Catching up with Concordia, TCNJ, Lakeland, Central, Sioux Falls and Stevens Institute at the Auggie Invitational

One of the dynamics of small college wrestling is finding mat time for your large rostered teams. At Augsburg University, the Auggies host the Auggie Invitational, which has multiple divisions to help larger programs get mat time and keep their starters and non-starters engaged in their respective programs.
 
On Saturday, November 16, Jason Bryant of Mat Talk Online skipped over to Si Melby Hall on Augsburg’s campus to talk to a handful of coaches from around the region, country and Division II and III. What does each coach like to get out of these trips.

On this episode, you’ll hear from: 

8:10 - Concordia-Moorhead (Minn.) head coach Quincy Osborn.
12:36 - TCNJ head coach Joe Galante
19:15 - Lakeland head coach Mike DeRoehn
27:40 - Central head coach Landon Williams
33:50 - Sioux Falls head coach Matt Meuleners
40:18 - Stevens Institute head coach Anthony Bonaventura 

Want an ad-free version of the show? Hit up the Patreon link at patreon.com/mattalkonline to contribute and get your own ad-free RSS feed for (most of) the shows on the Mat Talk Podcast Network.
 
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Short Time Wrestling Podcast: Episode 781 –Recorded November 19, 2024

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Whoa, it's the Short Time Wrestling Podcast. I'm your host,
Hall of Fame wrestling writer, broadcaster and announcer Jason Bryant.

(00:23):
And it is college wrestling season, as we very well know,
and that means open tournaments, invitationals, and such, especially in
the month of November, especially here in the Midwest, as
I live in the Twin Cities of Minnesota. So I
had the opportunity head on down to Augsburg University, the
fifteen time Division three national champions. And for those who
are unaware, I do select home duels for the Augies,

(00:46):
including I've done the Battle of the Bergs over the years,
and so.

Speaker 2 (00:50):
You know they have three four home duels a year.

Speaker 1 (00:51):
So yes, I basically put them down as they are
one of my home teams if you're even curious about that. Yeah,
I announced select home DULs a Little Rock. Yes that's
in Arkansas. Yes, I live in Minnesota, Saint Cloud State
home hockey games in Sant Cloud State Wrestling Duels, and Augsburg.
So I got four teams that I routinely announced for
in addition to the wrestling postseason. But I still do

(01:13):
the podcast thing, although I'm kind of basically managing the
distribution of a lot of other podcasts. Short Time kind
of sits there and kind of is there when I
need it to be, and today I need it to be,
today you need it to be. As I'm going to
talk a little Division two and Division three wrestling here.
So the Augie Open has two divisions. They have like
an an elite division, which is like your upperclassmen, you're

(01:33):
more season competitors, and then like a rookie division. They
you know, the freshman, sophomore, and amateur divisions as they
term it. So you got teams from Midwest, you know,
Augsburgh Horse being a powerhouse with the aforementioned fifteen titles,
Minnesota State and Upper Iowa Division two schools that are there.
Concordia comes over, sou Falls is a Division two school.
They came over, and so there's a lot of D
three schools in the upper Midwest that come to Augsburg's

(01:55):
at sim Melby Hall. As we run, I think it's
seven matt's eight matt the wrestling room, I think it's
three mats long. I actually don't go in there much.
I think that's three maybe four that they have in there,
and then four in the main gym with the banners hanging,
get a chance to catch up with a d Jeff
Swinson a little bit there. You know, his kids actually
live in my school district. So I actually saw Jeff's

(02:17):
kids wrestle more last year in person than I did
actually the University of Minnesota because they were at Mounds
View High School, which was a pretty good wrestling team.

Speaker 2 (02:26):
Last year.

Speaker 1 (02:26):
They won the section title, made the state tournament, and
finally got over that Stillwater hump. And if those of
you know about sports and wrestling and things in Minnesota, no,
still Waters a pretty good sports program. So anyway, I
also talk with former coach Mark Matzik. He is coaching
back in Ellsworth, Wisconsin. He was hanging out, but I
actually got a chance to talk to six coaches and

(02:47):
that's who you will hear from today on short time.

Speaker 2 (02:50):
So who did I talk to?

Speaker 1 (02:52):
Well, I started out by talking to Concordia head coach
Quincy Osborne. He was a Division one transfer. He actually
started his career at the University of Minnis so to
wrestle at Augsburg and is now a head coach at
Concordia Morehead. They are the Cobbers you'll hear from him.
You'll also hear from Mike Drone, the head coach at Lakeland.
Landon Williams, the new head coach at Central College. Also
had a chance to talk with Matt Mulliner's he is

(03:13):
the head wrestling coach at Division two Sue Falls. They
are a relatively new program in their second year. And
then also talk with the Jersey guys Joe Galante and
Anthony Bonavan Tura Galante from TC in Jay and Bonaventura
from Stevens Institute of Technology. So six coaches to talk
to about these things. Kicking off the dynamics of scheduling

(03:34):
with Division two and Division three programs, why they look
at tournaments. So we're going to start it up here
on the Short Time Wrestling Podcast. But before I do that,
if you listen and I've talked about the newsletter. That newsletter,
by the way, since I've moved to substack has been
it's the response has been good. I've made that more robust.
It's not just links. You know, I'll insert some Instagram stuff.
The players from the podcast from Spotify can plug them

(03:55):
in there. You can hit play and listen to these
shows right away, you know, and then if you want
to add them to your Spotify list.

Speaker 2 (04:00):
You can do that.

Speaker 1 (04:01):
The YouTube videos, the clips so like BEG Wrestling had
Sarah Hildebrandt on that full show embedded in the newsletter.
So really is I'm saving you a ton of time.
You can sign up for that for free, Matt talkonline,
dot Com, slash News and if you want the plus,
the extra the stats dumps that I do that that's
part of that premium. So you have that opportunity to

(04:23):
sign up and you know, pay for a year right
off the bat. That supports me. That also supports the
extra time that it takes to put those things together
for you. Again, Reslite has been a proud sponsor. The
Gilberts have been great. But that's just a little ump,
and I want to thank you guys that have already
jumped on board with this. Really kind of embracing the
substack world, that was something I was really kind of
unfamiliar with. I subscribed to a couple college hockey newsletters

(04:45):
over there, and believe it 're not a couple of
culinary newsletters because there's some foodies out here in Minnesota.
They know there's stuff, so you know, get some of
those Thanksgiving ideas and those baking and cooking and smoking
ideas from those here in the culinary world. But that's
kind of like my personal interest, as is colle hockey
as I've even got a hobby podcast with that. But
through the substack app you get all that and if

(05:06):
you're you know, husker MAT's got one. So if you're like, oh,
I can well listen to wrestle watch wrestling here or
read this stuff here, that newsletter saves you a ton
of time. And again, I'm just compiling all that news
those releases, those feature stories, those video features, even an
Instagram post or two, you know, some some cool tweets.
It's basically just like boom, here is the day in wrestling.

