GABLE COMMENTARY
Cowboys held up better under NCAA pressure
Q Oklahoma State just won its fourth straight team championship after it appeared that Minnesota might end the Cowboys’ streak this year. Did Oklahoma State win this championship or did Minnesota lose it?
A If I had to give an explicit answer, I would say that Oklahoma State held up better than Minnesota, just by looking at guys like Matt Nagel and C.P. Schlatter, who were pretty high seeds but did not score many points for Minnesota. But I think it’s more than that. If you look what took place beyond Oklahoma State, the next 20 teams, hardly any of those teams were able to pull ahead or do better than what they potentially could do. Those next 20 to 30 teams kind of decimated each other.
Th
ere wasn’t anyone strong enough at this particular time to just make a major move. Going into it, it looked like Minnesota and bunch of teams had a chance to step forward. No one jumped forward. The only team that jumped forward was Oklahoma. That’s why Jack Spates was named Coach of the Year. Iowa showed a little bit of that ability, compared to what they did at the Big Tens. They still have guys who need to go beyond what they did at the NCAAs. I’m sure there are a few coaches who could walk away pretty proud, but beyond Oklahoma State, nobody put in a major challenge. But you have to look at that and turn it into a positive effect for your program. Minnesota had the ability and they were on a mission but something just fell apart at the end.
Q Of the coaches whose teams failed to live up to pre-tournament expectation, should they leave with doubt in the way they are running their programs.
A You have to believe in your system, but you have to keep tweaking it to make it better all the time. If it happens year in and year out, you have to throw the whole system out and revamp it. You just can’t stop learning. If you seem to have the same problems, then you have to look at them real close. You have to find new answers, new solutions.
Q Oklahoma State coach John Smith talked about how tough it is to get a defending champion to repeat. In fact, he had two previous champs — Zack Esposito and Steve Mocco — who failed to repeat. Why do you think that is so hard?
A If you won last year, a lot of people think you can do it again. But you have to be better next year than you were this year. However good you were to win one, you have to be better because other people are driven to get to the top. Winning breeds a lot of success and motivation, but sometimes that pain of defeat can overshadow that victory and drive you to even more extremes to make gains.
That’s why you need to work on people who win even greater. Those are the guys who really need to dig deep to get to a higher level. There is pain involved in a lot of training; not just from the fact that you are working hard. A lot of times you have to go back to that pain where you suffered some kind of loss or injury; whatever it is that can drive you to some more work. But for those who experience too much of that pain, they become used to it and don’t understand it. The pain of losing has to be few and far between.
Q On the other hand, fifth-year senior Joe Dubuque defeated a true freshman Troy Nickerson in the 125-pound final. Was it the Hoosier’s experience that overcame the Cornell wrestler’s youthful potential?
A It’s a big factor but occasionally, you have cases where it goes the other way as well. Joe Dubuque didn’t doubt himself at all. A lot of his confidence came from being the defending national champion. I watched Nickerson quite a bit. He seemed to lose the edge that got him to that championship match. Yet, a guy like (Dustin) Schlatter at 149 proved that differently. He had been so strong all year and was probably more dominant in his thinking than Nickerson.
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