One of the most dominant programs in college wrestling today also has a long and sustained record of success in the sport. The Penn State Nittany Lions wrestling team has a claim to nine team national championships, with seven of them coming since 2010 under head coach and 2004 Olympic champion Cael Sanderson.

Penn State has held its own as a member of the Big Ten Conference since 1990, regularly facing such college wrestling powerhouses as Iowa, Nebraska, Michigan, and Minnesota, while also having success dating as far back as the 1920s.

Penn State's wrestlers have combined for 41 individual national championships by 29 wrestlers, and three of them have won the Dan Hodge Trophy as college wrestling's most outstanding athlete. Three of the four wrestlers who have won the Hodge Trophy more than once are connected to Penn State — David Taylor won in 2012 and 2014, Zain Retherford won in 2017 and 2018, and coach Cael Sanderson won three times as a member of the Iowa State Hawkeyes in the early ‘00s.

The Nittany Lions play out of the on-campus Recreation Building, better known as Rec Hall, which seats 6,846 for wrestling. Opened in 1929, the historic arena also was home to Penn State's men's and women's basketball teams until the Bryce Jordan Center opened in 1996. It continues to host PSU's men's and women's gymnastics and volleyball teams.

The Lorenzo Wrestling Complex, named after one of Penn State's most successful coaches, is adjacent to Rec Hall and is a state-of-the-art facility. The complex also is home to the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club, one of the world's top amateur wrestling clubs, and designated as a U.S. Olympic Regional Training Center.