What do you consider to be your greatest strength, and how has it contributed to your success? My greatest strength is questioning the premise. Just because something is commonly accepted doesn’t mean it’s true—it might simply be tradition, passed down unexamined from generation to generation. It’s like the old story of the 1842 football coach… Read More »
What characteristics should every leader possess, and why? One of the most essential personality traits every leader should possess is accountability. The best leaders understand that the success or failure of a team or individual, ultimately reflects on their leadership. They take full responsibility for the performances, whether the outcomes are positive or negative. This… Read More »
What are your daily success habits and routines? Success in athletics doesn’t come from one big moment—it’s built in the quiet, often unseen, discipline of everyday choices. Most top athletes start their day with purpose. They rise early, not because it’s easy, but because their goals demand it. Before the world wakes, they’re already moving—stretching,… Read More »
What keeps me awake at night, worry or excitement? Is it winning? Is it Success? Is it overcoming obstacles. One thing I don’t do. I don’t waste time worrying about what might go wrong. Instead, I focus on what success will feel like when it goes right. That said, “full speed ahead” doesn’t mean blindly.… Read More »
How do you push through your worst times and stay motivated? I realized early on that anything worth doing is worth doing poorly… until you learn to do it right. That mindset changed everything for me. It gave me permission to be bad at something without quitting. Too often, we treat failure as a dead… Read More »
These questions were asked of me by a friend who was in the process of writing a self-help book on winning. What initially drew you to wrestling, and what keeps you passionate about it today? First, it was the challenge. Then came the neighborhood bullies. After that, it became obvious how wrestling encourages self-reliance and… Read More »
This was a question a friend asked me and my response. When did you first consider yourself successful, and what was the defining moment? Winning the Pennsylvania state high school championship as a senior. That moment defined me—not just because I won, but because I set a state record: 91% of my victories came by… Read More »
Success requires more than just talent—it demands vision, resilience, and mindset. You need a bird’s-eye view, not a bug’s-eye view. In other words, zoom out. See the big picture of what you want to achieve, rather than getting lost in the weeds. There’s no single right way to succeed, but you can dramatically improve your… Read More »
Why doesn’t the NFL, or the NBA, have rules that state; when any player scores two touchdowns or 30 points in basketball, they’re done for the game and must sit the bench? I’m sure ESPN, CBS, and all the other networks might have a problem with that ineptness of thought. Not to mention what the… Read More »
Who wants to read I told you so? This isn’t the beginning of our problems; it’s a continuation of problems. So, what are? To begin, we have too many Head Coaches scoring high marks with their technical skills and too few of them who have degrees, or interest, in administration, marketing, or promotions. Our survival… Read More »
Paris was a disaster, not for the ladies, but certainly the men . . . in both styles. 12 opportunities for Gold; zero materialized. How could we have fallen so far, so fast? It wasn’t that long ago when we were the best in the world. At issue . . . a failing of senior… Read More »
Is there such a thing as being oblivious to that which is right in front of you? To the point; how many of you have seen the commercials on NBC for the upcoming Paris Olympics? They’re truly well done and for me, they get the juices flowing. But the oblivious aspect I’m talking about is… Read More »
If you’re reading this, there’s a good chance you’re already aware of our production, or lack thereof. The men ended five days of competition with what could only be called an underwhelming effort, failing to win even one gold medal for the first time in 56 years. And remember, this was without the powerful Soviet… Read More »
This is for the wrestling fans, and not necessarily the Rules Committee. There are two ways to motivate people; either penalizing them, or incentivizing them. The Rules Committee prefers the former, and why we always find ourselves rolling our eyes and having continuous arguments. If I could fix just one challenge the sport has, it’s… Read More »
Interesting stats from Jason Bryant that I have to take credit for sharing with you, or botching the math as I write. Currently we have 285 D-I, D-II and D-II teams competing in wrestling. According to the NCAA, at our peak in 1972, the sport had 393 teams. In the stats that Jason posted, he… Read More »
People who administer collegiate athletic programs are struggling. They’ve known for a while their train was on the wrong track. But what can they do about it now, or should they do about it? The challenge is House v. NCAA, the recent 2.8 billion court settlement over antitrust claims in collegiate athletics. It’s just another… Read More »
Recently, there’s been an interesting article posted on a lot of our social media platforms. It concerns itself with which style is best scholastically for our women’s programs; freestyle or folkstyle? Before I even read the article, I knew the position the author was going to take. Without lengthening this post more than I could,… Read More »
Is there such a thing as being oblivious to that which is right in front of you? To the point; how many of you have seen the commercials on NBC for the upcoming Paris Olympics? They’re truly well done and for me, they get the juices flowing. But the oblivious aspect I’m talking about is… Read More »
I was floored when I saw WIN’s pre-season collegiate rankings. You could double the number of points the pollsters gave the second-best team in America and they’d still be in second place. I never imagined that would ever be possible. Penn State is now so dominant that conceivably, the Nittany Lion’s second string could finish… Read More »
Does anyone remember what team scoring was like in wrestling during the 1970’s? If you pinned your opponent, it was worth 6-team points. A decision of any point differential was worth 3-team points. And a tie was worth 2-team points. And everyone was happy with the way it was. Everyone. But please notice, the pin… Read More »
Just when I thought wrestling’s challenges couldn’t get any worse… The NCAA has been trying for years to deal with many of the nation’s very vocal State Legislators on how to handle the distribution process of collegiate athletic-department funds from an employee standpoint. Not only is it complex, but at the same time it’s also… Read More »
I’m not the most knowledgeable technician that wrestling has ever known, but I’m close. And I mention this because most of the wrestling you see today, which is referred to as funk, started with me. Actually, it was called garbage wrestling when I first started to experiment with techniques in the 1960’s that weren’t common… Read More »
Here’s a thought for ESPN. Just another off the wall muse by Wade relative to upgrading the sport and increasing the viewing pleasure of the fans we don’t have, but could have. And, dare I say, something that isn’t on our leaderships radar; increasing our power rating within the entertainment community. Question, how many people… Read More »
Received a question the other day from an All-American wrestler who is affiliated with one of the nation’s most successful programs. He was questioning whether it was right, or fair, to limit a travel team to 13 athletes? He felt it doesn’t work well for the visiting team whereas the home team basically has any… Read More »
The Penn State-Iowa dual meet. If that match up would have used A point Earned is a Point Scored system; PSU would have won 87-30. That’s somewhat similar to what actually happened, mine being roughly three to four times that of the actual score. Although people might say; why change to A Point Earned, if… Read More »
I feel I have to apologize. Up until now, I was absolutely convinced that coaches would see the benefits of A Point Earned, Is A Point Scored and adopt the change, maybe not whole-heartedly, but at least begrudgingly. I just thought the Rules Committee, and then the coaches would realize it would be the most… Read More »
This wrestling tidbit is for coaches, but more likely for parents who realize that they are unfamiliar with the sport of wrestling. Regarding tournaments, trust me. Those dastardly weekend events are meat grinders for children. Only the strong survive intact. As for the rest of the entrants, mostly rookies, I have a suggestion for coaches,… Read More »
Given where Vito Arujau from Cornell is sitting, in the bottom bracket at 6th seed, who came up with that madness? I’m not sure the Seeding Committee is aware of it or not, but Vito is the returning NCAA Champion and the defending World Champion! Granted, he has two losses on the season. Both of… Read More »
With the wrestling season completed, there’s way too much to cover in one writing, Or three. So, I’ll just focus on a few topics and keep doing that each week until I exhaust my list; or myself. To brick or not to brick, that is the question? This perceived model of fairness (throwing a protest… Read More »
