Donnie Stephens was hired as Newberry College's first women's wrestling coach in June of 2023.
He assembled the first team which competed for the first time during the 2024-25 season.
Stephens came to Newberry after spending the past 10 years at the University of the Cumberlands where he served as the head coach for the women's wrestling program. During his time with the Patriots he coached three NAIA national champions, multiple NAIA and WCWA All-Americans as well as the sixth place team at the NAIA National Championship. His teams have had a consistent presence in the top-10 of the national polls. Academically, his teams have been three time NWCA NAIA Academic Team Champions while posting the second most Academic All-Americans among NAIA schools in 2023.
Concurrently with his time at Cumberlands, Stephens served as a coach with the Titan Mercury Wrestling Club where he provided coaching and training assistance to elite club members, maintaining a partnership with the Olympic Training Center, the Army World Class Athlete Program (WCAP)Â and elite level women's wrestlers. Before making the move to Kentucky, Stephens was the coach and co-owner of Adrenaline Fitness and Combat Sports in Colorado where he supervised the gym's operation while teaching wrestling and mixed martial arts classes.
Stephens got his start in the coaching world at West Covina High School where he served as the head wrestling coach for 18 years. During that time he captured 11 league titles, five CIF men's titles and three California state women's titles. He was also a coach for the Wolverines Wrestling Club during that time where he saw multiple wrestlers be named to the California national team.
Stephens has also coached in over 15 international events. He holds a bachelor's of science in coaching from the University of the Cumberlands.
