On the heels of the epic 21-9 over the Iowa Hawkeyes (possibly the best total team performance I have ever seen, in terms of every wrestler getting the most out of themselves), and with a dual against arch-rival #6 Michigan coming up on Friday (February 3rd) at 6:00 p.m. at St. John’s Arena, it seemed like a great time to talk to Ohio State Head Coach Tom Ryan about the Iowa match, the upcoming Michigan Dual, and the state of the team in general.
Throughout our interview, the excitement that Coach Ryan felt about the team was unmistakable- and well founded, considering that a team starting seven true freshmen has won the Las Vegas Invitational and beaten the Iowa Hawkeyes- and considering that six of those seven freshman are nationally ranked, and this team graduates nobody next year- along with a big infusion of new talent- Chris Phillips, Mark Martin, Nick Roberts, Nick Tavanello, Ian Paddock, Kenny Courts, and Nikko Triggas should all be added to the current group. While many of us wrestling fans tend to categorize the certain wrestlers as “likely NCAA Qualifier”, “possible low All-American”, “maybe a Round of 12 guy”, etc. it was clear to me in our interview that Tom Ryan doesn’t think in that way- he sees the potential in his guys to achieve far more than what any ranking can capture.