August 4, 2025 • 57 mins
NCAA Champion. Two-time Olympian. Rookie Coach of the Year. In this episode of Airey Bros Radio, we go belly to belly with Matt Gentry — Head Wrestling Coach at the University of Chicago — to explore how he’s blending world-class wrestling experience with elite academics to build something special in NCAA Division III.From his journey at Stanford to competing for Canada in two Olympic Games, Coach Gentry shares why he believes Division III is a hidden gem for driven student-athletes. We cover his recruiting philosophy, creating a high-performance culture, the D1 vs. D3 conversation, and why UChicago might be the best-kept secret in college wrestling.
🔗 Available now on YouTube, Spotify, Apple & all major podcast platforms.
⏱ Timestamps & Show Notes:
🔗 Available now on YouTube, Spotify, Apple & all major podcast platforms.
⏱ Timestamps & Show Notes:
- 0:00 – Show intro & guest welcome
- 5:00 – Matt Gentry's coaching journey & connection to UChicago
- 9:00 – Transition from assistant to head coach
- 12:00 – Building a DIII contender: recruiting, goals, and vision
- 17:00 – Balancing elite academics and wrestling
- 21:00 – Team culture, accountability, and scheduling with academics
- 27:00 – Financial aid at UChicago & the DIII value proposition
- 34:00 – Quarter system, training adaptations, and pre-season timing
- 40:00 – Individualized training & recovery strategies
- 44:00 – Advice for PTs and professionals looking to return to wrestling
- 46:00 – Legacy moment: The Matt Gentry Head Coach Chair at Stanford
- 49:00 – Why UChicago? Team bonds, academic excellence, and culture
- 51:00 – Coach Gentry’s morning routine, coffee rituals & health habits
- 56:00 – Favorite reads, workout groups, and Chicago eats
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Airy Brose Radio. Be there or b
Square because it's all killer, no filler. This is Matt
Gentry and you're listening to Aeri Bros. Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Welcome back to another episode of aery Bros. Radio. We
are here and you are there that we greatly appreciate
you tuning in. We're stepping back on the mat today
and we're going belly to belly with a man who's
seen it at the world stage and is now building
special things in the Division III at the University of Chicago.
He's an NCAA champion, a two time Olympian, nwca Rookie
Coach of the Year, and he's just getting started at
(00:40):
the University of cha Icago. You all know the drill.
While we're here, we're doing this for our younger versions
of ourselves and for athletes, families and coaches that are
still looking for the right fit at the next level.
We're here to find a place for you. If you're
searching for elite academics and a program that wrestles for titles,
don't sleep on the University of Chicago. Before we get rolling,
you'll know the drill. I'll hammer that like button drop
(01:01):
us a comment every room review and share helps grow
and get back to the sports we love. Follow us
on Instagram, YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts. As always, this
episode is fueled by Black Sheep Endurance Coaching. Let's go
Belly to Belly with coach Matt Gentry Coaches is an
honored a pleasure to have you with us this afternoon.
We do greatly appreciate your time. Welcome to the show.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Well, thank you, thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Absolutely, before we get into it, anywhere you would like
the athletes, the recruits, parents, coaches to know where they
can find you find the program on social media. I
know it's getting late into the summer here, you've probably
done with any camps or anything. But anything you would
like to promote the floor is yours.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
You know, honestly, you know on Twitter x we're at
UFC Wrestling. On Instagram you Chicago Wrestling. That's probably the
best best way to follow us on our socials. And
then you know, my email is Matt Gentry at Chicago
dot ed. You. You know my cell phone's up on
(02:02):
the website. So for anybody, I'll give them one one
barrier there they got to look it up to text me.
But honestly, email and cell phone or athletics. Website talks
a lot about our program, so you know those are
the best ways to track us down.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Awesome and we are excited to get it to the program.
As I mentioned before, we lock down, we'd like to
present through lines to our guests, but also to show
our fans and connect and make the world a little
bit smaller. University of Chicago is world renowned. You have
students from all over the globe, but with on your
roster you have a very diverse roster. We are originally
(02:38):
from New Jersey. You have four athletes I believe on
your roster from New Jersey. One of them is from
hal High School. And I asked you if you interact
with the coaches at all, and you mentioned that you spoke,
and we're in contact with coach Jason Nase well way
back when in nineteen ninety one and nineteen ninety two,
(02:58):
Jason Nace and I were high school team.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
Wow, that is a small world, so.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
We go way back. We actually have had him on
as a guest and then also the head wrestling coach
at how High School is a gentleman by the name
of John Gagliano. And coach Gagliano was actually my coach,
one of my coaches my senior year in high school. So, uh,
just making the world a little bit smaller around these parts.
And we do know how high school is very close
(03:24):
to where we grew up. And coach Nace's is not
only a friend of the podcast, but he was a
great mentor and a teammate of mine way back when
in the early nineties.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
Yeah, you know, the the higher you go in wrestling,
the smaller that world gets. So it is exciting to
make those connections. And you know, we're you know you
talked about Zavier. We're excited about getting him on campus
in a couple of months.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
Yeah, it's it's cool to see again some of these
Division three programs that have, you know, a great academic standing,
that they have very diverse rosters where they get kids
coming in from all over the country. And I think
a lot of times people don't realize that. They think, oh,
it's a smaller school, it's in a certain part of
the country, it's going to be a very regionalized roster.
(04:09):
But what we're finding out the more and more with
the coaches that we interview in the Division III because
of that academic standing. You got kids coming from east,
East coast, West coast, Colorado, wherever you name it. They're
seeking out not only great programs, but that high academic
caliber you know school to because they're looking not only
(04:31):
at their career as an athlete, but they're looking beyond that,
as you mentioned, looking down the road of what that
university can do for their their career path.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
Yeah. I mean on our roster we have you know
this this last season we did I think we covered
all the corners, so we had a Florida, the furthest Northeast,
I think might have been Massachusetts, New York, and then
at Washington State, California, so you know everywhere we're in between.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
Coach Rich mentioned and congratulations you got a rookie Coach
of the Year. But I believe you're in your third
or fourth year, correct, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
So I've been a part of the program for going on.
This will be my fourth season next year. The first
two years I was an assistant with the head coach,
Leo Koker, who retired after forty five years as the
head coach at U Chicago, and then I just finished
my first year as the head coach.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
So being a national champ at Stanford and being someone
you know, Stanford's not necessarily known for wrestling, but you
were able to make the most of it. Academics and
wrestling and University of Chicago. Obviously everyone knows Chicago. Everyone
knows it's one of the top cities in the country,
but not necessarily known for wrestling. Do you feel like
(05:49):
this is a perfect fit for you.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
I do think so. I think that, you know, there's
a lot of things that are setting us up for
future success. You know, the the professionalization of D one
has made I think UH has made us able. You know,
it's kind of moved to a transaction this is my opinion.
It's moved a little bit away from a relationship based
(06:14):
sport programs to more transaction based. And you know, I
think that D three is going to be offering a
better overall experience to a lot of student athletes. You know,
obviously not you know, the Jax Forrests and Boat Bassetts
of you know, of the world. But you know, for
(06:34):
the average athlete, are you know, if your goal is
to become the best frest so you can be D
three is good enough to get you there, and we're
going to provide a great experience and also balance and
maximize your academic pursuits, so you set yourself up for
a lifetime of success. So, you know, one, I think
it's just the changing landscape of D one. I do
(06:56):
think that my experiences in you know, just competing at
a very high level is attractive to a lot of
recruits to Jason Sertzis is our full time assistant in
the program. He was an NCAA champ in D one
at Northwestern and you know, a three time All Americans
and it's just career at Arizona State, and you know,
he's had a lot of success, and so we try
and provide a really high caliber you know, training environment,
(07:19):
competitive environment for our team and expectations. So you know,
the regions realigned, we are at you know, we moved
to UH I think we're gonna be at like somewhere
between one hundred and twenty five and one hundred and
thirty programs in Division three, So they're moving. You know,
they expanded the NCAA field, so it was up from
eighteen athletes per weight to twenty one. So you know,
(07:43):
all these things are helping us setting us up for
you know, success and we have had strong success. Coach
Coker had you know, over thirty all Americans, a two
time NCAA champ, and so I think the the blueprint
is there. We've had that success in the past, so
(08:03):
I know we can have it again. It's the future.
And you know, just moving from an individual based success
to a team based success. I think that's it. That's
the next step. You know. This year we had John
Conway who's unseated unseated one made the national finals for
US the first and thirty three years, and so I think,
(08:25):
you know, getting him in the right mindset to really
perform with a smile on his face. You know, he
really uh outperformed his his season by making the national finals.
And so I think that's you know, just signs that
you know, what we're trying to do is is working,
and hopefully we just continue to build on that momentum.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
See you mentioned the legendary coach shit you took over
for how he had a really good foundation for you.
What were you looking to kind of add to the
program or Hey, we need we need to get better here,
we need to get better there, And where do you
see yourself as far as your goals win you took
the program over.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
I guess I'll answer the second part. First, the goals
would be just to you know, I was always in
my own athletic career. I always set the next goal
and in the back of my head. So in other words,
I was when I was eight years old. I didn't
want to become like an Olympic champion. I wanted to
become the best. I wanted to take the next step
(09:31):
as quickly as possible and really focus on that mini step.
I do, and I think it's because the path is
always clear, right, it's not vague. What people want to do.
They want to win. How you do that is different,
and what you focus on is different. You don't get
to focus on winning. I do think that winning is
a byproduct. So, for like, ultimate goal would be to
(09:54):
win a national team championship. But the next step is
to have some team success and you know, not just
having one guy place at the national tournament. So if
we start, you know, we've never had I think more
than four athletes qualify in one year, So I think
the next goal is to get five athletes to the
(10:14):
national tournament and place in the top twenty. Once we're
in the top twenty consistently. Then the next goal is
top ten. Then it's chasing a trophy. And once we
can start chasing trophies, then ultimately we got to knock
off Wartburg and Augsburg because they've combined for the last
thirty one team championships. So those are the goals in
(10:36):
terms of what I wanted to bring. You know, Coach
Kocher done things for a long time. Anytime I think
there's a change, there's just new energy and anywhere you know,
I think, you know, John Smith is a legendary coach,
but there's just a ton of energy around nationally, around
Oki State with David Taylor coming in and obviously he's
a great hire and a great fit and had a
(10:58):
lot of success, understands the Penn State model, so you know,
trying to replicate that, uh and I kind of think
something similar, you know, Coach Coker was an incredible coach
and had a lot of success. And with this new energy,
we just want to capitalize on it. And in terms
of recruiting and fundraising and competitive opportunities for our team.
(11:20):
And you know, bringing in Jason sertzis huge, you know,
because he brings that competitive fire and so just setting
a high standard in our room for guys to work
really hard. I think that's actually the biggest opportunity for
us in terms of what we can change. I've talked
to recruits about it. Our practice habits can improve, and so,
(11:45):
you know, bringing in the right kind of kids that
want to train, that love wrestling, that honestly, that's the
number one pre requisite, especially in Division three. You got
to love wrestling because we are known scholarship, and you know,
the intrinsic motivation is super important to have. And sometimes
(12:06):
it's asking a kid, like why do you like wrestling?
