Wrestling411

Jon McGovern, head wrestling coach at the University of Dubuque, has a plan. Part of that plan was fulfilled earlier this year when Evan Brown won a Division III NCAA title at 174 pounds for the Spartans. But McGovern has bigger ideas about how to get Dubuque into trophy contention within the next few years.

Wrestling 411 talked with McGovern at the World Wrestling Camp about his plans for the future. A former two-time Division III NCAA champion for Central College, McGovern discussed the advantages of wrestling for a Division III school, competing beyond college, wrestling in Kevin Jackson’s retirement match, and former Dubuque wrestler and actor Tony Danza.

Dennis Hall set the bar high for Greco-Roman wrestling in the United States during his prime in the mid-1990s. In 1994 he won a bronze at the World Championships. In 1995 he won the World Championships. And in 1996 Hall earned a silver medal at the Olympic Games.

But Hall was best known for his tenacious style of wrestling on the mat. His rivalry with Jim Gruenwald was memorable. His marathon match against Brandon Paulson at the 2004 Olympic Trials was epic. And his weight cut to make the 2004 Olympic team in 2004 was painful.

Terry Brands was at the World Wrestling Wrestling Camp in Wisconsin Dells, Wisc., providing instruction for high school wrestlers throughout the Midwest. Brands, a two-time NCAA champion and two-time World champion, coaches the Hawkeye Wrestling Club and is the head assistant coach at the University of Iowa.

Brands talked with Wrestling 411 about his role at the camp and what he wants campers to gain from the experience. But he also talked about the possibility of becoming a head coach, the relevance of Iowa-style wrestling, and his purpose for 2009.

 

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Doug Jesse was the youngest head wrestling coach in the nation when he took over the Wagner College program four years ago. At 28, Jesse is heading back home to his native Ohio to start up the brand new Division II wrestling program at Tiffin University.

Jesse’s four-year run at Wagner didn’t see any winning seasons, but he kept the program afloat when he was brought in to let it fail. That didn’t happen. What did happen for the Cornell graduate was he gained valuable coaching experience which will suit him well with Tiffin’s new program.

Sean Gray is the only two-time All-American in Virginia Tech wrestling history. Now, Gray is set to enter his fifth season under head coach Carl Adams at Boston University, the New Jersey native is looking to build on the increase in support the administration has shown the Terrier wrestling program.

Gray talks about learning under Carl Adams, the qualification system and how it impacted BU wrestling — who’s coming back and who could be the next BU wrestler people start talking about.

Gray also gets nostalgic when talking about his battles in college with Iowa’s Doug Schwab. Catch up with Gray by listening below.

 

 Boston University Assistant Coach - Sean Gray: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Okay, so there were a few interruptions during the Wayne Baughman interview (aka the the phone ringing). But that didn’t stop Baughman — 16-time national champion, three-time Olympian, 1976 Olympic freestyle coach, and former Air Force Academy head coach — from giving Wrestling 411 one of its most honest and open interviews.

Baughman discussed everything: retiring from the Air Force, his love/hate relationship with wrestling, the mythical match between Dan Gable and his former Oklahoma coach Tommy Evans, getting destroyed by Dan Hodge with a three-quarter nelson in practice, fighting for John and Ben Peterson to be on the 1972 Olympic team, the people that didn’t want him to coach the 1976 freestyle Olympic team, what it means to be tough, and the potential threat against the lives of Tom Brands and Cael Sanderson had the United States participated in the 2002 World Championships in Iran.

Shawn Bunch, this year’s freestyle World team member at 132 pounds, and Konrad Dudziak, NCAA championships runner-up at the 2009 NCAA championships at 285 pounds, were at the Olympic Training Center this week preparing for future competitions.

Bunch briefly touched on his training and his aspirations for gold at the 2009 World Championships. Dudziak talked about moving from Poland to the United States, training at the OTC, and the attention he has brought to Duke Wrestling since his runner-up performance at the NCAA championships in March. Yes, they actually watched Dudziak’s NCAA finals match at the halftime of a Duke basketball game.

 

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 Konrad Dudziak: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Two-time Olympian Daniel Cormier was at the Olympic Training Center this week training with several of the best upper weights in the country. But what has Cormier, bronze medalist at the 2007 World Championships, been doing since doctors did not clear him to wrestle at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing?

Wrestling 411 had a chance to talk with Cormier at the OTC this week about the 2008 Olympics and his future in wrestling. Cormier also discussed Mo Lawal, having a tournament named after him, and the death of his daughter in this candid two part interview.

 

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 Daniel Cormier - Part 2: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Mark Schultz, three-time NCAA champion and three-time World and Olympic champion, had his share of on the mat rivalries. His 16-8 win over future Olympic champion Ed Banach in the 1982 NCAA finals is one of the most talked about matches in college wrestling history.

But there were others: Mike DeAnna and Duane Goldman of Iowa, Mike Sheets of Oklahoma State, and, Shultz’s forgotten nemesis, Perry Hummel of Iowa State.

Schultz also discusses other greats who wrestled in his weight class and how he got started in mixed martial arts. Click below to listen to another candid interview with Mark Schultz.

 

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Who is the greatest college wrestler of all time? Stanley Henson, NCAA champion in 1937, 1938, and 1939 for Oklahoma A&M, has to be considered one of the best wrestlers this country has produced. During three years of competition Henson only lost one match when he moved up a weight class.

Wrestling 411 had the chance to speak with Henson, 92, about his career as a wrestler…but Henson is most proud of his career as a doctor. The former Oklahoma State superstar lives in Fort Collins, Colo, and performed the first open heart surgery in the town.

The same few movies always come up in discussion when it comes to wanting to know what the best wrestling movie of all time is. Vision Quest routinely finds its way to the top of the list, but if Empire Films’ Jim Townsend has anything to do with it, there will be more wrestling-centric movies to add to the discussion.

So who is Jim Townsend?

A former college wrestler at St. Lawrence with ties to author John Irving and a successful high school wrestling career in New York, Townsend is looking for that next big wrestling movie.