Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboy Wrestling Previews 2014-15 Season
October 20, 2014 | Cowboy Wrestling
STILLWATER – Oklahoma State wrestling coach John Smith and selected members of the wrestling team visited with the media Monday to preview the 2014-15 Cowboy wrestling season. Their comments:
Head Coach John Smith
On the youth of the team:
“It's a young team that I have as far as the number of sophomores and freshmen I have in my room right now. We brought a big class in–14 freshmen–that makes up a good majority of our 39 athletes."
On where the team is:
"We're behind right now, but we have guys in the room that have good character, and that gives you a chance to move a lot faster than some teams can."
On returning national champion Alex Dieringer:
"For Alex, the key for him is to continue to do the same things. One of the things that made Alex great and made him really tough is all of the extra work he put in to control his weight. He came up in the evening. He got three, four or five miles in, and those extra things is what makes your conditioning level unreal, and it kind of just makes you angry that, 'I am not going to do this and not win.' He needs to fill that gap with other things other than cutting weight. He still needs to get those runs in. He still needs to do extra."
On Dieringer's leadership this year:
"Well, you just have to wait and see. He definitely demonstrates that role inside the room. He's pretty consistent in his workouts. People try to avoid him all the time in that room when it's time to get your partner. He's done well, but we do need that leadership."
On having a new group of wrestlers:
"We're kind of starting over again with this group, but starting over doesn't mean a lot of growing pains. Starting over just recognizes as a team, we're behind. There's no question about that. We came out ranked 10th in several publications. Tenth, to me, is behind."
On the 184-pound weight class:
"Boyd will go 184. Crutchmer and Rogers are moving to 174."
On 197-pound weight class:
"I think you're probably going to see Austin Schafer. We did not recruit the weight, and we feel good about where Austin is. I think that obviously he's going to need some mat time from the standpoint of being a starter."
On Josh Kindig:
"One of the things with Kindig is, is that he's had some pretty serious injuries that he's been able to overcome. Last year with the hamstring torn in the first of June, it took almost six full months for that to completely heal and for him to feel like he could drill hard and wrestle hard. Even though he started for us early in the year he struggled, but he maintained a pretty good perspective of everything, and in the end we knew being ranked 11th going into the NCAA Championships they made a mistake, but you have to show that and he did show that."
On the schedule:
"We have some good home meets. It's a tough home schedule that we have, adding Penn State. We have to get a lot better. I'm glad that we were able add Penn State, another Big 10 team, to our schedule because once you get them on your schedule, there's a good chance you'll keep those guys on your schedule. Those are the people we need to be wrestling."
NCAA Champion Alex Dieringer
On his confidence as an NCAA Champion:
"Obviously you get a lot more confidence after you're on top, but Coach always tells me it's the second one that's even harder, so I've just got to keep training hard."
On the lessons Chris Perry and Jordan Oliver taught him:
"I mean, Chris Perry is obsessed with winning. I would come up and work out – I had to watch my weight a lot so I had to work out a lot more – and he would always be up there. He didn't cut any weight really, so he was getting those extra workouts in just because you know he wanted to win. Then [Jordan Oliver], obviously it's his technique. He's amazing."
On moving up a weight class:
"It's nice to know I can now just worry about technique and getting better instead of cutting weight. It's going to be nice."
On his leadership role on the team:
"I lead by example. I don't talk very much. I just lead by example. I work hard and do extra workouts so they follow me by doing that."
All-American Josh Kindig
On his confidence as an All-American:
"It gives me all the motivation in the world. Not only because it's my senior year and I want to get my national title in my last year, but you know, wrestling is fun and I'm excited to start off with the last match last year. I'm excited for that and every day, just working to improve."
On his ranking:
"Like Coach says, it's obviously motivation because everyone wants to win and be No. 1, but rankings really don't mean much to me. If I come in 11th or first or third, I'm going to wrestle the same way. It's all about consistency and just winning."
On his health after last year's injury:
"It feels pretty good. There's always going to be injuries that come and go. From last year, having to switch my lead leg up and getting beat by our 125-pounders because I had nothing in my leg, it's tough; but dealing with adversity makes you tougher and a better person. Now, going through all that, I know how to push through things a lot better when it is just a small tweak."
All-American Austin Marsden
On what he's learned since last season:
"Last year, I wasn't mentally prepared for it. I wasn't expecting a tough season and that slowed me down. This year I know how much extra work I need to put in and just continuing off that national tournament last year."
On his leadership role on the team:
"What Alex [Dieringer] said earlier, I just lead by example. I'm not very vocal, but I try my best to help the team out. If I see them doing something wrong, I'll step in and correct it or motivate them to do better and work harder."
On how he will handle pressure:
"This year, if the pressure does come down to me, I'll be ready and more focused. I won't have those nerves anymore."
On his confidence as an All-American:
"I'm not holding that All-American status this year. It's a new start, a fresh slate. I'll just take it one at a time. Anything can happen. My job is to make sure I just keep following my work ethic and making sure I just continue doing well."
