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NCAA WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPMarch 21, 2015Tom RyanLogan StieberST. LOUIS, MISSOURI THE MODERATOR: We'll start with Ohio State Coach Tom Ryan. First off, Coach, an opening statement about tonight and your team's overall performance. COACH RYAN: Coming in‑‑ coming in, if someone would have said that this team would have won the NCAA Championships with the amount of points we had, I would have been skeptical. When we count the numbers, early on, as we put a lineup together, we've got Hunter with 20, Tavanello returning. Hunter with 20. That's 26 more. So I thought 125, 130 points we were capable of scoring. But things happen. Things happen. And the amazing thing is despite the fact that Hunter didn't score any points, I think he inspired the entire group. You've got a guy that's willing to wrestle with no arms, just to score one point for his team, I think it completely, it helped the mentality of the entire team. One of those kind of guys. Incredibly proud of this group. We talked about be the change, be the group that does it. And tonight was tough. It's exciting for Logan, exciting for Nathan. We talked about that earlier. You've got multiple train tracks running at once. And Kyle's got a 1‑0 lead. He's got a leg in the air. Gadson does a great job defending the shot. Nick goes into a nice throw. And Kyle is hurting. But overall incredibly proud of the way these guys fought the last period. Q. Historic moment. A lot of people look back in their lives and you had some tough times in your life, both personal as a coach. Have you thought about those at all to help you get through today? COACH RYAN: Some people have texted me that some things were said on television about my son, Teague. That was pretty emotional for me. You reflect on the people along the way that made a difference in your life‑‑ the parent that took you to tournaments. The coach that was there for you. And a mother who taught me habits that move and transcend me in my life. Athletes that wrestle their heart out for you at Hofstra University, Indiana University. Donors that supported you at those institutions that gave you the opportunity to build a program that allowed me to have a shot at a position like Ohio State. So they're all a part of this. We're the end result of all the people's lives touched on. So I'm pretty fortunate I've been around a lot of great people. Terry Brands and Tom Brands, Gable, McElraney (phonetic), great people. Steiner Brothers, I see them all weekend long. So great weekend. Q. (Question off microphone.) COACH RYAN: I keep using the same analogy. I don't want to beat a dead horse but I mean more people have been on the moon than have won four national titles. You see in this tournament, one that the level of competition, with so many good young wrestlers out there. Look at the freshmen in the final, the freshmen placing. They're so prepared coming into college because of the opportunities, the learning opportunities. You can watch. There are freestyle events all summer long, events, you can wrestle all summer. There's great coaching. You can watch the best in the world from your laptop and learn the skill. And it's so competitive. And to think that this little kid from a small farm town in Monroeville, Ohio, did what he did, is pretty awesome, pretty amazing. To stay healthy, just the health factor to be healthy throughout the entire tournament, entire season all year long. I don't think he's been hurt much at all since he's been at Ohio State. So just so happy for him and his family, and they believed early on in the process of us getting to the point we are. And now to pass the torch to the other guys. Q. I saw a text message, I think you sent it around this time, too, I don't know how many you sent it to but welcome to the first day of our national championship season. At one point did you actually realize that, hey, this is probably it and also to follow up I'll give you the Urban Meyer treatment to say, when are you going to get started for next year? COACH RYAN: I'm going to go to Disneyland. No, I'm going to Florida. I'm going to Florida with my family, my wife, my daughter. I'm going to go next week, and then it starts. The recruiting process is constant. Developing young people it's constant. And I'm not sure what the first part of the question was. Q. (Question off microphone.) COACH RYAN: Yeah, no, I mean we had a great‑‑ we knew, this is a sport where you can't double team the tight end. It's one‑on‑one. You can't game plan for the option per se and tag team somebody. So it's one man against one man and you know what you have at each weight. And I'll tell you, we knew what we had coming back ‑‑ three freshmen, a first, second and a third. And you've got a true freshman in the national finals. He's heartbroken, Snyder. But what he did this year, it's just been incredible. So we knew what we had. They knew, which was equally if not more important than us knowing. And we just kept believing throughout the season. Q. You talked about passing the torch. A four‑timer. You've got a freshman winning. So talk a little bit about Tomasello, because he's got to have some real special qualities to do what he just did? COACH RYAN: So Nathan represents everything good in the world. Pretty much I could define Nathan Tomasello, he's got a 4.0. (Indiscernible). He's a straight‑A student guy. (Indiscernible) He says what he means and he does what he says and he's a tremendous worker. I mean I love him. I wish he was a little bit younger so my daughter could maybe date him. He's just a special, special person. Cheers for