PHILADELPHIA — The University of Pennsylvania has announced the hiring of Rob Eiter as its head wrestling coach on Tuesday. Eiter, who has served as an assistant on Penn’s staff for the past two seasons, will be the 18th head coach in the 103 seasons of Penn wrestling.

“Rob’s extensive experience in coaching as well as his accomplishments as an athlete have prepared him well for a head coaching role,” Penn’s Director of Athletics Steve Bilsky said. “We are excited he will take this next professional step at Penn, and his two years as an assistant in our program will serve him well.”

“I cannot express how happy my family and I are for this opportunity,” Eiter said. “Penn wrestling has a long tradition, with more than 100 years of competition, and I look forward to continuing that tradition. I want to take this opportunity to thank Mr. Bilsky for allowing me the honor and privilege of coaching the young men that make up the Penn wrestling family. At the same time, I want to thank those young men for never losing sight of their goals during this search process and maintaining their positive attitude and work ethic in the room.”
Over the past two seasons, Eiter has coached six EIWA champions as well as an NCAA champion and All-America in 2007 graduate Matt Valenti. Penn has won 24 dual meets in his two seasons involved with the program and sent 16 wrestlers to the NCAA Championships.

Eiter, a 1991 graduate of Arizona State, brings a wealth of collegiate and international coaching experience with him. Prior to coming to Penn in 2006, Eiter served as an assistant coach at Northwestern where he helped guide the Wildcats to a 13th-place finish at the 2006 NCAA Championships. That season, seven Northwestern wrestlers qualified for the NCAA Championships and three of those grapplers earned All-America honors.

Before his stint at Northwestern, Eiter served as an assistant at Clarion (Pa.) University where he coached Sheldon Thomas to an NCAA title and tutored Clarion’s first-ever four-time All-America, Bryan Stout.

This past July, Eiter served as an assistant on the United States’ entry to the 2008 FILA Jr. World Women’s Championships in Turkey. He also coached the United States team at the 1999 Women’s World Championships.

Before he began his coaching career, Eiter was a standout wrestler. He was a member of the 1992 and 1996 Olympic freestyle teams as well as the 1993 and 1995 World Championships teams. He was a five-time U.S. Open national champion and two-time World Cup silver medalist.

The Quakers enter the 2008-09 season ranked tied for 21st in the InterMat polls and have seven wrestlers ranked in the top 20 in their weight class. The seven ranked grapplers ties Penn for fifth-most in the country entering the season.

Penn begins its 2008-09 season with Wrestle-Offs on Sunday, Nov. 2 and its first home meets of the season on Nov. 22 when the Quakers host Princeton and Michigan starting at noon.

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The award, given by the magazine since 1960, is named for Bob Dellinger, a sports writer and editor for newspapers in Oklahoma covering high school and college wrestling.

Stubbs is the fourth woman to win the Dellinger Award. Nancy and Russ Hellickson won the award in 1974, Doris Dellinger (wife of Bob) in 1977, and Lisa Little in 1996.

Stubbs has been writing profiles for Amateur Wrestling News since 2002. Her first profile subject for the magazine was Terry Davis, author of the popular wrestling novel turned movie, Vision Quest. Over the years, the native of New Ulm, Minnesota has written about numerous individuals in the sport, from up-and-coming high school wrestlers and current top-level collegiate competitors, to all-time greats such as Les Anderson, a two-time NCAA champion for Iowa State (1958 and 1960) who was long-time assistant coach for his college alma mater. In addition, she usually writes the annual Freshman of the Year profile for Amateur Wrestling News.

Stubbs was introduced to wrestling through her niece, Sara, once a high school wrestling cheerleader who urged her aunt to attend a high school tournament in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area where Stubbs resides. Stubbs was an instant fan.

“I was immediately drawn to the intensity.”

In addition to Kristie Stubbs, other recent Dellinger Award winners include wrestling historian Jay Hammond, author of The History of Collegiate Wrestling, and Jason Bryant, until recently Director of Media Relations for the National Wrestling Coaches Association and writer/webmaster of their Intermat website, now involved in the amateur wrestling news TV program Wrestling 411.

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For the 2008 presidential hopefuls, the road to the White House included an extended stay in the field house. No matter which ticket prevails Tuesday, a pair of former high school athletes will run the country come January.

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) was a reserve on the Punahou Academy basketball team that won the 1979 state title in Hawaii. He would be the first serious basketball player to occupy the Oval Office.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) competed in several sports at Episcopal High School in Alexandria, most notably wrestling.

Obama’s running mate, Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), was the leading scorer on an undefeated football team his senior year at Archmere Academy in Claymont, Del.

McCain’s vice presidential pick, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, was the starting point guard on the Wasilla High basketball team that won the 1982 state title in Alaska.

