Takedown Report

Sanderson voted InterMat Coach of the Year for sixth time

Penn State head wrestling coach Cael Sanderson has been named 2019 InterMat Coach of the Year, the amateur wrestling website announced Friday. It is the sixth time Sanderson has earned Coach of the Year honors in the award’s 14-year history. What’s more, it’s the fourth consecutive year for the 39-year-old Utah native to have received this honor … and it happens to be the fourth straight year Penn State has won the team title at the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships. 

Presented each year since 2006 to the best collegiate wrestling coach in all divisions, the award is based exclusively on the votes of writers and executives at InterMat prior to the announcement of other college wrestling awards. Each staff member is asked to select five coaches and rank them from first to fifth based on their performance for the season just completed. Point values are assigned to each placement, ranging from one point to a wrestler listed fifth on a voter’s ballot, up to nine points for a first-place vote.

Sanderson received half of the first-place votes from the InterMat staff, for a total of 49 points, to propel him to the top of the balloting for the fourth straight year. Close behind in the balloting was Rutgers head coach Scott Goodale who guided Nick Suriano and Anthony Ashnault to titles at 133 and 149 pounds, respectively … making them the school’s first-ever champs in the nearly 90-year history of the NCAA wrestling championships. Goodale received a total of 42 points, including one first-place vote, to put him in second place in this year’s balloting. Also receiving one first-place vote each: Iowa State’s Kevin Dresser (who place third overall, with 41 points), Minnesota’s Brandon Eggum (in fourth place, with 20 points), Tony Robie of Virginia Tech (in sixth place, tallying 15 points), and Lock Haven’s Scott Moore (coming in seventh, with 12 points).  Much has been made about a Penn State wrestling dynasty . Rest of the story at

March 30, 2019 - Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized