Wrestling aficionados across America keep searching for the key to Penn State’s dominance. It’s a topic discussed so often that even the once-clever term of “secret sauce” is getting old.
Yet the question remains. How have the local mat men managed to win 86 consecutive dual meet victories and capture five straight NCAA titles? And oh, by the way, a look at next year’s roster suggests continuing dominance: three returning NCAA champs (Luke Lilledahl, Mitchell Mesenbrink and Josh Barr), two returning finalists (Shayne Van Ness and Rocco Welsh) and other luminaries like Marcus Blaze, Tyler Kasak, PJ Duke, former world champion Masanosuke Ono, incoming superstar Jayden James and the Mirasola twins, Connor and Cole.
So what’s the why behind the wow? Most observers point to the excellence and continuity of coaching with legendary head coach Cael Sanderson and aides Cody Sanderson, Casey Cunningham and Nick Lee. Others note that the current wrestling room (including Nittany Lion Wrestling Club veterans) attracts recruits who have Olympic aspirations. Still others claim the program’s emphasis on gratitude reduces competition anxiety and fuels all-out effort. And of course, critics mention that there’s money to be made at Penn State—although I suspect Oklahoma State and Iowa offer as much or more moolah.
I think the best answer is “all of the above.” But allow me to add one more ingredient, one that should be on our minds as Father’s Day approaches. Yes, I believe the wrestlers’ amazing dads are foundational to the Nittany Lions’ prowess.
No less an authority than Jeff “Ironhead” Byers helped me appreciate Penn State’s paternal power. Byers, the longtime radio voice of Nittany Lion wrestling, said this: “I do think it starts at home. There’s not many that I haven’t admired for the way they go about their business and the way they raised their kids.”
I asked Ironhead to recommend some Penn State papas who would be willing to share their experience of raising successful kids. So in lieu of a Father’s Day belt or tie, I’m giving local dads the gift of wisdom via John Mirasola, Doug Barr and Ken Haines.
JOHN MIRASOLA, FATHER OF CONNOR AND COLE
It’s rare to find twins who were born on different days, but that’s what Coach Sanderson got when he recruited the Mirasolas. Connor is actually the big brother who made his appearance late on December 29, 2005. Cole entered the world about 90 minutes later on December 30.
Despite their identical genes, Cole has typically been “a little thicker,” according to his dad, so he’s always wrestled one weight class above Connor. Last year, that meant Cole served as Penn State’s starting heavyweight while Connor was the 197-pound backup to Josh Barr.
Although Mr. Mirasola was pleased with Cole’s achievements for the Nittany Lions (he finished 19-8 as a redshirt freshman), he felt sad for Connor. Both are high achievers: Connor was a four-time Wisconsin high school champ and Cole was a three-timer.
“Not seeing one of my sons in the starting lineup was heartbreaking for me,” said John. “But what made it tolerable was that every time I’d see Connor, he’d have a smile on his face. I think because of the twin aspect of things, even though he wasn’t physically on the mat, he was there because his brother was out there. And as a parent, all you want is for your kids to be happy.”
No doubt both will be happy again next year, but their roles on the team may keep us in suspense. During the current freestyle season, Cole competed at 125 kg/275.5 lbs. in the U.S. World Team Trials and placed fourth. He then skipped the U-23 U.S. Open while Connor bulked up two weight classes and impressed watchers by winning the Open’s 125 kg title. Having earned a spot on the U.S. team for the U-23 Pan American championships, Connor then won the gold medal in Peru.
Of course, Penn State fans are now scratching their heads. Will Connor somehow drop enough weight to float between 197 and 285 lbs.? Frankly, I can’t see him adding 30-something pounds in the spring and then dropping all that weight in the fall. I think it’s more likely the coaches will alternate the twins until the Big Ten season begins and then anoint one as their heavyweight.
What does John Mirasola think? “I’d rather let everybody speculate,” he said. But he also said he is confident in the coaches to “benefit both of my sons the most in the years (three) they have left.”
Mr. Mirasola has always been a hard worker, spending most of his career in a blue collar-ish job with a water department. Naturally enough, he shared his strong work ethic with the twins, and they responded in kind.
“There was one summer,” said John, “when I put a pull-up bar in their bedroom doorway and made a deal with them. I think they were going to be fifth graders that fall, and I told them, ‘If you guys practice pull-ups every day throughout the summer, when it’s time to go back to school I’ll give you each a dollar for every pull-up you can do.’ When the time came, I had something like 50 singles in my wallet. Connor cranked out 50 or 60 and Cole was right around the 45 mark. And I’m like, ‘Well, I guess I’m going to owe you guys some money.’ “
Fathers of champion athletes don’t always model humility, but I sensed plenty of it as I talked with John Mirasola. “I was very successful in football,” he said, “but when we (he and his ex-wife, Roberta) had our two sons, I figured ‘it’s not about me any more. It’s about them.’ When I was a kid, I did stupid things and got in a lot of trouble. But I tried to share my stories so the boys would know there’s certain paths you can’t go down.”
