Troy Nickerson takes command at Army West Point

We’ll get a chance to talk with new Army West Point Head Coach Troy Nickerson on Episode 786 of the Short Time Wrestling Podcast.

First up, host Jason Bryant discusses the Hall of Fame Honors Weekend 2025, highlighting the induction of Terry Davis and the 40th anniversary of "Vision Quest." He recounts his experiences in Stillwater, Oklahoma, including interactions with wrestling legends and the local community.
Troy Nickerson, the new head wrestling coach at Army West Point, is introduced. Nickerson expresses his excitement about returning to New York and building on the program's success. He emphasizes the unique challenges and opportunities of coaching at West Point, including the strong culture and the potential for national recruiting. Nickerson also discusses his coaching philosophy and the importance of developing well-rounded individuals.

Want an ad-free version of the show AND the best in wrestling news from around the world? Sign up for the Daily Wrestling Newsletter presented by Resilite on Substack at https://www.mattalkonline.com/news


Links to Follow
Join the Discord: https://www.mattalkonline.com/discord
Daily Wrestling Newsletter: https://www.mattalkonline.com/news
Contribute: https://www.mattalkonline.com/contribute
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/mattalkonline
The Short Time Time Wrestling Podcast is proudly supported by Compound Sportswear: https://www.mattalkonline.com/compound
Quick Subscribe: https://www.Podfollow.com/shorttime
Short Time Wrestling Podcast: Episode 786 –Recorded June 10, 2025

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
WHOA.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
Welcome back again, wrestling fans. It is the short time
Wrestling podcast. Been a Minute. I am your host, Hall
of Fame wrestling writer, broadcaster and announcer Jason Bryant. Today
on the show, we are hopping into the Army West
Point introductory video press conference with Troy Nickerson. Had a
chance to talk with him, asking some questions along with
some other media Seth Mendelssohn in the group. Ken McMillan,

(00:36):
I like to thank Austin Pert for setting that one up.
And you know, we had a few things that it
was supposed to happen yesterday, but we took care of it.
We got it today and ultimately I think it worked
out pretty well. That's on the back end of this episode.
I'm just coming off a weekend in Stillwater, Oklahoma, the
Hall of Fame Honors Weekend twenty twenty five. Just a
tremendous class. And I say this all the time, and

(00:59):
this is one of those things where I go down
there and I have it in my mind that I'm
going to work, I'm gonna do so many interviews, and
ultimately you get down there and being independently employed as
an independent media outlet, here with matt Talk and the
podcast network and having my tie to the Hall of Fame.
Sometimes you go down and you're like, you just take

(01:20):
the moment in for yourself, and that's kind of what
I had the opportunity to do this weekend. Yes, you
have the Legends podcast. We put out the full introductory
tribute brunch show and the full ceremony. I will be
chopping those up into individual segments for those individual honorees,
so we'll have eight additional episodes. So if you're only
interested in the remarks about Ken Mauer or the Meritorious

(01:41):
Service for Officials award, or Terry Davis, the author of
Vision Quest, who he was really overcome by by the
outpouring of support that the rest in community and those
had for the movie. But of course his book, his
novel Vision Quest, which came out of nineteen seventy nine,
is what spawned the book, and Scooter Schultz did a

(02:02):
great job of putting that video together. We even got
Matthew Modine and Frank Jasper to comment on that video.
So it was really good to meet Terry and some
of his family. There a guy that I first met
in two thousand and nine. He's been on this show.
It's been about ten years. Because this is the fortieth
anniversary of Vision Quest. I did a thirtieth anniversary series
with Matthew Modine, Frank Jasper, and Terry Davis about ten

(02:23):
years ago. You can go back and listen to those
interviews at matt Talk online dot com slash Vision Quest.
It was a three part series but honors Weekend Man.
It is so it's so cool because you go in
there Friday, the Friday mixer where you get around. I
joke about this all the time, but it's absolutely one
hundred percent serious. That's a place where you can go
sit there and chat with Dan Gable and John Smith

(02:44):
back to back, or in the same conversation, you can
meet with Bruce Bumgartner. You can shake the hands of
people like Trent Kroll from Oregon and Mark Beaufort who
have done great jobs in their respective states. The state
Hall of Fame committees that do a great job headed
up by Christa Graff. There you get to talk with
Lee Roy Smith and his wife Lisa about what they've
been doing there, and still Water and just Jack Carnifix,