All right, so it’s not as if Obama or McCain would install goalposts on the South Lawn or make tardy Cabinet members run suicide drills.

But the candidates’ athletic backgrounds underscore the value of high school sports. Their prep sports careers were far removed from contemporary cases of high-profile transfers, headline-grabbing recruiting wars or ballyhooed ESPN prime-time appearances. Their involvement was like that of most kids then and now, the kind that taps potential, teaches lessons and helps mold future leaders.

Obama (Class of ‘79) and McCain (Class of ‘54), underdogs during the early stages of the presidential campaign, were outsiders at their high schools. Sports provided an “armor against uncertainty,” as Obama put it in his memoir “Dreams From My Father.”

Obama came from modest means but got a scholarship to exclusive, and decidedly non-black, Punahou. Known then as “Barry,” he lived with his white grandparents and mother. On the one visit his dad made to see Obama in Hawaii, he brought his 10-year-old son a basketball. Photos from that Christmas are the only pictures Obama has of them together.

“I think it’s absolutely true,” Obama told Sports Illustrated, “that for somebody who grew up without a father in the house, an African-American of mixed race who was living in a community where there weren’t a lot of African-Americans, basketball was a refuge, a place where I made a lot of my closest friends, and picked up a lot of my sense of competition and fair play. It was very important to me all the way through my teenage years.”

Obama was sometimes called “Barry Obomber,” even though the left-handed small forward was known more for his long arms and quick first step on slashes to the basket than for his shooting touch. He favored a street-ball style; Coach Chris McLachlin preached fundamentals.

McCain, a self-described rabble-rouser at Episcopal, at the time an all-male boarding school, was one of the smaller boys on campus — he wrestled in the 127-pound class as a senior. But he was also one of the feistiest, earning such nicknames as “McNasty” and “The Punk.”

For two years, he held the school record for the fastest pin of an opponent.

McCain, too, was an outcast. He came from a military background and was bound for the Naval Academy, a pedigree and career path far different from those of the many future doctors and lawyers and businessmen at Episcopal.

“I was good at sports, and athletics were my passage through my difficult first weeks at the school,” McCain wrote in “Faith of My Fathers.” “I wasn’t an exceptional athlete, but I was good enough to earn the respect of my teammates and coaches. . . . The academics were superb and serious. But athletics were accorded equal importance in our education.”

Nobody was throwing around the term “maverick” back then, but McCain’s tendency as a senator to sometimes stiff-arm his party was evident on at least one occasion when he stood up to his teammates, according to his book.

During the fall of McCain’s senior year, a junior varsity football player confessed to having broken a team rule. Most of the players wanted to kick him off the squad. McCain argued that the boy, unlike most, had not signed a pledge promising to follow the team rules. And the boy was not caught breaking the rule; he had owned up to the transgression without prompting. McCain persuaded his teammates to drop the matter.

Biden (Class of ‘61), a halfback-receiver, was known to some as “Dash” in high school, not because of his speed but for his stutter. Dash as in “B-b-b-b-b-iden.”

Sports helped him gain acceptance until he overcame his speech impediment by reciting Yeats and Emerson into his bedroom mirror, pausing when his jaw would start to clench.

“As much as I lacked confidence in my ability to communicate verbally, I always had confidence in my athletic ability,” Biden wrote in his book “Promises to Keep.” “Sports was as natural to me as speaking was unnatural. And sports turned out to be my ticket to acceptance — and more. I wasn’t easily intimidated in a game, so even when I stuttered, I was always the kid who said, ‘Give me the ball.’ ”
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Palin, then Sarah Heath (Class of ‘82), had modest basketball skills but a scrappy on-court demeanor that earned the team co-captain the nickname “Sarah Barracuda.” There is high school basketball footage of her and Obama on YouTube.

“Everything I ever needed to know I learned on the basketball team,” Palin was recently quoted as saying in an Associated Press article. “All about setting goals and working hard and having self-discipline and knowing what strengths were in the team members and then assembling those team members and tasking the team to fulfill missions. That’s what you learn in sports.”

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The emotional and physical demands of wrestling can be trying on competitors and their closest supporters.

Occasionally, the sport’s daily grind can strain a bond between the two, especially if that relationship isn’t bolstered by shared DNA or mat experience. University of Iowa national runner-up Joey Slaton and his stepfather, Matt Shaver, have grappled with that very dilemma.

For almost 17 years, they’ve encountered wrestling’s vast range of experiences, surviving bouts of frustration and conflict and enjoying the many good times.

“We get into our fights, you know,” Slaton said during a summer interview. “Just like every other parent. It’s not anything really that serious.”

Slaton’s mother, Robin Shaver, and Matt introduced Slaton to wrestling when he was 4 for practices at the YMCA,

“We got him started, because at the time Joe had a lot of energy,” Matt Shaver said. “He was always on the go, always moving.”