Such humility has allowed John to learn from his own offspring. He noted that his boys often take him to church (Our Lady of Victory Catholic) when he’s in State College over a weekend. “They’ve gotten me more involved with my spirituality from seeing how they’re following God. Trust me, I’ve learned a lot from my kids. They’re making me become a better person.”
DOUG BARR, FATHER OF JOSH
Doug Barr was an excellent high school wrestler in his day. In fact, he was a quasi state champ. Why the “quasi”? Well, prior to 1988, wrestlers from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula had no opportunity to compete against Lower Peninsula wrestlers for a state championship crown. So, yes, Doug was the U.P. champ in 1986, but that was all he could achieve. How’s that for a put-down of the Yoopers?
But Doug, now a resident of Davison in Michigan’s south, hasn’t wasted any energy over past disappointments. Rather, he took early retirement from his job in construction masonry, while his wife, Simona, continued to work as a nurse anesthetist. That situation then enabled him to offer basement workouts to groups of home-schooled wrestlers and to volunteer with a local club that produced three four-time state champs: Dylan Filcher, former Nittany Lion Alex Facundo and the Barrs’ own son, Josh.
“I’m forever grateful to be part of something with these kids, not just my own son,” Doug told me. “I’m blessed beyond words to be part of a sport I love and give back from what I know.”
As for Josh, he clearly benefited from the downstairs workouts with other kids and the in-home availability of workout machines like the VersaClimber. But as for motivation, he had his own unique wiring.
“From the time he was around nine or 10 years old,” said Doug, “Josh was one of those rare people that loved the process of getting better. Josh won a state title his freshman year, but the art of wrestling wasn’t there until he was a sophomore. He was just that kid that worked 10 times harder than everybody. I’ve always said Josh is a steel toe boot, hard hat, lunch box wrestler.”
I asked Mr. Barr if he ever feared Josh was pushing his body too much. “Oh, absolutely,” he said. “That was probably the hardest part of his wrestling career when Josh and I didn’t see eye to eye. He felt like he could work seven days a week and go hard. And I would try to bear down and say, ‘You’ve got to take a day off.’
“Even when he got to Penn State, Coach Cael and Casey had to simmer him down to take a little time off. He finally figured that out and told me, ‘Hey, you’re right. I perform way better if I take days off.’”
I asked Doug to name some situations that have made him the proudest as a dad. Obviously, he mentioned Josh’s NCAA national title this March. But the older Barr surprised me by saying he was even prouder when Josh took second at the 2025 NCAAs as a freshman.
OK, Doug, why was a second-place finish more meaningful to you than a first?
“This is going to be hard for some people to understand,” he said, “but for me as a dad it was. At the Big Tens two weeks earlier, he tore his hamstring. For him to even come back to compete with an injury of that magnitude was incredible.
“With a hamstring, you’ve got to give it rest. So Josh spent six to eight hours a day in rehab until the day before he wrestled at the NCAAs. He was able to take second after beating Jacob Cardenas in the semifinals (Cardenas had beaten Barr previously at the Big Tens). That was very inspirational.”
As for his proudest experiences as a dad, the Upper Peninsula native also mentioned the health battles of his 15-year-old son, Noah. Several years ago, Noah experienced stomach issues and then was diagnosed with autoimmune pancreatitis—rare for such a young person. “Doctors did an MRI,” said Doug, “and part of his pancreas was lit up like a Christmas tree.”
Things kept getting worse for Noah as he slept long hours and looked pale. Eventually, he received an additional diagnosis of ulcerative colitis which had apparently caused the pancreatitis.
The drugs typically prescribed for such autoimmune diseases can cause a deadly type of lymphoma, and Doug’s father had previously dealt with lymphoma. Thus, the Barrs chose to pursue a naturopathic approach and to this day there is no dairy, wheat or soy in their home.
Although the younger son’s diet is extremely restricted, Doug gave me an encouraging report. “His blood work is getting better every time, he’s not in pain, he’s growing taller and putting on weight. I’m raising two different types of warriors.”
As I did with John Mirasola, I asked Doug Barr if he had any tips for fellow fathers. “Oh,” he said, “your personal relationship with God is the most important thing. It helps you be a better dad, a better husband, a better person. So every day when you wake up, the first thing you need to do is pray to God. Find your peace in the Lord.
