Nebraska assistant coach Tervel Dlagnev will be inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame as a Distinguished Member announced on Thursday, Oct. 30.
The two-time NCAA champion was a volunteer assistant at Nebraska from 2021-23 before becoming an assistant coach under Mark Manning in 2023. In his first season as an assistant coach, Dlagnev helped heavyweight wrestler Nash Hutmacher qualify for the NCAA Championships. In his second season on the coaching staff. Dlagnev aided the Huskers to an historic postseason that included two NCAA individual champions (Ridge Lovett - 149 and Antrell Taylor - 157), two Big Ten champions (Brock Hardy - 141 and Ridge Lovett - 149) and team runner-up finishes at both tournaments while scoring program-high points. Dlagnev helped eight Husker wrestlers capture eight All-America honors in 2025.
The National Wrestling Hall of Fame honors Distinguished Members as “a wrestler who has achieved extraordinary success in national and/or international competition; a coach who has demonstrated great leadership in the profession and who has compiled an outstanding record; or a contributor whose long-term activities have substantially enhanced the development and advancement of the sport. Wrestlers must have been retired from active competition for a period of five years to be eligible for consideration as a Distinguished Member.”
Dlagnev had an impressive career as one of the nation’s best heavyweight freestyle wrestlers in history. He won the Olympic bronze medal in 2012 at the London Olympic Games and placed fifth in the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. He also won World bronze medals for the United States in 2009 and 2014 and was a 2011 Pan American Games and 2008 University World Champion. In college, Dlagnev was a two-time NCAA champion and four-time All-American at the University of Nebraska-Kearney.
The Class of 2026 will be inducted during the 49th Honors Weekend on June 5-6, 2026 in Stillwater, Okla.
National Wrestling Hall of Fame’s Release on Dlagnev