Joey and Matt spent a lot of time together at youth tournaments, wrestling and bonding.

“They’d have a lot of stories they’d come home with and they just seem to click on that subject,” Robin said. “You could never tell, that even though his last name and our last name are different, they still wouldn’t put together that Matt wasn’t his dad.

“They always thought he was Dad. They’d even say, ‘they look alike.’”

Shaver played an active role in Slaton’s wrestling career, patrolling matside as Slaton became a four-time state finalist and two-time state champion for Cedar Rapids Kennedy. He’s regularly attended college meets at Iowa and Virginia Tech. He’s also had a big influence off the mat.

“He gives me guidance,” Slaton said. “It’s just like any other parent, father, father-figure or whatever. He teaches me the rights and wrongs of your life.

“I just remember going to practice and him yelling at me and stuff. Telling me to get going. I pretty much picked it up every time after he said that.”

As tough as things may have gotten or as much as Shaver may have pushed, Slaton never played the “You’re not my dad” card.

“I never said it, but I’m sure I thought it to myself or something,” said Slaton, who has had regular contact with his biological father, Brian. “Then you realize that you’re lucky.”

“I’ll hand him that,” Shaver said. “He’s never ever used that.”

Some of Shaver’s motivation may stem from his own childhood. Shaver, 39, was raised by a single mother. He saw his dad for the first time as a teenager. His male influences were his uncles, Nick Streff and Harry Hyde. He even experienced a bad relationship with a stepdad for a few years.

“I think that played a major part,” Robin Shaver said, “because he knew the situation of a single parent, and he didn’t know if that same thing would happen to Joe. He didn’t want him to feel like he didn’t have a father or didn’t fit into a family.”

Slaton wasn’t aware of Shaver’s history.

“I’m thankful for what he’s done,” said Slaton, who also acknowledged the sacrifices of his sister, Raelynn, and 9-year-old brother, Cameron. “My mom and him spent all the money and time to take me to tournaments.”

The relationship reached a crossroads when Slaton got to college. Shaver said he had a hard time stepping back, constantly questioning Slaton about weight control, what he was working on in practice, his workout partners and his schoolwork.

“He wanted to be more involved than he should have been,” Slaton said. “It was stressful. I’m thinking about school and wrestling and then I have to think about my dad. I told (Iowa Coach Tom) Brands he had to call him.”

Brands intervened and assured Shaver he could handle the coaching duties.

“(Brands) said you don’t need to worry about the wrestling part of it. You just be his dad. You just be there for him as his dad. I got this,” Shaver said.

Brands declined to comment on specifics, but said “it was always positive.”

“Matt Shaver, all he wants is what’s best for his son,” Brands said. “All Joe Slaton wants is to do the best he can do and win championships. They have the same end in sight.”

Shaver listened to wrestler and coach.

“It was a little hard to let go,” Shaver said. “It took a little bit of time, but I think it’s been the best for Joe and my relationship.”

The new partnership helped Slaton flourish as a red-shirt sophomore. He was 31-5 mark and a national runner-up at 133 pounds. He placed third at the Big Ten tournament.

“So much stress was taken off. I could just think about my matches,” Slaton said. “It helped me out a bit this year.”

Second doesn’t bode well with Slaton. He won’t be satisfied until he has his own title to match the one the team earned last March.

“You have to be ready for every match and you have to work hard,” said Slaton, who trained this summer with Iowa assistant coaches Doug Schwab and Mike Zadick as they prepared for the Olympics. “You have to sacrifice some things to get what you want. I’m just going to have to work harder.”

“Robin and I are very proud parents,” Matt Shaver said. “We’re proud to say Joey’s our son.”

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Penn State DuBois seeks an energetic and experienced Wrestling Coach to direct the reintroduction of wrestling on the PSU DuBois Campus. The Head Coach will direct and coordinate the planning, organizing, and coaching of the wrestling program. Responsibilities include but are not limited to: recruitment of student-athletes in accordance with college policy, supervise coaching staff, game coaching, conduct practices, organize team travel, monitor student-athletes academic and social progress, equipment maintenance and purchases, budget management, fundraising, camp and clinic development and implementation, and administrative duties required to develop a competitive wrestling program. Candidates must have coaching and wrestling experience with preference given to those who have demonstrated those abilities at the College Level. Candidate must also show a strong foundation of recruiting and fundraising. All interested applicants need to send a cover letter, resume, and a list of at least three references to PSU DuBois Athletics, Multipurpose Building, Penn State DuBois, DuBois, PA 15801 or email items to sdf14@psu.edu. Search will begin immediately and will continue to be open until position is filled.

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Museum officials have received word the Federal Emergency Management Agency has obligated the bulk of funding necessary for the renovation work to begin.

