Nebraska-Omaha's Todd Meneely turns life around, sets sights on winning second national title

Todd Meneely was one of those can't-miss kids.

A four-time state champion who won Junior Nationals in freestyle and Greco-Roman, he was destined for greatness at the collegiate level. He knocked off Teyon Ware, the nation's No. 1 recruit, in the finals at Junior Nationals.

Ranked among the nation's top 10 overall recruits, Meneely signed with the powerful Iowa Hawkeyes and talked openly about his goal of wanting to win four NCAA titles.

Meneely won his first three college matches as the Iowa starter at 133 pounds during the 2003-04 season. He then lost to Iowa State's Zach Roberson, who went on to win the NCAA title that season, and everything seemed to start spiraling out of control.

He was struggling in the classroom and struggling with being homesick. He left Iowa halfway through his redshirt freshman season and returned home to Omaha. After brief stints at Nebraska-Omaha and Nebraska, Meneely's wrestling career appeared to be over.

While Ware went on to win a pair of NCAA titles for Oklahoma, Meneely was sitting on the sidelines. That changed when Nebraska-Omaha coach Mike Denney decided to give Meneely another chance to get his life back on track prior to the 2006-07 season.

Denney's decision paid huge dividends last year as Meneely won the NCAA Division II title at 149 pounds.

"It's life-changing what Coach Denney did for me and I can't thank him enough," Meneely said. "I had already been given a couple of chances and I probably didn't deserve another one. Wrestling has been the key for me getting back to where I need to be in my life. I felt so terrible about myself for a long time. I have come a long, long ways as a person and a student since I started wrestling again."

Now a junior, the 24-year-old Meneely is ranked No. 1 in the country again this season in Division II. He is one of the leaders on a second-ranked Nebraska-Omaha team that is coming off a 32-7 home win over No. 1 Minnesota State-Mankato.

Meneely was 35-3 last season and has compiled a 16-2 record this year.

"I'm really proud of Todd," Denney said. "He's done everything we've asked and more. He's been a team guy. Academically, he had a 3.3 grade-point average his last semester. He's been a big part of our team."

Meneely's off-the-mat struggles started when he left home for the first time in 2002 and started his career at the University of Iowa. He redshirted his first season at Iowa, showing early promise as he lost only one match while competing in open tournaments during the 2002-03 season. He then broke into the Hawkeye starting lineup at 133 as a redshirt freshman in November 2003.

But he left Iowa after the first semester of that season.

"It was basically a lot of immaturity on my part," Meneely said. "I liked Iowa and they have a great program. But for some reason I didn't seem to have the same motivation I had in high school. I was going out too much and partying and things pretty much went downhill in a hurry. I wasn't ready to be away from home and I wasn't ready to handle things by myself. I made some big mistakes."

Meneely transferred to Nebraska-Omaha in January 2004, but was only there a short time before landing at the University of Nebraska. After a short stint in Lincoln, he left school and appeared to be finished as a wrestler.

"I was so caught up in the negative lifestyle I was living," he said. "I never thought I would ever be on the mat again. If it wasn't for the UNO coaches, I definitely would have been done."

So why did Denney give Meneely another chance?

"I felt like he was really committed to making things work this time - he wanted to turn things around and get back on track," said Denney, who has coached the Mavericks to four national team titles. "I'm really glad I did give him a chance to come back here. He's become a big part of our program. He has a great work ethic and has really been committed. The guys on the team really like him and he's really fit in well with them. He's really enjoying wrestling again and not putting too much pressure on himself."

Meneely also credits the influence of his high school coach, Omaha Skutt Catholic's Brad Hildebrandt, for his turnaround.

"Brad's had a tremendous impact on me," Meneely said. "He's the one who showed me the way in wrestling by having a strong work ethic. A lot of people turned their back on me when I was having problems, but he was one of the people who helped me when I was down and out. I can't thank him enough. I wouldn't be here without him."

Meneely also excelled in freestyle wrestling last year. Even though he hadn't wrestled a freestyle match in nearly five years, he journeyed to Akron, Ohio, last spring for University Nationals and won the title at 60 kg/132 lbs. That win qualified him for the U.S. Senior World Team Trials in Las Vegas, where he finished 3-2 after being eliminated in the consolation semifinals of the Challenge Tournament.

Meneely said he plans to jump back into freestyle competition again after the college season, but he may have to bump up a class to 66 kg/145.5 lbs.

"The weight situation has kind of hurt me a little bit because I'm caught in between weight classes," he said. "132 is a huge, huge cut and I honestly don't know if I can do it anymore. 145, those guys are really big. We'll just have to wait and see what happens."

For now, the focus is on bringing home his second individual national title and leading the Mavericks to the Division II team title.

"We have a great team at UNO with a great group of guys," said Meneely, who plans to coach after his competitive days end. "We're all best friends and we're all there for each other. We work hard together and we hang out with each other."

Being on a wrestling mat is something Meneely no longer takes for granted.

"It's great to be wrestling again - I'm having so much fun," he said. "I'm very fortunate that I've been given one more opportunity. I'm very, very grateful that Coach Denney and Coach (Ron) Higdon took another chance on me. It's worked out really well for me.