(03:05):
who is a busy body among busy bodies. This guy
never stops moving with this weekend does a great job
honors Weekend. It still Waters a special place and it's
one thing that you know, of course, if you're coming
off the heels of the FRL interview with Jordan Burrows,
he said it too. Still Water is a special place,
but you know it's wrestling culture. Man, I was not in. Said,

(03:27):
let me think. Thursday night, I get in and I
go over to Jay Albright's farm and they have a
little get together for the honorees. It's kind of a
low key barbecue. I mean the stuff out there. I
love grilled meat and it was just I think the
best thing out there was like this barbecue Jalapano cream,
cheesy cream corn. Man, that stuff was. That was lights out.
And then of course I'm a craft beer snob, so
I headed over to Iron Monk and within not two

(03:50):
seconds of me walking into Iron Monk, I sit there.
I go, I go to the bar. I'm gonna order
my flight because I'm a beer snob. Man, I order
like three or four different kinds. I'm sitting there like
my flights. I like to sample the local fair. And
this guy, Brian Brown, who had met a year or
two before without missing a beat just turns, goes Jason Bryant.
I'm like, I am not in a social atmosphere and

(04:11):
still water outside of wrestling people for more than ten
seconds without getting called out. Love it, Love it. Brian
and I had a good chance to talk, a good
time talking wrestling there. Of course I commented on my
wordle scores and my timing on Wordle, which is you
know what, follow me on Twitter if you know, you know,
but opportunity you go to Stillwater. I'm out with Terry Steiner.
We were out visiting Coleman Scott's place at the farm.

(04:33):
We came back to Mexico Joe's. I had a margarita.
He was there with his brother Troy and their family
for Honors weekend, as Troy was an inductee. Our waitress
at Mexico Joe's was one she met. Remarked that she
was one of the first girls on the wrestling team
at Clairemore High School. You just cannot throw a rock
and not hit somebody that has something to do with
wrestling in that town. It's great, and that's not even

(04:54):
when the students are there. You know, I've only experienced
still Water when the students are there like once, and
that was like, you know, at this point, thirteen years ago.
But it's something that if you have an opportunity to go,
if somebody you know, just tangentially goes into the Hall
of Fame, it is so worth the trip because the
history in those walls, the people you get to meet,

(05:16):
getting to see wrestling people when they're not so intense,
they're not jacked up on the adrenaline of coaching or competing.
It's a special place, and it's the Hall the Honors weekend,
it really is. You know, Tim Johnson and Sandy Stevens
do a wonderful job am seeing their particular portions of
the program. We've got the tribute brunch, you know, the

(05:38):
induction ceremony with the foods of various regions. Although Terry
Steiner's mom was not too I was like, wait a minute,
that's not North Dakota. So she made sure she brought
some North Dakota. I don't even know what the stuff
was called. It was sweet, it was like a dessert.
It was good. And then the og like pretzel sticks,

(05:59):
not the ones you might see in the stores, the
OG Company. I don't even know what they were, but
they were. I was told that that the red bag
that you used to seeing in the stores, they got
the recipe from these guys. So I don't want to
throw anybody under the bus in terms of who is
kipe and recipes from who. But I learned some stuff
about North Dakota. And you learn so much about wrestling.
You hear the stories, you see the emotion. I just

(06:19):
I can't talk about how much I love it enough.
I mean, it's one of those trips that I don't
get paid to go there. This is not a not
a trip where I get to benefit because you know
I have my standing in wrestling. This is on my
own dime. I'm staying there. I'm paying my own tabs
except for the one night Brian picked up the beers.
Thanks for that, man.

Speaker 3 (06:35):
You know.

