Cyclones ‘all in’ with new coach Jackson
|
|
AMES (MCT) — New Iowa State wrestling coach Kevin Jackson doesn’t sound like much of a gambler.
But with fewer than six months on the job, it is apparent the former ISU all-American and Olympic gold medalist has done a great job of getting his Cyclones to buy into what he’s preaching.
“Ever since he’s been in town he has had a motto of ‘all in,’” two-time all-American Jon Reader said.
“I’m pretty sure ... I’m positive everybody is on board and all in. You can just see it in everybody’s attitude and the way they respond to coach.”
Jackson returns five all-Americans and has nine wrestlers ranked in the NWCA/Intermat preseason poll with the 2009-10 season set to begin in a little more than a week. He introduced his first Cyclone squad Tuesday at the Lied Recreation Center.
Jackson was named Iowa State’s new coach in May after the surprising resignation of Cyclone legend Cael Sanderson to take Penn State’s head coaching position.
ISU athletics director Jamie Pollard turned to Jackson, another ISU legend and a member of the last Cyclone team to win a national championship (1987), to take the Cyclones to heights Sanderson was unable to attain in his three seasons.
Jackson feels he has all the tools in his wrestling room to make that happen.
“I’m excited because all these guys have had success, won a bunch of matches and become all-Americans,” said Jackson, the former U.S. National Team head freestyle coach. “But when I come into the room and see flaws that should be corrected and are going to be corrected, that makes me more excited to what their potential is going to be.
“I don’t think anyone in our room has reached their full potential. I think the majority of them have only scratched the surface.”
Leading the Cyclones is a senior class that was the No. 1-ranked recruiting class in the nation four years ago. Of course, the group is sans Cyler Sanderson, who followed his brother to Happy Valley, but it’s a group that has plenty of firepower with Nick Fanthorpe at 133, Nick Gallick at 141, Jake Varner at 197 and David Zabriskie at heavyweight.
That group has accumulated eight all-America awards and one individual national championship, which Varner won last year.
Varner, who went through a similar coaching transition when he was a freshman and Sanderson took over for Bobby Douglas, said he’s looking forward to the transition.
“It’s a new mind to pick from. A different kind of wrestling to pick from. It is good,” said Varner, who made the U.S. World Championships squad.
The Cyclones, who were 15-3 last year, won the Big 12 title and finished third nationally, also return national qualifier Mitch Mueller at 149, Duke Burk at 174 and Jerome Ward at 184.
Former three-time Creston state champion Andrew Long is expected to take over Tyler Clark’s spot at 125, and Nate Carr Jr., the son of former ISU national champion Nate Carr, is the frontrunner at 157, Cyler Sanderson’s former starting spot.
“We have goals we haven’t met yet,” Reader said. “We are hungry for this year. “Coach Jackson knows where we want to go. He is very straight-forward and tells you what needs to be done. I got fourth (last year at nationals). That is not first. We all have room to improve.”
Jackson is big on technique and tactics, according to his wrestlers, but the one thing he wanted to emphasize Tuesday was complete wrestling.
“We have to be able to wrestle in every position ... to be aggressive from every position and try to dominate the match as opposed to just trying to win the match,” Jackson said. “That is what we are pushing for. If you watched our athletes over the last couple of years, I think we could have been a little more dominant over the opponents we were beating or should beat.”
ISU opens its home wrestling slate Nov. 12 against South Dakota State at Hilton Coliseum.
