Maughan Still Fighting
After two-year hiatus, NDSU coach looking to 2007
Bucky Maughan’s wait is nearly over.
After a two-year absence from wrestling’s post-season — imposed on him and his school, North Dakota State, by the NCAA after the the Bison program decided to move from Div. II to Div. I — the long-time coach is looking forward to March 15, 2007, when he hopes to be sitting matside when the Nationals are held in Auburn Hills, Mich.
There could be one catch though.
“I just want to make sure that I have some people there with me,” laughed Maughan, referring to someone to coach.
For that has not been a laughing matter for Maughan, who saw many of his wrestlers from what was a great Div. II program — the Bison were perennial leaders in that division and won the team title four times (1988, 1998, 2000-01) —leave North Dakota State for other programs that were still competing, most on a Div. II level.
“I don’t begrudge these kids going. I was a more disappointed in the coaches (from other schools),” said Bucky, who rated this problem as the low-point of the past two years.
“When we got into this transition (to Div. I), I felt like we were swimming in a pool of sharks bleeding. What really bothered me was that other schools said, ‘Let’s go get those guys.’ We actually had athletes from other schools taking our kids out at night to try and talk them into going to their school. It was back-door recruiting.
“We los
t all our upperclassmen this year and had to put some freshmen in who I wanted to redshirt,” said Bucky, who did have one wrestler — Matt Hermann, who finished second in NDSU’s last Div. II tournament in 2004 — stay with him during this period. “The kids had to suffer through some rough times.” Bucky’s program, which compiled a 16-10 won-loss record the past two years, was not the only one being pilfered. The same could be said of South Dakota State and Northern Colorado, where Jason Liles and Jack Maughan (Bucky’s son), are the respective coaches of those programs that also made the move to Div. I. (Utah Valley State, which made the move from junior college to Div. I and hired Cody Sanderson as its coach, still has a three-year wait before competing in the Div. I national tournament).
But those coaches are much younger than Bucky, who said he feels great at 64 years old.
“The only time I feel old is on my birthday,” laughed Bucky. “I’m in better shape now than I was a few years ago. I’m lifting and running and stuff.”
Bucky, who first excelled as a wrestler at Moorhead (Minn.) State on a Div. I level — winning an NCAA championships in 1963 — and later as a coach at North Dakota State (where Bucky also produced five Div. I All-Americans before the NCAA started excluding non-Div. I programs from its national tournament in 1991), is now using that same energetic approach off the mat.
For while most of his other coaching peers have spent this time of year preparing their kids for post-season action, Bucky has spent his time on the road recruiting.
“Through all this thing, I got mad at some people and I got mad at myself for being sloppy on recruiting,” said Bucky, who started coaching NDSU in 1964. “When I go to High School Nationals this year, everyone I see there I will have been in their home. When I go there, the moms and dads (of his recruits) will know me.”
These transitional programs have other challenges awaiting them before next spring, including what type of qualifier they’ll compete in. Bucky said that these three programs and eventually Utah Valley State have talked about creating a conference with the five programs — Northern Iowa, Fresno State, Wyoming, Air Force and Eastern Illinois — that recently competed in the West Regional.
Of course there is the dilemma about the number of qualifiers available to such a conference — the West Regional had 22 qualifiers, which would have to be split between eight schools instead of five — but that is another battle on the horizon for most coaches.
“(The NCAA is) using a formula that is out-dated and was started 30 years ago,” Bucky said. “They have to take a good look at that again.”
Times change. So has Bucky Maughan.
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