(05:28):
And that's what I'm saving you time. It's going to
save you a ton of time. And you're gonna get
a couple free newsletters a week, and then you're there's
the premium options. But also I want to drop a
newsletter podcast, and I know that there's there's Frl's got
the questions from friends, Intermet's had the jag Bag and
before that, Foley's mail Bag. But you know what, I've
got a lot of questions that.

Speaker 2 (05:46):
I can answer.

Speaker 1 (05:47):
If you've got a stats question, you've got things like that,
drop them here, drop them here, and I'll put them
in the newsletter mail bag podcast. That'll be just me
answering your questions. Uh, if I get two three, I
can throw them in there. And if you know, if
it's a stats dive, it's something that is a little
bit more robust than maybe maybe what you're gonna get
with with good old jaggered intermatter or something that's it's
longer than a thirty second response on FRL. Hey throw

(06:09):
it my way. I'll be more than willing to answer
that question in the mailbag podcast. I'm kind of again,
this is not a new concept. Mike McMahon from the
College Hockey Insider does a mailbag podcast and that's where
I found kind of that inspiration, Like, you know what,
I could do this. I can bring this over to wrestling.
It's not like it's new. It's not like I'm the
first one to do a mail bag and I won't
be the last one to do a mail bag. And

(06:30):
I you know, answering questions on a podcast is something
that we've been doing for a long time. So if
you've got a question, drop me a note at Jason
at Bryant Wrestling dot Com. I'm pretty sure my dms
are open on Twitter.

Speaker 2 (06:41):
I had to.

Speaker 1 (06:42):
I got the check mark just so I could edit
my stuff. I just I hate typos and sometimes you
make one, so hence I've got that. I think my
dms are open there or Instagram at Jason Mbryant and
access Jason Mbryant so or if you're a newsletter subscriber,
just reply to the email. That's the way you can
do it. So I want to get more questions answer
from you guys out there. I've got a lot of
historical information on my disposal, you know, short of making picks,

(07:05):
because I really don't do that much once we get
to the NCAA season.

Speaker 2 (07:09):
I did some Duels of the Week last year. That
was fun.

Speaker 1 (07:11):
But again, just where am I better is answering questions
about the history, the dynamics of rankings and backstats and
figures that it's kind of my wheelhouse. It's you know,
it's not super glamorous, and it's it's not sexy, but
it's you know, it's educational. So I'm here to educate.
I'm here to help the wrestling community know more about
the sport. You know, You're not going to learn technique

(07:33):
for me. That's for dang shore.

Speaker 2 (07:35):
So what can I help you with? That's what I
want to know.

Speaker 1 (07:38):
Drop me a message via you know, Instagram, Twitter, x,
whatever the heck you want to call it, or email
Jasonibriant Wrestling dot com with your questions.

Speaker 2 (07:45):
That's what I got.

Speaker 1 (07:46):
So today we're going to start out with Quincy Osbourne,
the head coach at Concordia in Morehead, Minnesota, and then
we will roll right through here on the Short Time
Wrestling Podcast.

Speaker 2 (07:56):
Oh wait, I forgot my clothes. Yes.

Speaker 1 (07:57):
As always, I'd like to thank you for spending your
time with me because you've always got time for rambling
diet tribes. At the beginning of the show for Short Time,
cue the woo whoo. All right, Quincy Osbourne, head coach
of the Cobbers, where you feared the ear. When you're
in Morehead, Minnesota starting off the year here at the
Augie Invitational. This is something that's been on your calendar

(08:19):
since you were an athlete here and you bring your
squad here every year. What's it like this kickoff the
year kind of back in some familiar territory for you.

Speaker 2 (08:25):
That's a lot of fun.

Speaker 3 (08:26):
Again, just take a trip now Memory Lane and now honestly,
I took a nice little walk this morning after weigh
ins and just kind of explored the area. But it's
a good competition, it's exciting to be here. They brought
in a couple of new Jersey teams, so we're just
pumped about what they offer here at this tournament. It's
a great opportunity for our guys to test themselves and
then hopefully get better from it.

Speaker 1 (08:45):
The Division III level, you've got large rosters where you've
got to keep your kids that aren't on your starting roster,
give them a lot of matt time. Here, you've got
a goal of silver and different divisions. When you're building
a schedule, how important is it for your number two,
number three.

Speaker 2 (08:58):
Guys to get matches in fine tournaments like this.

Speaker 3 (09:01):
That's one of the things I love about D three
is that you know there we don't red shirt, and
the way our schedule works is we're not really a
dual meet based schedule, So we go to a lot
of tournaments and we bring our whole roster, so everybody
on our team gets exposed to college wrestling and the
opportunity to develop out on the mat, and I think
that's the best way to do that.

Speaker 1 (09:21):
You you started out as a D one athlete, came as,
came in as a D three athlete, Now you're a
D three coach. When you're in a living room trying
to talk to a kid that may have those Division
one aspirations, how much of your own experience do you say, Hey,
you know what, if you want to give that a try,
and give it a try.

Speaker 2 (09:34):
But we're here waiting for you.

Speaker 1 (09:35):
How do you sell your program, maybe not necessarily as
the first shot through, or maybe it's a second shot through.

Speaker 2 (09:40):
How do you sell it in both both avenues?

Speaker 3 (09:43):
I guess you know what I what I focus on
is what we provide, and I think people can get
fixated on what division you are and what that might be.
I know, all levels of college, it's a it's a
serious commitment, certainly at the Division three level.

Speaker 2 (09:56):
You know, to win, especially a national title these days,
you've got.

Speaker 3 (09:59):
To be guy that's really the talent of at least
a roster guy in D one, And you see all
the time D three and D two are very comparable
in talent. So I really just focus on we're the
whole picture. We're not just a wrestling program. Yes, we're
very serious about that, but for us, academics are a
big thing at Concordia and we take that very seriously
on our team.

Speaker 2 (10:19):
So I just really focus on that.

Speaker 3 (10:21):
It's up for the up to them to decide whether
they want to take a shot at D one.

Speaker 2 (10:25):
But I know we have guys on our roster and and.

Speaker 3 (10:27):
Guys and other programs at the Division III level that
had those opportunities. But they see it as the whole
picture and the right fit in all areas. And that's
that's what I'm trying to sell when I when I,
you know, get in front of people about our program.

Speaker 2 (10:39):
I've got family lives at in Fargo.

Speaker 1 (10:41):
Now, I always joke that you've got to be a
special kind of tough and do the winners out in
the Fargo Moorhead area type of kid you recruit, the
Western Minnesota kid, the Dakota kid. This is something that
they're not they're not really scared off by the location.
How does that work in your favor?

