A native of Buffalo, New York, Muhamed McBryde enters his fifth season as the volunteer assistant for the Mountaineer wrestling program.
McBryde won the United States U23 World Team Trials, earning the right to represent the U.S. at the U23 World Championships in Budapest, Hungary in 2017. He made the most of the opportunity by earning a spot in the bronze medal bout, before ultimately finishing in fifth place.
He continues to compete domestically and internationally while coaching the Mountaineers.
During the 2025 season, two Mountaineers won Big 12 titles, five qualified for the NCAA Championships, and one became an NCAA All-American.
The Mountaineers continued rewriting the record books during their 2024 campaign, eclipsing the double-digit win mark for the 18th time in program history and first in back-to-back seasons since 1990 and 1991. They were featured in the NWCA rankings throughout the season, opening the year at No. 24 and reaching as high as No. 17 to end the month of January before concluding the regular season ranked for the first time since 2005 (No. 19).
WVU's success carried into the postseason, as the squad scored a 97.5 team total at the Big 12 Championship for their highest point total since joining the Big 12 while matching the program’s best finish at the postseason spectacle since the conference expanded from four schools to 10 in 2016 (6th – 65.5 team points). Flynn’s group wrapped up the postseason with a 17th-place finish after scoring 31.5 team points at the NCAA Championships - turning in the highest finish for the program since 2004 (16th – 31.0)
West Virginia experienced great individual success as well. The squad saw five Mountaineers earn a spot to compete on the national stage, which marked the fifth consecutive year in which four or more grapplers qualified for the NCAA Championships during McBryde's tenure with the program.
Senior Peyton Hall (165) and true freshman Ty Watters (149) led the way by becoming the first Mountaineer duo to reach All-America status in the same season since 2005. Hall secured the second All-America honor of his college career to become the ninth WVU grappler to earn the recognition multiple times, while Watters joined elite company as the third-ever true freshman in program history to claim All-America status and first Mountaineer to take home the honor at 149 pounds. Additionally, the true freshman became the first grappler in school history to win a Big 12 Championship and earn a top-8 finish on the mat at nationals, as well as the 13th wrestler in program history to win a conference title and reach All-America status in the same season.
In 2023, West Virginia hit the double-digit win mark for the 17th time in program history and the first time since 2014. The team also made its first appearance in the NWCA Top 25 since January 2016, ranking as high as No. 23 after capturing a pair of wins over Ohio and No. 21 Pitt. Stellar individual performances in those duals saw eight Mountaineers break into the national rankings for the first time since 2003, with six earning a spot to compete on the national stage for the first time since 2012.
Fifth-year senior Killian Cardinale (125) capped off the season by capturing his second All-America honor with an eighth-place finish at nationals and extending the program’s streak to four straight seasons with at least one All-American. Cardinale joined Mark Banks, Whitey Chlebove, Mike Mason, Greg Jones, Vertus Jones, Brandon Rader and Zeke Moisey as the eighth WVU wrestler to be named an All-American multiple times sporting the Gold and Blue.
As McBryde’s first season with the Mountaineers came to an end in 2022, West Virginia claimed four NCAA qualifiers for the second straight season, its third Big 12 Champion and third All-American in as many years for the third longest streak with at least one All-American in program history. The team also eclipsed its record for most wrestlers on the Academic All-Big 12 Wrestling teams with nine, including a record-breaking seven on the first team.
The Mountaineers scored 62 points to place seventh in the final Big 12 Championship standings, while landing seven wrestlers on the podium to match a program-best set by the 2015-16 squad.
Redshirt senior Killian Cardinale (125) and sophomore Peyton Hall (165) led off the postseason run by becoming the first Mountaineer duo to reach the Big 12 finals of their respective weight classes since the combination of Zeke Moisey (125) and Jake Smith (197) made the finals in 2018. Top-seeded Cardinale recoded an 8-3 decision over 2021 Big 12 Champion and third-seeded Brody Teske (Northern Iowa) to join former WVU standouts Dylan Cottrell (2017) and Noah Adams (2020) as the only other Mountaineers to reach the top of the Big 12 since West Virginia moved to the conference in 2012.
Success continued as Cardinale, and Hall reached the quarterfinals at the 2022 NCAA Wrestling Championships in Detroit. Both finished in the top 12, while Hall secured his spot on the podium as an All-American after scoring an 11-3 major decision over No.19-seed Justin McCoy of Virginia. The Chester, West Virginia, native joined Jimmie Cox, Mike Mason, Sam Kline, Brandon Rader, and Noah Adams as the sixth WVU wrestler from the state of West Virginia to be named an All-American. In addition, Hall is the first WVU grappler to take home the honor at 165 pounds; Mark Banks reached the feat twice at 167 pounds back in 1990 and 1991.McBryde wrestled collegiately in his hometown at the University of Buffalo, where he was a two-year starter for the Bulls. Upon graduation, he joined the Buffalo coaching staff as the volunteer assistant and began training freestyle full-time.
The bronze medalist came to Morgantown from the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, where he was the main training partner for two-time world champion and Olympic bronze medalist J'den Cox.
Prior to wrestling on the circuit, he wrestled collegiately as a two-year a starter at the University of Buffalo. Upon graduation, McBryde joined the Buffalo coaching staff as the volunteer assistant and began training freestyle full-time. He earned his bachelor's degree in 2016 and master’s degree in 2019.