Speaker 2 (06:35):
I'm getting my hotel, I'm getting my flights, I'm getting
my rental cars like you know. This is this is
something that I'm going because I love it for the sport.
I'm just like you. I get to go to this place.
I have to go the every opportunity you can do
it too. As part of the general public in whof
dot org, and you usually look for the the announcement
class in October and you can make your plans because

(06:56):
it really is. This is a yes, it's glowing testimonial
for Honors weekend, but you really you won't have a
bad time. You get an opportunity to go. Now, I
met up with the David Taylor's dad Dave, where he's
also a bit of a craft beers. Now we met
over at Stonecloud and with Tom Scully and his wife.
We had just you have a good time talking wrestling. Yes,

(07:16):
this is the name drop, but that's what you can
get to do. You could sit there and just talk
wrestling non stop and it not be annoying for anybody
unless okay, you hang around me too much. It's probably
a little bit annoying, little self deprecation there. But that's
what I've got about Hall of Fame Honors Weekend. Again.
You can go to the Hall of Fame Legends show.
It is also in the Matt Talk online feed if

(07:37):
you want to get that and something. If I haven't
pitched this a lot lately, because we've been on we're
coming up on ten. We've passed ten years on the
Daily Wrestling newsletter presented by our friends at result ten
years of almost daily wrestling news. Now I do take
take breaks and trips after travel, so it's not three
hundred and sixty five days a year, but you're getting
this email newsletter with the day's news. Now I can

(07:58):
embed the podcast I can, and bed YouTube videos I can,
I can pull clips and tweets. It's it's just a
little bit more robust than it used to be with
that boring kind of mailchimp thing that you'd get to
be like the same headline all the time. I changed
the headlines daily. I give you what's what's in there?
Like for example today I'm recording this. On June tenth,
Delaware State made their first women's coaching higher. Edinburgh made

(08:18):
their first women's coaching higher. Troy Nickerson as is going
to be the guest on this episode. Army West Point
made it's higher. Update on Ben Askrin. Of course, thoughts
and prayers with with Amy and the family there, and
you know, I reached out to Max a couple of
days ago just kind of check it in, and you
know it's you know, Ben's the guy that we all
even if you don't like Ben, you like Ben because

(08:42):
he's been he's been a disc golf partner. He's been
a broadcast partner here and there. We've we've we've traded,
we've collaborated on some few things. He's just been, you know,
a fun goofy dude we saw come through and kind
of kind of change the game in wrestling. And he's
doing it with his his academies and with him and
Max and everybody involved with asking Wrestling Academy and goes
at the family. So we're thinking about you, buddy. We're

(09:03):
hoping you get back and get back on your feet soon.
We're all thinking about you as we move forward. We're
going to talk with Troy Nickerson. This is the introductory
press conference here on the Short Time Wrestling Podcast, and
it's been a while, but as always, i'd like to
thank you for spending your time with me, because you've
always got time for Short Time.

Speaker 4 (09:20):
Cue the WU who Welcome media, Welcome head coach class
of nineteen seventy two, head men's wrestling coach here at
Army West Point Troy Nickerson to the Helm. This will
serve as his introductory press conference. I will let Coach
Nickerson give an opening statement and then we will open
this up to questions. So Coach Nickerson go ahead.

Speaker 5 (09:44):
Yeah, no, thank you, Thank you Jason ken Sath for
being here.

Speaker 3 (09:49):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (09:50):
I'm truly, truly honored and humbled to be named the
class nineteen seventy two head wrestling coach at Army West Point.
This process has has been has been quick. It's been
a lot, but you know, really it's it's an exciting
time for me and my family. We are really excited

(10:10):
to get out to New York and and get to work.
You know, right now we're juggling a lot of different things,
trying to kind of coordinate the move and what things
look like. But you know, this is, uh, you know,
something that when this job came available, was something that
immediately was of high interest to me. For the longest time,

(10:30):
I've had the utmost respect for for West Point and
just these cadets and what they do. You know, the
rigors they go through from you know, obviously their military commitments,
but to the academics, the wrestling piece. Trying to juggle
all that as cadet athletes. It's it's not easy. But
you know, as as I went through the process and

(10:51):
and got to know a lot of the people, what
really struck me that was special about West Point was
the people, right, and that started at the top with
General Gillen and THEO my athletic director, right so, and
obviously with Tricia as well, you know, being my direct
sports supervisor. I mean, the the amount of support for
wrestling is incredible. And there was one common theme that

(11:13):
continued to come up, and it was that they want
to win, right and I want to win. And I think,
you know, the previous coaching staff did an excellent job
of setting this thing up for success, and I am
just excited to take it to that next level.

Speaker 4 (11:28):
So anyone can ask questions, but please use the hand
raised function and I will call on you. We'll go
to Jason Bryant first, please.

Speaker 2 (11:42):
Yeah, First of all, Troy, back to New York. This
is one thing that most people kind of circle right
away when this this position opened up. They look at
candidates say, well, there's a New Yorker right there, division
one head coaching experience. When you talked about this this
position having some interest to you, how much is it
going back home for you?