It’s hoped the museum, which has been closed since the June 10 downtown flood, will reopen in time for the NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals wrestling tournament at the UNI-Dome Jan. 9-11, said Mike Chapman, the museum’s founder and executive director.

Chapman, accompanied by Gable, the Waterloo-born wrestling legend for whom the museum is named, made the announcement as U.S. Sens. Tom Harkin and Charles Grassley, U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley and other officials surveyed museum damage as part of a tour today of flood damage in eastern Iowa.

“FEMA has obligated enough money that we feel confident in proceeding,” Chapman said. “We’ll be back in business, we hope, by the National Duals. We’re convinced if we get construction started this week we can make it.

“We’ve had tremendous support from both senators, from Congressman Braley,” Chapman said. He said state Rep. Tami Wiencek lent her support on a state level and that Waterloo Mayor Tim Hurley wrote a letter of support to FEMA.

The help has come from more than FEMA, Chapman said. “The wrestling community has been terrific. Waterloo people have stepped up,” he said, including people like Vern and Donna Nelson, who provided the museum with temporary administrative offices in the River Plaza building downtown.

Word of the museum’s plight also spread to Hollywood, Chapman said. Actor William Baldwin, star of “Backdraft” and other motion pictures, and a former high school and collegiate wrestler, provided an undisclosed but “substantial” monetary gift to museum repairs. Former World Wrestling Federation superstar Bret “The Hitman” Hart gave the museum $1,400 raised from signing autographs when he was here this summer as his father, the late Stu Hart, was inducted in the museum’s George Tragos/Lou Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame.

The Cauliflower Alley Club, a nonprofit organization of boxing, pro wrestling and show business people, donated $2,000, and pro wrestler and promoter Harley Race donated $4,000 along with his wife, B.J.

The international amateur wrestling community donated another $20,000, Chapman said.

Wayne Magee Construction of Cedar Falls will perform the renovation work, Chapman said.

The museum relocated from Newton, reopened here in February 2007 and was renamed for Gable, who wrestled for West High School and Iowa State University, won an Olympic gold medal in 1972 and coached the Iowa Hawkeyes to an all-sport record-tying nine consecutive NCAA national championships.

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BY JOHN DUDLEY
john.dudley@timesnews.com

EDINBORO — Paul Donahoe attended his first class at Edinboro University on Monday.

The date for his first official wrestling match in a Fighting Scots singlet remains up in the air.

The former NCAA champion enrolled at Edinboro on Friday, nearly two weeks after his dismissal from the University of Nebraska’s wrestling team.

Donahoe has one year of eligibility remaining and is expected to compete during the spring semester after sitting out this fall to fulfill NCAA transfer requirements.

“I have two goals,” Donahoe said Monday during an interview at McComb Fieldhouse. “I want to become the first two-time NCAA champ from two different schools. And I want to help the team get a trophy.”

Trophies go to the top four NCAA team place-winners. Edinboro’s best finish was a sixth in 1997. But the addition of Donahoe, a two-time All-American from Flint, Mich., along with eight returning national qualifiers makes the Scots an instant favorite to challenge for a third top-10 finish in four seasons.

“Getting Paul is absolutely wonderful,” said senior Gregor Gillespie, who won an NCAA title in 2007, the same season Donahoe won at 125 pounds. Donahoe was third last year. “I think he will make us better and he will fit in great.”

Joining Donahoe is Penn State transfer Garrett Scott, a former three-time PIAA champion from Juniata Valley who competed for one season in college before leaving the Nittany Lions.

Scott is expected to redshirt this year and return with three seasons of eligibility remaining.

Both wrestlers arrive with baggage.

Scott’s pursuit of a fourth PIAA title ended when he was suspended from his wrestling team for violating his charter school’s Internet use policy.

He finished his high school career with a 130-2 record and went 21-7 at 141 last season for Penn State, qualifying for nationals. Penn State dismissed him from the wrestling team in May for violating team rules.

Donahoe was dismissed from Nebraska’s wrestling team Aug. 12 after an NCAA investigation revealed he and another former Cornhusker had posed nude for a pornographic Web site.

The school issued a statement apologizing for the wrestlers’ actions, and athletic director Tom Osborne later told the Associated Press that the two had violated NCAA rules twice in five months.

Donahoe declined to comment on the photos, on his dismissal from Nebraska’s wrestling team or on reports that he or teammate Kenny Jordan are considering a lawsuit against the university.

Asked if he was concerned scrutiny will follow him to Edinboro, Donahoe’s eyes filled with tears.

“I’m just really thankful they have given me this opportunity to come here and finish my career,” said Donahoe, who was 86-18 in three seasons at Nebraska. “So far everyone I’ve met has been great.”

Donahoe said several other schools expressed interest in him but declined to identify them.

