Wrestling Blogs - Martin Floreani

Here we are winding down the days left in July and we have the Stanford head coaching job and Cleveland State Job still up for hire. Cleveland State could be a hidden treasure with the surroundings of the Ohio and Pennsylvania community right in their back yard. Stanford....well, its stanford.... with a tough academic admissions, but is one of the best schools in the country with tons of opportunity. It is no easy task to overhaul a program. Kerry McCoy leaves Stanford better than when it started but both programs have a lot of work to do. It takes more business skills and ceo skills than anything to get a program into a POSITION to win. To get into a position to win on the NCAA division 1 level you need to see and act on opportunity, deal with egos, play politics, and be ready to face failure head on. However, to get a team to win a championship you need more than a great CEO coach.

To take your program to an NCAA Divison 1 championship you need to be inspiring and have an emotional connection and belief with your team to put them on the top. But first you need to be in position. It is hard enough to find people that have the CEO skill much less be able to find guys who have both sets skills. Based on this philosophy here are the top CEO coaches in our game and the coaches who have shown they can draw an emotional connection and belief with their program to bring them to the top.

A lot of the Top CEO coaches all come from a similar wrestling heritage. They come from the same historical coaching tree. The seed was planted in the early 90s in Cornell when Jack Spates took over the Cornell Program. He passed on his business sense to Rob Koll and Brian Smith. Of course Jack Spates went on to University of Oklahoma and brought the team in the top 5 for many consecutive years. Although he has never been able to get to that peak he has proven his keen knowledge of getting a team year after year to be in position for a NCAA Title. Brian Smith went on to Mizzou and revived a dismal program heading toward the ditch and brought it to contention in 2007 when he placed 3rd as a team at NCAAs. This Missouri program is flourishing and has an amazing standing in the Columbia Community. He heads into 2009 with a stacked upper weight roster. Rob Koll took over the Cornell program and raised money to build a stand alone facility and now has 5 or 6 returning All-Americans in 2009 making them a serious threat for a NCAA title. When you take over a program that needs revival you begin to understand that the last thing you will be is teaching technique on a mat. These guys understood that and found ways to rise. All Three have succeeded in getting their programs into the party, but now they need to figure out a way to bring the girl home.

Of course the founding CEO coach that rebuilt a program from nothing to NCAA championship team is J Robinson. He was the first trail blazer to make a perennial powerhouse with an NCAA Championship from nothing. Love him, Hate him or think he is an eccentric (your probably right) it doesnt matter because he produced results and will eventually leave Minnesota having built a legacy of success.

Another notable CEO coach is Tom Borelli. Taking a program from nothing to National prominence. Unlike Missouri, Minnesota or Cornell Tom Borelli has worked with the bare minimum and beats out top programs year after year. I also have a sense that Borelli might be one of the rare types of people that have both the CEO skills and that ability to make that emotional connection with his team to take them to the top. His fans are more protective of Borelli than a mother of her new born child. That type of loyalty and fanaticism rivals the type of Iowa and Oklahoma State support.

It takes a lot to bring a program into the position that Central Michigan is in. Whomever Cleveland State ends up hiring he can learn from Central Michigan program. Hopefully Cleveland State can get a solid CEO coach and turn the program around.

But being a great CEO coach isnt enough for Greatness in wrestling. From what I have seen the greatest have an emotional connection with their teams that is very real. It actually turns out to change from a business to a religion atmosphere. Cult figures like Tom Brands, and John Smith have proven they can create that aura of belief with their teams. It is faith. Team Faith. With Team Faith its like nothing will get in the way of a team and a championship.

One Coach who clearly has both skills to rebuild a program and then turn it into a championship team is Tom Ryan. (Although he hasnt yet.) Tom Ryan as a CEO is egoless. A really great CEO coach doesnt care who gets the credit so long as the program keeps moving forward. He listens to his staff and communicates with them and finds the best solution to a problem and goes for it. It doesnt matter who came up with the solution , if it is the best he is going for it. As good of a CEO coach as he is Tom Ryan might be a better emotional leader. And although you need to be a great CEO coach to revive a program that doesnt mean you have to wait to be an emotional coach. Iin fact its better if you can do both at the same time and that is why Ohio State has risen so fast to contention. Tom Ryan has been both. His wrestlers believe in him and their program. Tom Ryan has what it takes to bring his team to the next level.

Hopefully the new Cleveland State and Stanford coach can learn from these CEO coaches throughout the nation.