Speaker 5 (12:02):
Yeah, I mean obviously it's you know, family is extremely
important to me and being able to get a little
bit closer to my family. It's about two hours from
where I grew up. That matters. I mean, those are
there's a lot of you know, uncles, nephews, you know,
cousins that I haven't seen much of in the last

(12:23):
eleven years, right, and that's, uh, that's just part of
the sport, right. But being able to to go back
there and especially with with my young family and my boys,
and you know, being able to show them a little
bit kind of where dad grew up, that's that's exciting.
And you know, I think, you know, there there's other
pieces to that puzzle as well, you know, when you

(12:43):
even consider, you know, just the recruiting piece being being
in the Rocky Mountain region. In the past eleven years,
it really hasn't made sense to recruit the East Coast,
you know, and so being able to kind of get
back to my roots and re establish those relationships, that's
something I'm really looking forward.

Speaker 2 (13:01):
To, and with coming into another head coaching position. A
lot of the more established athletic departments of course, you know,
Army West Point has been one of the oldest athletics
programs in NCAA sports for forever.

Speaker 6 (13:14):
A lot of them.

Speaker 2 (13:15):
You look at Kevin Ward, your your predecessor, he was
a head coach at the Division two level. You've got
head coaching experience, but what do you what did you
get out of that experience at Northern Colorado coming that
was being your first head coaching job. That's really going
to help you with this position at Army West Point
a lot.

Speaker 5 (13:32):
You know, I took this job at twenty seven years
old out of Northern Colorado, and you know, probably thought
I knew everything, and and I didn't, right, But I've
learned along the way, right, I've learned how how to
run a successful wrestling program, and you know, over these
past eleven years, we grew it into something that I
can really take a lot of great pride in, right,
And I think, you know, when I think of what

(13:55):
it takes to run a successful program, you know, as
far as just the people that I want a part
of my program, a lot of those people are already
in place at West Point. And you know, the thing
I'm probably looking forward to most is just you know,
really having a you know, a complete coaching staff and
a complete support staff that can really you know, allow

(14:16):
us all to just do our individual jobs and you know,
not have to spread our time too thin. Right, So
it's this Northern Colorado job was was a great experience
for me. But again, the West Point opportunity was, uh,
it was kind of too good to be true and
too good to pass up.

Speaker 2 (14:35):
Yeah, and Austin had mentioned beforehand that the cupboard's not
there for you. Kevin Ward did a great job with
this program. What what do you know about the program
coming in and how ready are you to get with
the guys you've got coming back? I think six seven
qualifiers coming back. It's it's it's a pretty pretty loaded
squad for Army West Point purposes.

Speaker 5 (14:53):
Yeah, It's like I said previously, it's set up in
a great position, you know, and that that was definitely
something that was a little unusual, right because usually when
you're walking into these these types of scenarios, you know,
the coverage are probably pretty bare, and you know, I
would venture to say this might be the best West
Point team coming up that we've seen in the past
twenty years. Right. So I'm just really grateful just to

(15:17):
have that opportunity to to take over such a such
a great team and then continue to build on it.
You know, throughout the process, I've learned a lot about
what it takes for these cadet athletes to be successful
kind of what they go through on a daily basis,
what their schedule is like. You know, wrestling is a

(15:40):
very unique sport where I think a lot of the
character traits that West Point is instilling in these cadets
directly translate into successful wrestlers, right when you talk about
the discipline, the character, the you know, work ethic, those
types of things. I mean, I think that's what makes
wrestler special. I think there's a lot of people that

(16:01):
can coach wrestling, but it's really you know, unique to
be able to deal with just such high level individuals.
And to me, I'm looking forward to helping them cross
that finish line.

Speaker 6 (16:15):
Trey Ken McMillan from The Times Harold Record.

Speaker 4 (16:19):
Yeah, go go for it, Troy.

Speaker 6 (16:22):
You you just referenced what kind of student athletes you'll
be coaching. But these these student athletes have so much
on their plate, from the military to the academic to
you know, the actual athletic pursuits. So their their schedules
are mighty full. How do you plan on, I don't know,

(16:44):
adjusting your ways to understand the military life?