“If we hadn’t taken him, there is a line of schools, schools in the Big Ten, that would have taken that chance,” said Edinboro athletic director Bruce Baumgartner. “I’m sure we’ll get some (criticism). People make mistakes all the time, and I think he deserves a second chance.”

Donahoe said his former high school coach in Davison, Mich., Roy Hall, recommended Edinboro. He took Hall’s advice partly because he knew of Edinboro’s national reputation as a small school that goes toe-to-toe with Big Ten and Big 12 powers.

“I believe that if you put yourself around good people, good things will happen,” he said.

Gillespie said coach Tim Flynn and assistant Cliff Moore consulted Edinboro’s senior captains before deciding to invite Scott and Donahoe into the program.

“People are always going to judge you,” Flynn said. “I made tons and tons of calls and did a lot of research on Paul and Garrett. If I wasn’t completely comfortable with these guys, they wouldn’t be here right now.”

Flynn said Donahoe’s arrival means junior 125-pounder Eric Morrill will redshirt this season. Morrill was one of a school-record 10 NCAA qualifiers for Edinboro last year.

Another returning qualifier, senior 149-pounder Daryl Cocozzo, has left the team for personal reasons, Flynn said.

JOHN DUDLEY can be reached at 870-1677 or by e-mail.

Paul Donahoe
Hometown: Flint, Mich.

Résumé: Two-time All-American who won NCAA 125-pound title in 2007. Went 86-18 in three seasons at Nebraska.

Garrett Scott

Hometown: Alexandria

Résumé: Three-time PIAA champion went 130-2 in high school at Juniata Valley. Was 21-7 last as a freshman at Penn State, qualifying for the national tournament.

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The National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) has collaborated with Fresh Health Innovations LLC and The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), to produce a 23-minute web-based seminar, Preventing Skin Infections, for athletes, coaches and parents. The seminar includes an additional seven-minute “stand alone” component addressing the unique skin infection challenges in wrestling.

The focus of the seminar is on the identification, prevention, and treatment of skin infections in sports. The seminar is free to everyone in the sports community and can be viewed at www.nwcaskinprevention.com. Preventing Skin Infections is also available on DVD for classroom viewing for a modest cost to cover duplication and shipping/handling.

The seven-minute wrestling “stand-alone” component features wrestling legend Dan Gable and NCAA Champion and current Ohio State assistant coach Joe Heskett.

One of the primary architects of the webinar, Dr. Dave Joyner, is a former All American wrestler and football player at Penn State University and has a long history of service to the US Olympic Committee. Dave Joyner said, “I am extremely gratified that this project is now being launched. Countless athletes in all sports will benefit from what they learn in this video.”

“With the emergence of widespread outbreaks of herpes and the potentially deadly antibiotic resistant strains of staph infection in sport specific populations, the prevention and treatment of skin infections has become as important as technical and tactical aspects of training. This video will help coaches and athletes recognize early signs and symptoms of skin infection so transmission to other athletes can be kept to a minimum,” said NWCA President Jim Beichner.

Mike Moyer, the Executive Director of the NWCA added, “Common sense and due diligence are still the most effective ways to battle skin infection. However, the prevention of skin infection is often the most overlooked aspect of training. We hope that this seminar will convey the important message to coaches and athletes that preventing skin infection is a responsibility that should never be taken lightly.”

“We wanted to produce a web site and corresponding video that were both engaging and informative,” explains Fresh Health Innovations creative director, Fred Miles. “We used extensive animation, special effects, studio and on-location shooting to create a seminar that is not only fun to watch, but has a ton of practical information.”
The mission of Fresh Health Innovations, LLC. is to provide information to athletes, coaches and parents about injury prevention, conditioning, nutrition and other topics relating to health and fitness. Preventing Skin Infections was made possible by a grant from a leading Pennsylvania health insurance company.

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USA Wrestling’s Assistant National Freestyle Coach and Head Resident Coach Terry Brands has notified USA Wrestling that he accepted a position as assistant wrestling coach with the University of Iowa today.

Brands will remain with USA Wrestling through October 31 before officially assuming his new job. Brands will coach a group of U.S. freestyle wrestlers on a tour to Yakutsk, Russia next week.

“USA Wrestling is grateful to Terry and Michelle Brands for their contributions and service to USA Wrestling,” said USA Wrestling Executive Director Rich Bender. “I wish them the best of luck in all of their future endeavors.”

Brands, a two-time World champion freestyle wrestler and 2000 Olympic bronze medalist, joined the USA Wrestling national staff in April 2005. He has coached the resident freestyle athletes at the U.S. Olympic Training Center, including 2006 World Champion Bill Zadick and 2008 Olympic Champion Henry Cejudo. Brands has served on the coaching staff for the U.S. teams that have competed at the last three World Championships as well as the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China.

“My heart has come together on a lengthy decision that I have considered since the culmination of the Olympic Games,” said Brands. “The program at USA Wrestling is headed in the right direction. It is time for me to step away and let the new national coach work with his resident coach going into the future.”

