OKLAHOMA WILDCATTERS ANNOUNCE GREG RHODES AS HEAD COACH AHEAD OF 2026 PBR TEAMS SEASON
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. – The Oklahoma Wildcatters announced their second head coach in team history in appointing Greg Rhodes to the role of leading the team, which hosts its annual homestand from July 31- August 2 at Paycom Center.
“Coach Rhodes has a proven record of success coaching at the collegiate level, and we look forward to his experience and leadership leading the Wildcatters into the future,” said Wildcatters General Manager Chris Dashney.
“I’m honored and excited to be named as the new head coach of the Oklahoma Wildcatters,” said Rhodes. “This is a tremendous opportunity, and I’m ready to get to work building a team our fans and the organization can be proud of.”
Rhodes has been a longtime head coach at Western Texas College in Snyder, Texas for over a quarter-century at 29 years after taking over the helm in 1997. His teams have appeared in 28 College National Finals Rodeos (CNFR) with the lone exception of not qualifying being 2020 when the event was not held.
During his legendary tenure at Western Texas College, Rhodes has coached 16 National Champions and 12 Reserve Champions to have 28 total gold and silver finishers. Under his guidance, 13 athletes have earned PRCA Rookie of the Year honors.
Top bull riders he has worked with include PBR riders Andrew Alvidrez, who currently ranks No. 20 in the Unleash The Beast standings, Colton Fritzlan, Lane Vaughan, Clayton Sellars, Sean Willingham, Clayton Foltyn, Ned Cross, and numerous others. Vaughan placed fourth at the CNFR in 2025 in Bull Riding while competing for Western Texas College.
Rhodes himself was a competitor at Western Texas College before later moving on to New Mexico State University.
Stay tuned to PBR.com for more information on the Oklahoma Wildcatters and the 2026 PBR Teams season. To learn more about the Oklahoma Wildcatters, visit https://thewildcatters.com/, OK Wildcatters on Facebook, @OKWildcatters on Instagram, @okwildcatters_ on X (formerly Twitter), or @OKWILDCATTERS on YouTube.
About the Oklahoma Wildcatters:
The Oklahoma Wildcatters, a PBR (Professional Bull Riders) team based at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, are owned by FJS Ventures—a sports and entertainment holding company founded by Talor Gooch and Preston Lyon.
Talor Gooch, a seasoned professional golfer and the 2023 LIV Golf Player of the Year, hails from Midwest City, Oklahoma, and is an alumnus of Oklahoma State University. Beyond his athletic achievements, Gooch is dedicated to philanthropy, focusing on uplifting and empowering children in Oklahoma through the Talor Gooch Foundation.
Preston Lyon serves as the Founding Partner and Chief Executive Officer of Intrepid XXII, a full-service sports agency specializing in talent representation, sponsorship consulting, advisory services, and the development of new ventures in sports and entertainment. Lyon was born in Gastonia, North Carolina, and currently resides with his family in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Both Gooch and Lyon share a passion for PBR, leading them to establish the Oklahoma Wildcatters as the inaugural venture in their partnership portfolio. Their most recent acquisition is the Mississippi Blues Angling Club, part of the Sport Fishing Championship (SFC).
About PBR Teams:
PBR Teams is an elite league featuring the world’s top bull riders competing on teams in five-on-five games leading to a Team Championship at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. During the 2026 season, the league’s fifth, each of the 10 teams – Arizona Ridge Riders of Glendale, AZ; Austin Gamblers of Austin, TX; Carolina Cowboys of Greensboro, NC; Florida Freedom of Sunrise, FL; Kansas City Outlaws of Kansas City, MO; Missouri Thunder of Springfield, MO; Nashville Stampede of Nashville, TN; New York Mavericks of Belmont, NY; Oklahoma Wildcatters of Oklahoma City, OK; and Texas Rattlers of Fort Worth, TX – will host a three-day homestand. Neutral-site games in Anaheim, CA and Fort Collins, CO are planned for the 2026 season as well.
PBR Teams, launched in July 2022, builds on the existing structure of professional bull riding with the same basic rules for judging and scoring qualified 8-second bull rides. In events staged in a tournament-style format, all teams compete in head-to-head matchups against a different opponent each day. Each game features five riders per team squaring off against another team. Full team rosters are comprised of seven riders on the Protected Roster and three Reserve Roster riders. The team with the highest aggregate score of qualified rides among its riders is declared the winner of each game.
PBR is part of TKO Group Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: TKO), a global sports and entertainment company. For more information, visit PBR.com, or follow on Facebook at Facebook.com/PBR, Twitter at Twitter.com/PBR, and YouTube at YouTube.com/PBR.
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