USA Wrestling Coach’s Corner Feature: Big Game, big goals, bigger picture (Dylan Carew)

Updated: September 1, 2025

Photo: Skyler St. John (left), Senior World Teamer Felicity Taylor (center) and Dylan Carew (right).

Editor’s Note: This story appeared in WIN’s Volume 31 Issue 11, which printed on August 22, 2025. Like last year, all USA Wrestling Wrestling Leaders get a free WIN Digital Subscription which gives them access to our monthly edition compliments of USA Wrestling as a membership benefit. This story is an example of the four feature stories in each WIN Magazine edition focused on USA Wrestling coaches, officials and leaders.

By Tristan Warner

Growing up in the Iowa City area in the latter years of the Dan Gable era, just barely old enough to comprehend the dominance of the Iowa Hawkeyes’ wrestling dynasty, Dylan Carew knew he too wanted to coach someday.

“From a young age, I always liked the idea of coaching,” he said. “Being a young kid, you grow up dreaming and thinking you’ll be a college coach.

“My career ended with injuries, and I was not super happy about the way it ended. I thought I had more to give to the sport and didn’t want to stop even though I couldn’t compete.”

Shortly after his time at the University of Iowa, Carew embarked on an extended stay in the Big Sky State. It turned out to be the physical, mental and spiritual reset he was longing for.

“I had an opportunity to go out to Montana,” he recalled. “It was best for me at the time. I needed to heal and get away from some things that were bothering me about the way my career ended.”

“I met the right people, including the Degen family. We had a meeting and said, ‘Let’s do this thing.’ We built a wrestling room and started with four or five kids. It grew, and we had a lot of success across the country.”

If the surname sounds familiar, Jarrett Degen was a five-time NCAA qualifier and earned All-American status twice at Iowa State (2019 and 2020). He and his brother, Sawyer, grew up wrestling in Belgrade, Mont. and have since gotten involved with coaching.

Big Game Wrestling Club was born and has since matriculated to a second and third location in North Liberty, Iowa and Bettendorf, Iowa, respectively, upon Carew’s eventual return to his home state.

An avid outdoorsman and hunter, the name for the club is significant, he says. It goes far beyond just an affinity for outdoor recreational hobbies.

“For me, it is about the way I grew up with my dad and brothers,” Carew, whose brother Tyler is also involved with running the club, explained. “We grew up racing, hunting and wrestling.

“These hobbies taught me the difference between what a dad and a coach is. My dad learned how to shut off the wrestling thing; we did stuff outside of wrestling that was so important. It creates relationships that are stronger than athlete-coach.

“If I want the most out of an athlete, it has to be based off more than if they’re winning or losing. You can demand more out of them when they trust you and you have a real friendship role with them.”

The Carew family runs a landscaping company based out of North Liberty. Dylan credited not only his entire family but also the company’s employees for keeping things afloat, which enables him to travel the nation for important wrestling engagements.

Dylan runs practices in the evenings at the Iowa locations, especially in North Liberty, while the Degen brothers and former Oklahoma State legend Alan Fried, who is still revered as the first-ever four-time Junior National champ who went on to become a three-time NCAA finalist and national champion in 1994, run the Montana location.

Big Game offers a wide range of opportunities for wrestlers, ranging from a tots’ class for toddlers, which Carew says is just for fun and helps younger kids “fall in love with being in the wrestling room,” to middle school, high school and even Senior-level workouts.

Even more unique, and in Carew’s opinion, important, are the outdoor recreational opportunities offered for club-goers.

“We do a big fundraiser, and we take kids hunting from our club. We have leases and farms in southern Iowa. They get to hunt deer, turkey, and waterfowl. We also send kids to Missouri and South Dakota on snow goose hunts and elk hunts.

“I want these kids to understand that wrestling isn’t your complete identity. We all have such big dreams and aspirations, but it is still just a sport. Guys’ lives are different after their competitive career because they are not happy.

“We all love this as little kids; just continue to love it. If you’re a senior in high school and you’re struggling to get extra workouts or you’re nervous, remember that little kid inside you that would die to be where you are right now.

“Always remind them it is supposed to be fun. Start them as a young kid and get them through college. We are about the journey.”

Big Game just wrapped up a camp at Battle Creek Ranch, Mont. that featured none other than three-time World champ and Olympic gold medalist David Taylor, now the head coach at Oklahoma State. Taylor grew up in nearby Evanston, Wyoming.

“We spent an hour and 15 minutes on the mat each day, and the rest of the time was spent being cowboys,” Carew laughed.

Carew, who makes participation in the international styles a “non-negotiable” at Big Game, remains humble despite numerous of his athletes achieving national and global success in the sport.

“Some of the best coaches I know don’t have any credentials to their name,” he said. “There are guys who didn’t make it credential wise, but they learned lessons on the way. I have no credentials to validate the success that our club has. It is about the lessons you learn along the way.

“We are very protective of our culture. Make sure your coaches are people you want around kids. The things we are telling them … they remember. Pieces of us go with them.”

The messages we, as coaches, transmit to the kids apply to the parents, too, Carew insists.

“I know lots of clubs have different rules about parents, but I want my parents in the room with the kids. Reason being … if I was doing a landscaping job at your house and told you you couldn’t be there to watch … that’s a little different, right?

“I want my parents reinforcing the same messaging at home that we are saying at practice. If they don’t hear it or see it, how could they reinforce it?

“We are working together at all times. These are other people’s children. We have a lot of entrusted power; we are shaping young kids’ lives.”