The 2025-26 season marks the 10th year since Jon Sioredas touched down in San Luis Obispo and took over as head coach of Cal Poly Wrestling.
In 2016, Sioredas inherited a program that sat dead last in the Pac-12 conference and had no NCAA qualifiers at the time, let alone All-Americans.
But the real transformation wasn’t created by new drills or shiny training methods. It came from a complete cultural reset, one that Sioredas set in motion from the moment he arrived to rewrite the identity of Cal Poly Wrestling.
“I wrote down on day one, ‘we want to be top 25 program in five years.’” Sioredas said.
Exactly five years later, Sioredas did just that. Cal Poly finished 25th nationally in 2021 and has not dropped below that benchmark since, breaking into the top 10 in 2022 and top 15 last season. Over the past six years, at least one Mustang has earned NCAA Division I All-American honors each season.
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“This is the strongest culture we’ve had,” graduate wrestler Trevor Tinker said. “Everyone’s super bought in.”
Now in his sixth year at Cal Poly, Tinker has watched the program transform and his own career with it. Under Sioredas’ coaching, he rose from a low-profile walk-on to the 2025 Pac-12 heavyweight champion and the No. 17 ranked 285-pound wrestler in the nation, according to InterMat.
“They genuinely care about our well being,” Tinker said. “Obviously, wrestling, you know. But I feel like in addition to that, they care about just the men we are, and they put a lot of effort into that.”
Behind it all is the program-wide philosophy centered on maturity, discipline, accountability and making the right choices independently.
“We built our foundation off our core values,” Sioredas said. “We knew if we built it, that we would attract the right type of student athletes and the right type of staff. I think that’s when you really started to see us break through at the national scale.”
Central to that breakthrough is his right-hand man, Cal Poly Associate Head Coach Chris Chionuma. Hired as head assistant coach in 2018 and promoted in 2021, Chionuma has worked closely with Sioredas to cement those values within the program.
“We believe that the decisions you make off the mat are going to carry on the mat,” Chionuma said. “You have to believe that you’ve earned the right to win before you step out, shake hands and wrestle.”
The staff are not just coaching wrestling, they are guiding their athletes through life, holding them accountable in the classroom, in their personal habits, and in how they treat their teammates and the people around them.
That standard shows up off the mat as much as on it. The Mustangs have become one of the most academically accomplished teams in the nation, and last season they earned the highest team GPA in program history.
“We’ve done so much educating on this part of the team, this part of being a Cal Poly wrestler that it’s finally paying off,” Chionuma said. “Our results on the mat are following suit as well.”
A lifestyle
For Sioredas, culture isn’t something you preach, it’s something you live. It’s the same lifestyle he had in college as an All-American at University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. It’s the same one shared by his staff and his players now.
“[Sioredas] is trying to level up alongside us as a coach and as a human being,” Tinker said. “And it’s really cool and valuable to see that.”
What separates Sioredas and his coaching staff from most is the willingness to do the same work they demand from their athletes. Sioredas lifts weights during every practice. He tracks his sleep. He pushes the sleds every Friday on push day. The wrestlers not only see it, they expect it.
“With that comes a lot of confidence and trust,” Sioredas said. “They know that we are hardworking human beings as well, and even though we might have had some success when we’re at college, we continue to live the same lifestyle we’re asking them.”
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That shared commitment narrows the gap between coach and athlete. It builds a type of partnership that holds the culture together.
“I don’t feel like there’s this big divide,” Tinker said. “It’s not just a professional relationship, it’s very personal.”
Sioredas works intentionally to keep that relationship intact, drawing inspiration from his own coach in college.
“My coach loved us,” Sioredas said. “I mean, honestly, [he] changed my career and my life.”
After Chattanooga, Sioredas briefly stepped into the corporate world in a sales job. The year away from wrestling only clarified what he already knew.
“I got the itch,” Sioredas said. “At that point, I knew I was put on this Earth to coach wrestling.”
He returned to the sport through assistant coaching roles at Old Dominion University and Chattanooga, later serving as head coach at Grand Canyon University before arriving at Cal Poly.
He has stayed at Cal Poly for one simple reason.
“If you love something, or someone, you want to spend time with them,” Sioredas said, smiling.
Momentum behind Sioredas and his vision continues to build as well, shown by the program’s record number of donors and its highest fundraising total set last year.
And his work in San Luis Obispo is far from over. Sioredas signed a five-year contract extension in October to remain head coach of the program through the 2029-30 season, according to a Cal Poly Wrestling Instagram post.
“I still think there’s some unfinished business here,” Sioredas said. “The coolest thing about this place is we don’t know what the ceiling is.”
He is not interested in a brief stay among the nation’s elite. With a decade of groundwork and a culture stronger than ever, Sioredas stands on the brink of turning Cal Poly into a true perennial contender.