Editor’s Note: Legendary wrestler and coach Dan Gable, after one year, stepped down from his position as an assistant coach with Iowa last summer. Recently, Gable sat down with W.I.N. editor Mike Finn to talk about the current events of wrestling and what he is doing to help improve the sport.

Q         Before we talk about the national scene, we need to talk about Dan Gable, who went through a lot of changes the last couple years, including last season when you served as an assistant to Tom Brands at Iowa. You have since stepped down, so what is your role in wrestling?

 A         You have to understand that the focus has never changed in my life. It’s always been pretty narrow, but yet all that narrowness still involves a lot of people outside that narrowness. So now there is a bigger vision. I give my family and profession everything. Sometimes people have such a big circle of vision that everything gets watered down. Mine does not get watered down so I’m still the same even though I got updated for a year when I got back into being a wrestling coach.

           It helped me learn about kids as opposed to nine years ago. When I speak now, I have more up-to-date data that gives me the ability to say the right things as compared to just what I did ten years ago. That one year of coaching gave me a lot more material to talk about to help people in the future. Now I’m back in a role that I was in before I became the assistant, but it’s a much better role.

 Q         Did last year’s role limit you from what you want to do in wrestling?

 A         It was needed for learning and upgrading in my profession and I think it was needed for Iowa wrestling. But in the scope of what I wanted to do beyond Iowa wrestling, it held me back. I wasn’t available to the National Wrestling Coaches Association. I wasn’t available to the museum (Dan Gable International Wrestling Institute and Museum in Waterloo). I wasn’t available to the Olympic sports movement as much and other programs that needed help.

Q         You talked about updating yourself on today’s college wrestlers. What did you learn about yourself and what did you learn about today’s wrestlers?

A         The biggest thing it did was help me  establish relationships with wrestlers that I hadn’t had for a while. I really like that. I had more one-on-one conversations, more one-on-one dealings with the athlete about issues in his life, more one-on-one dealings with his wrestling, more one-on-one training with an athlete. I didn’t do it so much with the team. Tom (Brands) did that.

        The other thing that I found out is that kids who I dealt with ten years ago weren’t dealing with things that kids ten years later are. It’s as simple as instead of pushing a lawn mover, you could ride a lawn mover. Kids today are walking about with GameBoys and computers. The whole world has become smaller.

            Today, there aren’t so many secrets. There is a lot of information out there that is correct. But there is a lot of information out there that is incorrect. A lie may get passed on an internet chat room or forum and you start believing it. Before I was real sensitive if someone criticized me. I’ve learned to flow with a lot more stuff.

Q         Are you sating that you’ve taken old-school ideas and learned to use them in new-school practical areas.

A         I’m not necessarily changing my old-school ideas, but I’m adding to my old-school ideas. I’m getting updated and realizing there are certain things that you can use, but don’t use everything that is new school because some old-school ideas should never be taken away. If you quit using the hard-work ethic and go to everything that is easy, it’s not going to work in our sport.

Q         Should more retired coaches like yourself become mentors to these younger coaches?

A         We don’t need to lose anyone who retires. We haven’t implemented enough systems yet to where we utilize all of our resources.

Q         Is the key to this working making sure the younger coach is willing to listen to the old coach?

A            Listening and believing is very important because there is a lot to be offered out there. It’s like reinventing the wheel. It’s adding on to it and making it better.

Q         Did you turn to (former Iowa State coach) Harold Nichols much after you started coaching at Iowa?

A         I’ve always listen to my mentors. The funny thing is that I keep going back to them now all the time. The only thing I see is that there is stuff from Nichols that not too many pick up on and really believe in. You also don’t just do it at the beginning. Tom Brands, for example, is getting to a point to where can utilize what Nichols’ coaching philosophy was. With the way the program is developing, eventually things will run themselves.

Q         In college wrestling there are a lot of             good young coaches like Brands, Cael Sanderson, Brian Smith, Troy Sunderland and Tom Ryan. What are the things that ties them all together?

A         They are very motivated and driven. Some were driven as athletes and they keep that same drive. I don’t know if all of them have been tremendous athletes, but they get a taste of winning and they don’t want anything but that. They have a hard time settling for anything less.

Q         Many of these coaches were very successful as athletes. How are they able to continue to be great coaches, considering that is not the case in other sports where the star athlete is sometimes the worst coach?

A         Young coaches can’t just keep living off their names because there aren’t that many resources so they have to continue to improve themselves. A lot of these guys have paid attention and have been around good coaching. A lot of it is intrinsic and not so much about how much money they’re going to make.