Speaker 5 (16:49):
Yeah, I mean, you know, it's something that you know,
I'm sure, I feel like I'm a quick learner, and
it's something that I am trying to really, you know,
fully ingrain myself in as quick as possible because I
want to know exactly what these student athletes are going through,
these cadet athletes on a day to day basis. You know,
I've gotten a chance to talk to, you know, a

(17:10):
good and handful or two of the cadets so far,
and the one thing that continues to come up, right,
you know, when I asked them, Hey, why'd you choose
West Point? I've heard a lot that, Hey, I wanted
the challenge, right. So I think a lot of the
kids that we have in the program, you know, they
they know fully what they signed up for, right, and

(17:32):
they embrace that grind, They embrace that challenge, and I
think being able to do hard things in life makes
makes you a better person. Right. And again that when
there's a will, there's a way. I mean, you just
saw you know, a former you know, military institution wrestler
win a national title this year. I think that can

(17:53):
be done at Army west Point as well.

Speaker 6 (17:56):
Tell me about the challenge of taking over for such
a success full head coach and a successful program because
obviously you'd like to put your own stamp on it,
but you also don't want to mess with a good thing.

Speaker 5 (18:06):
Yeah. Absolutely, I mean that's where you know I'm trying.
I mean, my phone's been ringing off the hook. I'm
trying to talk to as many people as I can
that are you know, connected or have been connected to
the program in some way, you know, in the in
the recent future or in the recent past. And you know,
for me, it as you alluded to, I'm not coming
in there and trying to just, you know, totally shake

(18:27):
the tree down. I want to find out what's working well.
I want to stick with it, and I want to
you know, make some tweaks here and there, and if
there's things where we feel like we might have some deficiencies,
we want to be able to kind of try to
correct those and just keep moving forward.

Speaker 6 (18:43):
Can you give us your basic coaching philosophy?

Speaker 5 (18:47):
Yeah, I mean, you know, it's it's dedication and discipline
with hard work, working towards the end result. I think
wrestling in general, you know, winning matters, right, we want
to win. We want to get our hand raise on
the map. But I am more worried about, you know,
really creating the entire individual and making them good leaders,

(19:08):
good people for what's next in their lives. And you know,
I think when you look at what West Point stands
for and you read the Warrior ethos and those types
of things, I mean, you really understand that this is
more than just about each individual. This is a brotherhood.
That camaraderie is next to none, and we want to
continue to build on that to make great leaders for

(19:30):
our country.

Speaker 6 (19:32):
I know it's way early, but what are your ultimate
goals for this program?

Speaker 5 (19:38):
You know, I mean it's so hard to you know,
kind of quantify it, right, you know. I I'm twenty
four hours in, so it's really kind of hard to
put those type of numbers on things. I mean, I
took this job because I think we can win at
the highest level. And you know, for me, I think
winning comes in various different forms. Primarily, I'm looking for

(19:59):
our cadet athletes to reach their potential. Whatever that is. Right.
For some guys, it's going to be getting in the
starting lineup. For some guys, it's going to be winning
a conference championship. For others, it's going to be winning
a national championship. Whatever that potential is for each one
of our cadets, I want them to reach that potential
and that's that would be success to me.

Speaker 6 (20:18):
Last thing for me, obviously you had heralded career scholastically
here in New York State. It's been a while, but
can you reflect on your days as a successful high
school wrestler here in New York?

Speaker 5 (20:32):
Yeah, I mean New York is a great place, you know,
I think, you know, right now, the Hudson Valley region
of the state has a really strong pedigree with wrestling,
and you know, I'm looking to be involved in the
community to continue to have that resurgence of New York
wrestling and continue to take to that next level. For me,

(20:53):
it was obviously where I got my start. I was
able to reach my goals coming up through a similar system.
And I think that we can find a way to
keep a lot of these other local student athletes home
and turn them into cadets as well.

Speaker 6 (21:07):
You look back fondly at those days gave her, you know,
glory days.

Speaker 5 (21:13):
I mean, you know, as a coach, I mean, you know,
it's it's not about you anymore, right, you know. I mean,
I'm certainly proud of what I've accomplished in my competitive career,
but as a coach, it's not about me anymore, right,
It's about these this next generation, these cadets, and we
want to do everything we can to make sure that
they're getting what they need to be successful.

Speaker 6 (21:33):
Thank you.

