"Kids at VSU don't need to know"- Virginia University coach Tim Flynn lashes out at Iowa State over NIL opportunities

NCAA WRESTLING: MAR 17 Division I Championships - Source: Getty — Tim Flynn at the NCAA WRESTLING: MAR 17 Division I Championships - (Source: Getty)

Virginia State wrestling coach Tim Flynn has called out the Iowa Hawkeyes team and asked them to keep their secret of earning from NIL opportunities under wraps. Flynn served for 28 seasons and clinched multiple victories with the wrestlers in the Virginia program.

From 1992-1997, Tim Flynn served as an assistant to legendary coach and Olympian Bruce Baumgartner in Edinborough. At the 1996 Nationals, the coaching pair helped the team finish sixth and post a 56-21 record. In seven years at West Virginia, he guided 24 Mountaineers to the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships.

He recorded an impressive year in 2024, witnessing the Virginian wrestlers feature in the NWCA rankings across the season. At the 2025 Nationals, only Peyton Hall of Flynn's team clinched bronze in the 165-pound category.

Shortly after the conclusion of the multi-day event, Tim Flynn shared a post on social media, lashing out at the Iowa State Hawkeyes wrestlers to keep their technique of earning from NIL opportunities a secret.

"@Hawks_Wrestling tell your people that our athletes don't want or need to know how "your NIL works". Kids at VSU don't need to know how Iowa kids are paid lol," he wrote on X.

Flynn has been serving in West Virginia since 2018 and boasts 264 career victories. VSU also earned 16 NWCA Scholar All-America and 69 Academic All-Big 12 honors under Flynn's tutelage.

West Virginia's Tim Flynn once addressed the redshirt regulations proposed by the NCAA

2025 NCAA Division I Men's Wrestling Championship - (Source: Getty)

When athletes play in their redshirt season, they get an opportunity to hone their skills without burning eligible years in the college program. When the NCAA proposed to bring about more development and help more athletes perform at their best, West Virginia's Tim Flynn shared how the changes in the 'redshirt' regulations can harm the athletes.

"You know, now that that year won’t count. These rules change so quickly. Now, maybe a kid’s going to go to junior college a year or two, won’t use eligibility, and now will go to your school almost like a red shirt. There are so many loopholes," Flynn said in February 2025 (via Athletor's X handle).

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Flynn competed in the Penn State team and finished with a 105-32-2 collegiate record. His dominance at the NCAA level as a coach and a wrestler earned him the Pennsylvania Wrestling Coaches Association (PWCA) Hall of Fame induction in 2021. He graduated with a business management degree in 1987 and earned his master's degree in business administration.

About the author

Agnijeeta is a US Olympics journalist at Sportskeeda. She holds a Master’s degree in English and has worked as a school teacher, a blogger, a content writer and a sports writer over the past 5 years. A lover of high-adrenaline track and field events, she was also a sprinter during her school days.

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone happens to be her favorite Olympian, and the athlete’s feat of breaking four records within 13 months inspires her, apart from the American's body language on and off the track. Grant Hackett swimming with a partially dysfunctional lung and winning gold in Athens is her all-time favorite Olympic moment.

Agnijeeta believes that deriving of unique angles from podcasts and interviews carried out by Olympics.com, along with hype-building of potential Olympic events on social media can help fill the coverage gap during the off season.

When not at her work desk, Agnijeeta likes to sing and paint. She also plays string instruments like guitar and ukulele and is an avid player of word puzzles.

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Edited by Parag Jain