New assistant Penn wrestling coach Lucas Byrd and his fiancée are TikTok stars, playing off their ‘different dynamic’
Byrd has found an audience with his fiancée, Ellie Holzman for their difference in height. “Your typical relationships aren’t a girl that’s really tall and a guy that’s really short," he said.
Lucas Byrd — a four-time All-American wrestler and a 2025 NCAA champion at Illinois — has been recognized “a handful” of times on the street. But it’s not for his dominance on the mat.
Byrd, who was recently hired as an assistant wrestling coach at Penn, has more than 570,000 followers on TikTok with his fiancée, Ellie Holzman. They met at Illinois with Byrd wrestling and Holzman starring for the Illini volleyball team. Shortly after, they began posting short videos about their relationship to social media — which quickly gained traction because of the couple’s difference in height. Byrd is 5-foot-5 and Holzman is 6-2.
“I think a lot of people find it interesting because it is such a different dynamic,” Byrd said. “Your typical relationships aren’t a girl that’s really tall and a guy that’s really short.”
Byrd and Holzman readily make reference to their height difference on TikTok. In one video, Holzman humorously pins Byrd to a wall, pretending to yell at him. The video’s caption reads, “If you see a 6’2 brunette yelling at me…. Don’t worry. That’s my girlfriend. I ticked her off on purpose. I’m exactly where I want to be.” In another, Byrd hops on Holzman’s shoulders to grab containers from a hard-to-reach shelf.
“We both believe we make a positive impact on relationship dynamics,” Byrd said. “Guys don’t like to be shorter [in a relationship], and women typically don’t like to be taller. It’s a good thing that we can show people that it doesn’t matter. Height, for some people, it could be a deciding factor, but there’s no point to limit yourself for the love of your life.”
The couple’s content is lighthearted. Many of their videos feature the two dancing together, lip syncing to viral songs, or trying new foods — including a recent review of the brunch menu at Fishtown’s Middle Child Clubhouse. In the videos, Byrd is constantly cracking jokes and making funny expressions — a side of his personality he does not show on the mat.
“When I take my glasses off and I have my shoes on, I’m in the wrestling world,” Byrd said. “I’m the guy that won a national title, and that’s who I am. But the minute I’m off, and I’m with Ellie and my family and friends, I’m just a big goof ball.”
‘Easier than breathing’
After graduating from Illinois this spring, Byrd looked to move to Philadelphia to live with Holzman, who recently finished up a nursing program at Drexel.
Byrd knew he wanted to stay in wrestling and gravitated toward coaching. During the 2023-24 season, when he was sidelined with a wrist injury, Byrd coached a kids wrestling club. He enjoyed the process enough to pursue coaching at the next level.
When the Penn wrestling staff interviewed Byrd, they asked what makes him stand out compared to other candidates.
“Wrestling is sometimes easier than breathing,” he responded.
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Byrd joins a Penn wrestling staff led by second-year head coach Matt Valenti. Like Byrd, Valenti is a former NCAA champion at 133 pounds, winning the title twice for the Quakers in 2006 and 2007. Valenti took the over the program from longtime coach Roger Reina, who served as the “head coach emeritus” to oversee the transition. Last season, the Quakers finished 7-4 overall and placed third in the Ivy League.
“A lot of people feel like Big Ten programs do so many things differently,” Byrd said. “They feel like they eat nails, chew them up and spit them out. But in reality, they train hard. But it’s what we’re doing here [at Penn]”
One major difference between the Big Ten and the Ivy League is the lack of opportunities for Ivy athletes to cash in on their name, image, and likeness (NIL). The conference, in an effort to preserve a sense of amateurism, boasts a blanket ban on NIL collectives. Byrd sees this as a plus.
“I think it’s awesome that there is no NIL in a way because these guys truly want to wrestle,” Byrd said. “It’s different when you’re getting paid $300,000 to go wrestle … These guys, on top of being in Wharton, they want to come to practice.”
“I can tell you the classes I took,” he added with a laugh. “I took a yoga class and these guys aren’t taking yoga.”
Outside of coaching and growing his social media presence, Byrd is looking to pursue a mixed martial arts career — a transition many collegiate wrestlers make after graduating. He has sparred with UFC fighters, and is looking to learn more from his peers who have switched over to the sport.
“It’s the same mechanics [in wrestling and MMA],” Byrd said. “Just different ways to get there. In MMA, there’s more danger because if you don’t disguise what you’re doing, you’re probably getting kneed or punched in the face.”