You know what makes you do it? Because there's gonna
be a day in mid season when you're cutting weight
and we have a morning left, and it's snowing outside,
and you've got a mid term later, and you know
your favorite NFL team lost or in the playoffs the
night before, and like, if you don't know why, you're
(12:28):
waking up and doing something really hard, which is a
University of Chicago education and the sport of wrestling. At
the same time, you're going to coast through a practice
and that's a wasted practice. And so trying to create
an environment that makes kids want to wrestle. You know,
that's I think is really my job is to is
(12:49):
to create a really good environment for them to want
to be there. But ultimately they're the ones that got
to do it.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Coach, talking about creating that environment, you're a stand for
the lum so you know all about the rigors of
high academic standard while being a high level athlete. Has
that helped, But the student athletes at the University of
Chicago with what they're even in the recruiting process, letting
them know what they're getting themselves into. I'm imagining from
(13:18):
a recruiting perspective, there's a very narrow focus of athletes
that you're recruiting just based on the academic standards to
get in. But even though whether it's athletics or academics,
sometimes there's just those levels that are jumped where you know,
sometimes you're in the room, you might not get a
take down for a few months. And I imagine academically
that might be the same thing too, where you might
(13:40):
get in your buck kicked a little bit that first semester,
not realizing what the heck's going on.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
Yeah, you know it is, and you know, I'll talk
to you know, so the kids that actually are kind
of set up for failure from the academic side. Are
these kids that go to like a really good prep schools.
I think, you know, I went to one of the
top prep schools in the country and the Northeast, and
they think they're going to walk in and just dominate,
and you know, then they realize, oh, I have to
(14:07):
work hard, and it is you know, there's high caliber
students from all over the world who had great backgrounds,
whether it was a prep school one or not. And
so I think the kids that are aware and respectful
of the challenge ahead tend to do okay. You know,
It's like it's like it's just a lot of it's
(14:28):
you know, it's like wrestling. You stepped on the mat
against a kid you thought you were going to dominate,
and then it's zero zero after two minutes and they
felt pretty strong. Then you have to change your mindset
in the middle of the match. It's a little bit
harder than if you know, you I got to bring
my a game. You know, I'm mentally prepared to bring it.
It's easier to prepare for that match. But you know,
(14:51):
I talk to recruits all the time. It's the perfect
I think the academic side of things is the perfect
It's the perfect school for a wrestler mentality because it
is hard, and our sport is hard, and you know,
you most people understand that a good practice partner that
(15:11):
takes you down a lot, and a hard coach and
tough competition really helps you get better. If you go,
if you tech every opponent you wrestle, it's going to
be hard to improve. And so it's no different in
the academic side of things. When you're challenged, when you're pushed,
when you you know, get get a little uncomfortable, have
(15:34):
a little stress, you know, that's going to push you
to improve, you know. And the big difference is that
there was times when I worked really, really hard and
I didn't get rewarded on the athletics side, and you know,
our academic side, when you get pushed and you commit
to the academic side. At U Chicago, we you know,
we have a ninety seven percent graduation right I'm tracking
(15:57):
it within our program. We have one hundred percent job
placement rate of our wrestlers, and so it's almost a
guarantee to get rewarded for the work you do, you know,
and our guys are going on do incredible things and
lots of professional success. They're having such you know, they're
having good experiences. They're given back to the local community,
the U Chicago community, the wrestling community, and so that's
(16:20):
really fulfilling to see as a coach. And then just
to answer a question like, I think it just gives me.
You know, I work pretty hard in building relationships with
my athletes so that then they can trust me. But
when I you know, being a national champ and going
to Stanford kind of it, it helps me build that
relationship because I you know, when I say something it
(16:43):
does have I have more credibility. And so, yes, it
absolutely it is helpful. And there's times when I give
them slack and there's other times when I don't, and
I think, you know what, if you want this, you're
going to make it work. And you know, I kind
of I know I'm rambling, but I describe it like
if you miss practice on it, if you text me
(17:05):
at whatever Monday and say, hey, I'm going to come
on Tuesday. I have a midterm that ends at six.
Practice starts at five. I talked to Johnny and he's
going to come in late with me and we'll stay late.
Can you help put me through some drills that I miss.
I'll say, great, no problem. You know that's an academic
and an athletic conflict that is fair and there's no issue.
(17:30):
But if you text me on Tuesday afternoon saying I
got to skip practice today because I have a paper
do at midnight and I gotta get it done, you
know that's a that's a conflict that probably was avoidable.
You know when you when you watch the Bears game
on Sunday night, you know you're not skipping practice on
(17:51):
Tuesday to finish your paper. You're skipping practice because you
watch the Bears game on Sunday instead of doing your
paper when you should have. And lots of most kids,
you know, some kids never have a problem with making
those that that sacrifice of self, having the self discipline
to make the right choices, but lots of people drop
the ball. You know, your four year career is not
(18:12):
going to be perfect, and so giving the guys grace. Hey,
this is a mistake, and we don't want to repeat mistakes.
We got to learn from this, and what are we
going to do so we're not making these same mistakes
over and over again. It is important, and our guys
do a great job, so, you know, trying to hold
them accountable. But and but then providing a clear communication
(18:38):
and expectations of them. This is what is expected of you,
and with you know what's expected of you, and you
know what's expected of you. On the academic side, there
shouldn't be a conflict, and if there is, you can
communicate that ahead of time and we'll work out a resolution.
Uh So, I don't know, is that.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
As the question absolutely? You know, I was thinking as
you're talking that, you know, a lot of times coming
out of high school, you're the best guy in the room.
You might be the only state level caliber athlete, and
then you get to college and then everyone in the
room is a state caliber athlete. Imagine some For some
it's probably the same academically, where you might be the
valedictorian of the salutatorian, and then you get into a
(19:17):
classroom at the University of Chicago and everyone in that
classroom is possibly a valedictorian or salutatorian as well. Yeah,
so it's kind of like the same thing.
Speaker 3 (19:25):
It is.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
You know, I talked a little bit about the kids
that are overconfident, but you know, I would say that's
actually probably less common than the kids that have imposter syndrome,
which is they feel like admissions makes a mistake. But
you know, my time, you know, one hundred percent of
our team has above a three point zero and which
(19:46):
is incredible. And you know, our team GPA average for
the spring term was three point seven. We had nine
academic all Americans. I mean, our I would say, admissions
does not make many mistakes, and they provide us a
lot of support in terms of who we want, but
not a lot of There's not a ton They don't
(20:06):
lower their standards for us, you know, if because their
job is so hard, four percent admit rate, right, and
so they have to turn away thousands and thousands of
applicants that would do just fine academically, and so our
support helps if you're if you're qualified, if you're gonna
(20:27):
if they deem that you're going to do okay, then
our support helps you become part of the four percent.
But if they determine, like hey, this kid's going to
struggle here, they're not going to do well, they they
won't admit them. And that's you know, I'm actually I'm
okay with that. So but you know, I try and
tell these guys, hey, you have the tools. The team
(20:47):
is a great resource. You know, we have free academic
tutoring in every free tutoring in any subject to every
student at Chicago, and our team doesn't even use it
because they use each other. They're really tight knit group.
And so you know, we got a math guy, there's
a CS guy, there's a writing guy, and the team
that the team, you know, they they tend to use
(21:09):
each other more than they use the free resources. They
study together. And so I think that culture, which coach
Cocher had really created is helpful. And the other thing
I'll tell recruits when that are expressed, like you should
be a little nervous, but student athletes in Chicago have
a higher GPA than non student athletes as a cohort,
(21:31):
one cohort compared to the other, which is you know, incredible. Yeah,
so it can be done.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
Um, curious, you've mentioned that four percent acceptance, right, what
is the undergrad UH population? How many students is there?
Speaker 1 (21:46):
I think it's like just under seven thousand, and really
I think it's closer to five percent than four percent.
I don't know the exact stat I think it's more.
I think it's actually closer to five four.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
But I imagine with the alumni base that not only
the wrestling team has, but also from the university itself,
that one hundred job placement after graduation makes it pretty easy.
Is a lot of that coming just through a wrestling
alumni or is that campus wide sort of stuff?
Speaker 1 (22:22):
I would say right now, it's uh, it's mostly the
team uses the own the resources that are available to
them from the university. My goal is to create our
wrestling alumni network really like really strong to where they
go there first and it's building. And a lot of
(22:46):
people want to hire a Chicago wrestler, you know, because
they just they've they've really you know, choosing a school
like Chicago and a sport like wrestling. These guys have
proven that they can grind and work.
Speaker 3 (23:00):
You know.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
One of our guys is doing a quant based trading internship.
It's like a finance it's like a math based. It's
a niche field and trading finance. And he went through
twelve rounds of interviews to get that, which is you
know saying, you know, another one of our guys, I
(23:23):
did a different want based but he made sixty grand
in the summer. So these guys are competing at a
very high I know, it's incredible. These guys are competing
at a very high level. You know, twelve rounds of
interviews is incredible, and that's a lot of energy. He's
got to work on athletics, his athletic commitments, his academic commitments,
(23:46):
and he's going through his job hunt and that's a
lot of energy. And so my goal is that instead
of twelve rounds of interviews, he has four and he
gets to cut the line because now he's going to
be a resource for the next guy that wants quont
and he can say, hey, you're going to skip the
first well I don't know, maybe not first eight rounds
of interviews, but at least save them some energy. And
(24:08):
that saved energy then puts back into the resting program.
So that's you know, it's a work in progress. But
you know, I think some some schools have done a
really good job at that, and so just trying to
model it. You know, after them.
Speaker 3 (24:23):
Talk about imposter syndrome, I have imposter syd You're just
talking about a summer job where you make sixty grand.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
But it's incredible mention.
Speaker 3 (24:32):
That job placement, mentioning how much that athlete is making
in a summer job. I think those are things that
recruits need to know about Division one versus Division three, right, like, oh,
we might not be able to give a scholarship, but
this is what you're going to get. And also you
know grant and aid. We know Division three does that.
I don't think. I think kids think because they're getting
(24:54):
too grand from a Division one school that they're getting money.
But you're really really not getting money, right, Still got
to pay, like you unless rich and I talk about
it all the time, unless you're one of these nil
guys who are top of the top to one percent,
you're gonna have to pay. You're going to have to
take a loan out at some At some point, do
you have to have conversations with kids or kids that
(25:17):
are coming to your doorstep, you know, to come to
University of Chicago. They're they're in it for the long run,
they're in it for that job, like that athlete you
just mentioned. Yeah, good question.
Speaker 1 (25:29):
And I don't handle a lot of financial I'll have
in a beginning conversation and then I hand them off
and they work directly with admissions in the financial aid department,
and it's because you know, we are non scholarship and
so I don't have a big role in the in
the finances because that's all their individual situation. But you know,
(25:54):
kind of my initial conversation always revolves around the fact
that you Chicago has one hundred percent need based map,
and what that means is that whatever aid you qualify
for the university will cover, so you will not graduate
with any student debt. And so I've been trying to
(26:14):
track down the exact stats on this. Somebody in the
department had told me this a while ago, and I
haven't been able to verify it, but it's something like
ninety percent of our student body graduates with zero debt,
which you know for a school because eighty grand is incredible.
And if you know, if your parents can afford to pay,
then you're gonna then you're gonna You're gonna pay. But
(26:38):
if they can't, you're not you're not gonna pay. So
and you know, once the university decides that they want
you to be part of the community, that you bring
something of value to the community, then they don't want
financials to be the reason you choose. Differently, but even school,
you know, we end up by being cheaper than schools,
(27:00):
costs much less because if you qualify for a fair
amount of aid, you're going to go to a cheaper
school and take out loans or you're going to come
to us and not take out loans. And so you know,
that is a huge blessing and you know, a huge
advantage in the recruiting in the recruiting space, especially against
(27:24):
other D three schools. So we're pretty fortunate in that.
