Staff - Thursday, June 4th, 2009

Hello everyone,

The world team trials went well. Jake Varner made the team. He will have many great years of international wrestling. I’m back in PA and it feels good. My family and I are loving State College. We are renting a house that is 7-8 minutes from my office but is out in the country surrounded by farmland and woods. It’s pretty neat. We had a couple recruits in this week. We had an enjoyable couple days with both of them. We are getting closer to finalizing our staff. Coach Troy Letters is going to be the final assistant coach. I’m really excited to have him on staff. He brings great experience, skill, and desire to build a national championship program. Coach Matt Dernlan is going to be our Director of Operations. He is a huge asset to the program in so many ways. He is going to take this position and run with it. Dernlan will have tremendous role in us taking this program to the highest level. I’m pumped that he is on board. Coach Anspach is going to be working for the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club. He is also very good. He has great passion and a strong desire to help PSU win a national championship. He runs like a machine. We ran on treadmills today side by side to see who could burn the most calories. I will just say that I need to train and set up a rematch. That is a phenomenal staff. I’ve said it many times but my best skill as a coach has been being able to surround myself with incredible people. Look out, here come the Lions!

Tomorrow I am heading to Harrisburg to a Penn State Event. Before the event we have a get together with some coaches in the area. It should be a good time. We have a week until camps start. It’s going to be fun. I’ll be in Ames the first week and then back to State College for our camps here. I’ll be back and forth a few times. Coach Cunningham just texted me and said he had a big bear in his back yard tonight. That’s crazy but really cool. I have never seen a black bear before. His house is 10 minutes from our offices so to have a black bear in his yard is cool. Coach Dernlan said he has seen a couple bears by his house as well.

As long as we build a strong foundation and our roots are strong we will roll. Doing things the right way is key. Finding the right people is key. I think we are off to a great start. Recruiting is going well. Penn State is a place that kids will be taken care of, have a real chance to reach their goals and get a very prestigious degree all at the same time. State College is a special place. If people are saying negative things about me and our program, that is a great thing. People wouldn’t talk if they weren’t trying to defend something or feeling threatened. At least that has been my experience. I looked up our recruiting class rankings since 2003 at Iowa State because I kept hearing how I must be a terrible coach to have not won with the #1 recruiting class in 2005. It was interesting to find that in 2003, 2004, 2006, and 2007 Iowa State’s recruiting class rankings were not even listed in the top 25. A team is made up of five years of teams and recruits. Our teams have done pretty dang good considering what we started with on paper.

I know our system is excellent. I know we develop kids that want to be developed. If a kid is willing to pay the price and live the lifestyle of a champion, they will be a champion. I count imagine a person in the world that hates losing more then I do. I look for recruits and coaches that hate to lose. The pure hatred of losing is the best motivation in the world. Not wanting to lose will fuel someone to do whatever hard work and sacrifices are necessary to not lose again. People that hate to lose are coachable. People that hate to lose make progress not excuses.

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