By Jeff Mullin Commentary

The headline on the story by The Associated Press was an eye-catcher — “Iowa sets standard for college wrestling.”

The story was about the fact Iowa wrestling coach Jim Zalesky, who won three national championships, produced 45 All-Americans, earned two coach of the year awards and was named to the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, was fired after last season.

The story goes on to list Iowa’s 20 national championships and 27 Big Ten titles, and talks about the high expectations for new head coach Tom Brands.

The story only briefly mentions one huge factor in the Hawkeyes’ recent wrestling struggles — Oklahoma State.

The Cowboys have won the past four national titles and have had 210 wrestlers earn All-America honors 414 times. Oklahoma State has won 34 national championships. Oklahoma State has won 33 conference championships (25 in the Big Eight and eight in the Big 12).

So perhaps the headline should have read, “Iowa sets standard for college wrestling — in Iowa.”

The National Wrestling Hall of Fame to which former Iowa coach Zalesky was named, of course, is just down the block from the home of the Cowboy wrestlers, Gallagher-Iba Arena.

By Andy Hamilton
Iowa City Press-Citizen

Four parents of the five Virginia Tech wrestlers denied transfer releases said the school has recanted a recruiting promise and their families may pursue legal action in an attempt to gain immediate eligibility at Iowa next season.

Blue-chip recruit Brent Metcalf, Georgia native T.H. Leet and former Iowa high school standouts Jay Borschel, Dan LeClere and Joey Slaton still intend to follow coach Tom Brands to Iowa after being turned down by Virginia Tech in their initial requests to leave the school penalty-free.

The fathers of Borschel, LeClere and Slaton, and Metcalf’s mother said Wednesday that their sons — the main components in the nation’s No. 2 recruiting class last year — selected Virginia Tech after being assured by school athletic administrators that they would have an unconditional release if they wanted to leave the Hokies.

But after Brands departed for Iowa last month, the school announced it would not grant transfer releases until after next season, and a Virginia Tech faculty committee upheld the ruling during an appeal hearing last week.

Thomas C. Nelson St. Cloud State Sports Information

ST. CLOUD, Minn. - St. Cloud State University Athletics Director Dr. Morris Kurtz has announced that Steve Costanzo has been named as head wrestling coach and assistant strength and conditioning coordinator for the University.

He becomes the 13th coach in the history of the SCSU wrestling program, which dates back to 1949-50. Constanzo replaces Steve Grimit, who will continue to serve as an assistant football coach at the University after leading the Husky wrestling program from 1993 to 2006.

“We are very excited that Steve (Costanzo) will be taking over as our new wrestling coach,” Kurtz said. “His record at Dana College has been very impressive and given his experience, knowledge and energy, we feel he is a perfect match for St. Cloud State. He is a man of integrity who is committed to having his student-athletes excel academically and athletically.”

Costanzo comes to St. Cloud State from Dana College, where he has served as the head wrestling coach since 2000. He led Dana to a NAIA national team championship in 2006 (with a tourney record 193 points) and he has coached 31 NAIA All-Americans since 2000. His squads at Dana won Great Plains Athletic Conference titles in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006, and they won regional championships in 2001, 2002, 2005 and 2006.

Written by Sandy Stevens

University of Arizona president Peter Likins and his wife, Patricia, have not only shared 50 years of marriage; they’ve also shared duties as coaches of a wrestling team.

The Likinses’ story begins at age 13, when the couple met in their hometown of Santa Cruz, Calif. At 5 feet 5 inches tall, “Pete” Likins began wrestling in high school after one of his football coaches said, “Let’s start a wrestling team.” Likins placed second in the state championships at 154 as a junior, then won the title and outstanding wrestler honors as a 145-pound senior. He also captured a Junior AAU championship. Because Likins had skipped a grade, he graduated with his brother, Tod, who as senior placed second in the state following a referee’s decision in overtime and went on to captain the wrestling team at Berkley.

Craig Sesker USA Wrestling

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Marcel Cooper peeled off his wrestling shoes, placed them on the center of the mat at the RCA Dome and said goodbye.

After nearly three decades of wrestling, Cooper decided to retire after placing third in Greco-Roman at the 2004 U.S. Olympic Trials in Indianapolis.

He walked away with no regrets.

“I thought it would be more emotional than it was,” Cooper said. “But when I retired I was satisfied with my career. I had made a World team (in 2001) and I had won my final match of the Olympic Trials to make the National team. It was more of a relief than anything to be done. My body was pretty beat up and I was ready for it to be over.”

But as many elite wrestlers know, walking away from a sport you dedicate so much time and effort to can be difficult.

After four months off, Cooper was back on the mat. After 13 years with the U.S. Marines, Cooper returned to competition early last year with the U.S. Army. He placed second in the U.S. Nationals in 2005 before taking fourth at the World Team Trials.

Hempstead, N.Y.
By Jim Sheehan
Hofstra University Sports Information

Tom Shifflet, the head wrestling coach at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and a former assistant coach at Cornell University, has been named the head wrestling coach at Hofstra University, Pride Director of Athletics Jack Hayes announced today.

