|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
NCAA WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPMarch 20, 2015Tim FlynnRob KollTom RyanST. LOUIS, MISSOURI THE MODERATOR: We have a trio of head coaches in here, so please address the individual coaches through questions. We have Rob Koll of Cornell, Tim Flynn of Edinboro, and Tom Ryan of Ohio State. First we'll start with an opening statement from each coach addressing their tournament so far. Rob Koll of Cornell, your tournament so far? ROB KOLL: Like every tournament I've been in, peaks and valleys. I was absolutely devastated about a session ago. After the session I'm ecstatic. We certainly could do significantly better, but then again this is the National Championship and we could do a lot worse. I'm thankful that the guys are all healthy right now, and we look forward to a great tournament tomorrow. TIM FLYNN: You know, I think we've been wrestling pretty well, and obviously we have two finalists. It's just a roller coaster day though. It's so hard. You have so many ups and downs like Rob talked about, and we lost a really tough match at 84 and that's kind of on my mind. So it's hard to be really excited yet. I'll have to go back to the room and think about it. It's a grind out there. TOM RYAN: Yeah, similar to Coach Koll and Coach Flynn, I always said there are 11 train tracks running at the same time. Track one is your 25 pounder, track two is your 33 pounder, and the 11 track is your team. They're up and down each one. Overall, we're happy where we sit right now. Some great wins. I think you're reminded ‑‑ this is every 365 days, right? So you're reminded every time you get here how brutal it is. You're in the sanctity of your wrestling room. You're training hard and you leave thinking, man, we're just going to have ten guys that are going to come through when you get here and you just see the wars. This guy has a leg in the air. Five seconds to go, you finish it, you move on. You don't finish, and you're out. So that's a crime for sure. Q. You've been here before in 2009. I hate to bring back that memory, but you're close again. What would this night be for should you? What gets you over the finish line tomorrow? TOM RYAN: We've got to keep winning. We've just got to keep winning. There are a lot of points on the table. We're 13.5 up. They can score that many points and more. They have really good people coming for the wrestle backs. We've just got to keep wrestling. So that's it. We've got to keep wrestling. Q. Coach Flynn, could you talk a little bit about each of your finalists? Certainly you've had strong individuals this year. It looks like the team is doing a great job. But having two guys in the finals has really helped boost your team in the standings. TIM FLYNN: Yeah, Mitchell Port is a Bellefonte kid. We got him away from Center County there and State College. My brother actually coached him in high school, so we had some inside information and we knew how hard he worked. He just goes all the time. Practice is unbelievable. Nobody actually wants to drill with him at practice. He's just a super kid, real quiet, just a perfect kid to have on the team. David Habat, we call the most interesting man in the world. You know that commercial? He just talks to everybody. He never stops talking. He's an unbelievable kid. Hopefully you guys get a chance to chat with him. He's a super guy and obviously a ball of energy when he's out there. So both guys are pretty fun to coach? Q. Going into this covering Ohio State this season now with Logan you're always looking at it like he might be a sure thing almost. But really tonight he was the most confident I felt in Nathan Tomasello and the streak he was on, and talk about how he's been able to do it? TOM RYAN: He's a four‑point student. He comes in as a three‑time champion and National State champion. He comes in with great accolades. But if you get to know him, his habits are surreal. The thing tonight that we discussed in our team meeting was our three freshmen, at least three freshmen were up against from a bracketing standpoint three of the best people in the tournament. Three undefeated wrestlers. We had three undefeated wrestlers going against, Waters unbeaten, Dieringer unbeaten at 65 with Bo Jordan and then Cox unbeaten at 97. It wasn't an easy road. We knew we needed to win at least three for a little separation, and three guys found a way to win. I mean, Nate won with two seconds to go. Kyle picked up an early takedown and held on for a win against a special wrestler. So it's a big night for those guys. It's really special. Q. They had used the word roller coaster. Can you talk about the roller coaster ride that Realbuto went through in those quarterfinals to get ready for this? ROB KOLL: Obviously, the controversial with Realbuto, I'm surprised that wasn't the first question I got. I was a little disappointed. First of all, I was also disappointed in Port, because I was born also in Bellefonte, and I don't know how you got him away from me. The story should be about Tim Flynn and Tom and an amazing story what they've done with Ohio State because of the scholarships in Edinboro, Pennsylvania. The guy is easily a brainwasher genius or some kind of crazy thief because I don't know how he does it. But the back to Brian, he obviously when that whole thing went down, he just said well, let me know what they decide. Literally, I was told they're debating it. They didn't ask me any questions about it. I just sat back and came back with a decision. I said you're in the semis. So I said thanks. You don't worry about what you can't control if you deal with stress effectively. That's why he wrestled so well tonight. Q. (No Microphone)? TOM RYAN: I think communication with Kenny really helped. He changed some of the things from a turning standpoint. We try to look at everything differently. There are guys that work out two or three times a day and guys that can't. So communication with him really helped. He had a big win first round in overtime against Northwood State, and then a really good guy got upset in the second round match. He won and had a big take down to put himself in the semifinals. You know, Kenny has had some‑‑ Kenny wants to win. Kenny cares, but at times the way he wrestles you would wonder. It looks like he doesn't, but he really does. He wants to figure out why doesn't it feel great out there. So we made some adjustments and they paid off for him and I'm really happy for him. Q. Coach Ryan, just talk about Logan Stieber. This is the last match you're going to get to coach him, and just the legacy that he's left at Ohio State and how he's boosted the program? TOM RYAN: I've seen what Rob did at Cornell, and you get someone special and they want to come around and be a part of it. They had a really tough win. He's of course going to be ready. He's third and second in the country, but these guys know how to get their guys ready. Logan has been a pillar in the program, the growth of the program. People want to be around him, so we're going to miss him. I asked him if he wanted to stay a few more years because he had a few more years of eligibility, and he said absolutely not. I'm good. Q. Coach Koll, could you talk a little bit about how tough Gabe Dean is? He's tough kid when he beats somebody bad, and he's really tough in these very heart wrenching couple of second, ride them out battles to win close matches. ROB KOLL: He's a big, physical tough kid. He's always going forward. Avery was not a good match‑up for him. Actually up until tonight he was 1‑3 against him or 1‑2 against him. So he probably would have preferred if he wasn't standing on the other side of the mat. He's very similar to Gabe and every aspect of the sport. He's big, strong, athletic and tough. So it didn't surprise me he went into overtime. But Brian and Gabe are just like the epitome of our program, at least where we want to be about our program. They're fantastic students. They're hard working kids. Brian came back from really massive knee injury last year wrestling Dieringer, and wasn't able to wrestle until January of this year. So to come that far in a short period of time is a great testament to Brian. Gabe on the other hand, he started off, had a couple of losses in Vegas. People started doubting him, he started doubting himself, and worked himself back in, not into shape physically, but mentally. This season is so darn long. These kids go through peaks and valleys like we do. It's gratifying to see such very, good, wholesome kids make the finals. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|