Speaker 4 (21:34):
Well, go to Seth Mendelssohn, and then we'll go back
to Jason hik Sure.

Speaker 3 (21:38):
Welcome to Seth Medalson with Black Nation. Welcome to West Point.

Speaker 6 (21:43):
Can you take us through the.

Speaker 3 (21:46):
Procedure, what happened? How did they find you? How did
you find them in terms of, you know, becoming a
candidate for the job.

Speaker 5 (21:53):
Yeah. So I've known Trish for quite a while now,
and you know, coincidentally, I mean back in the day,
way back in the days, she was uh a manager
for the Cornow wrestling team, so we kind of had
that connection and just she's started done various committees, so
I've kind of gotten to know her over the past

(22:14):
fifteen years or so, and you know, I had a
feeling I was hoping that she was going to reach
out to me, you know, which she did, and uh,
you know it was you know, just conversations, you know,
for probably a week or so, you know, and then
you know it was the invite to post and from there,
you know, it was you know, really, these past five

(22:35):
days have just been really kind of a blur almost.
It's it's been it's been busy. But I went out there,
saw West Point, my wife saw it. You know, we
we fell in love with the community, with the people
that were out there, like I said before, and it's
offered the job and now here I am.

Speaker 3 (22:56):
Okay, well, good, well welcome. My other question is the
changing lane escape with college sports. I know what impacts
other sports more than wrestling. Our shit, I don't know that,
but I would assume tell us about that. How does
that How do you think that's going to impact wrestling
at West Point with you know, with with other schools
being able to pay their kids, and of course you
can at West Point. What's your take on that?

Speaker 5 (23:19):
Yeah, well, I mean we are the original nil right,
We've been paying athletes for years, so I don't think
it impacts us at all. Right, I mean I think
you know, these kids that are coming to West Point,
they understand exactly what they're signing up for, and you
know it's it's a deferred payment, right. These kids are
set up for life, and you know that that's a

(23:40):
mission that I take very seriously and I want to
make sure these kids are successful well beyond the four
years that they're at west Point. So it doesn't concern
me one bit. I'm relieved to kind of be out
of that world. To be honest, it's it's a nightmare.
But you know, at the end of the day, I
mean I have no direct, no idea what direction things

(24:01):
are gonna going to take. I mean, if you told
me ten years ago this is where we beat today
and say you're crazy, but uh, you know, we're going
to continue to evolve ourselves and just make sure that
our student athletes have the best opportunities available to them.

Speaker 3 (24:16):
Thanks your final question. When you were in high school,
did you consider West Point?

Speaker 5 (24:21):
You know, I didn't really and you know, I do
not come from a military family. I do not really
have anybody, you know, really closely familiar with that military experience,
So I think, yeah, it wasn't really anything that was
on my mind. But you know, looking back on it

(24:42):
now and you know, kind of going through the process
and having those conversations, hey, what does this actually look like?
I think, you know, the one misconception is you know that,
you know you're you're you're just on the front lines,
you know, as a cadet, you know, serving your five years,
and that's just not necessarily the case, right. There's a
lot of opportunities for these kids to serve their country

(25:04):
in a lot of various ways, and you know that
that's really the message that we're going to get out
there in the recruiting process is, hey, there's a lot
of ways to serve and we want to find what
fits you best. And we're going to win on the
wrestle Matt the same way. Thank you, good luck, thank you.

Speaker 4 (25:22):
We'll go back to Jason now it tray.

Speaker 2 (25:25):
There's a couple of unique things with the service academies.
You touched on the being out of the NILO getting
out of it, Well, you know, transfers out of the
academies as do happen, but you don't have to be
in that rigamar role of is your lineup going to
change over? I mean there was a release today one school,
P four school has six new guys that are going
to come in and you look at them, they're all
probably going to be starters, and it's like, well, you

(25:46):
don't have to deal with that headache. So there's that
benefit of it. Another benefit that the service academies tend
to have is the prep school route too, where you
can get them to season, get them ready for the
academic rigor and the grind behind the academy. How much
of the prep school route plays a role in that
that that recruiting aspect. Okay, I'm a year or two
out from from seeing these guys, and and how does

(26:07):
the prep schools all tie into your potential recruiting pitches?

Speaker 3 (26:11):
You know, I.