Shifflet, who becomes the 10th head wrestling coach in the program’s storied 58-year history, replaces Tom Ryan, who resigned on April 22 after 11 seasons at Hofstra to become the head coach at the Ohio State University.

“An All-American collegiate wrestler, a top-notch recruiter and an outstanding coach, Tom Shifflet has all the qualities that we were looking for to continue the winning tradition of Hofstra Wrestling,”
Hayes said. “He has been a winner at every level, knows what it takes to get to the top, and shares our vision and passion to make the Pride program the best that it can be.”

Shifflet comes to Hofstra after four seasons as head wrestling coach at UNC Greensboro, where he was directly responsible for all aspects of the Spartans’ programs including instruction, recruiting, scheduling, academic counseling and community relations. His tenure at UNCG was marked by annual improvements in recruiting, recognition and success. He also created and organized the annual 35-team Southern Scuffle wrestling tournament, which is one of the largest and more competitive Division I regular season tournaments in the country.

Wrestlers’ transfers denied by Va. Tech

By Andy Hamilton
Iowa City Press-Citizen

A Virginia Tech faculty appeal committee has upheld its athletic department’s decision to deny the immediate transfer release of five wrestlers who hoped to follow coach Tom Brands to Iowa.

Joey Slaton, Jay Borschel, Dan LeClere, Brent Metcalf and T.H. Leet — all freshmen who redshirted this past season at Virginia Tech — asked to be released from their scholarships after Brands was hired last month to lead the Hawkeyes.

Brands was a top drawing card at Virginia Tech for Slaton, Borschel and LeClere, all Iowa natives, and Metcalf, who was widely considered one of the nation’s top three prospects in the Class of 2005.

“We are very, very upset,” said Slaton’s father, Matt Shaver. “We’re considering our options.”

Virginia Tech officials announced last month that they would release the wrestlers following the 2007 season if they still wanted to transfer. The wrestlers could still leave the school immediately, but they would not be eligible to compete next season at an NCAA institution.

Champaign, Ill.
By Victor Cortez
Illinois Sports Information

Alex Tirapelle (Clovis, Calif.) is the recipient of a $7,500 postgraduate scholarship from the NCAA. In August, the two-time All-American starts the masters program in sports management after graduating in May with a 3.73 GPA in accountancy.

The NCAA awards up to 174 postgraduate scholarships annually, split evenly between men and women and among the fall, winter and spring sports seasons. Tirapelle is one of 29 male student-athletes nationwide to earn a postgraduate scholarship during the winter season.

Nominees for an NCAA postgraduate scholarship must have a minimum GPA of 3.20, be nominated by the institution’s faculty athletics representative or athletic director and intend to continue academic work beyond the bachelor’s degree as a part-time or full-time graduate student.

The scholarship isn’t the only award Tirapelle has received this season. He earned his fourth straight Academic All-Big Ten nod as well as his third straight NWCA All-Academic Team honor. In April, Tirapelle took home the Spirit Award at the 2006 Scholar-Athlete Banquet. As his goal of becoming a national champion went unattained, he selflessly worked out the remaining wrestlers and coached them to victory from the sidelines.

Olympic Medalist Jamill Kelly and NCAA Champion Jesse Jantzen Join Wrestling Staff

May 16, 2006

Cambridge, Mass. - Harvard wrestling is the latest program affected by all the coaching changes in the world of collegiate wrestling. Crimson Head Coach Jay Weiss announced the hiring of Olympic silver medalist Jamill Kelly and Harvard’s own three-time All-American and NCAA champion Jesse Jantzen, `04 as assistant coaches on Tuesday. Kelly and Jantzen take over for Jared Frayer, who left the Crimson after three years to train at the Olympic Training Center, and Teague Moore, who leaves after one season to become the head coach at Clarion University.

“Both Teague and Jared have meant a lot to our program in many ways. We are ever thankful for what they have contributed as they both have been key factors in our success over the last few years,” Weiss said.

“We will miss Jared and Teague both professionally and personally, but are very excited for their opportunities - Jared will be moving to the Olympic Training Center and Teague has become a head coach. Its bittersweet for us, but I do not feel we are going to miss a beat.”

By Gary Abbott
USA Wrestling/Themat.com
gabbott@usawrestling.org

Change is inevitable in life and in sports. As time advances, there will always be newcomers breaking into the picture, taking their place in the spotlight. The question is not whether there will be change; the question is when and how the change will happen.

In wrestling, even the most successful athletes sooner or later lose their grip on glory. Sometimes, it is because they get beaten. Other times, they retire and give up their position. The most successful wrestler of all time in dominating his weight class, four-time Olympic medalist Bruce Baumgartner, held his No. 1 position in the nation for 15 years (1982-1996). However, in 1997, Baumgartner stopped wrestling, and long-time runner-up Tom Erikson got his chance to finally compete at the World Championships.

It is the second year of the four-year Olympic cycle, as our nation’s top international wrestlers really begin gearing things up in their quest to compete on 2008 U.S. Olympic team. This is an interesting year. Sometimes there are many changes in the composition of the U.S. teams at this time, as young athletes begin to make their move. Other times, those who had control were able to hold on and continue their run at the top. Will 2006 be a year of change or stability? We will find out at the World Team Trials events.