Before today’s Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational, I spoke with Cornell’s Rob Koll about the tournament and what makes up the foundation of his program.

RH: What’s something that makes Cornell the type of team that it is?

RK: We try not to bring in large groups of new guys every year so that we can continue to grow and progress with the guys we have and build on what we have in our room. Plus its tough to get accepted at Cornell so when we get guys in we want to make sure that they stay here so keeping them here and building a strong bond with the guys in our room is very important.

RH: You’ve had a long list of sibling that have been in your line up, how does that play into building that foundation?

RK: Having brothers in our line up means that we are doing something right and that the parents really trust us and believe in what we are doing. But it really helps because they are already familiar with the program so they know what to expect when they come here and it helps to keep that foundation strong.

RH: How do you handle the different personalities and attitudes in your room?

RK: One thing about college wrestling is that it’s very humbling. It doesn’t matter if you were a superstar in high school or not. Your state titles don’t score any points for you on the college level. So we don’t have to deal with big egos or anything like that around here. The guys we get are a different breed anyway. They aren’t here just to wrestle. I know that all my guys aren’t alter boys, but managing them is no problem.

RH: How does your summer program play into your team’s regular season success?

RK: Like I said before, our guys aren’t just here to wrestle so what they do in the summer is not much different than what goes on during the semester. We have a lot of different internship opportunities in Ithaca that a lot of the guys get during the summer so they are always around campus even when class isn’t in session. They will go work their internships then come in and get a good workout in. You can have your cake and eat it too here and we make sure they take full advantage of everything on and off the mat. Wrestling is 365 days a year now so the guys are here training and working hard all the time.

RH: Why do you like having your team compete at CKLV? And, how does the tournament prepare you for the rest of the season?

RK: On goal of this tournament is to get great competition. Obviously you want to win everything you go into. But getting the high level of competition is important. We also want to come out of this weekend healthy. Throughout the season everyone gets a little dinged up and at this tournament if you drop a match early you can end up wrestling eight matches in a day, so it’s very important that we come out of the tournament healthy.

RH: What’s the importance of the CKLV tournament for the later half of the season?

RK: Getting good quality wins against top-level competition can punch your ticket to the national tournament these days. The losses don’t hurt you but the big wins can get to the national tournament. A guy may have a bad qualifying tournament later in the season; you never know. So collecting a win over a top guy early in the season could get you there in March.