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NCAA WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPSMarch 17, 2012Cael SandersonST. LOUIS, MISSOURI THE MODERATOR: Questions. Q. Coach Sanderson, now that your team's won twice in a row, could you assess the performance with this year's team and compare it a little bit for yourself to last year when you won your first one as the coach at Penn State? COACH SANDERSON: Well, I don't know if you ever can. The first one's probably always going to be a little extra special. But I'm real happy for the guys. I think they wrestled great. They went out and did what they needed to do. Not everybody quite reached their goals. And as a coach your heart kind of goes more with them because you kind of expect to win. So the guys that do win‑‑ but I'm really happy for the guys. I think they wrestled‑‑ we had some incredible performances. Q. Cael, you have a lot of‑‑ almost everybody's coming back, including one of the Alden boys, that type of thing. I know you probably don't want to hear the dynasty, but people are going to start suggesting that about it, because how can Penn State possibly be stopped. How do you look at this? COACH SANDERSON: It's all a process. As a coaching staff, we just try to make progress. We try to make sure our kids are getting better. We try to make sure they have what they need to at least put everything in front of them so they have the choice to be successful. And that's what we're going to keep doing. We just try to make sure they're having fun, and obviously that's their choice also. But, I mean, you can see that that's kind of the key for this team. Q. I don't need to remind you what Penn State has gone through the last six months. What does this win do for that community? COACH SANDERSON: I think we have great fans. And if anything it's brought the Penn State family closer together. And when there's adversity, you tend to circle the wagons a little bit and you come together. And I think that's what the university's done. This is‑‑ Penn State athletics is an incredible athletic department with incredible people. And if something bad happens, it's one person. And I think this team‑‑ anything you can do for the people that support you and make them happy, it feels good. Q. We talked to Frank a little earlier, I guess after he kind of banged his knee up, he was feeling a little sorry for himself and you came in the room there and said some things to him. Would you care to elaborate on what you said to Frank and how you tried to pick him up there? COACH SANDERSON: Well, it's just part of the process. I don't like to get after kids too much. If I do, it's usually calculated, I guess. And he just needed just to be reminded who he was and what his purpose was. And it didn't take a whole lot. Q. David Taylor obviously came home as a champion, but he wrestled with a dominance. I know you've said a lot of good things about him, but could you elaborate on his performance here and what it means to you as his coach to see David come out of here reaching his goal with that kind of wrestling ability? COACH SANDERSON: I couldn't be more happy for David. I'm not a history buff in any way, but I don't know if there's ever been a more dominant performance at the NCAA Tournament than what we just saw right there. Four pins and a tech fall in the Finals. Just sitting back like everybody else and just saying: Wow. Q. People were impressed by your performance at the college level. Are you now impressed by these guys that you're watching on your team? COACH SANDERSON: Oh, yeah. Yeah. I mean, you've got‑‑ when you have a guy that really wants to be successful and he'll do anything you ask him to do and they take advantage of all the opportunities they have in front of them, they go out there and get after it, you can't do any more than just sit back and smile and just be grateful. I think I said that the first of the week: What's the key to your team having a good tournament? It's just you gotta be grateful. You gotta be grateful for the opportunity and grateful for every opportunity to step out on the mat. And I think the guys that are, they're successful. Q. What did you think of the takedown call in the overtime of Quentin's match? COACH SANDERSON: I'm not the referee. I'd like to be sometimes. But I think it was a takedown. I don't think anybody was upset about the takedown call. You like to see‑‑ well, yeah, I mean it was a rough match. I feel for Quentin. But you gotta give Cornell credit. He did what he had to do to win that match. Quentin's not an easy kid to beat. Q. Ed seems like such an enigma and his personality doesn't seem to fit maybe the other guys on this team. COACH SANDERSON: Why is that? Q. Maybe because his hair is green. But the fact is how do you allow him to have his personality and still compete as he does? COACH SANDERSON: Well, I mean, that's just part of being a coach. I can't expect these guys to be me in anything. I just try to help them. And as a coaching staff, with Coach Cunningham, Coach Cody, we can't tell them, you know. Just try to stay out of their way, really, and make sure they're doing the big things. If Ed Ruth wants to color his hair green, well, just say you better back it up out on the mat and be Ed Ruth and be the guy that can color his hair green because you're that good. And he certainly did that. Q. Niko had lost to Sanders and Perrelli both twice this year. What did you think of this run and do you think he proved something to himself? COACH SANDERSON: I think with Niko, he just believes in himself so much. He works so hard. He's determined. And you see he uses every second of the match. And that's what it takes for a true freshman to come in here and to do that and to continue to make progress. I'm very proud of him to make the NCAA Finals as a true freshman. That's an extraordinary accomplishment, something that he can be real proud of and really build upon. He hates losing as much as anyone I've seen. And he won't rest. Q. On Quentin's match you said it was a takedown. Do you think there may have been a stall call earlier in that match with Quentin obviously pushing the action? COACH SANDERSON: I think stalling's a judgment call. And that's up to the official. I don't like to see judgment calls. I don't know how many great sports have judgment calls. And that's just the way it is. Q. The second national title in a row for you guys. And I believe four of your five finalists are back next year. Is this the start of a dynasty? COACH SANDERSON: We're just going to keep doing what we're doing. We've had a lot of good fortune. We have a lot to be grateful for. We have some very good wrestlers. We have a lot of great support. We're just going to keep doing what we're doing, try to make progress every day. And whatever happens after that, so be it. Q. You obviously have a lot of depth. How soon after tonight did you start thinking of personnel decisions in terms of what you're going to do with some of these younger guys next year or down the road? COACH SANDERSON: It's up to them, really. I'm not going to sit here and‑‑ I mean, you have to plan three years out, at least, as the head coach. Not as a head coach, but as a coaching staff. And that's what we're doing and that's recruiting. And when you recruit a kid, you look at them a couple of years down the road. So we'll do what's in the best interests of the kid and the team, and we expect to be better every year. Q. Olympic trials are in a couple of weeks. David Taylor mentioned he might want to compete. You've got people in the Nittany Lion club expected to do very well. How quickly do you switch your focus to that style and possibly even for yourself, as clearly the amount of work put into that freestyle program and State College has been tremendous, just your thoughts about that challenge ahead? COACH SANDERSON: Well, I don't know‑‑ we have several guys in there that can certainly do some damage in freestyle. And they've just got to get wildcard or whatever it is to get into the tournament. And we know they want to wrestle. We know they're going to be a force for U.S.A. Wrestling in the future. They want in there. Q. David Taylor, I think one of them, just said that it inspired to see what you did on the mat last year. Did you think about that effect, what effect you could have in your team, what you did, returning to action? COACH SANDERSON: Well, I don't know if that's true or not. I mean, obviously he's going to say that when somebody asks him that question. But I just‑‑ I don't even know what to say about that. We've got guys that don't need any motivation. Like I said, it's more of just I feel like my job is making sure that they don't forget their shoes, and that's about it. And Coach Cunningham and Coach Cody have done a great job with these guys. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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