And you know, Admissions has told me, like, tell anybody
to that makes less than three hundred thousand a year
to fill out our financial aid calculator. And you know,
depending on their assets and you know, whether they own
the business or workers or whatever all these other you know,
how much to the house they own. I actually I
(27:45):
don't even know if house is a part of it,
but whatever their individual circumstances are, I would say ninety
percent of my conversations the parents say, we filled out
the online calculator and it was the number expected was
better than we expected, and so I would that's that's
(28:07):
probably nine out of ten families will say that to me,
and so we want to and then they'll say, so
we want to continue the conversation of recruiting.
Speaker 3 (28:16):
So yeah, yeah, I don't think we've heard anything like
that rich all the colleges who've spoken to no, not
at all, Coach.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
So the I most ivs offer that percent need base match,
you know. And so the reason I know so much
about this is because I went to Stanford on a
partial scholarship. I graduated with student loans, and then a
couple of years later they switched. So you know, I
wanted to fire off an email saying like, hey, let's
(28:45):
make this retroactive. But yeah, but you know, I'm debt
free now, so happy about that.
Speaker 3 (28:55):
Congratulations coach. What are some of the main majors that
kids are coming to University of Chicago for.
Speaker 1 (29:04):
Having the Booth School, Business Graduate school, Business being one
of the best business schools in the country or world.
You know, we we do have a very strong econ
business ECON. I would say probably forty percent of our
team or ECON to business ECON majors guys that want
to get into varying fields of you know, finance or
(29:29):
private equity or wealth management or you know, trading or whatnot.
So I would say that's pretty big. We have a
number of pre med guys in the team. We've got
some like CS data science guys. We've got a couple
of molecular engineers. That's the new engineering department at Chicago,
(29:51):
and so, you know, but it's pretty varied, so a
healthy mix of of majors.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
We all on semesters, trimesters. How's it work there for
you guys?
Speaker 1 (30:04):
Yeah, so it's essentially trimester. It's the quarter system. So
you know, it's it's both I would say a blessing
and a curse because we don't Our first day of
classes is not till September twenty ninth, and so you know,
it's something that I tell our at you know, tell
our recruits. We're pretty upfront with is like, you know,
(30:24):
we don't you know, D three rules don't allow us
to have practices before that before school starts, and so
we won't start practicing until September twenty ninth.
Speaker 2 (30:36):
And then.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
You know, the competition starts November first. That's that's not
enough time to get in shape for wrestling. And so
we're we're looking at changing our pre seas. We actually
are looking at changing our preseason scheduling just so that
then we can accommodate that give our guys a little
extra time to work their way into shape prevent injury.
But a lot of it depends on how they come
(30:59):
back to campus and you know, trying to remind them
of their goals right now in the summer. Then they
continue to work hard, and you know, I'm pretty pleased
from what I've heard of the team in terms of
their off season work. But the advantage I think is
because it's a long season, you know, October tenth, the
(31:21):
middle of March, and so I do think that we're
able to maintain a little bit more freshness at the
end of the year just because we did get a
little bit later start, you know, we were forced to.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
Be in such a long season. You know. One of
the topics of discussion that comes up often is some
sort of realignment of making it a one semester sport.
And then also because of the academics first semester for
incoming people's they think that if they didn't have to
necessarily worry about that competition aspect of it too, might
ease that first semester for new students. What are your
(31:56):
thoughts on on maybe a one semester or some sort
of modified spring semester competitions.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
Man, you know, I thought of this a lot. I
thought about this a lot, and I don't know if
I have a good answer. I think there's pros and cons.
You know, there's a lot of research out there that
student athletes get better GPAs in season and out of season.
That's like a very well known, well researched fact. And
so I think that getting kids, I think keeping them
(32:26):
involved in the sport is probably better over to you know,
for US, you know, Sean Conway one made the national
finals in a week later because because we're on the
quarter system, was able to study abroad in Greece. And
that's a guy that he is maximized, you know, academic,
(32:46):
all American. He's crushing it in the classroom, had a
great internship this summer, you know, national finals in wrestling,
and he's also having the ability to study abroad. You know,
those those those opportunities would somewhat diminish if you know,
because he's you know, it's the postseason, you know. So
for US, I kind of like the current schedule being
(33:11):
on the quarter system, you know, for a semester school,
I think it kind of makes sense to move it later.
But then for us, then we're really kind of in
season for all three terms because the season would start
at the end of the fall, competition would be winter
(33:31):
and spring for us, whereas right now we basically have
all spring term as a as a postseason, and guys
can really they can take an extra class, they can
you know, study abroad if they wanted to, you know,
they can take advantage of that other aspects of the
college experience that you know. I'm not referring to partying,
(33:54):
but you know, just like you know, being a student,
being a student and Division three pride itself and being
the student emphasis of student athlete division so.
Speaker 3 (34:05):
Coach when it comes to training, having such a high
academic load at the University of Chicago, you mentioned that
athlete who made the finals was kind of maxed out
on the academic side of things. You also gave an
example before of someone having to come later into practice
because they had a midterm. When it comes to training,
is it one size fits all or are you very
(34:28):
dynamic as far as each individual when they can practice, Hey,
you got a lot going on in school. You might
not be burnt out on the wrestling side of things,
but we need to ease back here, all right, come
to practice here?
Speaker 1 (34:38):
How's that look? You know, I'll tell a story, you
know these You know, I went to a good academic school.
I remember like working hard in the classroom and having
to go to practice when I was like pretty tired,
you know, from the from academic from working hard, and
you know, it's it's tiring. Finals, you know, Finals week
(35:01):
is a hard week, you know. So, but it was
my first year. I remember we finished up final exams
in December and then we had like ten days of
training and it was like another team the next week
from the finals week and then the next week, you know,
no classes, They're just training and the amount of work
(35:26):
and energy they had just got a lot more out
of them. And so it's I'm learning as a coach.
You know, this is really my first time running a team, right.
I've been an assistant helping, but structuring the team workouts
is a totally different, you know. And I spent a
lot of time doing individual private lessons, helping individuals reach
(35:46):
their goals. But you know, looking at the room and saying, hey,
where does our team need to move in terms of
their physical capacity? And there is just a that I'm
developing and so understanding that midterm week, we may not
get as much out of them on the athletic side
(36:08):
because because of that, because they're grinding in the classroom
and that's okay. And so if I can structure that
into a training cycle that are like kind of we
try and cycle to where we go medium, medium, hard
light in terms of volume. That we try and cycle
that with their academics, douch their academic calendar, and it
(36:31):
doesn't always work out that, you know, we can try
and set everybody up for the most success. I don't
know if that answers your question exactly, but kind of,
you know. I read a book called The Sports Gene.
It's pretty good. I think it's from twenty ten. I
(36:54):
think Epstein wrote it or somebody, but he talks about
I think the Danish had some of the best soccer
teams in the world, and they're a really small country,
and so how they were competing at the World Cup.
They changed their They used to have everybody do the
same thing, but then they realized that their goalie and
(37:14):
their striker and their midfielder don't have the same like demands,
like running right, goalie doesn't have to run strike res
to do short sprints. Midfielder has to run all the time,
and so they started training them a little differently. And
so just understanding that some of our guys are super
fast twitch and that when they when we have an
(37:35):
intense practice where they drain the tank, they don't recover
the same as a guy that's that slow twitch grinder
who can just go all day. And so just kind
of trying to set up, you know, making sure that
we're staying healthy, you know, And this is you know,
I worked, I'm a physical therapist. That's what I did
actually after the Olympics before coach Cocher recruited me back
(37:56):
to Chicago, and so kind of use that using that
knowledge to hope set up good training cycles and programs
that keep us healthy number one, maximize our conditioning and
technical development. You know, that's that's a challenge I'm getting.
I think I'm getting better, but you know, it's I
(38:17):
would say that it's it's imperfect science.
Speaker 3 (38:20):
So being a physical therapist and being a wrestling coush,
do you feel like sometimes you have to shut off
the physical therapist side of you to get some training
done and not worry about injury.
Speaker 1 (38:34):
You know, Yes, yeah, I would say yes, like, oh man,
that guy's shoulders are so tight like and we're doing
we're doing stretched out single finishes right like, this is
not good for your shoulders and we got to work
we gotta work on that. But now it's not the
tend to work on it. We got to get better
in this position because you shoot alone, and so you know,
(38:56):
we gotta we have to get better.
Speaker 3 (38:59):
So coach you said you were a physical therapists to
Coach Conway kind of recruit Cocher, sorry, recruit you back.
Conway was the national finalists, right, yeah, there you go,
h Coach Cocher recruited you back. Do you have any
advice for guys who you know, might have went to
school for one thing, they're in the workforce, but they
(39:21):
really missed wrestling and want to get back into wrestling.
Speaker 1 (39:28):
You know, I would say, I mean, just it depends
on your I would say, it depends on your individual situation.
Anybody with like I would say that one of the
more gratifying parts of my job is helping young men
like grow as people and trying to be a good
(39:49):
role model. You know, I tell the team all the time,
they're you know, one of my guys that's graduating. He's
going to be helping out a high school program next year,
and we had a long conversation about it that he
gets to you know, he's really looking forward to mentoring
young people and helping them and he's he's got way
more life experience than them, which you know is granted,
not a ton more than them, but he's just graduating college.
(40:12):
But you know, just get involved locally wherever you're at now.
If you want to make it a career, then you know,
then you've got to start setting yourself up for that
in terms of like certifications, you know, the Bronze Copper,
Bronze gold, that silver certification that USA Wrestling offers, you know,
(40:37):
different things to make yourself a better coach. You know,
there's Masters in Sport administration and all that, so you know,
professionally you can you can do training, but you know,
the sport itself is awesome, and you know, just to
develop all those character traits that wrestlers love, right, We're
(40:59):
so proud of being gritty and tough and resilient, and
you know you don't need to you don't need to
be a stud wrestler to get that. You can be
a tough kid with a less than five hundred record,
and that's sometimes they're the toughest ones because they're not
getting success and they're still coming back for more. And
so to mentor a kid like that, you know, just
(41:21):
just get involved locally first, you do a good job there,
get a good reputation. Then you know, you move from
a high school. You know, there's a lot of D
one coaches that used to be good high school coaches.
Speaker 2 (41:33):
Yeah. Yeah, got all the admiration for those five hundred
level wrestlers that keep coming back and keep coming back
because it's stuff to get your face most on a
regular basis and still keep showing up. And so I
have a lot of respect for kids that do that,
and even the coaches that work at those younger levels
and are doing those sorts of things. Is a lot
(41:53):
of times when you're doing that, you're volunteering and you're
giving your time. You're not doing it. And not that
we ever get into coaching for the money aspect of
because it's not necessarily there either.
Speaker 1 (42:02):
Yeah, totally, you know, a lot of respect.
Speaker 2 (42:06):
Yeah, coach, I got one last one for you here,
another through line of sorts for you. You know, a
friend of the pod and also a former teammate of
mine of sorts is Chris Ayres.
Speaker 1 (42:18):
Oh wow good Man.
Speaker 2 (42:19):
Yeah, him and I were on Team New Jersey back
in nineteen ninety three. We weren't high school teammates or
anything like that. But then he also was on the
show when he was the coach at Princeton. He is
also now the Matt Gentry head wrestling coach at Stanford University.
