Coach has his team rekindling Cowboy tradition

By Mike Finn, W.I.N. Editor

Editor’s Note: Before Christmas, the Oklahoma State wrestling team was defeated on its home meet by Penn State and finished second behind Central Michigan for a second consecutive year at the Reno Tournament of Champions. Those disappointments changed the first two weeks of 2008 when the Cowboys defeated No. 1-ranked Iowa before over 14,000 fans in Carver-Hawkeye Arena, then captured the Virginia Duals. OSU coach John Smith, now in his 16th year in Stillwater, spoke to W.I.N. editor Mike Finn about his team’s recent accomplishments and the unique challenges his program faces in dealing with the expectations that follow a program that has won 34 NCAA team championships.

Q            Looking back at your dual meet at Iowa, one of the advantages your     team appeared to have — compared to Iowa — was experience from upperclassmen who did not let the big crowd bother them. How much does experience help, especially against youthful talent in front of a hostile crowd?

A         You hope experience does help. But at the same time, we wrestled four freshmen that night. We pretty much got the job done in three of those four matches and although we took some losses, we became better wrestlers. It doesn’t matter if you don’t have confidence where ever you go. It’s about believing in what you’re doing and believing that our attack is better than their attack, and being able to demonstrate it when it is time to demonstrate it. Big matches are about big matches and whether you are going to show up or not.

Q         Iowa coach Tom Brands said his team was out-hustled and out-coached that night in Iowa City. Do you agree with that and how important is coaching in these big matches?

A         I don’t judge myself against other coaches. I get motivated by other coaches. Tom Brands motivates me. A lot of coaches in the country motivate me. Whether we out-hustled them or out-coached them, that doesn’t mean a whole lot to me. What does mean a lot to me is if our team is wrestling hard in big matches and rising to the occasion when they need to. Later in the year, that is what’s going to need to happen if we want to be successful.

Q         You are one of the most experienced coaches out there in Div. I wrestling with 16 years at Oklahoma State. What are the strengths you have now in coaching that you did not when you began?

A            Understanding student athletes and keeping the big picture in mind. Most of these men are going to end their careers in four or five years and move on to a world that is much tougher than wrestling. It doesn’t mean that you can’t be the best in the nation. We have to keep a balance to where we are succeeding in preparing them for both worlds. If I’ve learned anything as a coach, you can’t sacrifice in either one of those areas. If not, a coach would tend to sacrifice the academic part of the equation and allow your student-athletes to change their studies to an easier degree. We have to keep that high standard for them. I think they appreciate it and come to understand that you are for them and it’s not all about the wrestling.

Q         It sounds like you are more of a teacher than a coach now. Is that accurate?

A         Don’t you think this world needs more teachers? Sometimes, I probably get too philosophical with several of them, but we need teaching outside the wrestling room. There isn’t any question about what we’re doing inside the wrestling room, but you have to keep that balance. There is a lot of responsibility outside that room that we have to tackle. We can’t sacrifice it. It’s too easy to take the easy road. It’s tough to take the high road and be great at both of them.

Q            Looking back at your four consecutive NCAA championships (between 2003 and 2006), did you consider that a dynasty?

A         Within your own program, you can consider what it is. We established new marks in a program that started in 1915 and here we are 90 years later, breaking some records in the most tradition-rich program in any sport in the country. Most people might disagree, but the facts are the facts that this program has won a lot of NCAA championships and more than anyone regardless of whatever league, including professional or sports in college. When you establish new records, it’s a special time. Was it considered a dynasty? I don’t know. It’s something that we equal with Oklahoma State history.

Q         It almost seems like your program goes against a measure that can never be improved.

A         It’s tough. It’s tough to break records here. It’s tough for individuals to break records, but those expectations are what keeps us knocking on the door.

Q         After winning those titles, you fell to fifth last year. Have the Cowboys been disrespected the past two years?

A         When you’re working with 9.9   scholarships, it makes it very tough when you are graduating people. If you have student-athletes on three-fourths of a scholarship, it’s hard to have someone backing him up or ready to step in, unless he is a redshirted freshmen and is going to start. We probably got caught with that and are going to have to deal with that for the next couple years. It doesn’t mean that we can’t compete for championships. It just means that we had some unbelievable athletes and chemistry at that time and are shooting for that again.

Q         How much of the problem last year dealt with athletes not reaching their potential?

A         You have an expectation but must understand what you are working with. Last year’s team had to be coached a little bit different compared to the teams that I had when we were winning four straight. It’s not that the bar wasn’t set high in what we expected to do. In the end, it wasn’t enough.

Q         Your team lost at home to Penn State and there have been three No. 1-ranked teams that have lost this year (Minnesota, Iowa State and Iowa) on their home mats. Is this parity and what will determine what is the best team at the end of the year?

A         Once we get through this month, you’re going to find out quickly. Dual meets and tournament are different. We all know that. Normally, it hammers itself out and we know who is favored. It doesn’t matter what they’ve done in the tournament, (the media) is going to look at seeds and determine who is the No. 1 team on those seeds. So if you’ve lost three or four meets, you can still be ranked No. 1.

Q         There are some Div. I teams, which might be called mid-major programs who are trying to join wrestling’s elite, which is usually made up of Oklahoma St., Iowa State, Iowa and Minnesota. What recommendations would you make to programs like that?

A         It’s hard for me to see that. I think someone like Tom Brands could answer that question better because he was at one of those programs (Virginia Tech) for a short time before going to Iowa. He got to see a different look.

            I’m not in those type of programs day in and day out. I’m obviously in a program that is committed administratively. I’m not in there battling on a daily basis. I’m not at Central Michigan, battling Michigan and Ohio State or Iowa and Iowa State on the same recruits. When they earn the right to have great recruiting class because of their performances, sometimes the power of traditional programs still overtake them.

Q         You bypassed the NWCA/National Duals this year. What has to happen to the event that would make you never want to miss the National Duals?

A         Put it at the end of the year and make it an NCAA championship. It’s just a dual meet tournament right now. I don’t think there are many teams that have goals to win that championship. But it doesn’t mean that I don’t think it’s important. I think it has to fit your schedule. I think everyone knows that we don’t run from competition. It’s based on what’s right for your team and is it located in a place which is an advantage or disadvantage (geographically) to your team.

Q         The NWCA is currently working with the NCAA wrestling committee in trying to restructure college wrestling. A couple of the recommendations would be to make wrestling a one-semester sport and separate the dual and tournament seasons. What are your thoughts on those ideas.

A         I think it’s a great idea. The problem is that they’ve got to quit awarding NCAA championship locations. Right now, we’re picking sites four years out. How are we going to change it now? Can you go back and ask that same city that bid on it and was awarded it to change the date? What we need to do is stop the bidding process to see if we can get this passed and then go forward. We talked about this but it’s pointless to bring it up to a vote because we are four years out again. This is something that needs to be decided on now, not even next year.

            I’ve been saying this for years that we need to become a one-semester sport more so than ever now with the APR (Academic Performance Rating). It’s a tough world for wrestling programs all across the country.