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Home > Coach Gable
Coach Gable
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In this section, I would like to provide you with some insight on my coaching, wrestling and training theories. Please click on the links above for more information.
I am also involved in a regular Q & A column with WIN Magazine discussing a variety of topics. The most recent column is posted below:
LEGENDARY COMMENTARY
Editor’s Note: Mike Finn visited with Dan Gable during and after the
2006 NCAA Div. I tournament in Oklahoma City.
Q Oklahoma State just won its fourth straight team championship after
it appeared that Minnesota might end the Cowboys’ streak this year.
Did Oklahoma State win this championship or did Minnesota lose it?
A If I had to give an explicit answer, I would say that Oklahoma State
held up better than Minnesota, just by looking at guys like Matt
Nagel and C.P. Schlatter, who were pretty high seeds but did not score
many points for Minnesota. But I think it’s more than that. If you look
what took place beyond Oklahoma State, the next 20 teams, hardly any of
those teams were able to pull ahead or do better than what they
potentially could do. Those next 20 to 30 teams kind of decimated each
other.
There wasn’t anyone strong enough at this particular time to just make
a major move. Going into it, it looked like Minnesota and bunch of
teams had a chance to step forward. No one jumped forward. The only
team that jumped forward was Oklahoma. That’s why Jack Spates was named
Coach of the Year. Iowa showed a little bit of that ability, compared
to what they did at the Big Tens. They still have guys who need to go
beyond what they did at the NCAAs.
I’m sure there are a few coaches who could walk away pretty proud, but
beyond Oklahoma State, nobody put in a major challenge. But you have to
look at that and turn it into a positive effect for your program.
Minnesota had the ability and they were on a mission but something just
fell apart at the end.
Q Of the coaches whose teams failed to live up to pre-tournament
expectation, should they leave with doubt in the way they are running
their programs.
A You have to believe in your system, but you have to keep tweaking it
to make it better all the time. If it happens year in and year out,
you have to throw the whole system out and revamp it. You just can’t
stop learning. If you seem to have the same problems, then you have to
look at them real close. You have to find new answers, new solutions.
Q Oklahoma State coach John Smith talked about how tough it is to get a
defending champion to repeat. In fact, he had two previous champs —
Zack Esposito and Steve Mocco — who failed to repeat. Why do you
think that is so hard?
A If you won last year, a lot of people think you can do it again. But
you have to be better next year than you were this year. However good
you were to win one, you have to be better because other people are
driven to get to the top. Winning breeds a lot of success and
motivation, but sometimes that pain of defeat can overshadow that
victory and drive you to even more extremes to make gains.
That’s why you need to work on people who win even greater. Those are
the guys who really need to dig deep to get to a higher level. There is
pain involved in a lot of training; not just from the fact that you are
working hard. A lot of times you have to go back to that pain where you
suffered some kind of loss or injury; whatever it is that can drive you
to some more work. But for those who experience too much of that pain,
they become used to it and don’t understand it. The pain of losing has
to be few and far between.
Q On the other hand, fifth-year senior Joe Dubuque defeated a true
freshman Troy Nickerson in the 125-pound final. Was it the
Hoosier’s experience that overcame the Cornell wrestler’s youthful
potential?
A It’s a big factor but occasionally, you have cases where it goes the
other way as well. Joe Dubuque didn’t doubt himself at all. A lot of
his confidence came from being the defending national champion. I
watched Nickerson quite a bit. He seemed to lose the edge that got him
to that championship match. Yet, a guy like (Dustin) Schlatter at 149
proved that differently. He had been so strong all year and was
probably more dominant in his thinking than Nickerson.
Q Lehigh’s three-time All-American Troy Letters saw his career come to
a sad ending when a neck injury forced him to withdraw after two
matches. Was this a good example of how much wear and tear wrestlers
go through in college careers?
A In our sport, there is that possibility of getting some kind of
injury. If it’s not season ending, it can season-ending in terms of
effectiveness. You can’t think about that. It’s just part of the game.
We don’t have high-impact collisions or major trauma, but rather
concussions or minor bruises or cuts. I have to credit (Letters’)
courage just to say that he was able to come back and see if he could
do it. (Former Iowa wrestler) Randy Lewis (who broke his arm his senior
season and finished seventh) had a similar thing. It was amazing that
he even came back. That shows the effectiveness of the coach and his
athlete, just wanting to compete … because once it is gone, it’s gone.
Q There were many top-ranked wrestlers from smaller programs, like
Central Michigan’s Wynn Michalak at 197 and American’s Josh Glenn at
184 who failed to win championships. Were they not prepared for this
event?
A This tournament is this tournament. There is nothing like it. I’m
amazed that you can wrestle well all year but you come here and fall
apart. It didn’t just happen to one or two wrestlers. It happened to
a lot of people. There is something about this national tournament that
drains you. That is something a coach should prepare for so it doesn’t
happen.
You have the same athlete out there, but he isn’t in the same frame of
mind. You have to develop that frame of mind during the year. When you
can do that, you are going to have a major advantage because so many
others are falling apart.
Q Missouri’s Ben Askren has been named the recipient of the Dan Hodge
Trophy. How would you compare him to past winners?
A Askren has similar traits to past winners; he fits that mold, mainly
they believe in themselves a lot. The Hodge winners have all been
confident in their abilities. That doesn’t mean that they are
automatics but I do believe it gives them an edge on their opponent.
Q Askren has been called funky in his style. Would you agree with that?
A He has stuff that is extraordinary; stuff that others cannot use. But
I saw some real basic skills, too. Maybe that’s the difference between
him now and the Askren of the last two years. He was good the last
two years, but I think his go-to stuff now is more basic skills stuff.
Even though he relies in certain situations on his “funk” and it works
well, I still think he’s developed some go-to basic skills, which makes
his wrestling that much more capable of winning under tough
circumstances. That might be the difference between first place and
second place. You don’t take the funk away you want to add to your
wrestling some good basic scoring moves.
Q Another wrestler who caught fan’s attention in Oklahoma City was
165-pound champion Johny Hendricks. What did you think of his
antics?
A I just started turkey hunting last year and Hendricks looks like one
of those big Toms out their strutting. When he scores, he’s proud and
powerful. People can boo him, but I think his personality comes
natural to him. There is an entertainment factor in that. When you have
people act like that normally, you try to tame them a little bit, but
you can’t tame them too much because that’s why they are good.
Even though there was controversy in the 165-pound match, based on
some of the calls along the edge of the mat and based on an athlete who
is cocky, that’s the kind of match that wrestling needs. There was
action from the beginning to the end. There wasn’t a lot of dancing,
where wrestlers are just going through the motions and not trying to
score, wasting time in a match. For our sport to get to a new level,
you have to have matches where at least one athlete is forcing the
action.
Q You got a chance to spend some time with former 1972 Olympic
teammates at the W.I.N. Memorabilia Show, where you guys spent over
two hours signing autographs. What was that experience like being
with former teammates?
A People keep going back to the 1972 team because the people on this
team have been such a big influence to so many in our sport; whether
it was Wayne Wells or Bill Farrell, our coach, or myself or the
Peterson brothers. It goes back to the point where we were pretty much
major impactors on the sport of wrestling.
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