Speaker 3 (10:55):
Well, I think, you know, of course Fargo always is,
you know, has that stigma to it. But I was
just talking to a kid from Nevada the other day,
and you know that that came up and I'm like, look,
you know, there's no such thing as bad weather. There's
just bad clothing. You bundle up. It's winter time. Wrestling's
pretty good down in places like Iowa and places that
are cold. We take some pride in that, but you know, again,
I think it's what you make of it.

Speaker 1 (11:17):
It's been some changes in terms of how the layout
is a Division three wrestling programs are being added left
and right. We've got them, a lot of being added
in the Northeaster's programs being added in the South. What's
your general viewpoint on how the division has been growing
the last ten years specifically.

Speaker 3 (11:31):
Well, again, that's the thing that I think people will
underestimate about Division three.

Speaker 2 (11:35):
There's there's far more programs.

Speaker 3 (11:36):
Just by the mass of you know, participants, you're gonna
end up with some good wrestlers. So I think it's
exciting to see. I'd love to see more D three
wrestling out west of US, as.

Speaker 2 (11:46):
You know, we're kind of on that fringe.

Speaker 3 (11:47):
And then there's a couple of programs way out all
the way on the West coast, but you know, there's
not a lot of Division three wrestling, you know in
the in the Western States or passed off, So I'd
love to see.

Speaker 2 (11:58):
More developed there.

Speaker 3 (11:58):
But I think it's any any any programs getting added
are good for the sports, so I see it as
a real positive.

Speaker 2 (12:04):
What are your program goals this year?

Speaker 3 (12:06):
You know, I've kind of changed my outlook quite a bit,
and you know, I'm fixated for a lot of years
of my life on outcomes, and I'm a hyper competitive
individual and I coach a lot of competitive guys.

Speaker 2 (12:17):
I truly focus on process this tournament.

Speaker 3 (12:20):
Our goal at this tournament is to go out and
compete with the right energy, attack our plan, and just
continue to get better and bring a lot of positive
energy and enthusiasm, and I think the outcomes will take
care of themselves.

Speaker 1 (12:32):
Next up, it's the head coach of the College of
New Jersey Lions, Joe Galante.

Speaker 2 (12:36):
All Right, the first question we've got for TC.

Speaker 1 (12:38):
And j Ghost Joe glaniis team pork Roll or Team
Taylor Ham.

Speaker 4 (12:41):
I was before you even asked the question, I was
gonna say pork Roll.

Speaker 2 (12:45):
South Jersey Baby. I was all with Airy Brothers. They
were just so excited to hear me talk about the
story with pork roll, what why is it? Why is
it pork role? Why is it not Taylor Ham.

Speaker 5 (12:54):
It's really just about where you grow up and what
they call the sandwiches. So I'm definitely pork roll, pork
roleg and she saw pepper ketch up put it on
a plane bagel. If it's if it's in everything bagel,
I'm fine with that too.

Speaker 2 (13:05):
Everything bagel is where it's at. Now, what one.

Speaker 1 (13:08):
We're standing here in Minnesota at Minneapolis and it's not
a national tournament, so this is not normal like bumping
into each other type of locations. But talk a little
bit of why you brought your team out here and
and what you guys have gotten out.

Speaker 2 (13:19):
Of this trip so far.

Speaker 5 (13:21):
Yeah, so we've never made a Midwest trip mid semester before.
We had seen some of these teams over Christmas break
when we used to go down to Sunshine Open in Florida,
and we knew we were gonna have a good team.
It was a good team on paper. We had a
lot of excitement around the around the program. Recently did
some extra fundraising and Dave Malichick invited us out to
wrestle at uw Lacrosse on Thursday.

Speaker 4 (13:40):
That was a that was a really fun match.

Speaker 5 (13:42):
I don't think that we capitalized on some of the
matches that we could have, but again, a great experience
to come into hostile territory and really challenge ourselves as
well as the other team. And then and then Tony
Vallax said, Hey, come come to the Augie Invite.

Speaker 4 (13:57):
Never been here, never been to Augsburg.

Speaker 5 (14:00):
And uh, really cool to see they're set up, how
they run tournaments, have casual conversations. They know at the
national tournament you don't get to kind of sit and
talk and have lunch with guys from other teams. So uh,
to be able to spend time with these guys really
really neat for me. And I think it's awesome for
our guys to wrestle. You know, Augsburg guys love do
youw lacrosse guys? We are hitting Upper Iowa, which are

(14:20):
which are very very tough, and uh, it's just neat
to see competition we don't normally see.

Speaker 1 (14:25):
Yeah, not just the D three in Opper Iowa's Division two,
Minnesota State's Division two.

Speaker 2 (14:28):
You're running the guys like this, and then of.

Speaker 1 (14:30):
Course, uh, Steven's Institute comes comes out here as well,
so you're a crossing passy.

Speaker 2 (14:34):
Wait a minute, we see you guys all the time.

Speaker 5 (14:36):
We actually don't see them that often, but they are
definitely our dual meat rival, and uh it's a it's
a good relationship, it's a healthy rival. We're definitely trying
to challenge each other, get better, run into each other
a lot on recruiting, but always handshakes.

Speaker 4 (14:49):
Even even when you came up to Anthony and.

Speaker 5 (14:51):
I were talking to each other and we're just trying
to try to navigate the Midwest here together.

Speaker 1 (14:55):
Well, you guys are lucky that there's no snow on
the ground. It's it's fifty, it's a little over It
looks like it with snow. If you looked outside and
be like, oh, it looks cold now a little wendy,
a little fifty to fifty.

Speaker 2 (15:04):
Degrees so not bad for a post October. I mean,
it's snowed on Halloween here.

Speaker 5 (15:07):
I had a vest and a jacket on this morning,
and they were making fun of me. They asked me
if I was cold and night I did have to
say yes, I would never make it out here, and uh,
I'm just glad they didn't go to calling me city
slicker in the coaches meeting.

Speaker 1 (15:20):
Well, considering this, this school is in the middle of Minneapolis.
I mean University of Minnesota is literally across the street.
So when we look but you look around, you're talking
about the facilities and stuff. You know, Division III schools
that have really made an investment in wrestling. You've seen
it at other places in Iowa as well. You know
there's good programs out east and you walk in Augsburg
and you count there's there's there's fifteen banners hanging up there.

(15:42):
How do you look at that as a coach and
be like, all right, how do you get your kids
to look at those banners and be like, this.

Speaker 2 (15:47):
Is what we're striving for.

Speaker 5 (15:48):
Yeah, So one of the first things that I that
I did was look at the years, and then I
thought about the years that were missing, and then I
thought this opposite.

Speaker 2 (15:55):
Banners are hanging.