In his new position, he will be working along with his twin brother Tom Brands, the head coach at Iowa, and returning to the coaching staff at his alma mater for the first time since 2000.

He has extensive college coaching experience. Brands was the head coach at the Univ. of Tennessee-Chattanooga for three years prior to joining the USA Wrestling staff. He also served in assistant coaching posts at Montana-State Northern, the Univ. of Nebraska and the Univ. of Iowa.

“It has always been on my mind,” said Brands about returning to Iowa to coach. “My family and I are going to do our best to instill great values in young men. My motto is to outwork the world and never compromise my integrity. The Univ. of Iowa provides the opportunity for young men to win Olympic gold medals. It is exciting to me. The staff and the administration at the Univ. of Iowa have the same kind of passion to instill that in their student athletes.”

Brands is committed to continuing his leadership role in the development of freestyle wrestling in the United States.

“I will work with USA Wrestling and its national office and will do whatever I can to help,” said Brands. “I have talked to (National Freestyle Coach) Zeke Jones and told him that I will do whatever I can to help him and the program. The goal is to be the best freestyle country in the world. In my opinion, the collegiate environment provides a lot of that potential.”

Brands talked about his experiences working with USA Wrestling and how it has shaped him as a coach and a person.

“I am not anywhere near satisfied with what I wanted to accomplish there,” said Brands. “I learned a lot of wrestling, understand the sport better and understand myself better. I matured as a person. I feel real good about the experience I had there.”

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University of Pennsylania Sports Information

PHILADELPHIA — The University of Pennsylvania’s head wrestling coach Zeke Jones has announced his resignation to accept a position as the head coach of the United States freestyle national team.

With Jones’ resignation, Penn has also announced that assistant coach Rob Eiter has been appointed interim head coach of the program.

“Penn has been a tremendous place for me and my family,” Jones said. “It has been a great place to work and live. Penn is one of the best places for a student-athlete to achieve success academically and athletically and working with men as gifted as the ones at Penn has been a blessing.”

“This is a great opportunity for Zeke and we wish him the best with U.S.A. Wrestling,” Penn’s Director of Athletics Steve Bilsky said. “At the same time, we feel very fortunate to have someone with Rob’s ability and credentials to step up to the head coaching position.”

Penn begins its 2008-09 wrestling season on November 22 with a pair of dual matches against Princeton (noon) and Michigan (2 p.m.) at The Palestra.

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Paul Donahoe and Kenny Jordan were let go Tuesday, three days after a blog posted images of them taken from Fratmentv.com, a Web site featuring naked or partially clothed male athletes.

“The history of behavior of these men, including the current matter, does not reflect the standard of excellence we aspire to on and off the mat,” coach Mark Manning said in a statement. “We have outstanding student-athletes in our program and we will move forward in a positive manner toward our goals.

“I want to personally apologize for any embarrassment that may have been caused for our athletic department, the university and our fans.”

Manning didn’t address the nature of the wrestlers’ past transgressions, and didn’t immediately return a message left on his cell phone seeking comment.

Donahoe did not respond to an e-mail seeking comment. The Associated Press has requested interviews with the men through the athletic department. Personal phone numbers couldn’t be found.

The athletic department became aware of the images on the Internet late last week, assistant athletic director for compliance Josh White said. Donahoe and Jordan were declared ineligible because they violated an NCAA rule that prohibits athletes from appearing in pictures for commercial use, White said.

Donahoe and Jordan would have to apply to the NCAA for reinstatement if they choose to wrestle for another school, White said.

Donahoe, who would be a senior, won the Big 12 championship at 125 pounds in 2008 and placed third in the NCAA tournament after winning the title the year before.

Jordan, a junior 133-pounder, was fourth in the Big 12 and failed to place at nationals this past season.

The Scarlet Project, a blog that touts itself for reporting “news, scandal and gossip” at the university, posted the pictures online but altered them so that they didn’t show full nudity. The blog reported that they were obtained from an anonymous person.

John Marsh, who operates Fratmentv.com and two related Web sites catering to gay men, said he’s spoken with Donahoe and Jordan and that both indicated they want to continue as college wrestlers. He said Donahoe was a “dynamite” wrestler.

“If Nebraska is going to be pigheaded and kick him off unreasonably,” Marsh said, “there has to be another wrestling program that’s going to want him.”

Marsh said most photo and video shoots are done in Los Angeles, where Fratmentv.com is based, but that some are done at other locations. Members of Fratmentv.com pay $24.99 for access to hundreds of images and videos.

Marsh wouldn’t say how much he pays models or how he hires them.

“It’s not money that they would be making working as a waiter,” he said. “They get well-compensated. It’s better than beer money.”

