Joel Gibson, an All-American during his wrestling days at Southern Oregon University, enters his sixth season as the Raiders’ head men’s wrestling coach in 2025-26.
Gibson led SOU to a Cascade Collegiate Conference championship in 2024-25 and was subsequently voted the CCC Coach of the Year. The campaign culminated in a ninth-place finish at the NAIA Championships that marked SOU’s best in eight seasons.
In his four full seasons as SOU’s head coach – excluding his COVID-abbreviated 2020-21 debut season – the Raiders have placed ninth, 11th, 19th and 25th nationally and gone 49-16 in dual matches. The 2024-25 team set a school record for dual victories in a season with a 19-3 record.
The Raiders have turned in nine NAIA All-America performances under Gibson’s watch. He has also produced the only four NAIA Scholar Teams in program history.
After finishing his collegiate career with the Raiders in 2007, Gibson spent a total of eight seasons on Mike Ritchey's men's wrestling staff, and he served as SOU’s head women’s wrestling coach from 2019-22 – leading the Raiders to second- and fifth-place finishes at the NAIA Invitational. Between stints at SOU, he was Phoenix High School's head wrestling coach from 2014-17.
A product of North Medford High, Gibson was initially a wrestling letterwinner at Oregon State University, from which he earned a bachelor's degree in liberal studies with an emphasis in history. He competed for SOU at 165 pounds during the 2006-07 season, serving as a team captain and receiving SOU's Dan Speasl Most Inspirational Award after a seventh-place finish at the NAIA Championships.
Gibson collected another degree in health and physical education from SOU and in 2011 graduated magna cum laude with a master's degree from the same department.
He began his coaching career under Ritchey in 2007 while continuing his schooling. With the Raiders, he's contributed to 10 individual NAIA national championships and 31 total All-American performances. While at Phoenix, he produced two girls state champions, eight boys state placers, and six freestyle and Greco-Roman state placers.
A freestyle coach for the 2019 Oregon Women's Cadet and Junior National Team, Gibson has earned Copper and Bronze coaching certifications from USA Wrestling.
Gibson married SOU alumna Ricci (Coultas) Gibson, a former Raider softball player, in 2013. The couple reside in Medford with their four children.