Speaker 5 (15:56):
In Wartburg's gym, which is pretty neat and never been
there either. And we've got five titles of our own.
So from seventy nine to eighty seven TCNJ, the Trenton
State won five national titles in that I look at
that every single day, and trips like this will help
our guys get back to that mindset, and I think, Chris,
we wouldn't be here without our alumni support. So the

(16:16):
people that built the tradition understand how important it is
to come to these type of events and get this
type of experience that's not just the national duels and
not the nationals or the regionals. They recognize how important
it is. So does my administration, and I thank them
for that. So we talk about it, but it's definitely
not our focus. Our focus is just getting better every
single day.

Speaker 2 (16:34):
How many kids did you bring on this trip?

Speaker 1 (16:36):
We brought fifteen guys, so fifteen so you got obviously
your starters and five extras that are probably going to
you know, see Matt time. And I was talking with
Quincy alsbourna coin of Corty earlier. You know they're three
and a half hours away. They bring a large group.
The opportunity to get Matt time on these trips is important.
You got all these tournaments in Division III, where you
know you've got a room full forty guys, you got
to keep thirty more busy.

Speaker 2 (16:56):
How do you build your schedule around events like that?

Speaker 5 (16:59):
Yeah, we definitely have enough events for all of our wrestlers,
and even our guys who are not starters, we'll get
twenty twenty five, even thirty matches if they go deep
into the tournaments.

Speaker 2 (17:08):
We left a couple assistant coaches.

Speaker 5 (17:10):
Home that can run the room while we're gone, so
nothing really the machine doesn't stop that. They keep going
and they keep getting better, which I really like. And
I think these trips are cool too, because you're connecting
guys in car rides and in hotel rooms and in
the lobby in ways that they've never been connected before.
So in a positive way, you're forcing them to hang
out with each other and have experience in the grocery

(17:31):
store and so on and so forth.

Speaker 4 (17:32):
So I think that's culture building.

Speaker 5 (17:34):
I think it's really positive for our guys, older guys,
younger guys, and again just really neat and fun.

Speaker 1 (17:39):
Also an opportunity to get them to bond on the road,
going to a climate that's not Florida, whereas, Okay, this
is gonna be what it's like in March, coming out
to the Midwestern Nationals.

Speaker 4 (17:47):
Yeah, all of it's really good.

Speaker 5 (17:48):
Getting on two planes, waking up early in the morning,
forgetting the scale, forgetting to pack the right bag, and
you know.

Speaker 4 (17:56):
I got a freshman right now, he's got three and
a half strikes. We give my son five strikes and.

Speaker 5 (18:00):
He's got three and a half right now, So uh,
he's got to make it home. He's got about two
more days and he's only got one and a half
more strikes to go.

Speaker 1 (18:07):
Talking about this year's season, you know, we got the
Nationals coming to Providence of Johnson and Wales Line. He's
been looking forward to this for a long time and
again a program up in the Northeast that's truly helped
raise the level of that Northeast region or whatever the
regions are named. Now, what are you looking forward to
this season with your program.

Speaker 4 (18:21):
Yeah, when it's on the East Coast, our fans chomp
at the bit.

Speaker 5 (18:23):
We had a really good following at Hershey, we always
have great groups coming down to Virginia. So we always
like it when it's on the East Coast and that's
special for us and just nice to drive instead of fly.
So again, it made it almost possible to do this
type of trip because we're only flying one at a
time and that's and.

Speaker 4 (18:38):
That's the National Duel.

Speaker 5 (18:39):
So we've already got seats sold, We've We've already got
hotels booked for for our fans, and uh, we're really
gonna try and rally around this this fun this fun team,
very very competitive and they have they have the talent.
I'm missing the word, but they're ready to go.

Speaker 2 (18:59):
Enjoy the wall and the cheese. Kurts.

Speaker 5 (19:01):
I wanted a muskie while I was here. To be
very honest with you, I know we have twenty four
hours before our flight tomorrow. If I can find a musky,
I'm gonna do it.

Speaker 1 (19:08):
The fish of ten thousand casts is the musky that
Coach Gallanny was talking about. We didn't find any of
those type of muskies. But what we did find was
Mike d'erne, the head coach of Lake Lean University. They're
the Muskies. Hey, he's next now with coach Mike derone
two point zero at Lake lind Is. This is your
second stint as a Muskie. We just had Coach Gallany

(19:28):
at GCNJ looking for some muskie. I don't think this
is what he had in mind, but Augie invite kind
of kicks off the season a lot for the Upper
Midwest schools. You guys are just over the border in Wisconsin.
Maybe not that close over the border. But you know,
a tournament like this, you've got your starters, you get
some time, you got your your your reserves to get
quality time, and these these other other brackets. And what's
a tournament like this, dude, to set the tone for

(19:50):
the season for you?

Speaker 6 (19:51):
Oh man, it's it's a great barometer just for like,
you know, you got such a great mix of teams
to say, Okay, well why do we need to work
work on here?

Speaker 7 (20:00):
Where's the top of the mountain too?

Speaker 6 (20:02):
With uh, you know, obviously you got Augsburg in here,
but then you got d two squads like Upper Iowa
and Minnesota State and Cato.

Speaker 7 (20:09):
I mean, you got the college in New Jersey out here,
Stevens Tech.

Speaker 6 (20:12):
And so you're seeing, you know, all teams that are
top ten ish, you know, nationally, and so it just
it gives us some good data to come in compete,
get in positions, watch the.

Speaker 7 (20:27):
Video, figure out what we need to work on in practice.

Speaker 6 (20:29):
I mean it's only you know, mid November, so ideally
it's a long season and ideally we're wrestling into mid March,
and so tournament like this you see some really high
level competition, figure out you know, Okay, what is it
going to look like at the national tournament. It's gonna
look very similar to this as far as the skills
being used, the grit, the toughness, the position, you know,

(20:50):
match strategy, all that stuff, and so gives us some
good data and things that we can use to keep
helping our young men develop.

Speaker 2 (20:58):
Now this is your second state, Lakeland. What was the
drive to bring you back?

Speaker 6 (21:02):
Well, it's a long story and for a short little interview,
I'm just going to keep it real short. But essentially,
my wife and I we originally met at Lakeland my
first time there, and her family is from that area
and she wanted to move back to raise our kids
around grandma and grandpa. After the COVID shutdown, and so
I was out of coaching one year a servant as
a high school strength coach, and that was okay, but

(21:24):
I really missed wrestling, coaching wrestling, and basically I was
praying that, you know, an opportunity would open up, but
we were we were moving, so I thought I was
going to be done coaching.

Speaker 7 (21:36):
There was no opportunity.

