Cael Sanderson's move to Penn State -- which College Wrestling Examiner ranked as the No. 1 story of 2009 -- continues to generate headlines nearly a year after he left the head coaching job at Iowa State to take the helm of the Nittany Lions wrestling program.
The Philadelphia Inquirer is the latest hail Cael, arguably the greatest college wrestler (159-0 at Iowa State, one of only two wrestlers to win four NCAA titles) who then brought home a gold medal from the 2004 Athens Olympics. Now he seeks to turn around the once-storied Penn State mat program.
As writer Stephen Hennessey points out, from 1983 to 1999, the Nittany Lions finished in the top five in the team standings at the NCAA championships 14 times, never ending up lower than 10th. However, in the past decade, Penn State has failed to break into the top five teams, aside from a third-place finish at the 2007 NCAAs. Perhaps even more stunning, the wrestlers of Happy Valley have yet to win the Big Ten title
The article does not dwell on the negative, but, rather, focuses on what Cael Sanderson is doing to restore the luster of the Penn State program, with quotes from athletic director Tim Curley, wrestler Clay Steadman, Cael's brother Cody Sanderson (who is an assistant coach for the Nittany Lions) and Cael himself. A fascinating read for any college wrestling fan.
Resources
Philadelphia Inquirer: Building a new attitude on Penn State mat
TheMat.com: Schedule and results for February 1-7
College Wrestling 101: Links to articles answering basic questions about wrestling, including rules, scoring, uniforms, more
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