Takedown Report

10 Famous Transfers Before The Transfer Portal

The transfer portal made changing colleges easy, but it wasn’t always that way. Here are some big-time moves that altered the course of wrestling history.

College athletics changed when the NCAA developed the transfer portal in 2018. This became a streamlined tool for athletes to seamlessly transfer from one institution to another without losing eligibility. 

This led to a steady stream of wrestlers starting their careers at one school but finishing at another. Transfer news can happen daily during the off-season. 

It wasn’t always that way, though. Transferring could come at a cost if a school didn’t release an athlete. That often led to lost eligibility if a wrestler didn’t have a redshirt year to use. 

Below are 10 significant transfers prior to the transfer portal. 

Dale Anderson
Transferred from Iowa State
Transferred to Michigan State

Anderson’s style did not mesh well with Iowa State coach Harold Nichols. That’s why he left the Cyclones to wrestle for Grady Peninger at Michigan State. The result was the greatest era in Spartan wrestling history, which yielded NCAA titles for Anderson in 1967 and 1968 and an NCAA team championship for Michigan State in 1967. It was also the first time a Big Ten school won the NCAA tournament. 

The Spartans placed first and the Cyclones placed third in 1967. Anderson won the NCAA tournament at 137 pounds and Iowa State didn’t have a wrestler win a match at that weight class. Anderson’s transfer made the ultimate difference and it gave Michigan State its only NCAA team title in program history. 

Dave Schultz
Transferred from Oklahoma State
Transferred to Oklahoma

Shultz began his collegiate career at Oklahoma State by placing third at the 1978 NCAA Championships at 150 pounds. Stan Dzeidzic, a current United World Wrestling vice president and 1977 World champion, was supposed to be an assistant but, at the last minute, didn’t move to Stillwater. The departure affected Schultz’s reason for attending OSU.

Jichiro Date, a 1976 Olympic champion for Japan at 74 kg (163 pounds), was hired as an assistant during Schultz’s freshman year. This provided the Palo Alto, California, native a training environment that focused on international wrestling, which is what Schultz loved. 

Date left Oklahoma State after one year and so did Schultz. He eventually re-emerged at Oklahoma when Jim Humphrey — another coach with World and Olympic ambitions — was hired as an assistant. Shultz finished second at the 1981 NCAA championships at 158 pounds then won the 167-pound title the following year prior to a freestyle career that included seven World and Olympic medals (two gold, three silver, and two bronze). 

Kevin Jackson
Transferred from Louisiana State
Transferred to Iowa State

Jackson attended Louisana State for one reason: it was warm in Baton Rouge. The Lansing, Michigan, native got things cooking during his first three seasons with the Tigers by placing third, third, and seventh at the NCAA Championships from 1983-85. … rest of story at … Flowrestling.org/articles/11120697-10-famous-transfers-before-the-transfer-portal

July 11, 2023 - Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized