Former The Citadel wrestling head coach Ryan LeBlanc will become the new head of Binghamton University’s wrestling program, a change announced at a press conference in the Events Center on Thursday evening. LeBlanc joins the University following a 10-4 season for the Bulldogs where he was named the Coach of the Year in the Southern Conference.

“We had high-caliber associate head coaches and assistant coaches throughout the country, but during these conversations, as we looked at our guiding principles on the search, [LeBlanc’s] name kept coming to the top,” said Dennis Kalina, the University’s senior deputy director of athletics. “He was going to be the person that could really advance our program.”

During LeBlanc’s tenure at The Citadel, the Bulldogs reached newfound success in duels with 41 dual victories in five years, including a program-record 14 in 2023-24. In conference play, the Bulldogs secured 22 of their dual victories, while in the postseason, The Citadel won five individual SoCon championships. Three of these championship wins came in the 2025 season, where the Bulldogs placed second in the SoCon tournament.

The Bulldogs reached significant achievements on and off the mat under LeBlanc, with several academic accomplishments. Throughout his tenure, The Citadel produced 15 NWCA Scholar All-Americans, while also qualifying as a NWCA Scholar All-American Team twice, in 2024 and 2025. In 2024, his cadet athletes finished 25th in the nation in team GPA at 3.361, before rising to 13th in 2025 with a team GPA of 3.531.

“I think that we’re going to be rooted in values, and our kids are going to wrestle really hard,” LeBlanc said. “When you wrestle a kid from Binghamton, no matter whether we’re winning or losing, I want people to walk off the mat and know they were in a fight.”

Before taking over as head coach at The Citadel, LeBlanc worked as an assistant coach at Appalachian State from 2016 to 2020. At Appalachian State, LeBlanc worked under four-time national coach of the year finalist, head coach JohnMark Bentley.

LeBlanc helped the Mountaineers to three regular-season SoCon Championships and qualified 10 wrestlers to the NCAA Tournament.

“I’ve got nothing but respect for [Bentley],” LeBlanc said. “I’m still friends with him, and he shaped a lot of the way I look at the sport and some of the things I do, from an organization standpoint, from an effective management standpoint, a lot of things.”

LeBlanc looks to hit the ground running, building off a 2024-2025 season in which Binghamton went 10-9 while picking up its fifth individual Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association Championship, courtesy of former competitor and current assistant coach Brevin Cassella.

“I can’t wait,” LeBlanc said. “I can’t wait to see what the atmosphere is and build an atmosphere that our alumni are proud of and that our kids are excited to wrestle. I think that’s going to be one of the keys for us to be really successful.”