him. We're fortunate that he came to Ohio State. He's an Ohio home grown, Ohio boy. Special family, couldn't be more proud of him. Q. Could you put in perspective what this championship means, because Ohio State has had a great sports year. Where do you think your athletic department is going to see this title along with the football title? COACH RYAN: Gene came out. That speaks volumes. He was at the basketball game. He flew out. He flew back. Our fencing team won the nationals today. We won the nationals today. So this is 1921 when we started wrestling, 1921. So first man, Morris (Indiscernible) for Ohio State making this group, ended the long drought, and I think the world knew‑‑ in the United States we know how great the state of Ohio is in high school wrestling and it's just nice to put a national championship in the state of Ohio. So I can't really (indiscernible). Q. You mentioned Logan not being injured. He actually was as a true freshman, he hurt his wrist. In a sense were you going to wrestle him that true freshman year? Is it good that he was hurt? COACH RYAN: He was going to wrestle as a true freshman. I do believe he was ready to win a national tournament that year. He started off really good and then he went to Vegas and the struggle for him was to make cut, to make 125 was really hard. He broke his wrist and then he hadn't wrestled and wrestled less than 25percent of his (indiscernible) no option but to sit him. And I guess‑‑ I don't believe in chance. I do not believe in chance. Q. Do you think he would have won (indiscernible)? COACH RYAN: I mean, I don't know that. I think Robles won it that year, and he was a tough kind of wrestler, really big and strong and (indiscernible) Logan could. He was third in the U.S. Open, and he was and guy that came in with tremendous potential. He's a guy that you just make sure that you take care of and his will is incredible. His work ethic is incredible. And I think we knew we wouldn't have pulled him out if that's all he could do. Q. (Question off microphone) COACH RYAN: (Indiscernible) And we have fun. We have fun. For me it's been 21 years of coaching. You're in the room on a daily basis and you've got some guy full of fire and you're kind of want to go relax with your wife and family and they just keep on you every day. You get up do it every morning every day. And after 21 years it's nice to be in this position, with the program. I think we're all excited because we have five returning semifinalists and the future is very bright. Q. Somebody brought it up today that when the first domino fell couple years ago I believe it was 2008, could be off by about a year. When Russ retired, Ohio State set the entire coaching world, you were at Hofstra and since then Tom Brands has won a national title at Iowa and Cael Sanderson won a title at Penn State and you've won a national title at Ohio State, have you looked back and gone, man, if it wasn't for Russ Hellickson I might not have won this national title? COACH RYAN: I'll tell you what, obviously when the search came about when I was at Hofstra, I tell the story where Tom Brands was a tremendous coach. They wanted Tom and Cael and Jones and some good people. But for whatever reason my side of this is that God wanted me here, and that's the bottom line and I was meant to be here. Those other coaches were taken by other institutions and it was meant to be. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach. We welcome Logan Stieber of Ohio State. Logan, let's start with an opening statement talking about your evening and your tournament overall. LOGAN STIEBER: Extremely proud of my teammates. As an individual to win is amazing. For the team, it's something I dreamed of ever since I came to Ohio State, and when I was a freshman in high school I dreamed of doing it in my senior year of high school. We did it and I've been dreaming of it for four years here at Ohio State and to finally do it, unbelievable. Q. You talked about the dream. But the dream for the four national championships and did you take a gamble going to Ohio State. They didn't really have a college reputation? LOGAN STIEBER: No, I don't think I took a gamble, because I got to know their coaches and their goals line up with my goals. And it was the easiest decision in my life. I've had to make a lot of tough decisions, whatever, but going to Ohio State, I always joke that I really committed in 2002 when they won the football title. Love Ohio State. I honestly don't know where I would go if I didn't go to Ohio State. Q. Your general emotions, I guess, A, when you won the team title before you even came back for the finals tonight, and then just those last 10, 12seconds when it was over, I guess what was going through your mind? LOGAN STIEBER: At the end of the match I was just trying to make sure I stayed in good position. I knew if I gave up a takedown it wasn't a big deal. I was up by a lot. You know, stay in good position. The team title, that was this morning because I knew I had lots of time. I knew if I got excited it wouldn't have any effect of us tonight. Some people go home, go back and sleep forever, have to weigh in. I stayed and cheered on my teammates and it was awesome. It was kind of funny because about ten different matches in a row we thought we clinched it and somebody would tweet, well maybe if they pin this or something like that. When it was finally happened it was pretty good. Q. We've talked a lot about the four national titles. Now that it's happened, can you just sum up what it does mean to you personally? LOGAN STIEBER: It's all the hard work I've done. All the sacrifices I've made and complete my