Tough Pill to Swallow : Speakers & Interviews

Jack Spates wasn?t part of a wrestling family and got involved into the sport by accident his sophomore year in High School. Regardless he still went on to place third at high school National Championships.…
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Jack Spates wasn?t part of a wrestling family and got involved into the sport by accident his sophomore year in High School. Regardless he still went on to place third at high school National Championships.…
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Jack Spates wasn?t part of a wrestling family and got involved into the sport by accident his sophomore year in High School. Regardless he still went on to place third at high school National Championships. In College he attended Cal Poly before transferring to Slippery Rock University his sophomore year. There he continued his success and was a runner-up his junior year and dominated the season his senior year before tearing out his knee and coming down with bronchitis and ear infections. Even still he wrestled injured and sick and made it back to the NCAA tournament before being knocked out short of meeting his goal of being a national Champion.

After college Jack Spates went into sales but couldn?t stomach the company he worked for so he took a job as a coach at a seminary. Coaching was a natural talent for Jack Spates. His abilities as a coach lead him to climb the later from that lowly seminary all the way up to a Big 12 and national powerhouse of Oklahoma University. However, at the time that Coach Spates took over the Oklahoma program it was beginning to fade. Coach Spates quickly changed that and restored the program. Now expect OU to consistently place in the top 5 year in and year out.

Jack Spates influence and success as a coach extends beyond his wrestlers but to his staff. Two of the other 4 Big 12 Schools? coaches Brian Smith and Mark Manning have served as assistants to Coach Spates before taking on Head Coaching positions where they have had tremendous success.