Speaker 5 (26:13):
Probably haven't thought that through that much yet. I've never
been a huge fan of red shirting. I I I
really haven't. I think a lot of these better kids
they're ready, right they you know, I think everybody assumes, hey,
I need to red shirt, I need to grow develop
whatever that is. I think these kids are more ready

(26:35):
than they think, right And you know, so I mean
we'll kind of see how how we use that process,
you know, through the you know, through the ranks. But
I mean, you know, really, kids that it's not really
our choice who goes to the prep school, right you know,
they have to you know, have some different formalities that

(26:57):
that will allow them into the prep school versus going
straight to post. But you know, for me, I mean
I want everybody on post right away. I don't see
any reason why they can't win as freshmen. Again, I'm
living proof of that. I mean I was in the
national finals as true freshman. I don't see any reason.
I think these kids are more ready than even probably
I was back in the day. So it's not really

(27:19):
a concern of mine.

Speaker 2 (27:21):
What about the opportunity Again, you won't have as many
The in and out isn't going to be a big thing,
so you actually have the chance to look at a kid, Okay,
he's ready to go. There's a good four year development program.
You can have time to actually coach and develop kids,
whereas a lot of Division one app programs you don't
have that time to invest in somebody. How much of
a benefit is that for you, as with that coaching

(27:41):
mind that you've got.

Speaker 5 (27:43):
Yeah, it's huge, you know, I think just being able
to know, hey, these kids are here for four solid years,
you know, not that we wouldn't anyways, but it's like
we can really invest in them and make sure that
they're getting all of their needs and they are developing
at the right rate. The one thing that's special about it, right,
and it's really you know, come to my attention, you know,

(28:05):
even more over the past probably twenty four hours talking
to some of these cadets. Is they are very proud
of the brotherhood and that camaraderie that they have as
a team. And you know a lot of people like
to talk about culture and what that looks like within
a program, and you know, I think the one downside
to NIL is it it does mess with your culture

(28:28):
and that's something that we don't have to deal with.
And we do have a strong culture at West Point
and we're gonna make it even stronger. And I think
when you're you know, wrestling is a really tough sport obviously,
and you know, when when you can kind of go
to battle next to your brother every day and kind
of go through those ups and downs, it does make
it easier.

Speaker 2 (28:47):
And you talked previously about Neo not upsetting applecart what's
already been there and building off of what's there. One
of the guys that they've talked about heavily with with
the involvement that you know, you know him from a
you Scott Green's been on staff there for a while.
Not necessarily relationship. I'm talking about the building of the
culture outside of Post America's team. That's something that he
kind of ran with, has gone with on social That

(29:07):
seems to be a pretty good moniker for Army West Point.

Speaker 5 (29:10):
Yeah, it's it's it's a good one. I like it.
We're going to continue to roll with that.

Speaker 6 (29:14):
You know.

Speaker 5 (29:15):
Obviously, you know, Scott and the rest of the coaching
staff has been a big part of where they're at
right Like you mentioned, I mean, I've known Scott for
thirty years. He was my freestyle and greco coach coming up.
You know, we're having conversations right now kind of what
the future might look like. Realized yesterday, you know, kind
of came full circle. Scott's wife actually was my seventh

(29:37):
grade homeroom teacher back in the day. Now she's actually
working at the preschool on Post and she'll teach my
youngest son or be involved with him at least a
little bit next year as well. So really kind of
a full circle moment, which is which is pretty fun.
But yeah, I mean, you know, we're looking forward to
kind of, you know, continuing to pick their brains and
see kind of what's going on. I mean, I talked

(29:58):
to Sky I've talked to Jeff today as well, you know,
just really finding out, hey, what works right and what
can we improve on.

Speaker 2 (30:05):
Lastly, you so you really don't need to ask Scott
where the nearest Wegmans is, do you.

Speaker 5 (30:11):
I think I probably have an idea where they're at.

Speaker 4 (30:13):
But yeah, we'll conclude with Ken McMillan, Troy.

Speaker 6 (30:20):
You referenced it earlier, but what was the recruiting footprint
for Northern Colorado and how does you know are we
looking at a grander footprint now?