What is that like for you as the first person
in the history of Stanford wrestling to win a national
title and all that that program has been through over
(42:40):
the last couple of years, and how they've kind of
coach airs and took over and coach Cole before him
and all that stuff. To know that your name is
at that title of that coaching position. Did they let
you know that that was going on or they ask
you about that? How did that all go down? And
what's that like for you?
Speaker 1 (42:58):
You know, it's a little surreal. Well, you know, I
have had a lot of success. I'm extremely grateful for it.
At the same time, it's not not the reason I
did it right, like I just wanted to. I just
I love doing it. So one, I love doing it
and two, I just wanted to just see how good
I could get. So I wanted to get really good
(43:19):
all the time. Like I was very hungry for growth,
and so that you know, I didn't get too high
in my wins, I didn't get too low in my losses.
And I think that helped me succeed. So it feels great,
you know. And I joke because normally you get your
name on those types of you know, normally it's not
(43:41):
your athletic success to get to your name on those titles,
right you. Normally it's your financial success. So in some ways,
you know, that wasn't my case. You know. They some
of the alum that you know, I had a good
personal connection with, you know, they were the ones that
endowed that position. And so they asked me, if you know,
(44:02):
instead of putting their own names on it, which they
could have done they had the right to do, they
chose to put my name on there, which is definitely
an honor, and you know, I was very grateful for that.
So but yeah, coach airs, you know, I just saw
him in Fargo. H We're supposed to go grab a meal.
(44:24):
Matt Gentry and the Matt Gentry head Wrestling coach, but
end up by not working out. But I'm sure we're
gonna have a phone call here soon just to compare notes.
I respect him a lot. I think I do think
that my situation at Chicago is pretty similar to his
at Princeton in terms of non scholarship and high academics
(44:44):
and wanting to grow, and so I'm excited to talk
to him, and I think he's doing a great job.
Speaker 2 (44:53):
Awesome. What would you tell Did you talk to him?
Tell him? The Airy Bros Said, what's up? And tell
him it's pork Girl, not Taylor Hamy.
Speaker 1 (45:00):
Yeah, we'll do, Coach.
Speaker 3 (45:02):
Is there anything about the University of Chicago academics the
team that we didn't talk about that you want the
audience to know.
Speaker 1 (45:11):
You know? I think that yeah. One is in credit
to Cocher. So he recruited me back. I was working
full time as a physical therapist and then he said, hey,
come help out our program one day a week. That
was four years ago, and I came in. I felt
like a consultant and I didn't get to know the
(45:31):
team really at all. But I went with him to
the National Championships. I saw how tough D three wrestling
was watched the winners celebrate like it meant something to him.
I said, wow, this scratches my competitive bitches and it's
super motivating to be a part of. But bigger than
that was I was around these guys in the team.
They were like respectful, thoughtful, smart, ambitious. There were the
(45:54):
type of guys that you'd want to be around. And
they the and so credit to Cocher and that the
recruiting that kind of a kid and our team. They
spend a lot of time together. They like each other.
They live together, they study together, they eat meals together,
they vacation together, and I think that prospect is important
(46:16):
in the college wrestling experience. And so you know, I'm
proud of them for creating that. You know, that's that
is a little bit more of them than than me
as a coach. You know, I don't force them to
spend time together outside the wrestling room, but they choose
to and so, uh, you know, yeah, I just want
to That was a big reason I took this job.
(46:39):
I want to promote it. Thank you for sharing that.
Speaker 3 (46:42):
And also, not not very often we get someone on
here with the credentials that you have and we barely
talk about their wrestling and we talk about the college
or that. That just lets you know how much you
guys have to offer them what you're doing with the program.
Speaker 1 (46:57):
So thank you for sharing that final flour rich.
Speaker 3 (47:03):
Yeah, coach, are you a coffee drinker?
Speaker 1 (47:07):
Absolutely? Pour over? Let's go our guy.
Speaker 3 (47:12):
So we're gonna ask how do you uh, how do
you brew it?
Speaker 1 (47:16):
How do you take it? Actually, we just you know,
my neighbor runs a small like a small coffee roaster.
He just shut it down and so we just are
now searching for a new bean. My sister in law
just got back from Costa Rica. She has a wreck.
I grew up in a small town. There's a micro
(47:36):
roaster micro roaster in brands Past, Oregon. We just ordered some.
So we're looking for our new coffee bean. But grind
it and then do the pour over. That's that's our
Do you have a chemics Uh no, okay, I need
I need to look into this.
Speaker 2 (47:57):
It's like one of those glass pour over.
Speaker 1 (48:01):
Then, yes, that's what they have.
Speaker 2 (48:03):
Okay, Yeah, what's the what's that new roaster you mentioned?
Do you know? Then? Can you share the name of
us You're going to get.
Speaker 1 (48:09):
Keep rogue roaster in Grant's Pass, Oregon and then Monteverto
Monte Verdi in Costa Rica.
Speaker 2 (48:19):
Awesome, thank you, And so knowing that you're on the
high end of the coffee spectrum, here we're going to
share a little Another guest of ours name is Charles Nick.
He is the founder and CEO of a company called
third Wave Water. And so what third Wave Water is
is Charles was a NASA scientist and he couldn't figure
out why his coffee at home never tasted like the
(48:40):
coffee at his coffee shop. So in conversation with his
roaster and his coffee shop friend, he found out that
most coffee shops have a specific filtration system on the
water system, so they get a specific mineral profile. Being
a NASA scientist, Charles took that water, dehydrated it, and
formulated that mineral profile. So now what third wave water is.
(49:03):
It's like a little almost like a sachet, little packet,
and it's got that mineral profile, and it dehydrated. You
put that in a gallon of distilled water, and then
that gives you this specific mineral profile that the coffee
roasters and the breasts us and that's what you use
to bring your coffee with so then like when you
(49:24):
see those hints of caramel or cherry or peach or
whatever it is that'll bring out those those flavors for you.
Speaker 1 (49:31):
So I'm learning something.
Speaker 2 (49:34):
Yeah, coach, do you have any daily practices or rituals
you do on a regular basis to show up as
the strongest version of Matt Gentry?
Speaker 1 (49:43):
That's like always changing. I think you know my commitment
to growth. I'm always fiddling with diet, exercise, sleep, nutrition,
you know, supplements and cold plunge on a whim, how breathing,
Like I try and mess with it all. I don't know,
(50:04):
I should do a better job tracking it in terms
of like lab work. I have a family history of
like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, metabolic disease, cancer, heart disease,
Like I got all of it in my family, and
I've had a few health things in my in my
life that I've had to deal with and so but
(50:27):
mostly I just go by how I feel, and I
feel great. I try. I wrestle with my guys, still
turning forty three here in a few days, and so
most of my feedback I get just like how do
I feel? But yeah, kind of kind of all that.
Speaker 2 (50:46):
All right, we get down with that. I'm curious outside
of the room, what's your favorite way to sweat?
Speaker 1 (50:51):
Actually, I just joined about a year ago. I joined
a nationwide fitness group called F three F three nation
dot com or or something. F three Nation. The stands
for Fitness Fellowship Faith. I love it. It's by point
fifteen to six in the morning. There's a local group
(51:11):
that meets like a mile from my house, and so
you know, it's it's free, it's open to anybody. It's
not very competitive, but man, and it's pure led so whoever,
it's different every time, community based and end with a prayer.
And the only piece of equipment is a cinder block,
(51:33):
and so you can get you can get a pretty
good workout. That's what I've been doing lately.
Speaker 2 (51:39):
Okay, I'm gonna look that up, coach.
Speaker 3 (51:42):
What are you listening to right now? Music? Podcasts, audiobooks?
Are you reading anything?
Speaker 1 (51:49):
I'm I'm I go through phases with all of that.
So there's times when I'll read three books in three months,
and then I won't touch a book for six months.
Right now, I'm actually in a reading phase. I think
it's because I'm out of season and like not it's
exhausted at night, but I'm reading Scarcity Brain. He wrote
(52:10):
a book called Comfort Crisis. What's that is that?
Speaker 2 (52:15):
Goad sad?
Speaker 1 (52:16):
No, it's Michael Easter, Okay, but Comfort Crisis is pretty good.
It talks about, you know, when you get yourself out
of your comfort zone, that's actually good for you, and
that's how like humans basically evolved or were designed. And
so we actually did. We did a workout this year
(52:37):
called him I called it a mini Masogi. Masogi? Is
this like they talk about it in the Comfort Crisis.
It's it's good, it's our team did it though we
did an impossible mile. It's something that's supposed to be
really hard, and that if you don't know you can
do it, then it gives it confidence all year that
you've done it. You're supposed to train for it. We
did it in just one day. But then yeah, and
(53:03):
then there's another one Anxious generation Jonathan Hate. That's a
good one, phone based childhood. Ah, and then there's one
more iron I can't remember, but yeah.
Speaker 2 (53:21):
What kind of music does Matt Gentry get down to?
Speaker 1 (53:25):
Honestly, like I've been I'm not a huge music lover.
It's just my brain. It's just it's just crazy. Like
if I listen to an audio book, I don't remember it,
but if I listen if I read a book, I do.
And so it's just the way my brain wires. But
I usually will put on like like chill beats and
(53:48):
I like to listen to that if I sit in
asana or on a drive at night or anything that
like has some tempo, like slow tempo to it.
Speaker 2 (54:01):
Well, you are in Chicago. That is the birthplace of
house music, So you're in the right place for that's
for sure, coach. Last what we got for it's a
lighthearder one to close it out. It could be food
now you're in Chicago. Maybe you're a deep dish connoisseur.
Maybe there's a special beverage out there you like. Maybe
you're a golfer like a lot of the other wrestling
coaches we've talked to over the years. Do you have
(54:21):
a guilty pleasure?
Speaker 1 (54:24):
Probably just food. I love food, love it, I could
eat it now, or like good food. I mean, I like,
I don't know, sweet savory lobster, I mean like savory sweet,
all matter. It's all good good chocolate. Not a candy guy.
But like good chocolate desserts. Oh yeah, take it every
(54:46):
take it every day. Do you have a favorite col
I would say, you know what if we had to
pick one, Colver's ice cream?
Speaker 2 (54:52):
Okay, okay, we got a Culver's right down the road
from me.
Speaker 1 (54:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (54:57):
Do you have a favorite deep dish place?
Speaker 1 (55:00):
I just geor Donald's is the closest campus, so I
go there.
Speaker 2 (55:04):
Good. Okay, curious, So we'll have to check back in
with you. How Xavier likes the transition from New Jersey
New York style pizza to deep thrust.
Speaker 1 (55:16):
I don't know those guys. They tend to stay loyal. Yeah, yeah,
no doubt. There's a little bit of trash talking about that,
I would imagine.
Speaker 3 (55:26):
So Coach, thank you for this conversation this afternoon. Grew
up watched you on the NCAA's had that tape when
you won the NCAA Finals to watch that match repeatedly,
So thank you so much for your time. Really enjoyed
learning about the program and the college and everything you
(55:46):
guys got going on. So thank you so much for
taking time out of your afternoon to chat with the
area bros and educate our audience on the university.
Speaker 2 (55:54):
Of Chicago.
Speaker 4 (55:56):
Yeah, well, thank you again for having me, and you know,
thank you again for highlight adding you know, none d
one and just showcasing that you can have great experience
and get really good as a wrestler, set yourself up
for life to end and success and you don't, you know,
don't have to be d one to do it.
Speaker 2 (56:12):
We appreciate your insight on all that, and we will
be adding a University of Chicago bounder to our wall
of support that we throw and we're looking forward to
following you guys this upcoming wrestling season. So best of
luck to you. I know you got some time, unlike
some of the schools that are starting a little bit earlier,
you got a little over two months about so enjoy
(56:33):
what summer you have and doing summer like things with
the family and all that stuff and recharging their batteries.
