After joining the Mountaineers in 2005 as a volunteer assistant, Danny Felix enters his 10th season as a member of the West Virginia University wrestling staff in 2017-18.
 
Felix’s specialty is with the lighter weight classes, as he has been a great asset to the resurgence of the program under head coach Sammie Henson, helping produce 10 NCAA qualifiers and an NCAA All-American.
 
Felix was an integral part of then-freshman Zeke Moisey’s NCAA campaign in 2015, first serving as the coach who recruited the future All-American out of high school. Felix was mat-side, as Moisey upset four straight opponents – including a pin of No. 6 Thomas Gilman of Iowa in the semifinals – on his way to a runner-up finish in the 125-pound bout at the 2015 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships. Moisey was joined by Michael Morales (149), Bubba Scheffel (184) and Jacob A. Smith (197), as the crew combined for WVU’s first top-25 finish at the tournament since 2005. 
 
That same year, WVU defeated a pair of ranked opponents in then-No. 25 Bucknell and then-No. 18 Pitt, briefly making an appearance in the top-25 rankings for the first time in years. The squads win over the rival Panthers was its first since 2007. In addition, the team posted its best-ever showing at the 2015 Big 12 Championship, with four Mountaineers making the finals. Heavyweight wrestler A.J. Vizcarrondo became the program’s first-ever two-time Big 12 finalist, as the squad finished the two-day event with 35 points for a fourth-place finish.
 
Since then, the Mountaineers have progressed significantly.  
 
West Virginia won its first-ever Big 12 match two years later, defeating Iowa State, 22-20, in a thrilling comeback win on Feb. 12, 2017, inside the WVU Coliseum. Dylan Cottrell also became the first WVU wrestler to win a Big 12 title, defeating Oklahoma State’s Chandler Rogers in the 165-pound finals of the 2017 Big 12 Championship at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
 
Felix jumped into the coaching ranks in 1998 at the University of Oklahoma, serving as the Sooners’ club coach for three seasons before moving back East for most of his coaching career.

Prior to his arrival in Morgantown, Felix was named the club wrestling coach at Penn State in 2001. He also coached the club team at the University of Virginia from 2003-05.

Through his nine years of club wrestling, he has worked with kids as young as five years old to teenagers at the high school level. Felix, in charge of the freestyle programs, has taught everything from the step-by-step fundamentals to the more intricate wrestling moves. Most recently, Felix founded the Gold & Blue Elite Wrestling Club in the Greater Morgantown Area.
 
Professionally, he worked his way on to one of the most prestigious teams – the U.S. World Team. Felix was one of seven freestyle wrestlers to earn a spot on the team, as he competed in Herning, Denmark, at the 2009 World Wrestling Championships. He garnered a bronze medal at the 2008 U.S. Open. A year prior, he wrestled in the 121-pound weight class at the NYAC Holiday International Wrestling Championships and finished as a silver medalist. That same year, he was crowned the 2007 Sunkist International Champion.

In 1995, Felix earned All-America status at Arizona State in the 118-pound weight class. To add to his stellar college career, he also was a three-time Pac-10 champion.

He earned his bachelor of fine arts degree from Arizona State in 1998.

Felix and his wife, Cheri, have a son, Luca.