Zach Cook joined the North Central College men's and women's wrestling programs as head assistant coach prior to the 2019-20 season. Before the 2022-23 season, he was promoted to head men's wrestling coach and associate head coach for the women's program.
Since his hire, the Cardinals have posted a 38-0 CCIW record and extended North Central's CCIW winning streak to 50 matches in a row. The Cardinals have also tallied a 56-13 overall record in dual meets, 32 National Qualifiers, 21 All-American honors, and two NCAA Division III Nationals Champions while being named the 2022 NCAA Regional Assistant Coach of the Year. In December of 2021, North Central secured its first-ever No. 1 ranking nationally in program history on its way to a program-best fourth-place finish at the 2022-23 NCAA DIII National Championships. He was named the NWCA DIII Rookie Coach of the Year and the Lower Midwest Region Head Coach of the Year. Cook also helped lead the women's wrestling program to its first-ever national championship on March 4, 2023, and three top-4 finishes since the program began in 2019.
Cook helped coach one of the NCAA's best wrestlers in the history of the sport, Robbie Precin. He finished with a 141-4 career record while being a two-time undefeated National Champion, five-time All-American, five-time CCIW Champion, and four-time Regional Champion while posting a 92-match winning streak, the ninth best in NCAA history across all divisions. On the women's side, he helped coach Yelena Makoyed to a 106-6 career record with three National Titles, a four-time All-American, numerous international gold medals, and the first-ever USA Wrestling Women's College Wrestler of the Year award in 2023.
Cook comes to North Central from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, where he served as an assistant coach for the last six seasons and took over as recruiting coordinator before the 2017-18 season.
Over his six-year tenure as an assistant coach, Wisconsin-La Crosse recorded a 71-22 dual record. They qualified 25 student-athletes to the NCAA Division III National Tournament, with 15 athletes winning individual All-American awards. Additionally, 30 athletes were awarded as Academic All-Americans.
Cook graduated from UW-La Crosse in 2014 with a degree in business finance and then completed his master's degree at the school in sport administration in 2015.