Marsh said his models typically don’t care about videos and pictures of them being seen on the Web.

“I’m in my mid 40s, and my generation has a stigma about porn,” he said. “The kids, the generation of the student-athletes, don’t have that stigma. They really don’t care.

“They’ve come from a Paris Hilton, Tommy Lee-Pamela Anderson sex tape generation, Myspace pages. The shame and stigma aren’t there for them. They’re mostly worried about what their parents are going to think, because their parents think it’s horrifying.”

Guide to Sports Nutrition - If you train hard in a combat-type sport, if your sport requires a high strength to body weight ratio, and if you require a high muscle mass to fat mass ratio, you need this book.

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BEIJING (AP)—The Olympic wrestling mat is red, yellow and blue, dynamic colors designed to give the athletes a vivid backdrop for their talents. It’s that gray area outside the wrestling circle that discolors what its governing body proudly calls the world’s oldest sport.

Some in the sport say it’s one of the shadiest, too.

Backroom politicking, bribery, corruption, outlandish officiating, even threats of violence are routinely alleged in a sport that is little followed in most countries but, when noticed, seems to have as many bizarre story lines as WWE-style entertainment wrestling.

And when it happens at the Olympics, many unfamiliar with the sport are left wondering what in the world goes on in wrestling.

The most recent allegations came last month, when livid Swedish wrestler Ara Abrahamian walked off the medals podium and dropped his unwanted bronze medal for Greco-Roman 84 kilograms on the mat. Abrahamian blew up when a disputed penalty call wound up deciding his semifinal match against Italian Andrea Minguzzi, who went on to win the gold medal.

“I think the semifinals shows that FILA does not play fair,” Abrahamian said, referring to wrestling’s international governing body. “I don’t deserve to lose. The system is corrupt.”

His coach, Leo Myllar, was equally displeased, saying, “It’s all politics, and it’s all corrupt.”

The International Olympic Committee is investigating, but only to determine if there should be disciplinary action against Abrahamian for his medal-stand exit.

What makes Swedish officials especially leery of this latest loss is that one of FILA’s top vice presidents is Italian, and Minguzzi did nothing internationally—his average finish in five world-level championships was 27th — until he suddenly won his country’s first Olympic wrestling gold in 20 years.

In Athens, Abrahamian lost a similarly disputed decision to Russia’s Aleksey Mishin, who won gold there but was upset by Minguzzi in Beijing, as was Abrahamian. After losing in Athens, Abrahamian wrote on his Web site, “The score was 1-1, and that means losing, in case you meet a Russian.”

Abrahamian’s 2004 loss was one reason former FILA board member Pelle Svensson of Sweden resigned, but only after he unsuccessfully attempted to institute measures to begin cleaning up the sport.

What is certain is if there is an Olympics, there will be allegations of misdeeds.

Svensson, a retired judge, complained Thursday during an interview with the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet that he was threatened—he wouldn’t say by whom— following a post-Athens argument that left a Russian wrestling executive with a torn shirt.

In Atlanta, Iranian officials went ballistic after American Kurt Angle won a gold medal in a close, disputed match on his home mat. In Sydney, there were numerous quirky calls. In Athens, Olympic champion Buvaisar Saitiev of Russia and Belarus’ Murad Gaidarov fought as they left the mat, so unhappy was Gaidarov at the officiating.

Americans aren’t immune to FILA-related disputes, either. In the 2003 world freestyle championships—in New York, no less—Eric Guerrero was forcibly removed from the mat when he refused to leave after losing a disputed decision. Heavyweight Daniel Cormier, who is wrestling in Beijing, chased an Iranian wrestler around the mat and refused to shake the referee’s hand when he lost.

And does this sound familiar? In Sydney, American Sammie Henson was so distraught at losing a gold medal he felt was stripped by a terrible call that he tossed his silver medal down a hallway.

The low-scoring sport’s most visible problem is that many officiating calls are subjective and subtle moves and tiebreakers often decide winner and loser. A replay system allows a judge to review a referee’s call, but there is no clear-cut rule when it should be used. It wasn’t in Abrahamian’s match.

In Beijing, it’s obvious who runs amateur wrestling’s big show.

FILA board members and executives sit in plush chairs beside huge displays of flowers a few feet off the mat, immediately behind the mat chairman and judge, and routinely talk among themselves.

Wrestling executives from other countries often stop by to talk, even as matches are going on, and mat giant Russia’s higher-ups seem to be everywhere.

When FILA executive give their rare interviews, they merely praise the sport’s virtues and refuse to be drawn into any discussion about alleged problems.

In Beijing, there are five more days of wrestling to go, and that means plenty of time for more controversy to erupt. And many who feel wronged probably won’t be comforted by all those $100 displays of cut flowers toted matside every day.