And yeah, it was an honored pleasure to chat with
you today. Coach.
Speaker 1 (56:42):
Yeah, well, thank you again.
Speaker 2 (56:43):
Yeah. All right, ladies and gentlemen, that's coach Matt Gentry
from the University of Chicago Wrestling program. Make sure you
check all those links in the show notes, give them
a file, throw them your support, let them know the
area Bros sent you and we'll be back tomorrow evening
with Ken Harden from the University at auburnhop we're gonna
be talking to the assistant track and Field Coach of
(57:05):
the Year Division one and they are the two time
defending national champs. We're excited. We'll be going from belly
to belly on the mat to going belly to belly
on the track tomorrow. So we'll see you back here
at tomorrow night at seven pm.
You're listening to Airy Brose Radio. Be there or b
Square because it's all killer, no filler. This is Matt
Gentry and you're listening to Aeri Bros. Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Welcome back to another episode of aery Bros. Radio. We
are here and you are there that we greatly appreciate
you tuning in. We're stepping back on the mat today
and we're going belly to belly with a man who's
seen it at the world stage and is now building
special things in the Division III at the University of Chicago.
He's an NCAA champion, a two time Olympian, nwca Rookie
Coach of the Year, and he's just getting started at
(00:40):
the University of cha Icago. You all know the drill.
While we're here, we're doing this for our younger versions
of ourselves and for athletes, families and coaches that are
still looking for the right fit at the next level.
We're here to find a place for you. If you're
searching for elite academics and a program that wrestles for titles,
don't sleep on the University of Chicago. Before we get rolling,
you'll know the drill. I'll hammer that like button drop
(01:01):
us a comment every room review and share helps grow
and get back to the sports we love. Follow us
on Instagram, YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts. As always, this
episode is fueled by Black Sheep Endurance Coaching. Let's go
Belly to Belly with coach Matt Gentry Coaches is an
honored a pleasure to have you with us this afternoon.
We do greatly appreciate your time. Welcome to the show.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Well, thank you, thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Absolutely, before we get into it, anywhere you would like
the athletes, the recruits, parents, coaches to know where they
can find you find the program on social media. I
know it's getting late into the summer here, you've probably
done with any camps or anything. But anything you would
like to promote the floor is yours.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
You know, honestly, you know on Twitter x we're at
UFC Wrestling. On Instagram you Chicago Wrestling. That's probably the
best best way to follow us on our socials. And
then you know, my email is Matt Gentry at Chicago
dot ed. You. You know my cell phone's up on
(02:02):
the website. So for anybody, I'll give them one one
barrier there they got to look it up to text me.
But honestly, email and cell phone or athletics. Website talks
a lot about our program, so you know those are
the best ways to track us down.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Awesome and we are excited to get it to the program.
As I mentioned before, we lock down, we'd like to
present through lines to our guests, but also to show
our fans and connect and make the world a little
bit smaller. University of Chicago is world renowned. You have
students from all over the globe, but with on your
roster you have a very diverse roster. We are originally
(02:38):
from New Jersey. You have four athletes I believe on
your roster from New Jersey. One of them is from
hal High School. And I asked you if you interact
with the coaches at all, and you mentioned that you spoke,
and we're in contact with coach Jason Nase well way
back when in nineteen ninety one and nineteen ninety two,
(02:58):
Jason Nace and I were high school team.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
Wow, that is a small world, so.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
We go way back. We actually have had him on
as a guest and then also the head wrestling coach
at how High School is a gentleman by the name
of John Gagliano. And coach Gagliano was actually my coach,
one of my coaches my senior year in high school. So, uh,
just making the world a little bit smaller around these parts.
And we do know how high school is very close
(03:24):
to where we grew up. And coach Nace's is not
only a friend of the podcast, but he was a
great mentor and a teammate of mine way back when
in the early nineties.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
Yeah, you know, the the higher you go in wrestling,
the smaller that world gets. So it is exciting to
make those connections. And you know, we're you know you
talked about Zavier. We're excited about getting him on campus
in a couple of months.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
Yeah, it's it's cool to see again some of these
Division three programs that have, you know, a great academic standing,
that they have very diverse rosters where they get kids
coming in from all over the country. And I think
a lot of times people don't realize that. They think, oh,
it's a smaller school, it's in a certain part of
the country, it's going to be a very regionalized roster.
(04:09):
But what we're finding out the more and more with
the coaches that we interview in the Division III because
of that academic standing. You got kids coming from east,
East coast, West coast, Colorado, wherever you name it. They're
seeking out not only great programs, but that high academic
caliber you know school to because they're looking not only
(04:31):
at their career as an athlete, but they're looking beyond that,
as you mentioned, looking down the road of what that
university can do for their their career path.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
Yeah. I mean on our roster we have you know
this this last season we did I think we covered
all the corners, so we had a Florida, the furthest Northeast,
I think might have been Massachusetts, New York, and then
at Washington State, California, so you know everywhere we're in between.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
Coach Rich mentioned and congratulations you got a rookie Coach
of the Year. But I believe you're in your third
or fourth year, correct, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
So I've been a part of the program for going on.
This will be my fourth season next year. The first
two years I was an assistant with the head coach,
Leo Koker, who retired after forty five years as the
head coach at U Chicago, and then I just finished
my first year as the head coach.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
So being a national champ at Stanford and being someone
you know, Stanford's not necessarily known for wrestling, but you
were able to make the most of it. Academics and
wrestling and University of Chicago. Obviously everyone knows Chicago. Everyone
knows it's one of the top cities in the country,
but not necessarily known for wrestling. Do you feel like
(05:49):
this is a perfect fit for you.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
I do think so. I think that, you know, there's
a lot of things that are setting us up for
future success. You know, the the professionalization of D one
has made I think UH has made us able. You know,
it's kind of moved to a transaction this is my opinion.
It's moved a little bit away from a relationship based
(06:14):
sport programs to more transaction based. And you know, I
think that D three is going to be offering a
better overall experience to a lot of student athletes. You know,
obviously not you know, the Jax Forrests and Boat Bassetts
of you know, of the world. But you know, for
(06:34):
the average athlete, are you know, if your goal is
to become the best frest so you can be D
three is good enough to get you there, and we're
going to provide a great experience and also balance and
maximize your academic pursuits, so you set yourself up for
a lifetime of success. So, you know, one, I think
it's just the changing landscape of D one. I do
(06:56):
think that my experiences in you know, just competing at
a very high level is attractive to a lot of
recruits to Jason Sertzis is our full time assistant in
the program. He was an NCAA champ in D one
at Northwestern and you know, a three time All Americans
and it's just career at Arizona State, and you know,
he's had a lot of success, and so we try
and provide a really high caliber you know, training environment,
(07:19):
competitive environment for our team and expectations. So you know,
the regions realigned, we are at you know, we moved
to UH I think we're gonna be at like somewhere
between one hundred and twenty five and one hundred and
thirty programs in Division three, So they're moving. You know,
they expanded the NCAA field, so it was up from
eighteen athletes per weight to twenty one. So you know,
(07:43):
all these things are helping us setting us up for
you know, success and we have had strong success. Coach
Coker had you know, over thirty all Americans, a two
time NCAA champ, and so I think the the blueprint
is there. We've had that success in the past, so
(08:03):
I know we can have it again. It's the future.
And you know, just moving from an individual based success
to a team based success. I think that's it. That's
the next step. You know. This year we had John
Conway who's unseated unseated one made the national finals for
US the first and thirty three years, and so I think,
(08:25):
you know, getting him in the right mindset to really
perform with a smile on his face. You know, he
really uh outperformed his his season by making the national finals.
And so I think that's you know, just signs that
you know, what we're trying to do is is working,
and hopefully we just continue to build on that momentum.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
See you mentioned the legendary coach shit you took over
for how he had a really good foundation for you.
What were you looking to kind of add to the
program or Hey, we need we need to get better here,
we need to get better there, And where do you
see yourself as far as your goals win you took
the program over.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
I guess I'll answer the second part. First, the goals
would be just to you know, I was always in
my own athletic career. I always set the next goal
and in the back of my head. So in other words,
I was when I was eight years old. I didn't
want to become like an Olympic champion. I wanted to
become the best. I wanted to take the next step
(09:31):
as quickly as possible and really focus on that mini step.
I do, and I think it's because the path is
always clear, right, it's not vague. What people want to do.
They want to win. How you do that is different,
and what you focus on is different. You don't get
to focus on winning. I do think that winning is
a byproduct. So, for like, ultimate goal would be to
(09:54):
win a national team championship. But the next step is
to have some team success and you know, not just
having one guy place at the national tournament. So if
we start, you know, we've never had I think more
than four athletes qualify in one year, So I think
the next goal is to get five athletes to the
(10:14):
national tournament and place in the top twenty. Once we're
in the top twenty consistently. Then the next goal is
top ten. Then it's chasing a trophy. And once we
can start chasing trophies, then ultimately we got to knock
off Wartburg and Augsburg because they've combined for the last
thirty one team championships. So those are the goals in
(10:36):
terms of what I wanted to bring. You know, Coach
Kocher done things for a long time. Anytime I think
there's a change, there's just new energy and anywhere you know,
I think, you know, John Smith is a legendary coach,
but there's just a ton of energy around nationally, around
Oki State with David Taylor coming in and obviously he's
a great hire and a great fit and had a
(10:58):
lot of success, understands the Penn State model, so you know,
trying to replicate that, uh and I kind of think
something similar, you know, Coach Coker was an incredible coach
and had a lot of success. And with this new energy,
we just want to capitalize on it. And in terms
of recruiting and fundraising and competitive opportunities for our team.
(11:20):
And you know, bringing in Jason sertzis huge, you know,
because he brings that competitive fire and so just setting
a high standard in our room for guys to work
really hard. I think that's actually the biggest opportunity for
us in terms of what we can change. I've talked
to recruits about it. Our practice habits can improve, and so,
(11:45):
you know, bringing in the right kind of kids that
want to train, that love wrestling, that honestly, that's the
number one pre requisite, especially in Division three. You got
to love wrestling because we are known scholarship, and you know,
the intrinsic motivation is super important to have. And sometimes
(12:06):
it's asking a kid, like why do you like wrestling?
You know what makes you do it? Because there's gonna
be a day in mid season when you're cutting weight
and we have a morning left, and it's snowing outside,
and you've got a mid term later, and you know
your favorite NFL team lost or in the playoffs the
night before, and like, if you don't know why, you're
(12:28):
waking up and doing something really hard, which is a
University of Chicago education and the sport of wrestling. At
the same time, you're going to coast through a practice
and that's a wasted practice. And so trying to create
an environment that makes kids want to wrestle. You know,
that's I think is really my job is to is
(12:49):
to create a really good environment for them to want
to be there. But ultimately they're the ones that got
to do it.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Coach, talking about creating that environment, you're a stand for
the lum so you know all about the rigors of
high academic standard while being a high level athlete. Has
that helped, But the student athletes at the University of
Chicago with what they're even in the recruiting process, letting
them know what they're getting themselves into. I'm imagining from
(13:18):
a recruiting perspective, there's a very narrow focus of athletes
that you're recruiting just based on the academic standards to
get in. But even though whether it's athletics or academics,
sometimes there's just those levels that are jumped where you know,
sometimes you're in the room, you might not get a
take down for a few months. And I imagine academically
that might be the same thing too, where you might
(13:40):
get in your buck kicked a little bit that first semester,
not realizing what the heck's going on.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
Yeah, you know it is, and you know, I'll talk
to you know, so the kids that actually are kind
of set up for failure from the academic side. Are
these kids that go to like a really good prep schools.