Speaker 6 (21:37):
And then I would say, by the grace of God,
kind of athletic director at Lakeland called It was like
late July of maybe August twenty two, and she said, hey,
our coach left unexpectedly. School starting in a few weeks.
We heard you're back in the area. Do you think
you'd want to come back? And I said, oh, my gosh,

(21:58):
I missed wrestling. Can I come tomorrow? So that's what
brought me back. Unfortunately, the program was in a really
really rough spot when I got in there. You know,
years ago we used to have a you know, a
very healthy team, highly competitive team, and came back and
there was only three wrestlers on the team. So I
literally recruited a foreign exchange student from Japan, so we

(22:21):
have four guys to have even practice partners.

Speaker 7 (22:23):
And that was our start.

Speaker 6 (22:24):
And man, so we're just we're on the rebuild and
things are trending positive. We've got a long way to go,
but we're just kind of focusing on, you know, the
kids that we have and continuing to recruit and build
this thing back up into you know, a nationally respected
program that just produces good young men and the whole
entire goal of our program is making sure that they

(22:46):
leave as very well prepared and successful graduates.

Speaker 1 (22:48):
Now you've been a program builder every place you've been,
whether it be at the State Association, whether it be
different colleges. When you're now back at Lakeland, what is
the selling point to the Wisconsin high school athlete. It's like,
you know, there's only one do you want to in
the state and there's a lot of competitive de threes
is a really good D two in there.

Speaker 2 (23:03):
So how do you sell Lakeland to the state kids?

Speaker 6 (23:06):
Well, I would say not just to the state kids.
I would say, you know, we're recruiting. Uh, we've been
recruiting heavily into into Michigan. We've had a lot of
Indiana kids coming up, so we'd love to get you know,
more Wisconsin kids, but we're not just there.

Speaker 7 (23:20):
So the selling point to Lakeland is a lot of
different things.

Speaker 6 (23:26):
You know.

Speaker 2 (23:26):
Number one is our co op program.

Speaker 7 (23:28):
So Lakeland is the only college in.

Speaker 6 (23:30):
The Midwest that offers cooperative education for every major, which
means that students that come to Lakeland can get a
job while they're in school that is related to their
eventual career and they can earn academic credit for that
towards their degree while they're getting paid and they're building

(23:50):
a really great resume.

Speaker 2 (23:53):
It sounds a lot like Drexel.

Speaker 6 (23:55):
Okay, I'm not as familiar, but yeah, I mean, we
have so many guys on our team that are taking
advantage of it. And you can earn up to one
full year of academic credit in our co op program.
So since I've been back now for I'm in year
three technically, but the first year things were in such
rough shape. I said that was year zero, So I'm

(24:15):
in year two. I guess I would say we've had
two guys graduate in three years because they're taking advantage
of the co op and so you know, and I've
had four guys graduate. Every single guy has graduated with
a job in their field before graduation. And again that
ties back to the mission of how we That's that's

(24:37):
what I believe, like what we're doing this for, especially
at the D three level is I mean, I'm as
I'm as passionate of a wrestling junkie as anyone, but
to me, I feel like I'm failing them as their
coach if if they win wrestling matches, but then they
have to ask their parents if they can move in
their basement, and you know, unless they really want to,

(24:57):
like work at a hardware store or pump or something like.
To me, it's like, hey, we got to make sure
that these guys are leaving as very well prepared, successful
people into the real world, and wrestling should obviously enhance
that experience. And so the co op really kind of
fits well with like my mission as a coach.

Speaker 7 (25:15):
And then, uh, you know what we're trying to do
to help people succeed.

Speaker 6 (25:18):
And so that's probably the the the niche as far
as you know, to sell kids on Lakeland. And then
outside of that, I think it's you know, Lakeland isn't
for everybody, but to me that's one of the things
that makes it special too. As for everybody, it's not
very special, right, And so it's a it's a small community.

(25:39):
Your teachers are literally gonna know you're not just the teachers,
the janitor, you know, the everyone at the at the campus.
It just has such a family feel to it and
it's really hard to describe unless you unless you come
and uh, and I'm gonna go ahead and issue a
challenge while I'm on the air here to have Jason
Bryant come to announce a home duel meet for us.

Speaker 2 (26:00):
All Right, we'll have to work on the schedule and
check out the drive time. I think we can make
that happen.

Speaker 6 (26:04):
Yes, oh, that would be fantastic. Just we'd love to
have you coming to one of our home events. I
believe that our home wrestling meets are an event that
includes wrestling. Like you and I could watch wrestling and
be the only people in the gym watching, But we're
trying to build a fan base and so when it
comes to you know, making it a fun environment for

(26:24):
our guys to compete in, but also to draw some
of those kids out of the dorms come out watch.
So we're gonna do stuff like we'll do a light show,
we'll do we'll do fog, we'll do t shirts for takedowns,
or pizza for pins or all these different things. It's
almost I think about home duel meets should very much

(26:45):
be similar in nature to a minor league baseball game.
Like there's other fun things that are gonna draw people
to come out. And then hopefully if we wrestle a
really exciting style. You know, most of the people even
coming in, they don't even know most of the rules.
So as long as our guys go out and fight
their butt off out there, you know, get a good
lift in return slam the guy down the kid in

(27:06):
your biology class.

Speaker 8 (27:07):
Thanks, you got points for that.

Speaker 6 (27:08):
But he's like, man, that kid's pretty tough, right, and
so let's wrestle an exciting style with all the other
things that make it an event, so that as people
are walking out of the gym that night, they say, hey, coach,
when's the next one?

Speaker 7 (27:22):
That's always the measuring stick for me. So I'd love
to have you come out and join us.

Speaker 2 (27:27):
I'd love to make that happen one day. Thanks coach.

Speaker 7 (27:29):
Hey, thanks sar, thanks for having me.

Speaker 2 (27:30):
Man, you see what he did there.

Speaker 1 (27:33):
Now I actually have to look that up on the
map and see how do I get there and how
that schedule is going to work for next year. Don't
think it's going to work for this year. My schedule's
pretty full. But somebody who's schedule is very full now
is the new head coach at Central College that is
in Iowa. It's Landon Williams. He was a Division III
national champion at Wartburg. Yeah, let's see what land has
got to say about his first year. First couple of

(27:53):
weeks actually, of the season on the job there at
Landon Williams, a head coach at Central College. They are
the Proud Dutch even though your last name doesn't evoke
anything that is Dutch. What's it like to immerse yourself
into Central Dutch territory.

Speaker 9 (28:07):
It's been great.

Speaker 10 (28:08):
Obviously, we have a lot of support and a lot
of you know, people that are excited.

Speaker 9 (28:12):
About this year and you know where we're going as
a program.

Speaker 10 (28:16):
We were able to bring in twenty four new wrestlers
to add to our twenty something returners, so obviously having
forty nine guys and you know a good handful of
coaches that want to help these guys get better every day.

