulson was twice selected as an alternate to the U.S. Olympic Team (2008, 2012) and was a four-time National Team member. He served as a freestyle coach for the University World Championships and was a two-time coach for the U.S. freestyle FILA Cadet Team in the Pan Am Games in 2014 and 2015.
Steve Garland
RTC COACH
Steve Garland is the current Head Wrestling Coach at The University of Virginia. Coach Garland had been the head coach for the past ten seasons. His teams won the ACC tournament championship in 2010 and 2015. In 2010 he was named the ACC Coach of the Year. Garland started his coaching career in 2000 at Cornell University, where he was named the 2006 NWCA national assistant coach of the year. As a student athlete at The University of Virginia he was a 2000 NCAA All American (2nd), was named the 2000 ACC Wrestler of the Year, and he won an ACC individual championship in 1997.
Miles Bassett
SCHOLASTC COACH
Miles grew up in St. Louis Missouri where he was a Missouri State Qualifier. He then went on to wrestle for Bucknell University for four years earning letters during two of them. After his time at Bucknell he moved to Charlottesville to continue his education and started with CWC in 2024.