I think, you know, I went to one of the
top prep schools in the country and the Northeast, and
they think they're going to walk in and just dominate,
and you know, then they realize, oh, I have to
(14:07):
work hard, and it is you know, there's high caliber
students from all over the world who had great backgrounds,
whether it was a prep school one or not. And
so I think the kids that are aware and respectful
of the challenge ahead tend to do okay. You know,
It's like it's like it's just a lot of it's
(14:28):
you know, it's like wrestling. You stepped on the mat
against a kid you thought you were going to dominate,
and then it's zero zero after two minutes and they
felt pretty strong. Then you have to change your mindset
in the middle of the match. It's a little bit
harder than if you know, you I got to bring
my a game. You know, I'm mentally prepared to bring it.
It's easier to prepare for that match. But you know,
(14:51):
I talk to recruits all the time. It's the perfect
I think the academic side of things is the perfect
It's the perfect school for a wrestler mentality because it
is hard, and our sport is hard, and you know,
you most people understand that a good practice partner that
(15:11):
takes you down a lot, and a hard coach and
tough competition really helps you get better. If you go,
if you tech every opponent you wrestle, it's going to
be hard to improve. And so it's no different in
the academic side of things. When you're challenged, when you're pushed,
when you you know, get get a little uncomfortable, have
(15:34):
a little stress, you know, that's going to push you
to improve, you know. And the big difference is that
there was times when I worked really, really hard and
I didn't get rewarded on the athletics side, and you know,
our academic side, when you get pushed and you commit
to the academic side. At U Chicago, we you know,
we have a ninety seven percent graduation right I'm tracking
(15:57):
it within our program. We have one hundred percent job
placement rate of our wrestlers, and so it's almost a
guarantee to get rewarded for the work you do, you know,
and our guys are going on do incredible things and
lots of professional success. They're having such you know, they're
having good experiences. They're given back to the local community,
the U Chicago community, the wrestling community, and so that's
(16:20):
really fulfilling to see as a coach. And then just
to answer a question like, I think it just gives me.
You know, I work pretty hard in building relationships with
my athletes so that then they can trust me. But
when I you know, being a national champ and going
to Stanford kind of it, it helps me build that
relationship because I you know, when I say something it
(16:43):
does have I have more credibility. And so, yes, it
absolutely it is helpful. And there's times when I give
them slack and there's other times when I don't, and
I think, you know what, if you want this, you're
going to make it work. And you know, I kind
of I know I'm rambling, but I describe it like
if you miss practice on it, if you text me
(17:05):
at whatever Monday and say, hey, I'm going to come
on Tuesday. I have a midterm that ends at six.
Practice starts at five. I talked to Johnny and he's
going to come in late with me and we'll stay late.
Can you help put me through some drills that I miss.
I'll say, great, no problem. You know that's an academic
and an athletic conflict that is fair and there's no issue.
(17:30):
But if you text me on Tuesday afternoon saying I
got to skip practice today because I have a paper
do at midnight and I gotta get it done, you
know that's a that's a conflict that probably was avoidable.
You know when you when you watch the Bears game
on Sunday night, you know you're not skipping practice on
(17:51):
Tuesday to finish your paper. You're skipping practice because you
watch the Bears game on Sunday instead of doing your
paper when you should have. And lots of most kids,
you know, some kids never have a problem with making
those that that sacrifice of self, having the self discipline
to make the right choices, but lots of people drop
the ball. You know, your four year career is not
(18:12):
going to be perfect, and so giving the guys grace. Hey,
this is a mistake, and we don't want to repeat mistakes.
We got to learn from this, and what are we
going to do so we're not making these same mistakes
over and over again. It is important, and our guys
do a great job, so, you know, trying to hold
them accountable. But and but then providing a clear communication
(18:38):
and expectations of them. This is what is expected of you,
and with you know what's expected of you, and you
know what's expected of you. On the academic side, there
shouldn't be a conflict, and if there is, you can
communicate that ahead of time and we'll work out a resolution.
Uh So, I don't know, is that.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
As the question absolutely? You know, I was thinking as
you're talking that, you know, a lot of times coming
out of high school, you're the best guy in the room.
You might be the only state level caliber athlete, and
then you get to college and then everyone in the
room is a state caliber athlete. Imagine some For some
it's probably the same academically, where you might be the
valedictorian of the salutatorian, and then you get into a
(19:17):
classroom at the University of Chicago and everyone in that
classroom is possibly a valedictorian or salutatorian as well. Yeah,
so it's kind of like the same thing.
Speaker 3 (19:25):
It is.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
You know, I talked a little bit about the kids
that are overconfident, but you know, I would say that's
actually probably less common than the kids that have imposter syndrome,
which is they feel like admissions makes a mistake. But
you know, my time, you know, one hundred percent of
our team has above a three point zero and which
(19:46):
is incredible. And you know, our team GPA average for
the spring term was three point seven. We had nine
academic all Americans. I mean, our I would say, admissions
does not make many mistakes, and they provide us a
lot of support in terms of who we want, but
not a lot of There's not a ton They don't
(20:06):
lower their standards for us, you know, if because their
job is so hard, four percent admit rate, right, and
so they have to turn away thousands and thousands of
applicants that would do just fine academically, and so our
support helps if you're if you're qualified, if you're gonna
(20:27):
if they deem that you're going to do okay, then
our support helps you become part of the four percent.
But if they determine, like hey, this kid's going to
struggle here, they're not going to do well, they they
won't admit them. And that's you know, I'm actually I'm
okay with that. So but you know, I try and
tell these guys, hey, you have the tools. The team
(20:47):
is a great resource. You know, we have free academic
tutoring in every free tutoring in any subject to every
student at Chicago, and our team doesn't even use it
because they use each other. They're really tight knit group.
And so you know, we got a math guy, there's
a CS guy, there's a writing guy, and the team
that the team, you know, they they tend to use
(21:09):
each other more than they use the free resources. They
study together. And so I think that culture, which coach
Cocher had really created is helpful. And the other thing
I'll tell recruits when that are expressed, like you should
be a little nervous, but student athletes in Chicago have
a higher GPA than non student athletes as a cohort,
(21:31):
one cohort compared to the other, which is you know, incredible. Yeah,
so it can be done.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
Um, curious, you've mentioned that four percent acceptance, right, what
is the undergrad UH population? How many students is there?
Speaker 1 (21:46):
I think it's like just under seven thousand, and really
I think it's closer to five percent than four percent.
I don't know the exact stat I think it's more.
I think it's actually closer to five four.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
But I imagine with the alumni base that not only
the wrestling team has, but also from the university itself,
that one hundred job placement after graduation makes it pretty easy.
Is a lot of that coming just through a wrestling
alumni or is that campus wide sort of stuff?
Speaker 1 (22:22):
I would say right now, it's uh, it's mostly the
team uses the own the resources that are available to
them from the university. My goal is to create our
wrestling alumni network really like really strong to where they
go there first and it's building. And a lot of
(22:46):
people want to hire a Chicago wrestler, you know, because
they just they've they've really you know, choosing a school
like Chicago and a sport like wrestling. These guys have
proven that they can grind and work.
Speaker 3 (23:00):
You know.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
One of our guys is doing a quant based trading internship.
It's like a finance it's like a math based. It's
a niche field and trading finance. And he went through
twelve rounds of interviews to get that, which is you
know saying, you know, another one of our guys, I
(23:23):
did a different want based but he made sixty grand
in the summer. So these guys are competing at a
very high I know, it's incredible. These guys are competing
at a very high level. You know, twelve rounds of
interviews is incredible, and that's a lot of energy. He's
got to work on athletics, his athletic commitments, his academic commitments,
(23:46):
and he's going through his job hunt and that's a
lot of energy. And so my goal is that instead
of twelve rounds of interviews, he has four and he
gets to cut the line because now he's going to
be a resource for the next guy that wants quont
and he can say, hey, you're going to skip the
first well I don't know, maybe not first eight rounds
of interviews, but at least save them some energy. And
(24:08):
that saved energy then puts back into the resting program.
So that's you know, it's a work in progress. But
you know, I think some some schools have done a
really good job at that, and so just trying to
model it. You know, after them.
Speaker 3 (24:23):
Talk about imposter syndrome, I have imposter syd You're just
talking about a summer job where you make sixty grand.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
But it's incredible mention.
Speaker 3 (24:32):
That job placement, mentioning how much that athlete is making
in a summer job. I think those are things that
recruits need to know about Division one versus Division three, right, like, oh,
we might not be able to give a scholarship, but
this is what you're going to get. And also you
know grant and aid. We know Division three does that.
I don't think. I think kids think because they're getting
(24:54):
too grand from a Division one school that they're getting money.
But you're really really not getting money, right, Still got
to pay, like you unless rich and I talk about
it all the time, unless you're one of these nil
guys who are top of the top to one percent,
you're gonna have to pay. You're going to have to
take a loan out at some At some point, do
you have to have conversations with kids or kids that
(25:17):
are coming to your doorstep, you know, to come to
University of Chicago. They're they're in it for the long run,
they're in it for that job, like that athlete you
just mentioned. Yeah, good question.
Speaker 1 (25:29):
And I don't handle a lot of financial I'll have
in a beginning conversation and then I hand them off
and they work directly with admissions in the financial aid department,
and it's because you know, we are non scholarship and
so I don't have a big role in the in
the finances because that's all their individual situation. But you know,
(25:54):
kind of my initial conversation always revolves around the fact
that you Chicago has one hundred percent need based map,
and what that means is that whatever aid you qualify
for the university will cover, so you will not graduate
with any student debt. And so I've been trying to
(26:14):
track down the exact stats on this. Somebody in the
department had told me this a while ago, and I
haven't been able to verify it, but it's something like
ninety percent of our student body graduates with zero debt,
which you know for a school because eighty grand is incredible.
And if you know, if your parents can afford to pay,
then you're gonna then you're gonna You're gonna pay. But
(26:38):
if they can't, you're not you're not gonna pay. So
and you know, once the university decides that they want
you to be part of the community, that you bring
something of value to the community, then they don't want
financials to be the reason you choose. Differently, but even school,
you know, we end up by being cheaper than schools,
(27:00):
costs much less because if you qualify for a fair
amount of aid, you're going to go to a cheaper
school and take out loans or you're going to come
to us and not take out loans. And so you know,
that is a huge blessing and you know, a huge
advantage in the recruiting in the recruiting space, especially against
(27:24):
other D three schools. So we're pretty fortunate in that.
And you know, Admissions has told me, like, tell anybody
to that makes less than three hundred thousand a year
to fill out our financial aid calculator. And you know,
depending on their assets and you know, whether they own
the business or workers or whatever all these other you know,
how much to the house they own. I actually I
(27:45):
don't even know if house is a part of it,
but whatever their individual circumstances are, I would say ninety
percent of my conversations the parents say, we filled out
the online calculator and it was the number expected was
better than we expected, and so I would that's that's
(28:07):
probably nine out of ten families will say that to me,
and so we want to and then they'll say, so
we want to continue the conversation of recruiting.
