The Penn State wrestling team won its 10th national championship in the last 12 contested NCAA Championships on March 18 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Think about that. Think about how unbelievable that is. Think about what the program was like before Cael Sanderson took over as head coach.
I don’t know if Penn State fans and administration fully appreciate how fortunate they are to have Sanderson coaching the wrestling team.
Matches at Rec Hall are a happening thing. There have been sellouts at 66 straight matches at Rec Hall. Sellouts have occurred in 75 of the last 77 home matches, including nine of 11 at the Bryce Jordan Center.
Penn State fans have come to expect greatness from the program. Many of those fans who squeeze into Rec Hall on Friday nights or Sunday afternoons know what it takes to continue the dynasty — how much it takes to remain as college wrestling’s powerhouse.
But I’ve been wondering how much fans who really don’t pay a great amount of attention until the NCAAs appreciate what Sanderson has done.
I’ve been reading on social media how Penn State should give Micah Shrewsberry a blank check for getting the men’s basketball team to the Big Dance. They say the university should pay Shrewsberry, who has been linked to jobs at other schools, whatever he wants.
While I agree they need to keep Shrewsberry, Sanderson is the only PSU winter sports coach who deserves whatever he wants.
I know he signed an extension last year. Terms weren’t disclosed, but the man should be the highest paid college wrestling coach in the United States.
New Penn State Athletic Director Pat Kraft certainly appreciates what Sanderson has done and wants to upgrade the wrestling program facilities.
“He’s [the greatest of all time], and he can be here for as long as he wants,” Kraft said during Big Ten Media Days, according to Blue White Illustrated. “My thing with Cael, I don’t know the specifics [of the deal]. He has signed up, which I’m very happy about.”
I would hope the rest of the Penn State administration appreciates what Sanderson has achieved for the university.
Before Sanderson was hired away from Iowa State to become Penn State’s coach, the Nittany Lions were a decent program under Troy Sunderland, who resigned after 11 years as head coach.
Sunderland, who was the 2003 Big Ten Coach of the Year, amassed a 115-90-2 record in those 11 years, led the Lions to one top-three finish at the NCAAs, and coached three NCAA champions, 10 finalists and 25 All-Americans.
Shortly after the resignation, Penn State shocked the wrestling world by hiring Sanderson. As a wrestler at Iowa State, Sanderson went 159-0, won four NCAA titles, was named the tournament Most Outstanding Wrestler four times and later won an Olympic gold medal.
Since his hiring, Sanderson has amassed a gaudy 191-16 record — six of those losses were in his first year — in 14 seasons at Penn State.
He’s been voted Big Ten Coach of the Year seven times and has coached the Lions to seven undefeated seasons, including a 16-0 mark this past season. Sanderson has coached PSU to nine Big Ten regular season titles and seven Big Ten Championships titles.
More impressively, he’s coached 83 All-Americans, including eight in this year’s tournament, and 34 NCAA champs, including current three-time champs Carter Starocci and Aaron Brooks.
He lands big-time recruits not just from Pennsylvania, which is a gold mine of wrestling talent for college coaches to recruit, but from throughout the United States.
Pennsylvania wrestlers will go to Iowa, Oklahoma State, Ohio State, North Carolina State and elsewhere.
But Sanderson brings in wrestlers who want to take the next step and learn from the best in the wrestling room with the team and with the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club. He spots the wrestlers who he thinks will fit into the program. Let’s face it, not everybody does fit in.
The elite wrestlers will often become great because they’re drilling with other talented wrestlers. You know, iron sharpens iron. They’ll improve because they’re being led by Sanderson and his superb coaching staff of Casey Cunningham and Cael’s brother, Cody Sanderson.
It takes special wrestlers to go through the grind of Penn State practices every day. Starocci’s comments after winning the 174-pound title on March 18 are a good example. I can’t repeat his funny, much-talked about comment because it’s a family newspaper, but Penn State fans know the comment.
The Nittany Lions have always said they have a lot of fun too. I’ve seen them on media days playing dodgeball before practice. They feel like each member of the team and coaching staff is a family member.
This year, Sanderson gave elite wrestlers like Brooks and Roman Bravo-Young the opportunity to take some bouts off — to stay healthy and to take a break from cutting weight.
He builds toward the postseason. Sanderson’s team usually does better in the NCAA tournament than it does in the Big Ten Championships. Cael’s emphasis on the NCAA Championships pays off.
How long will Sanderson coach at Penn State? How long will the dynasty last?
Those are answers nobody knows. Sanderson keeps a lot of things private. He doesn’t like to talk about injuries or lineups ahead of big matches. He had everybody guessing this year about whether freshman Levi Haines, an eventual NCAA runner-up, would redshirt.
While Sanderson is still Penn State’s coach, just sit back and enjoy the show.
