Gutches grew up in a family of wrestlers with his father Les Senior, a retired FireCaptain, being the first Gutches state champion. Les's siblings are Jason, a chiropractor[2] and Chad, a home builder. Les Gutches grew up in Southern Oregon and has the unique distinction of winning national championships in all of the wrestling age groups, including three state titles while a student at South Medford High School.[3]
College
Considered the university's best wrestler in modern history with a 134–10 record,[4] Gutches had a tremendous collegiate wrestling career as a four-year letterman[4] of the Oregon State Beavers wrestling team, culminating in winning the Dan Hodge Trophy as the best college wrestler in the United States in 1996. He placed 5th at the NCAA championships in 1994, and went on to win the title in both 1995 and 1996, with both championship years him going undefeated.[3] This earned him All-American status each of the three years, which is awarded to the top 8 athletes in each weight class every year.
Gutches was also a member of the U.S. freestyle wrestling 1996 Olympic team.
Coaching
Gutches was a full-time assistant coach at Oregon State from 1996 to 1999, a volunteer coach in 2001, and again a full-time assistant coach in 2002–2006, coaching five wrestlers to All-American honors.[6]
He was also an assistant coach for the United States National Team at the 2002 Freestyle World Cup, his team winning the title that year.[7]
Personal
In January 2010, it was announced that Gutches had been named the Director of Program Development for USA Wrestling.[8] He was promoted to Associate Executive Director for Programs and Strategy in October 2012.[5] Previously, he worked as a Commercial Loan Officer at Citizens Bank for four years, and lived in the Corvallis, Oregon region with his wife, the former Jennifer Busen, who played basketball at Oregon State. They presently live in Colorado Springs, Colorado with their daughter Alexis and son Logan. Gutches is one of the three founders of G3 Sports Performance Center in Corvallis, Oregon.[9]
Accomplishments
Gutches has won numerous wrestling tournaments, awards and honors, including:
1989 USA Junior Greco-Roman Championships (178 lb): 1st
1989 USA Cadet Greco-Roman Championships (182.5 lb): 1st
1991 FILA Junior World Greco-Roman Champion (198 lb): 1st
1992 FILA Junior World Freestyle Championships (198 lb): 1st
1993 FILA Junior World Freestyle Championships (180.5 lb): 1st
1993 USA University Freestyle Championships (180.5 lb): 1st
1994 USA University Freestyle Championships (180.5 lb): 1st
1994 NCAA Division I Collegiate Championships (177 lb): 5th
1994 NCAA Division I All-American (177 lb)
1995 NCAA Division I Collegiate Championships (177 lb): 1st