Speaker 3 (28:16):
So yeah, yeah, I don't think we've heard anything like
that rich all the colleges who've spoken to no, not
at all, Coach.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
So the I most ivs offer that percent need base match,
you know. And so the reason I know so much
about this is because I went to Stanford on a
partial scholarship. I graduated with student loans, and then a
couple of years later they switched. So you know, I
wanted to fire off an email saying like, hey, let's
(28:45):
make this retroactive. But yeah, but you know, I'm debt
free now, so happy about that.
Speaker 3 (28:55):
Congratulations coach. What are some of the main majors that
kids are coming to University of Chicago for.
Speaker 1 (29:04):
Having the Booth School, Business Graduate school, Business being one
of the best business schools in the country or world.
You know, we we do have a very strong econ
business ECON. I would say probably forty percent of our
team or ECON to business ECON majors guys that want
to get into varying fields of you know, finance or
(29:29):
private equity or wealth management or you know, trading or whatnot.
So I would say that's pretty big. We have a
number of pre med guys in the team. We've got
some like CS data science guys. We've got a couple
of molecular engineers. That's the new engineering department at Chicago,
(29:51):
and so, you know, but it's pretty varied, so a
healthy mix of of majors.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
We all on semesters, trimesters. How's it work there for
you guys?
Speaker 1 (30:04):
Yeah, so it's essentially trimester. It's the quarter system. So
you know, it's it's both I would say a blessing
and a curse because we don't Our first day of
classes is not till September twenty ninth, and so you know,
it's something that I tell our at you know, tell
our recruits. We're pretty upfront with is like, you know,
(30:24):
we don't you know, D three rules don't allow us
to have practices before that before school starts, and so
we won't start practicing until September twenty ninth.
Speaker 2 (30:36):
And then.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
You know, the competition starts November first. That's that's not
enough time to get in shape for wrestling. And so
we're we're looking at changing our pre seas. We actually
are looking at changing our preseason scheduling just so that
then we can accommodate that give our guys a little
extra time to work their way into shape prevent injury.
But a lot of it depends on how they come
(30:59):
back to campus and you know, trying to remind them
of their goals right now in the summer. Then they
continue to work hard, and you know, I'm pretty pleased
from what I've heard of the team in terms of
their off season work. But the advantage I think is
because it's a long season, you know, October tenth, the
(31:21):
middle of March, and so I do think that we're
able to maintain a little bit more freshness at the
end of the year just because we did get a
little bit later start, you know, we were forced to.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
Be in such a long season. You know. One of
the topics of discussion that comes up often is some
sort of realignment of making it a one semester sport.
And then also because of the academics first semester for
incoming people's they think that if they didn't have to
necessarily worry about that competition aspect of it too, might
ease that first semester for new students. What are your
(31:56):
thoughts on on maybe a one semester or some sort
of modified spring semester competitions.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
Man, you know, I thought of this a lot. I
thought about this a lot, and I don't know if
I have a good answer. I think there's pros and cons.
You know, there's a lot of research out there that
student athletes get better GPAs in season and out of season.
That's like a very well known, well researched fact. And
so I think that getting kids, I think keeping them
(32:26):
involved in the sport is probably better over to you know,
for US, you know, Sean Conway one made the national
finals in a week later because because we're on the
quarter system, was able to study abroad in Greece. And
that's a guy that he is maximized, you know, academic,
(32:46):
all American. He's crushing it in the classroom, had a
great internship this summer, you know, national finals in wrestling,
and he's also having the ability to study abroad. You know,
those those those opportunities would somewhat diminish if you know,
because he's you know, it's the postseason, you know. So
for US, I kind of like the current schedule being
(33:11):
on the quarter system, you know, for a semester school,
I think it kind of makes sense to move it later.
But then for us, then we're really kind of in
season for all three terms because the season would start
at the end of the fall, competition would be winter
(33:31):
and spring for us, whereas right now we basically have
all spring term as a as a postseason, and guys
can really they can take an extra class, they can
you know, study abroad if they wanted to, you know,
they can take advantage of that other aspects of the
college experience that you know. I'm not referring to partying,
(33:54):
but you know, just like you know, being a student,
being a student and Division three pride itself and being
the student emphasis of student athlete division so.
Speaker 3 (34:05):
Coach when it comes to training, having such a high
academic load at the University of Chicago, you mentioned that
athlete who made the finals was kind of maxed out
on the academic side of things. You also gave an
example before of someone having to come later into practice
because they had a midterm. When it comes to training,
is it one size fits all or are you very
(34:28):
dynamic as far as each individual when they can practice, Hey,
you got a lot going on in school. You might
not be burnt out on the wrestling side of things,
but we need to ease back here, all right, come
to practice here?
Speaker 1 (34:38):
How's that look? You know, I'll tell a story, you
know these You know, I went to a good academic school.
I remember like working hard in the classroom and having
to go to practice when I was like pretty tired,
you know, from the from academic from working hard, and
you know, it's it's tiring. Finals, you know, Finals week
(35:01):
is a hard week, you know. So, but it was
my first year. I remember we finished up final exams
in December and then we had like ten days of
training and it was like another team the next week
from the finals week and then the next week, you know,
no classes, They're just training and the amount of work
(35:26):
and energy they had just got a lot more out
of them. And so it's I'm learning as a coach.
You know, this is really my first time running a team, right.
I've been an assistant helping, but structuring the team workouts
is a totally different, you know. And I spent a
lot of time doing individual private lessons, helping individuals reach
(35:46):
their goals. But you know, looking at the room and saying, hey,
where does our team need to move in terms of
their physical capacity? And there is just a that I'm
developing and so understanding that midterm week, we may not
get as much out of them on the athletic side
(36:08):
because because of that, because they're grinding in the classroom
and that's okay. And so if I can structure that
into a training cycle that are like kind of we
try and cycle to where we go medium, medium, hard
light in terms of volume. That we try and cycle
that with their academics, douch their academic calendar, and it
(36:31):
doesn't always work out that, you know, we can try
and set everybody up for the most success. I don't
know if that answers your question exactly, but kind of,
you know. I read a book called The Sports Gene.
It's pretty good. I think it's from twenty ten. I
(36:54):
think Epstein wrote it or somebody, but he talks about
I think the Danish had some of the best soccer
teams in the world, and they're a really small country,
and so how they were competing at the World Cup.
They changed their They used to have everybody do the
same thing, but then they realized that their goalie and
(37:14):
their striker and their midfielder don't have the same like demands,
like running right, goalie doesn't have to run strike res
to do short sprints. Midfielder has to run all the time,
and so they started training them a little differently. And
so just understanding that some of our guys are super
fast twitch and that when they when we have an
(37:35):
intense practice where they drain the tank, they don't recover
the same as a guy that's that slow twitch grinder
who can just go all day. And so just kind
of trying to set up, you know, making sure that
we're staying healthy, you know, And this is you know,
I worked, I'm a physical therapist. That's what I did
actually after the Olympics before coach Cocher recruited me back
(37:56):
to Chicago, and so kind of use that using that
knowledge to hope set up good training cycles and programs
that keep us healthy number one, maximize our conditioning and
technical development. You know, that's that's a challenge I'm getting.
I think I'm getting better, but you know, it's I
(38:17):
would say that it's it's imperfect science.
Speaker 3 (38:20):
So being a physical therapist and being a wrestling coush,
do you feel like sometimes you have to shut off
the physical therapist side of you to get some training
done and not worry about injury.
Speaker 1 (38:34):
You know, Yes, yeah, I would say yes, like, oh man,
that guy's shoulders are so tight like and we're doing
we're doing stretched out single finishes right like, this is
not good for your shoulders and we got to work
we gotta work on that. But now it's not the
tend to work on it. We got to get better
in this position because you shoot alone, and so you know,
(38:56):
we gotta we have to get better.
Speaker 3 (38:59):
So coach you said you were a physical therapists to
Coach Conway kind of recruit Cocher, sorry, recruit you back.
Conway was the national finalists, right, yeah, there you go,
h Coach Cocher recruited you back. Do you have any
advice for guys who you know, might have went to
school for one thing, they're in the workforce, but they
(39:21):
really missed wrestling and want to get back into wrestling.
Speaker 1 (39:28):
You know, I would say, I mean, just it depends
on your I would say, it depends on your individual situation.
Anybody with like I would say that one of the
more gratifying parts of my job is helping young men
like grow as people and trying to be a good
(39:49):
role model. You know, I tell the team all the time,
they're you know, one of my guys that's graduating. He's
going to be helping out a high school program next year,
and we had a long conversation about it that he
gets to you know, he's really looking forward to mentoring
young people and helping them and he's he's got way
more life experience than them, which you know is granted,
not a ton more than them, but he's just graduating college.
(40:12):
But you know, just get involved locally wherever you're at now.
If you want to make it a career, then you know,
then you've got to start setting yourself up for that
in terms of like certifications, you know, the Bronze Copper,
Bronze gold, that silver certification that USA Wrestling offers, you know,
(40:37):
different things to make yourself a better coach. You know,
there's Masters in Sport administration and all that, so you know,
professionally you can you can do training, but you know,
the sport itself is awesome, and you know, just to
develop all those character traits that wrestlers love, right, We're
(40:59):
so proud of being gritty and tough and resilient, and
you know you don't need to you don't need to
be a stud wrestler to get that. You can be
a tough kid with a less than five hundred record,
and that's sometimes they're the toughest ones because they're not
getting success and they're still coming back for more. And
so to mentor a kid like that, you know, just
(41:21):
just get involved locally first, you do a good job there,
get a good reputation. Then you know, you move from
a high school. You know, there's a lot of D
one coaches that used to be good high school coaches.
Speaker 2 (41:33):
Yeah. Yeah, got all the admiration for those five hundred
level wrestlers that keep coming back and keep coming back
because it's stuff to get your face most on a
regular basis and still keep showing up. And so I
have a lot of respect for kids that do that,
and even the coaches that work at those younger levels
and are doing those sorts of things. Is a lot
(41:53):
of times when you're doing that, you're volunteering and you're
giving your time. You're not doing it. And not that
we ever get into coaching for the money aspect of
because it's not necessarily there either.
Speaker 1 (42:02):
Yeah, totally, you know, a lot of respect.
Speaker 2 (42:06):
Yeah, coach, I got one last one for you here,
another through line of sorts for you. You know, a
friend of the pod and also a former teammate of
mine of sorts is Chris Ayres.
Speaker 1 (42:18):
Oh wow good Man.
Speaker 2 (42:19):
Yeah, him and I were on Team New Jersey back
in nineteen ninety three. We weren't high school teammates or
anything like that. But then he also was on the
show when he was the coach at Princeton. He is
also now the Matt Gentry head wrestling coach at Stanford University.
What is that like for you as the first person
in the history of Stanford wrestling to win a national
title and all that that program has been through over
(42:40):
the last couple of years, and how they've kind of
coach airs and took over and coach Cole before him
and all that stuff. To know that your name is
at that title of that coaching position. Did they let
you know that that was going on or they ask
you about that? How did that all go down? And
what's that like for you?
Speaker 1 (42:58):
You know, it's a little surreal. Well, you know, I
have had a lot of success. I'm extremely grateful for it.
At the same time, it's not not the reason I
did it right, like I just wanted to. I just
I love doing it. So one, I love doing it
and two, I just wanted to just see how good
I could get. So I wanted to get really good
(43:19):
all the time. Like I was very hungry for growth,
and so that you know, I didn't get too high
in my wins, I didn't get too low in my losses.
