David Taylor, Penn State’s Legendary Wrestling Champ, Becomes Head Coach at Oklahoma State
Taylor, Penn State’s first Olympic gold medalist and a three-time world champ, replaces John Smith as the Cowboys’ head coach.
David Taylor, the two-time NCAA champion who helped launch Penn State’s stratospheric rise in college wrestling, is the new head wrestling coach at Oklahoma State. The Cowboys announced the hire Monday night, making a seismic move in college wrestling akin to what Penn State did in 2010 by hiring Cael Sanderson.
Taylor, a three-time world champion and Olympic gold medalist, becomes a first-time head coach for of the nation’s most historic college wrestling programs. Taylor replaces John Smith, who announced his retirement in April after 33 seasons, five NCAA team titles and 23 conference titles. Taylor operates the M2 Training Center in State College but has not coached or recruited at the college level, making this one of wrestling’s most fascinating hires since the Nittany Lions plucked Sanderson from Iowa. … more at … SI.com/Penn-state-wrestling-oklahoma-state-hires-nittany-lions-wrestling-legend-david-taylor
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Olympic champion David Taylor hired as Oklahoma State’s next wrestling coach, replacing John Smith
By Jim Carlson | Special to PennLive
It would be difficult to think the conversation that Cael Sanderson generated when he announced in 2009 that he would be leaving his Iowa State job to become the head coach at Penn State wasn’t among the most — if not the most — jaw-dropping, head-turning news ever in college wrestling.
Until now, when reigning Olympic champion David Taylor, Sanderson’s former Penn State athlete and current Nittany Lion Wrestling Club mentor, decided to leave the NLWC and his business ventures in State College and become the head wrestling coach at Oklahoma State.
Taylor reportedly accepted the job on Monday night, … more at … Pennlive.com/Oympic-champion-david-taylor-hired-as-oklahoma-states-next-wrestling-coach
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More reports at …
Pokesreport.com/Oklahoma-state-hires-olympic-champion-david-taylor-as-next-wrestling-head-coach
And …
Baschamania.com/David-taylor-is-the-new-head-coach-at-oklahoma-state
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Flowrestling.org/David-taylor-hired-as-next-oklahoma-state-head-wrestling-coach
And …
Pistolsfiringblog.com/Olympic-gold-medalist-david-taylor-named-head-coach-of-cowboy-wrestling
And …
Intermatwrestle.com/OSU-hires-david-taylor-as-head-coach
Shorter University Adds New Athletic Team
Shorter University is excited to announce the addition of a new athletics program, Men’s Wrestling. We are thrilled to see the athletics program continue to grow as this will be the twenty-third sport offered here at Shorter University.
The Athletics Department has been hard at work preparing for the new athletics team and is excited to welcome a brand-new coach to help initiate the program.
Andrew Colborn will be the Head Wrestling Coach for the new team. Colborn brings years of experience to the program. Colborn graduated from The University of North Carolina at Pembroke with a Bachelor of Science in Exercise and Sport Science and is currently pursuing a Master of Science in Sports Management.
Colborn has been an NCAA Division II coach for the last five years and served as both Head Wrestling Coach and Assistant Wrestling Coach. Colborn is a member of the National Wrestling Coaches Association and attended the National Wrestling Coaches Association Coaches Leadership Academy. … more at … Shorter.edu/shorter-university-adds-new-athletic-team
The late Don Elia ’69 got his start at Maryville College and went on to the wrestling record books
Don Elia ’69, a standout in three Maryville College Athletics sports during his undergraduate career and the school’s wrestling coach for seven seasons who was inducted into the MC Wall of Fame in 2000, passed away on March 27 in Savannah, Georgia. He was 83.
A native of New Jersey, he was the son of a single mother, the late Dorothy Beatty, and graduated from Hackettstown High School in 1958. He enrolled in Maryville College the same year, competing for three seasons in football, wrestling and track, lettering for three years in all three sports. On the football field, he competed in Maryville College’s first (and only) bowl win, playing in the 1960 Rocket Bowl and helping the Scots defeat Millsaps College 19-0.
On the track team, he competed in the shot put, javelin and discus matches, but it was the wrestling mat on which he excelled. With a three-year record of 58 wins and six losses, he led the team every year in pins and wins, notching a 28-match consecutive winning streak and eventually leaving MC early to return to coach at his high school alma mater. He returned to Maryville College in 1967, however, completing his degree in Elementary Education in 1969, as well as a master’s in college student personnel and counseling from the University of Tennessee in 1973.
Beginning his collegiate coaching career as an assistant on both the football and wrestling teams, he was named head wrestling coach in 1970, and over the course of seven seasons led his teams to a 93-35-1 record with six All-Americans. After MC, he was named head wrestling coach at Carson-Newman College (now Carson-Newman University), where over the course of 30 years, he established the school’s wrestling program and served as director of financial aid.
After retiring from Carson-Newman in 1978, he created a nonprofit to support wrestling in East Tennessee and spent another six seasons leading the wrestling team at East Tennessee State University, eventually retiring in 2016. … more at … Maryvillecollege.edu/Maryville-college-mourns-passing-of-coaching-legend-don-elia-69
Morris, Fry headline list of NEWA Postseason Accolades
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – JWU (Providence) head coach Lonnie Morris and junior Joziah Fry headline the list of New England Wrestling Association (NEWA) Postseason honorees. Morris was named Head Coach of the Year while Fry was named Wrestler of the Year, and Associate Head Coach Brian Allen and assistants James Gilbert, Steven Keith, Da’mani Burns, and Nick Avery were named Staff of the Year.
Morris and his staff guided the Wildcats to a second-place finish at the NCAA Northeast Regionals and a fourth-place finish at the NCAA Championships. The Wildcats finished the nationals with 76 points, which was behind national champion Augsburg (91.0 points), Wartburg (87.5), and Wis.-La Crosse (82.5). As a result, they brought home a trophy for the third time in program history (2017 – fourth place; 2019 – third place) and remain the only program in New England to have carried home hardware from a national championship.
Graduate students Ryan DeVivo and Victor Perlleshi, along with Fry and classmates Patrick Wisniewski and Dylan Harr, were all named to the NEWA First Team. … more at … Providence.jwuathletics.com/Morris-fry-headline-list-of-newa-postseason-accolades
TDR blog
After 20 seasons of publicizing wrestling The TakeDown Report’s (TDR) focus has changed to the collecting of college coaching records from North America since 1903. We will continue to recognize and reward successful wrestlers in eastern North Carolina (east of Raleigh & Fayetteville), assist with schools in starting or re-starting a team and this blog. Join us on our FaceBook Page – “The TakeDown Report” for photos and news. Please send results, stories, links and news to pass along. E-mail us at takedownreport@gmail.com
Martin Fleming, Editor
Takedown Report
Takedown Report 