Speaker 9 (28:31):
You know, there's a lot of excitement around Central Wrestling.

Speaker 1 (28:34):
Coming through Wartburg, which is a program in every sense
of the word. You go that there's you got the
big dinners at the end of Nationals, You've got the
big speeches of senior speeches.

Speaker 2 (28:43):
And all the things. Then you go to Grand You
and you see it. Nick Mitchell's done the same thing there.
It came from Wartburg.

Speaker 1 (28:48):
What are you going to employ from what you learned
under Coach Keller at Wartburg and your experience that you're
going to bring into Central when you've also got a
very very wrestling favorable boss in Eric Van Clay.

Speaker 10 (28:58):
Yeah, I mean, obviously I'm grateful for what I learned
as an athlete and my time coaching at Warburg. But
the good part is, you know, I know what we
did to be great there, and I'm gonna bring those
processes over to Central. You know, it won't it won't
be the same stuff, but it'll it'll take what I
feel we can we can use and then you know,

(29:19):
make it our own. And then obviously the goal, you know,
is to put out a great product. And you know,
obviously coach Van Clay and in that position is you know,
great thing to have because he wants what's best for
our student athletes and for the program, and he left
he left it great for us, you know, and.

Speaker 9 (29:40):
He's awesome to go for.

Speaker 10 (29:42):
Advice too, And obviously I'm gonna keep learning of KYD operate.
But obviously the goal is to uh build this program.

Speaker 1 (29:49):
When you look at the world of wrestling in Iowa,
you so many of your high school coaches come from
programs like Warburg, Central, bv UH now Grand View as
they've been on the scene.

Speaker 2 (29:59):
What's what's the importan and so.

Speaker 1 (30:00):
Teaching your wrestlers to love the sport even when they're
done with it in college.

Speaker 10 (30:04):
Yeah, I mean, obviously, I hope you know, when guys
you know leave here, they're thinking at a higher level
and they want.

Speaker 9 (30:11):
To be involved in the sport in some way.

Speaker 2 (30:13):
Right.

Speaker 10 (30:14):
We have a few kids currently on this on the
staff that are on the roster that is getting into
some freestyle refing. So whatever way that they can stay involved,
whether it's refing, coaching you know, at the college or
high school level, or even the youth level, right, I
just want to see more guys be involved and stay
involved because that's how we grow the sport and obviously

(30:35):
that's how we get what it means to be a
Central Dutch wrestler out there in the community.

Speaker 2 (30:40):
What are your program goals for Central?

Speaker 10 (30:43):
My program goals is to you know, put out a
great product and you know, be competitive in the American
Rivers Conference, and then obviously start with the individuals we
have and make them as great as they possibly can be,
and then go out and be an option for guys.
You know, we're forty five minutes south of Des Moines,
so it's you know, it's a good wrestling area and

(31:04):
we have amazing facilities and top notch education, you know.

Speaker 9 (31:07):
And the great part is.

Speaker 10 (31:10):
We have a lot of support and I want, you know,
I want to be an option for everyone you know
in Iowa to come and get better.

Speaker 1 (31:18):
Starting the season here. A lot of a lot of
the teams in the Upper Midwest Division three come in here.
We've got Upper Iowa Division two, Minnesota states, who falls
is over, got a couple of Jersey squads coming out
here this year.

Speaker 2 (31:27):
Aggie invites kind of.

Speaker 1 (31:28):
An unofficial, official, unofficial start to a lot of the
Division three season in the Upper Midwest.

Speaker 2 (31:33):
What is it about this event that you like for
your program?

Speaker 10 (31:35):
I like this for this tournament a lot, you know,
just for you know, having a freshman division and a
gold division right our whole roster can get some really
really good matches, you know.

Speaker 9 (31:45):
And we've been coming here, you know, when I was.

Speaker 10 (31:46):
An assistant coach at Warburg for many years. So it's
something I wanted to keep doing with Central because I
think that these matches prepare you for for the end
of the year and you're going to be in tough
matches all across divisions, and that's what we're looking for,
or we're looking for matches that we can prepare and
learn off of and I think that's what we'll be doing.

Speaker 9 (32:06):
You know, we're seeing a.

Speaker 10 (32:06):
Lot of success here today, but we're going to learn
and build off of it and get better.

Speaker 1 (32:12):
Only ten guys can start in the NCAA competition. You've
got a room you're talking about of almost fifty. How
do you keep those other thirty forty guys engaged throughout
the course of the season.

Speaker 10 (32:22):
Yeah, I mean that's important, and obviously everyone knows that
they will get you know, at our program, we have
the resources. We get everyone around thirty matches, which is important,
you know, So we take them you know, early on
and even throughout the year to keep them engaged and
then give them roles, make them feel a part of it, right,
whether whether helping with the strength conditioning program, whether you know,
helping you know in different ways, but making them feel

(32:45):
part of it, because everyone's important, you know, and everyone
can bring value in some way, right regardless of if
you win all the matches or you don't win any matches.
So they know that being a part of our program
means something, and you know that they are important.

Speaker 1 (32:59):
So we don't have the limitations on you know, a
number of coaches that are allowed to be with the program.
And Division three you got a lot of volunteer coaches,
weekend Warriors and such. What have you done to build
a staff there?

Speaker 10 (33:08):
I mean the great part is we have a full
time assistant and then we have another two coaches that
work at the school. But then I found some guys
that I knew in the area, you know, and brought
in brought in a handful of guys that will be volunteers.
So we have a total of eight coaches, and guys
have done at all levels, you know, a couple time
an AI All Americans Division one qualifier and Carter Eisley.

(33:31):
And I mean the biggest thing is if we're gonna
have a roster of forty nine guys, those guys need
coaches that can invest in them and help them be better.
And I mean the good part about the staff is
it's selfless and it wants was best for the guys.
And that's important to me, right because once you're done
doing this as an athlete, it's all about the guys.

Speaker 9 (33:49):
And I love my staff and I know that that's
what they're about.

Speaker 2 (33:52):
So I have best of luck this year.

Speaker 9 (33:54):
Thank you appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (33:56):
One of the more dynamic heavyweights in recent years in
Division two was at Muellers, who is a two time
national champion and three time national finalists at Northern State. Now,
what's interesting, acts, jeez, I had to look this up
for a second recent years, man, he was first, first, second.
Actually he went eight one to one to two from
twenty ten to twenty thirteen. This is over a decade ago, man,

(34:17):
recent memory. Anyway, Matt is back in the Upper Midwest.
He's from Central Minnesota, and he'd spent some time coaching
at the Division one level. Now back with the University
of Sue Falls as it restarts its wrestling program and
had a program in the NAIA and then they dropped
it as the school moved to Division two. Now they
brought it back men's and women's wrestling, and Matt is
in his second year there. Caught up with him as

(34:37):
he brought his young squad into Augsburg. Now Matt Mueller's
head coach at the University of Sue Falls making its
second entry into the world of wrestling. Year second year there.
First of all, what's your general impressions of the place
so far? On what's it like building your own program?