And I think that helped me succeed. So it feels great,
you know. And I joke because normally you get your
name on those types of you know, normally it's not
(43:41):
your athletic success to get to your name on those titles,
right you. Normally it's your financial success. So in some ways,
you know, that wasn't my case. You know. They some
of the alum that you know, I had a good
personal connection with, you know, they were the ones that
endowed that position. And so they asked me, if you know,
(44:02):
instead of putting their own names on it, which they
could have done they had the right to do, they
chose to put my name on there, which is definitely
an honor, and you know, I was very grateful for that.
So but yeah, coach airs, you know, I just saw
him in Fargo. H We're supposed to go grab a meal.
(44:24):
Matt Gentry and the Matt Gentry head Wrestling coach, but
end up by not working out. But I'm sure we're
gonna have a phone call here soon just to compare notes.
I respect him a lot. I think I do think
that my situation at Chicago is pretty similar to his
at Princeton in terms of non scholarship and high academics
(44:44):
and wanting to grow, and so I'm excited to talk
to him, and I think he's doing a great job.
Speaker 2 (44:53):
Awesome. What would you tell Did you talk to him?
Tell him? The Airy Bros Said, what's up? And tell
him it's pork Girl, not Taylor Hamy.
Speaker 1 (45:00):
Yeah, we'll do, Coach.
Speaker 3 (45:02):
Is there anything about the University of Chicago academics the
team that we didn't talk about that you want the
audience to know.
Speaker 1 (45:11):
You know? I think that yeah. One is in credit
to Cocher. So he recruited me back. I was working
full time as a physical therapist and then he said, hey,
come help out our program one day a week. That
was four years ago, and I came in. I felt
like a consultant and I didn't get to know the
(45:31):
team really at all. But I went with him to
the National Championships. I saw how tough D three wrestling
was watched the winners celebrate like it meant something to him.
I said, wow, this scratches my competitive bitches and it's
super motivating to be a part of. But bigger than
that was I was around these guys in the team.
They were like respectful, thoughtful, smart, ambitious. There were the
(45:54):
type of guys that you'd want to be around. And
they the and so credit to Cocher and that the
recruiting that kind of a kid and our team. They
spend a lot of time together. They like each other.
They live together, they study together, they eat meals together,
they vacation together, and I think that prospect is important
(46:16):
in the college wrestling experience. And so you know, I'm
proud of them for creating that. You know, that's that
is a little bit more of them than than me
as a coach. You know, I don't force them to
spend time together outside the wrestling room, but they choose
to and so, uh, you know, yeah, I just want
to That was a big reason I took this job.
(46:39):
I want to promote it. Thank you for sharing that.
Speaker 3 (46:42):
And also, not not very often we get someone on
here with the credentials that you have and we barely
talk about their wrestling and we talk about the college
or that. That just lets you know how much you
guys have to offer them what you're doing with the program.
Speaker 1 (46:57):
So thank you for sharing that final flour rich.
Speaker 3 (47:03):
Yeah, coach, are you a coffee drinker?
Speaker 1 (47:07):
Absolutely? Pour over? Let's go our guy.
Speaker 3 (47:12):
So we're gonna ask how do you uh, how do
you brew it?
Speaker 1 (47:16):
How do you take it? Actually, we just you know,
my neighbor runs a small like a small coffee roaster.
He just shut it down and so we just are
now searching for a new bean. My sister in law
just got back from Costa Rica. She has a wreck.
I grew up in a small town. There's a micro
(47:36):
roaster micro roaster in brands Past, Oregon. We just ordered some.
So we're looking for our new coffee bean. But grind
it and then do the pour over. That's that's our
Do you have a chemics Uh no, okay, I need
I need to look into this.
Speaker 2 (47:57):
It's like one of those glass pour over.
Speaker 1 (48:01):
Then, yes, that's what they have.
Speaker 2 (48:03):
Okay, Yeah, what's the what's that new roaster you mentioned?
Do you know? Then? Can you share the name of
us You're going to get.
Speaker 1 (48:09):
Keep rogue roaster in Grant's Pass, Oregon and then Monteverto
Monte Verdi in Costa Rica.
Speaker 2 (48:19):
Awesome, thank you, And so knowing that you're on the
high end of the coffee spectrum, here we're going to
share a little Another guest of ours name is Charles Nick.
He is the founder and CEO of a company called
third Wave Water. And so what third Wave Water is
is Charles was a NASA scientist and he couldn't figure
out why his coffee at home never tasted like the
(48:40):
coffee at his coffee shop. So in conversation with his
roaster and his coffee shop friend, he found out that
most coffee shops have a specific filtration system on the
water system, so they get a specific mineral profile. Being
a NASA scientist, Charles took that water, dehydrated it, and
formulated that mineral profile. So now what third wave water is.
(49:03):
It's like a little almost like a sachet, little packet,
and it's got that mineral profile, and it dehydrated. You
put that in a gallon of distilled water, and then
that gives you this specific mineral profile that the coffee
roasters and the breasts us and that's what you use
to bring your coffee with so then like when you
(49:24):
see those hints of caramel or cherry or peach or
whatever it is that'll bring out those those flavors for you.
Speaker 1 (49:31):
So I'm learning something.
Speaker 2 (49:34):
Yeah, coach, do you have any daily practices or rituals
you do on a regular basis to show up as
the strongest version of Matt Gentry?
Speaker 1 (49:43):
That's like always changing. I think you know my commitment
to growth. I'm always fiddling with diet, exercise, sleep, nutrition,
you know, supplements and cold plunge on a whim, how breathing,
Like I try and mess with it all. I don't know,
(50:04):
I should do a better job tracking it in terms
of like lab work. I have a family history of
like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, metabolic disease, cancer, heart disease,
Like I got all of it in my family, and
I've had a few health things in my in my
life that I've had to deal with and so but
(50:27):
mostly I just go by how I feel, and I
feel great. I try. I wrestle with my guys, still
turning forty three here in a few days, and so
most of my feedback I get just like how do
I feel? But yeah, kind of kind of all that.
Speaker 2 (50:46):
All right, we get down with that. I'm curious outside
of the room, what's your favorite way to sweat?
Speaker 1 (50:51):
Actually, I just joined about a year ago. I joined
a nationwide fitness group called F three F three nation
dot com or or something. F three Nation. The stands
for Fitness Fellowship Faith. I love it. It's by point
fifteen to six in the morning. There's a local group
(51:11):
that meets like a mile from my house, and so
you know, it's it's free, it's open to anybody. It's
not very competitive, but man, and it's pure led so whoever,
it's different every time, community based and end with a prayer.
And the only piece of equipment is a cinder block,
(51:33):
and so you can get you can get a pretty
good workout. That's what I've been doing lately.
Speaker 2 (51:39):
Okay, I'm gonna look that up, coach.
Speaker 3 (51:42):
What are you listening to right now? Music? Podcasts, audiobooks?
Are you reading anything?
Speaker 1 (51:49):
I'm I'm I go through phases with all of that.
So there's times when I'll read three books in three months,
and then I won't touch a book for six months.
Right now, I'm actually in a reading phase. I think
it's because I'm out of season and like not it's
exhausted at night, but I'm reading Scarcity Brain. He wrote
(52:10):
a book called Comfort Crisis. What's that is that?
Speaker 2 (52:15):
Goad sad?
Speaker 1 (52:16):
No, it's Michael Easter, Okay, but Comfort Crisis is pretty good.
It talks about, you know, when you get yourself out
of your comfort zone, that's actually good for you, and
that's how like humans basically evolved or were designed. And
so we actually did. We did a workout this year
(52:37):
called him I called it a mini Masogi. Masogi? Is
this like they talk about it in the Comfort Crisis.
It's it's good, it's our team did it though we
did an impossible mile. It's something that's supposed to be
really hard, and that if you don't know you can
do it, then it gives it confidence all year that
you've done it. You're supposed to train for it. We
did it in just one day. But then yeah, and
(53:03):
then there's another one Anxious generation Jonathan Hate. That's a
good one, phone based childhood. Ah, and then there's one
more iron I can't remember, but yeah.
Speaker 2 (53:21):
What kind of music does Matt Gentry get down to?
Speaker 1 (53:25):
Honestly, like I've been I'm not a huge music lover.
It's just my brain. It's just it's just crazy. Like
if I listen to an audio book, I don't remember it,
but if I listen if I read a book, I do.
And so it's just the way my brain wires. But
I usually will put on like like chill beats and
(53:48):
I like to listen to that if I sit in
asana or on a drive at night or anything that
like has some tempo, like slow tempo to it.
Speaker 2 (54:01):
Well, you are in Chicago. That is the birthplace of
house music, So you're in the right place for that's
for sure, coach. Last what we got for it's a
lighthearder one to close it out. It could be food
now you're in Chicago. Maybe you're a deep dish connoisseur.
Maybe there's a special beverage out there you like. Maybe
you're a golfer like a lot of the other wrestling
coaches we've talked to over the years. Do you have
(54:21):
a guilty pleasure?
Speaker 1 (54:24):
Probably just food. I love food, love it, I could
eat it now, or like good food. I mean, I like,
I don't know, sweet savory lobster, I mean like savory sweet,
all matter. It's all good good chocolate. Not a candy guy.
But like good chocolate desserts. Oh yeah, take it every
(54:46):
take it every day. Do you have a favorite col
I would say, you know what if we had to
pick one, Colver's ice cream?
Speaker 2 (54:52):
Okay, okay, we got a Culver's right down the road
from me.
Speaker 1 (54:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (54:57):
Do you have a favorite deep dish place?
Speaker 1 (55:00):
I just geor Donald's is the closest campus, so I
go there.
Speaker 2 (55:04):
Good. Okay, curious, So we'll have to check back in
with you. How Xavier likes the transition from New Jersey
New York style pizza to deep thrust.
Speaker 1 (55:16):
I don't know those guys. They tend to stay loyal. Yeah, yeah,
no doubt. There's a little bit of trash talking about that,
I would imagine.
Speaker 3 (55:26):
So Coach, thank you for this conversation this afternoon. Grew
up watched you on the NCAA's had that tape when
you won the NCAA Finals to watch that match repeatedly,
So thank you so much for your time. Really enjoyed
learning about the program and the college and everything you
(55:46):
guys got going on. So thank you so much for
taking time out of your afternoon to chat with the
area bros and educate our audience on the university.
Speaker 2 (55:54):
Of Chicago.
Speaker 4 (55:56):
Yeah, well, thank you again for having me, and you know,
thank you again for highlight adding you know, none d
one and just showcasing that you can have great experience
and get really good as a wrestler, set yourself up
for life to end and success and you don't, you know,
don't have to be d one to do it.
Speaker 2 (56:12):
We appreciate your insight on all that, and we will
be adding a University of Chicago bounder to our wall
of support that we throw and we're looking forward to
following you guys this upcoming wrestling season. So best of
luck to you. I know you got some time, unlike
some of the schools that are starting a little bit earlier,
you got a little over two months about so enjoy
(56:33):
what summer you have and doing summer like things with
the family and all that stuff and recharging their batteries.
And yeah, it was an honored pleasure to chat with
you today. Coach.
Speaker 1 (56:42):
Yeah, well, thank you again.
Speaker 2 (56:43):
Yeah. All right, ladies and gentlemen, that's coach Matt Gentry
from the University of Chicago Wrestling program. Make sure you
check all those links in the show notes, give them
a file, throw them your support, let them know the
area Bros sent you and we'll be back tomorrow evening
with Ken Harden from the University at auburnhop we're gonna
be talking to the assistant track and Field Coach of
(57:05):
the Year Division one and they are the two time
defending national champs. We're excited. We'll be going from belly
to belly on the mat to going belly to belly
on the track tomorrow. So we'll see you back here
at tomorrow night at seven pm.
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