dreams, complete one part of my dreams. And I can't thank my teammates, my coaches and my family enough. It's been an unbelievable journey. Q. The last few years they've decided to pick one match and make you wait until the end. Pretty amazing people in that last match and they chose you for that. What's it like to sit and wait? I'm sure you probably expected. You had to go through the experience of all the other matches and all the stuff that go with it and go out perform? LOGAN STIEBER: It's a lot different. I was on the parade champions with my tennis shoes on, kind of hanging out. And I did a really good job staying relaxed. It was kind of just whatever. I stay relaxed. And after maybe 184, I warmed up with my partner, and I watched my teammates and then it was like the first half went really, really slow. I was like this is taking forever. Oh crap, I'm on deck. It's time to go. So it wasn't that big of a deal. I enjoyed watching the matches and I guess if you're last you can watch all the matches the same as if you were first. So it was okay. Q. I was talking to your dad afterwards. He said he couldn't have wrote a better story. You're a four‑time national champ, did it your senior year with the national championship with the team, Big Ten championship with the team. And just how all that comes together in your final year. What's that mean to you? LOGAN STIEBER: Just means so much. It's just hard to put into words. It's like something we've wanted so bad. It's like, listen, our coaches, they've been sick. They're so anxious, so nervous, they want to win so bad. Everyone wants to win so bad. And I think Coach Ryan summed it up best at his interview after we clinched it, talking about my brother. If he's willing to fight so much for the team, the amount of fight we're going to give for him as a team, it's going to be enough to win. And I think that's what we showed our resilience. We fought hard and then Kenny Courts, unseated, we all know how good he is. I've seen him in the room. He's one of the people to take down Trevell. Trevell is one of the best in the world. And for him to finally put together a great tournament and after a disappointing Big Ten, just great. Q. (Question off microphone.) LOGAN STIEBER: The match played out how I wanted it to. I wanted to score two takedowns in the first period and then just control the match from there. Score the takedown when I could and ride and get away. And I got actually the opportunity to get away to end the first period because he took injury time. So it was nice. It was a nice lead, 5‑1 lead. And I kept building my lead. It ended like 11‑6, 11‑5 to get the last takedown. It was pretty much how I expected it, how I wanted it to go. I knew he was good on his reversals and switches stuff like that. I had to make sure I stayed tough on top and didn't throw my leg in or do anything crazy. Q. When you look back at your career you had some crazy times whether it was injury as a freshman and with that in mind do you think you could have done those four, if you would have wrestled right away and when you think about those first two, that were sometimes questionable, did that actually light a fire in you to keep it going, and how have you stayed healthy since then? LOGAN STIEBER: I'm not sure how I would have done it at 145. I think I would have adapted and done better than I had started. But that year that was a very, very interesting challenge in somebody like Anthony Robles. I'm not sure. It's unknown. It's hard to say. I'd like to say I would have won. You never know. I might have been out of place. But I've been lucky. The matches that were the first few years in it, didn't really light a fire or anything and everything stays the same. I trained really hard and I shut up and listened to Lou. I wouldn't be where I am. Q. (Question off microphone.) LOGAN STIEBER: Not really. I mean, I don't know‑‑ there's no relief. It's like I think everyone thinks it's a front. But it's really, really fun for me. This has been so much fun. And I haven't been nervous at all. I was nervous for Kyle. I was nervous for Nathan. My match, if I have an inch of nervousness I push it out right away. And this is fun. It's like wrestling in the practice room. I really, really enjoy it. And it's obviously‑‑ it's a little bit of relief to be done and be able to I guess celebrate with my family and friends. Q. Do you take a break, or do you immediately refocus on your Olympic dream? And we're going to be going to Vegas in a few weeks and then obviously making a world team a year before an Olympics is an important part of having people achieve their goals. Are you able to refocus immediately on freestyle? LOGAN STIEBER: I can refocus, yes. This year it's nice, the Open is two weeks later. I'll be able to take a full week, week and a half off, and let my body rest and start lifting again and I'll be back on the freestyle and get three weeks of hard freestyle training in and be ready for the open. Q. What's something you can, advice you can give Nathan? He's won his first title as redshirt freshman same as you did, now what does he have to do to win four now? LOGAN STIEBER: Nathan's very, thinks a lot like I do. So he's got to make sure he wins two. Simple as it sounds.  He can't win four, like Thompson can't win four without winning the first one. Won the first one and he'll be on the same freestyle circuit as I am. So he's very focused. He listens to our coaches and he does everything right. So I think he's going to be in a great opportunity to win number two for sure. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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