Speaker 2 (34:52):
It's been good.

Speaker 11 (34:52):
You know, it's fun being a new program.

Speaker 12 (34:55):
It's it's a lot of work, you know, competing with
a lot of younger guys, but we feel like we're
off to a good start. We got thirty five guys
on our team this year, so, you know, things we
didn't have last year, like depth and numbers, we have
that this year to where if injuries come up, we
just continue to fill lineup and go out and compete
with the teams in the conference. But yeah, we're excited.
We got a good you know, our campus is great.

(35:16):
We have good facilities at USF. It's just a matter
of you know, continuing to get our name out there
and keep working hard on the recruiting trail and getting
you know, more kids to join.

Speaker 1 (35:24):
What we're doing now kind of a daunting task. And Okay,
we're going to start a new program. Oh and we're
going to be in the Northern Sun which is like
the Big ten of Division two wrestling.

Speaker 2 (35:33):
You came through there.

Speaker 1 (35:34):
So it provides some unique challenges with recruiting because there's
really good recruiters, really good teams in the conference. So
how did you take that challenge head on?

Speaker 11 (35:43):
Yeah, like I knew it was an uphill climb.

Speaker 12 (35:45):
The big thing that we try to focus on recruiting
is what separates us F from the other schools. You know,
what do we have that's different or can separate us?
And you know, we feel like we have a good
little spot where you know, we have like that Division
three type education.

Speaker 11 (35:58):
We're four year private school.

Speaker 12 (36:00):
We're we're not expensive as other private schools. You know,
we're more expensive than a state school, but are you
you know, are all in costs like thirty one thousand,
It's really not that bad. After you know, we get
academic scholarships and athletic scholarships, we can knock it down
really competitive with the state school crisis pretty quick, which
I think has gone a long way for us, helping
us get some better recruits with that part, but really

(36:22):
just finding you know, the fit that's right for us
in Sioux Falls.

Speaker 2 (36:26):
Spend some time, you know, around the coaching ranks.

Speaker 1 (36:28):
What have you learned about your other staffs that you're
going to bring you know, from your experience as an
athlete at Northern State and you're coaching Stints and Division
one that you're gonna bring to USF.

Speaker 11 (36:37):
Just the mentality that the guy's got to train with
and compete with.

Speaker 6 (36:40):
You know.

Speaker 12 (36:40):
We we really look for kids that love wrestling and
want to want to go out and wrestle, love competing,
you know, and then just like working in the Ivy League,
like learning how to look for different things or like
what different things that we can find that helps kids win,
you know that we can translate into wins into college
level and then at cal State just you know, how
to stretch a dollar really, you know, like what are

(37:03):
some tricks we can do to stretch a dollar and
do some things a little bit differently and be more
creative to get things done. And I've been able to
you know, use some things from everywhere I've been to
help get us off to what I feel like is
a pretty good start.

Speaker 1 (37:16):
Yea, your ad was really adamant about the excitement about
adding both men's and women's wrestling when that announce became.

Speaker 2 (37:21):
What's a relationship like with the women's program.

Speaker 12 (37:24):
It's good, you know it. We see them every day.
They practice right after we do. They got some girls
in the nursing program, so they got to go late.
But it's good, you know, it's nice having them and
our guys gonna have you know, more than just guys
on the team, other kids on camps that can relate
to them a little bit more. Because wrestling is such
a different sport compared to everyone else, there's just more
relatable kids. And it's good. They they show up to

(37:46):
our matches. Our guys go to their matches, so it's good.

Speaker 1 (37:49):
You know, we talk about the growth of wrestling, you know,
we're creeping out a lot of new ANAI programs that
in the Great Planes, and of course that's where a
lot of the growth of these college wrestling programs are
but tapping into the resource of you know, South Dakota
North Dakota for example, have been really untapped on the
recruiting world.

Speaker 2 (38:04):
What have you been able to do in your first
two years? But finding those those diamonds in the rough
out there.

Speaker 12 (38:10):
Just watching a lot of results, you know, the South
Dakota kids there, there's a lot more. There's a lot
better kids than you think are out there, just hard
for them to get out of state sometimes, you know,
like we're looking at some kids that are West River
and they you know, for them to get to Des
Moines to go to preseason nationals, they're like, oh yeah, I.

Speaker 11 (38:25):
Drove twelve hours. You know, that's a that's a long ride.

Speaker 12 (38:28):
So getting those kids out of state is is you know,
it's hard and that I think what kind of hurts
them sometimes is they don't get to see them. You know,
if you're in state, you get to see and figure
out who the good kids are. And there's a lot
of good kids in South Dakota. We just got to
get them into our place.

Speaker 1 (38:41):
Now, when you look at the landscape here at the
Augie Invite, it's been on the calendar for these programs
for years.

Speaker 2 (38:47):
Why did you decide to bring your team here.

Speaker 12 (38:50):
I like that there's two divisions where we can get
our freshmen, you know, experience these guys that are freshmen.
So last year, the majority of our team wrestled in
the other gym in the freshman division, which was good
to you know, it was built some confidence for our
guys because we knew we're like, hey, we're actually we're
good at wrestling, right, We're pretty good at wrestling when
we wrestle our own age group. And today we've been
able to see our older guys that have been in

(39:11):
the program for a year. You know, they're in their fourth, fifth, six,
matches here coming up this round, and it's good to
see that we've been able to make that jump in
just one year to where, you know, as we continue
to get more established and more years under our belt as.

Speaker 11 (39:23):
A program, hopefully we have better and better results here.

Speaker 2 (39:27):
Personally, do you like being back out in a part
of the country you're familiar with? Yeah? Love it.

Speaker 12 (39:32):
It's it's awesome. I try to go fishing almost every
weekend if I can.

Speaker 11 (39:36):
It's great.

Speaker 12 (39:37):
Grandparents are only three hours away. My wife's family's from
Younger may Or, she's from the other side of town,
so we are able to see grandparents, are able to
see the grand kids, which it's been really nice being
close to home and I don't have to get into
plane to go home.

Speaker 1 (39:50):
Finally, what are your program goals, whether they be short
term or long term at USF.

Speaker 11 (39:55):
Short term for this year's we want to win more
duels than we did last year. We want to win
some conference ma. Last year we didn't win a conference match.

Speaker 12 (40:02):
We feel like we we could compete a little bit
better just having a year under our bell and then
more national qualifiers, right, who doesn't want more national qualifiers.
We feel like we got some guys that can get
to Nationals, and we want an All American. You know,
I think if we get to get an All American,
that's going to make a big jump for us.