           Brian Smith went through a lot of things that others have not, including at Syracuse when he was trying to save that program. Not only was he fighting for his team on the mat, he was fighting for his team to survive. If you look at Brands and Ryan, they were around a successful Iowa program. If you look at Sanderson, it was more than just what he learned from Iowa State. It was his dad, his brothers. It’s a package with Sanderson.

Q         Among the top teams, Iowa State was able to win at Minnesota, Iowa was able to win at Iowa State and Penn State won at Oklahoma State. Why were these teams able to win on the road at tough environments?

A         One of the keys to coaching is keeping that edge without going overboard. Once you are in that driver’s seat, it’s human nature to put your guard down a little bit, enjoy the joy and soak it up. It’s like whoever is on top has a sense of relief. If that happens and you realize a little bit of relief, the person who does not have the relief is gaining a little bit of an edge. The key to winning and staying on top is that when you gain the relief, you don’t fall backwards. That’s a tough thing to do.

           It took me winning nine championships in a row before I decided I needed a break. But when I took that break, we lost. You have to figure out how to take breaks, but during that break you are evaluating and still planning and still recovering, but yet moving forward. You want to peak but you need to know how to work in a non-peaking manner where you are making accomplishments while getting revitalized.

Q         Let’s switch to high school wrestling, where perhaps the biggest story to come out of the Walsh Ironman, was a group of young kids from Monroeville, Ohio, all won championships as underclassmen. These kids are having the times of their lives. What recommendations would you make for them to keep that enthusiasm the rest of their high school careers and beyond once expectations and pressures begin?

A         A lot of it has to do with their immediate surroundings, whether it’s with their parents, coaches, their team or themselves. As a person yourself, you can develop that philosophy. You really become educated on what is the best way to stay at it in the long run. That means keeping a perspective.

          For example, how good are these kids? Can they step on the stage of the World Championships and beat a Russian who won a World title last year?

          What I’m saying is that you have to hit them hard and make them understand there is lots of improvement to be made yet. Perhaps they can win a Cadet World championship, but can they win it in five or ten years at the Senior level?

Q         Who plays the biggest role in helping them keep perspective; their parents; their coach?

A         Both do, but the kids take on the responsibility of understanding what they need instead of just becoming dependent on their coach or parent. As they progress, they will start learning to understand about humbleness and keeping a perspective of what they have to do to go to a higher level.

          We lose a lot of kids because they peak too early. They can avoid peaking too early by understanding there is logic to every step and that every step becomes tougher to conquer. Very few people keep rising for the occasion. They go with the natural flow and they don’t understand how to get a bit better at a higher level.

           For example, the difference between high school and college is a big degree of physical difference. There is a big degree of style difference and sometimes there are better skills.

           You have to make a jump in focus and concentration and make a jump in attitude.

Q         Talking about   youth wrestling, how young should we start kids in this sport?

A         It has to be a read by the parents or guardians or coaches. By a read, I mean there are some who will want to be there. There are some who don’t. There are reasons to put them there and there are reasons not to put them there.

Q         Should youth tournament organizers  keep in mind who they are working with in putting on these tournaments? Should they be more educators than businessmen?

A         It’s always important to build attitude and teach people how to compete. There is nothing wrong with making a profit as long as everyone involved with the tournament is making a profit. They must be doing a good job because it keeps growing on and on. We never had those youth tournaments when I was young. I didn’t start wrestling until I was in seventh grade. There are kids by the age of 12, when I started wrestling, who have nearly 300 career matches. I probably had 300 matches my whole life.

  There are a lot of good things about having kids in sports, especially in wrestling, which are good in the long run.

Q         Finally, we are at a time in the year when people are talking about setting resolutions. One of those resolutions, especially by the baby boomer generation, is getting back into shape. You are nearly 60 years old and continue to train. What recommendations would you make to help them reach their goals?

A         It goes back to what we first started   talking about in making changes and going about it in a realistic manner. Give yourself a chance to succeed. You have to realize that you are doing something for an extended period of time before it becomes a good habit or a way of life. You have to do it long enough to experience the gratification and sense of accomplishment. If you don’t do it long enough, you won’t experience that and will most likely slide backwards if you go overboard.

           Every day you are going to be experiencing urges. But as quickly as you experience an urge, that urge can go away, too. So when you get an urge — craving this or that — don’t try to immediately satisfy that craving like many young kids do today. You learn to wait until those urges go away.

        Learn and educate your mind by having a plan. When you get an urge, know how to beat it. You need to know that when you set a resolution, you set a plan of attack to make it actually become real. If you mess up, don’t give up. As soon as you break your rule, go back to your good rule. I’m going to mess up and I’m going to accept that I messed up, but I don’t have to continue to mess up. Tomorrow, I can start off fresh and have a chance to come back.

      But better yet, don’t mess up.

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