Guide to Sports Nutrition - If you train hard in a combat-type sport, if your sport requires a high strength to body weight ratio, and if you require a high muscle mass to fat mass ratio, you need this book.

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CLEVELAND, Ohio - Ben Stehura, a graduate assistant at Cleveland State from 2001-03, is returning to the Viking program as the head wrestling coach. Director of Athletics Lee Reed made the announcement on Friday (Aug. 22) morning.

“I am extremely excited about the opportunity to return to Cleveland State and Northeast Ohio and become part of a great tradition that is CSU wrestling,” Stehura said. “I have a tremendous amount of pride in the wrestling program and I want to do everything I can to continue the success that the program has enjoyed.

“I am looking forward to working with a tremendous group of student-athletes, coaches and administrators and helping to write the next chapter in Cleveland State history.”

“I am thrilled about the addition of Ben as our head wrestling coach,” Reed said. “Ben really impressed us with his work ethic, his knowledge of wrestling and his committment to the overall well-being of the student-athletes.

“His approach to wrestling has allowed his teams to be very successful. He started the program at Limestone just five years ago and it is already competing on the national stage. That speaks volumes about the kind of coach he is.”

Stehura joins the Viking wrestling program after serving the last five years as the head coach at Division II Limestone College in Gaffney, S.C. The only head coach in school history, Stehura quickly built the program and has already coached one NCAA National Champion, three NCAA All-Americans, five NCAA National qualifiers and eight NCAA All-Academic team members.

He has also coached three U.S. Senior Open All-Americans, four Olympic Team Trial qualifiers and two Olympic team alternates.

Prior to starting the program at Limestone, Stehura was a graduate assistant coach at CSU from 2001-03, while earning his Masters Degree in Education Administration in 2003. While at CSU, he was part of a staff that qualified 10 grapplers for the NCAA Championship, had three EWL individual champions and 14 EWL placewinners. In addition, the 2003 squad finished third at the EWL Championship.

A 2000 graduate of Lock Haven University with a Bachelor’s of Science in Secondary Education, Stehura was a three-year starter, earning fourth and fifth place finishes in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Tournament.

He was a two-time state qualifier at Jefferson High, placing fifth at the OHSAA state tournament as a senior.

Stehura takes over a program that had two national qualifiers last season and loses just three seniors from last year’s roster. The Vikings have had at least one NCAA qualifier each year since 1965.

Guide to Sports Nutrition - If you train hard in a combat-type sport, if your sport requires a high strength to body weight ratio, and if you require a high muscle mass to fat mass ratio, you need this book.

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BEIJING: It turns out that the Greco-Roman wrestler who was stripped of his bronze medal for dropping it in disgust on the mat had reason for being angry, according to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Ara Abrahamian of Sweden complained to CAS that a penalty in the second round of his 84-kilogram bout on Aug. 14 against Italian Andrea Minguzzi wasn’t assessed until after the round ended. Once factored in, Abrahamian automatically lost the match. Minguzzi went on to win the gold medal.

Abrahamian’s coach was then denied a request for a video review, then the wrestling federation — the International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles, or FILA — refused to consider a protest.

The 28-year-old Abrahamian had to be restrained from going after matside officials following his loss to Minguzzi. He stormed away from the area where interviews are conducted and slammed a door to the dressing rooms.

After he was given his bronze during the medals ceremony, Abrahamian walked off the podium, went over to mat and dropped it in disgust and walked away. On Aug. 15, the International Olympic Committee disqualified Abrahamian and stripped his medal for violating the spirit of fair play during the medal ceremony.
The Armenian-born Abrahamian — who also lost a 2004 Olympic semifinal match on a disputed call — initially wanted judges in the bout tossed out and his medal restored. But in the end, he only wanted CAS to verify that the lack of an immediate appeals process is a loophole that needs to be fixed. It also was referred to as a violation of “the Olympic Charter and FILA’s own rules about fair play.”

Judges said Abrahamian was right.

“We limit ourselves to ruling that FILA must, consistently with the (Olympic) Charter and general principles of fairness, establish for the future a jury of appeal to determine the validity or otherwise of complaints of the kind ventilated by (Abrahamian),” the judges wrote.

Elsewhere in the 20-page ruling, judges noted several times that FILA did not appear at a hearing.

Guide to Sports Nutrition - If you train hard in a combat-type sport, if your sport requires a high strength to body weight ratio, and if you require a high muscle mass to fat mass ratio, you need this book.

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On what will unquestionably be remembered as one of mixed martial arts’ saddest days, former UFC middleweight champion Evan Tanner - beloved by fans for his fighting ability and by friends for his free spirit – has passed away at the age of 37.

Tanner, on a camping trip in the Palo Verde mountain area, was found by an Imperial County Sheriff’s Department Deputy on Monday. The cause of death is not known at this time. He had not answered friends’ text messages since last Wednesday, and was officially report