Speaker 5 (30:32):
Absolutely? You know, I think that's one of the benefits
to West Point, right, is we can recruit on a
national scale, right, No kid is kind of off limits
in a sense. You know, obviously they have to have
the right academic profile and you know they've they've got
to have some really high character personalities, you know, for
what we're looking for out of these cadets. But yeah,

(30:55):
I mean it's it's everywhere. I mean from Northern Colorado.
I mean it was basically Colorado and West you know,
we crept into Illinois a little bit. We've had some
success there. But you know, I also spent two and
a half years at Iowa State in the Midwest, right,
So I've got great connections there. I obviously have the
connections from the East coast, So I mean, my my

(31:15):
connections throughout the entire country, I feel like are strong,
and you know, we're going to capitalize on every one
of them.

Speaker 6 (31:22):
Your thoughts on the e i w A. You you know,
you're a big twelve guy, but you know, any initial
thoughts on being in that historical.

Speaker 5 (31:30):
Leg Yeah, I mean it's it's a great conference. It's
been around forever. You know, I wrestled in it. You know,
I just found out. Jason Braley sent me an email said, hey,
by the way, congrats, but we have a meeting at
seven thirty year time tomorrow morning. So I'll be jumping
on the IWA call tomorrow and uh, you know, kind
of getting the lay of the land, and you know,

(31:51):
I'm just you know, looking forward to being a part
of that group. I think there's obviously some really strong
teams and some great coaches in there and being able
to pick their minds and continuing to just move the
e i w A forward.

Speaker 6 (32:03):
Since word leaked out about you becoming head coach, here,
any surprising emails, phone calls, et cetera.

Speaker 5 (32:14):
Surprising I would say, no, you know, an abundance. Yes,
I'm still kind of just trying to keep my head
above water. You know, I think last time I looked
at my phone, I've only got one hundred and sixty
four more texts to respond to. So we're slowly working
through things. But uh, you know, it's you know, it's

(32:36):
always nice to have that support from from people from
the community. Doesn't really change much though, at the end
of the day, we're going to do the job either way.

Speaker 6 (32:45):
And last thing, the obvious question Army Navy, what do
you think about that?

Speaker 5 (32:50):
Beat Navy?

Speaker 6 (32:52):
But I mean that's it's just been a great rivalry.

Speaker 5 (32:55):
No, I mean obviously, I mean, you know, I've watched
the football games on TV. I mean, I know, you
know what a big deal it is. Again, I spent
two and a half years at Iowa State with that
rivalry with them in Iowa. You know, I felt like
I had an idea of what the Army Navy rivalry was.

(33:15):
I didn't really understand it until I got to campus
and I saw about three hundred Beat Navy signs though, right,
and you know, I stayed in the Beat Navy house,
So it's it's real, right, and I mean it is,
it is part of who they are. But you know,
one thing General Gillen told me was, yes, like obviously
we want to beat Navy, right, but you know, going

(33:38):
one in ten, that's not that's not great either, right.
We want to win across the board. And you know
that's that's something that stuck with me. And again, I'm
just excited to get out there and get our hand
raised a lot and and very often thank you.

Speaker 4 (33:53):
We'll go back to Jason Bryant quickly.

Speaker 2 (33:55):
Yeah, last thing, Troy is you know the adages you
want to leave places better than you found. Kevin Ward
left the program in good shape. Talk about what the
next coach at Northern Colorado is going to get, what
it was like to build that and what type of
foundations are are are there for mid major coaches looking
at their next step. You're taking the next step to
a military school in a service academy. What's the next

(34:17):
coach at Northern Colorado got to expect with what you've
left him?

Speaker 5 (34:20):
You know, I think somebody's going to be walking into
a great situation. When I got to Northern Colorado eleven
years ago, it was you know, I had a I
remember I had a donor tell me, you know, the
coupboards not entirely bear, but there's not much there, right,
you know, And we really kind of had to build

(34:40):
it from the ground up. And I think we did
a really successful job doing that the past eleven years.
They've got to returning all Americans. I think it's a
great situation. And you know, I'm really you know, my
ties here are are strong. I want to see this
place continue to be successful. And you know, I know

(35:02):
one thing that Darren done, the athletic director, does a
great job of his hiring coaches, so I'm sure he's
going to bring somebody excellent in.

Speaker 4 (35:11):
Perfect Thank you all for joining. Have a wonderful day.
Go Army, Go Army.

Speaker 2 (35:22):
The Short Time Wrestling podcast has been outfitted by Compound
Sports where since ever since you need something, Surets Hats
Gear Team where you need it, They've got it. Call
up Cliff and the crew at CMP Sportswear dot com.