Speaker 1 (40:18):
Finally, we heard from a voice that's actually no stranger
to the short time wrestling podcast and podcasting in general.
It's one of the two co hosts of the D
three Nation podcast D three Nation, which was the National
Wrestling Media Association's Podcast of the Year for twenty twenty
two to twenty three. Anthony Bonaventura ascended to the head
coaching position for Stevens Institute of Technology. They are the Ducks.

(40:40):
Had a Hoboken, New Jersey. Hoboken, New Jersey finds its
way to Minneapolis. Caught up with Anthony as one of
his wrestlers had just come off the mat. And here's
the other Jersey opinion on the Augie invite in coming
out to the Midwest for such a tournament.

Speaker 2 (40:55):
Anthony Bonaventura now here out in Minnesota.

Speaker 1 (40:58):
For some reason, Oh wait, you and you and and
TCNJ decided to hey, let's go to Minnesota right before Thanksgiving.

Speaker 2 (41:05):
What's it been like for you so far?

Speaker 8 (41:07):
Yeah, it's been great. It's been everything we wanted. The
trip to b great competition that's while we're here.

Speaker 1 (41:12):
So when you look at the format of this tournament,
you got you obviously your gold and then your freshman
Software Division and those type of the tournaments are important
for large roster schools or you know, you're getting your
bank for your buck when you come out of here
for the travel. What was it about coming out to
the Augsburg that was enticing?

Speaker 8 (41:26):
Yeah, it just worked for our schedule this year. Always
when we're looking at the schedule after the NCAA Championship
for looking just to see how we can get a
high level duel meet during the week and what tournament's
gonna work out for us, And this year it just
worked out. You know, Augie Invite was this Saturday, and
Laws was gracious enough to meet us halfway at Lacrosse

(41:47):
for a great duel meet. So every year it changes.
We've been to CuW Open, We've been to the Luther Open.
We're just looking for the best competition for our guys
to you know, wrestle great wrestlers and learn where they're
at in November and gets you to get better.

Speaker 1 (42:00):
Coach Galani has talked about with his team, a lot
of team building when getting on the road, getting on
a plane, traveling together that preparation for for the postseason.

Speaker 2 (42:07):
What's it been like for you guys.

Speaker 8 (42:09):
Yeah, it's great. I mean this is really the only
the only time outside of getting ready for the NCA Championhip,
we get on a plane as a team to compete.
And yeah, a lot of team bonding, a lot to
learn from each other while we're out here. We've been
here since Wednesday, head back to New Jersey tomorrow to
get ready for our last competition before Thanksgiving. But these

(42:31):
guys are learning from each other, they're supporting each other.
It's just been great to see and these young guys
really come together and be one.

Speaker 1 (42:39):
You know, and combat sports, they say styles make fights.
Coming out here, you know, you got a lot of
East Coast guys coming and wrestle a bunch of Midwest guys.
What have you noticed in the contrast of wrestling styles
that you guys have had to adjust with?

Speaker 8 (42:50):
Man, there's no there's no off round at these events.
Every every team here has a guy that potentially could
be a starter for a team out on the East Coast. So,
I mean, we've wrestled a lot of Augsburg wrestled Ali Lacrosse.
Luther has a bunch of guys here Central. They're all
really good. You got to be on the entire time.

(43:11):
There's no breaks, and they make you pay when you're
not ready to go.

Speaker 2 (43:15):
You know one thing, you guys are fortunate enough. There's
no snow on the ground right now. Was that a worry?
It was the weather a worry coming to the Midwest.

Speaker 8 (43:22):
Whether it was not the worry, We're okay. It's been
been pretty hot in New Jersey on the east coast,
so I wouldn't mind a little cold weather and some
snow right now.

Speaker 1 (43:31):
To take back with us, you've been pretty active in
leadership in the Division three world. What is your opinion
on the state of Division three wrestling right now?

Speaker 8 (43:38):
I think the state of Division three wrestling is exponentially growing.
We are at seven regionals now, we are at twenty
one man brackets at the NCAA Championships, much needed since
the regional format has been put in the place back
in twenty thirteen. So you never know until you get
into it, right but I think the regional alignmate's gonna
be good for D three. I think we're going to

(43:59):
be able to get the best guys to Division three
championships to make that national championship even better than it's been.

Speaker 1 (44:06):
What's one hurdle the world Division three wrestling has just
continue to overcome.

Speaker 2 (44:09):
In your opinion, the.

Speaker 8 (44:11):
Hurdle is more teams got to get on board for
what we're doing TCNJ coming out, US coming. We need
more crossover outside of national duels. There's not too much crossover.
And if coaches want to see an RPI system in
place or something else in place compared to just the
regular allocations, we need to have crossover. So more coaches
got to get on board. Fundraise, We got to have

(44:34):
more Midwest, East Coast matchups throughout the year and that's
just gonna make for a better NCAA championship.

Speaker 1 (44:40):
Yeah, and talking about the fundraising, because you know different
funding levels. So you know some some Division three programs
have a part time coach, some have full time coaches,
full time assistance. How do you find ways to maybe
share that information with the lesser funded programs, like, hey,
here's what we did to fundraise, here's what works for
these types of programs.

Speaker 8 (44:55):
Yeah, we're not reinventing the wheel. We're taking Uh, we're
taking things that to be one programs are doing right
golf outing pinpool. Uh, just finding ways to promote and
market your school where you get and you get the
fans behind what their donation is going to. This experience
is second to none, and it makes for programs like

(45:16):
US and TC and Jada can continue to get better
and be ready in March. So yeah, don't be afraid
to reach out and ask, but just look around. Teams
are already doing it. They're finding ways to do it,
and I get it. A lot of teams are getting added, right,
So there are a lot of new programs in Division III.
But this experience is something that you need to find
a way to make it happen.

Speaker 2 (45:37):
You know, coach Galana had noticed that they're there.

Speaker 1 (45:39):
He's a they've got some of these banners and their
their gym from from thirty some years ago. You do
the count, there's fifteen national championship banners hanging here at Augsburg.
Have you said anything to your guys, bet paying attention
to those banners and what you guys are trying to attain.

Speaker 8 (45:52):
Yeah, I mean, I'm I'm definitely a historian for the sport.
We know where we're at. This is the two time
defending champs right now. The reason why we're here and
it's something that we want to do at Stevens. We
want to hang a banner. We want to bring a
championship back to the East Coast. So we got to
get out here and wrestle these guys that know how
to do it, you know. But outside of that, they
know where they're at, but you know, they're focusing on

(46:13):
what they need to do and continue to get better
and just improve their wrestling skills so we can hang
a banner in March.

Speaker 2 (46:21):
All right, good luck, see you down the line.

Speaker 8 (46:22):
Awesome, Thanks Jason.

Speaker 1 (46:30):
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