2023 NCAA WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIP

March 18, 2023

Cael Sanderson

BOK Center

Finals Media Conference

Q. Cael Sanderson, Penn State wrapping up their 11th NCAA championship in school history, 10th th in the last 12 years. Coach, congratulations, give an opening statement on your thoughts?

CAEL SANDERSON: Thank you. The team had a great weekend, a lot of gutsy performances. It's an individual sport as well as a team sport, so as a coach your heart and mind is with the guys that don't reach their goals. But we've got a lot to be happy about and proud of ourselves.

Q. 32 individual titles, 34 tonight. What's that mean over the years and to see it and help all those guys accomplish this?

CAEL SANDERSON: That's why we do this is to help these student-athletes reach their goals. So seeing them become a national champion. As you see, obviously, it's a very difficult thing to do. That's what we live for. We live to help these guys reach their goals.

So that's exciting. And, like I said before, you're always thinking, man, we had some great wins tonight, some tough losses but some great competition.

Q. It's 10, right? What does it mean to you that you're the Cael Sanderson dynasty?

CAEL SANDERSON: It's not my dynasty. It's a program. Our assistant coaches are unbelievable. Coach Cody and Coach Casey and Coach Kennedy, they work really, really hard.

And I mean we just gotta keep getting better, and we've got a lot of things we can work on moving forward. That's what you do. You come here and you've got to be quick to observe and figure things out, what can we do better. And that's what we'll do.

Q. I know it's tough to see someone like Roman Bravo lose tonight, really wanted to come back for next year. Does this really shows the balance of your team, how you have to deal with the wins and the losses? People don't normally see for you and this is where the team really has to step up?

CAEL SANDERSON: Yeah, I think -- I mean, both Roman -- he came back for the team. And he reached his goals and put a lot of time in and came back, helped the team win a national title. Did an awesome job. Is just clutch so many times, so talented, worked so hard, so consistent.

Max Dean, same thing, he came back for the team. He reached his goal last year and was willing to come back and help us out, helped the team win another national title. Ended up being All-American again. Was clutch in a lot of big moments for us.

But even Max Dean, just the attitude and the perspective and the culture that he brought was huge gift and blessing to the program and our coaching staff.

Q. You have a lot of different personalities on your team this year and throughout the years, different styles. Just curious your philosophy on how keep consistency across the styles of wrestling, across the personalities on your team and the success year after year?

CAEL SANDERSON: They're individuals and they all come from different backgrounds. And it's hard to answer those kinds of questions in a short interview. They're the things we ponder and think about every day of our lives and late into the night, how do we help these guys reach their goals in their own individual circumstances just be the best they can be.

But we just have, like I said, a staff that put a lot of time in and there's no slowing down. We're not in this to win championships. We want to win. I mean, everyone wants to win. We think you've got to have something bigger in mind. That's just being the best you can be, like we talk about. It's a hard question to answer. It's not something that I could really do. But like I said before, just keep learning and growing and getting better and we're here to serve. Our coaches serve our student-athletes and that's what we do.

Q. Speaking a lot about goals for your wrestlers. You had some you have in mind for what your personal goal is looking towards the future?

CAEL SANDERSON: I have no personal goal. I don't have any as a coach. As a young coach, obviously you want to prove yourself and show you can do the job. But at this point it's about just helping kids reach their goals, making sure they have everything they need to be successful.

And it's up to them. There's so many different distractions and stresses and anxieties now more so -- it's always been available. But just trying to help them the best we can and let them make the decision on what they will and won't listen to. And if they listen, they're going to be successful. If they don't, it's going to be a little harder. But every coach and every student-athlete is in the same boat. Everyone in that arena out there can look at a match and tell these kids what they're doing wrong. It doesn't take a rocket scientist.

It's just trying to help them make improvements, believe in themselves, see beyond the little things and the pressures of it's just a game. We love the game. One of my favorite games. A lot of great games. Probably one of my favorite games but it's just a game. Whether we win or lose, it's not a big deal in the eternities. It's who you are, what you stand for.

Q. Like you said, you've had a lot of success there. Can you talk about the impact of what you're doing on the state of Pennsylvania and it's a state that girls wrestling has emerged and the high school keeps going. Have you been able to measure that at all?

CAEL SANDERSON: We go to work and do the same thing every day. I'm not thinking beyond trying to help our guys and our program. But Pennsylvania wrestling has always been great. Wrestling in the eastern, northeastern United States has always been outstanding. There's nothing new. There's great wrestling all over the world, all over the country. And we're blessed to be in the middle of PA. They love wrestling.