“And dedication is key. No parent’s relationship with a kid is always 100 percent good, right? Kids go through puberty and things happen. But just being dedicated and loving them is enough, even when things aren’t the best.”
Today, Doug and Josh have a special bond, enhanced by their shared commitment to Jesus. But it’s now an adult-to-adult relationship. “Josh drives his own bus,” the Michigander told me. “I’m just forever grateful to be on that bus.”
KEN HAINES, FATHER OF LEVI
Ken Haines, the father of highly-decorated Nittany Lion Levi Haines, has enjoyed his own success in wrestling. In high school Ken won a PIAA state title in 1995, and he is still the only male state champ ever produced by Gettysburg High School. (Ken’s niece, Zoey Haines, won girls’ titles for the Warriors in 2024 and 2025.)
As an intercollegiate grappler at Lock Haven University, Ken was a league champion in both the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference and the Eastern Wrestling League, and he qualified three times for the NCAA Division I National Championships. Among his various coaching roles, he served as the head man for Biglerville High School from 2016 to 2021.
It’s been all good, right? Yes, except for one thing. As Ken now freely admits, his own career and his early years of guiding Levi’s career were plagued by anxiety. Given that wrestling is a high-intensity, mano a mano experience, Ken certainly isn’t the only participant to battle inner tensions. But he’s in the minority of athletes or coaches who admit their weakness.
“I was just a horrible worrier,” Mr. Haines told me. “I was worrying about what other people thought, worrying if I was good enough, worrying about this and that.”
But like a lot of people in or alongside Penn State wrestling, he says a personal faith in God has helped him overcome inner struggles. Although Ken established such a faith while attending Lock Haven, his entry into parenthood and coaching forced him to trust God more deeply.
“I had made way too much out of wrestling,” said Ken, “and it was probably a prideful thing. But now I started realizing that God was putting me in certain positions to spread His word and influence young people with godly ways. I had so much anxiety until I really put my faith in the Lord. He doesn’t give us a timid heart, he doesn’t know what fear is.”
Midway through Levi’s high school career, Ken sensed that his son “kind of outgrew what I had to offer.” Levi had suffered losses in several Super 32 finals, and according to Ken, “some of it was his nerves. I wasn’t the greatest at helping him deal with nerves. One of the best things I ever did was to swallow my pride and take him to other people who could help him get better.”
Suddenly, M2 Training Center came into the picture, and that meant a lot of driving from Adams County to Centre County for Levi to train at the well-known facility in Pleasant Gap. Everything was hunky-dory for a while, especially when Levi won a PIAA crown in 2021 for his dad’s Biglerville High School Canners.
But when the young man decided to forgo his senior year of high school competition to spend more time at M2, some fans objected. Ironically, Ken supported the decision 100%, even though it removed a reigning state champ from his team’s lineup.
Meanwhile, with a year of intense M2 work under his belt, Levi moved into Penn State’s lineup as a freshman in 2022-23. But dad still struggled with anxiety while watching the son in action. Said Ken, “When he was a freshman, I finally realized that to experience these opportunities to the fullest, I needed to be grateful and a lot less nervous. It needed to be fun.”
Happily, the self-described worrywart finally experienced major progress with his anxiety issue. In fact, he told me that these days he’s less nervous at Levi’s matches than Levi’s mom, Aimee, and Levi’s sister, Julia, an athletic trainer at Penns Valley High School. (This point may be tested on Friday at Final X, when Levi battles Chance Marsteller for a spot on the U.S. World Team.)
Although Levi completed his Penn State career with two NCAA titles (2024 and 2026), Mr. Haines parallels Mr. Barr in choosing other breakthroughs as a focus of fatherly pride. First he talked about Levi’s gritty effort to capture third in the 2025 NCAA consolations, an effort that helped the Lions set an all-time record for team scoring at Nationals. And then he also mentioned the blossoming of Levi’s Christian faith during his years on campus.
“When he realized his faith was more important than wrestling or making money, that was the proudest moment for me,” Ken told me. “I just stood back and observed that he was taking his Bible to church, he was taking a notebook to church, and he was talking more about his faith, giving credit to God and being grateful. It wasn’t a testimony in words; it was a testimony in how he was living.”
As I did with John Mirasola and Doug Barr, I asked Ken Haines to offer some advice to other fathers.
“Keep it in perspective,” he said, “and meet your kids where they’re at because it does go by quick. I like a slogan that comes from Louis L’Amour: ‘A ship does not sail with yesterday’s wind.’ That not only applies to the kids but also to the parents. It doesn’t make me a great parent just because I gave you some positive remarks yesterday or went out of my way to cook you a healthier dinner. The consistency day in and day out is what builds systems that help everyone be successful.”
