Brandon Nelsen - Assistant Coach - Wrestling Coaches

Upcoming Events

There are currently no upcoming events

Brandon Nelsen

Title:
Assistant Coach
Email:
brandon.nelsen@duke.edu
Phone:
(919) 684-7918

Brandon Nelsen is in his fourth year as an assistant coach for the Blue Devil wrestling program.

He works primality with the light and middle weight classes (125-157). Nelsen also has an important hand in Duke’s recruiting and social outreach initiatives.

Throughout his tenure so far, Nelsen has coached numerous wrestlers to qualify for the NCAA Championships, including a quartet of Finesilver brothers. One of the brothers, Mitch, finished 2018-19 as an NCAA All-American. Under Nelsen’s tutelage, another brother, Matt, qualified for the 2019 U23 USA World Team in Greco-Roman Wrestling.

Nelsen has been instrumental in Duke’s development in the classroom as well with several Blue Devils earning NWCA and ACC All-Academic honors.

Nelsen came to Durham after spending a year as a graduate assistant at the University of Indianapolis. During his time in Indianapolis, Nelsen worked primarily with the lightweight group. He was influential in mentoring a pair of All-Americans (Josh Kieffer and Nick Crume) at 125 and 133 pounds, respectively. Crume’s career also included a runner-up finish at the NCAA Division II Championships for 133 pounds.

Off the mat, his wrestlers at Indianapolis were equally as successful, earning all-academic team honors nationally. The team finished 10th in the country in the NWCA academic rankings with a team GPA of 3.252.

Nelsen wrestled for four years at Purdue, amassing a record of 84-55. He was a two-time Division I National Qualifier and placed three times throughout his career at the B1G championships. The Indianapolis-native closed out his career fourth on Purdue's career reversals list with 45, sixth in career falls with 30, 17th in career back points with 124 and was the 25th three-time B1G placewinner in program history. He was also an All-American at University Nationals during his career in which he placed fourth in freestyle.

In addition to competing as a wrestler for the Boilermakers, Nelsen served as a social media coordinator and was responsible for the creation of social media campaigns on both Twitter and Facebook for a student public relations group. He also was a member of the Boilermaker Athletic Council, which helped foster positive interaction among student-athletes with a particular focus on leadership.

During his first two years at Purdue, Nelsen was a part of the emerging leaders program. He joined with other underclassmen as they all pursued leadership positions within their sports and on campus.

A native of Indianapolis, Indiana, Nelsen earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Law and Society from Purdue in 2015. Nelsen and his wife Lindsey, a first grade teacher, reside in Durham.