Powerful Missouri on quest to capture first NCAA team title
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by Craig Sesker USA Wrestling
2014 NCAA champion and top-ranked J’den Cox leads a strong Missouri team that is ranked No. 3 nationally. John Sachs photo.
To say the wrestling program was struggling when Brian Smith took over as the head coach at Missouri would be a huge understatement.
Even though the school is nestled right between the large metropolitan areas of St. Louis and Kansas City, the Tigers had virtually no tradition when Smith took over nearly two decades ago.
Missouri had never crowned a national champion and it was the worst team in the Big 12 Conference.
Needless to say, not many people were expecting much when Smith arrived in Columbia.
“People laughed when I came in here and said we could win Big 12s,” Smith said. “It was tough at first. We set the bar really high and the culture started to change. The first three years we were god-awful. We had a lot of kids quit the team as we tried to build this program.”
Nobody is laughing at Missouri anymore.
Now in his 17th season at Missouri, Smith has built a strong and successful program. And now the Tigers are taking aim at winning the first NCAA tournament title in school history.
Missouri is 17-0 in duals this season and ranked third in the country, and the Tigers have flown under the radar for much of the season with Iowa and Minnesota holding the No. 1 ranking.
But after earning dual wins over perennial powers Oklahoma State and Cornell while extending their dual-meet winning streak to 21, the Tigers have stamped themselves as a legitimate national title contender.
“I truly believe we have a team that can win a national title this year,” Smith said. “We’ve felt that way all season. I believe it’s going to take five or six All-Americans while pushing a few guys into the finals. I believe we could have three or four guys in the finals. We have a lot of depth. We need to qualify all 10 kids for NCAAs.”
Missouri has a deep, experienced and talented lineup.
It starts with returning NCAA champion J’den Cox, a sophomore who chose to stay in his hometown of Columbia, Mo., to wrestle collegiately for the Tigers. Cox is ranked No. 1 nationally at 197 pounds.
“I’m real pleased with the progression that J’den has made,” Smith said. “He has a lot more pins this year and he’s getting more majors for the team. He’s gotten better and better this season. He brings a lot of energy to our team.”
Senior All-American Drake Houdashelt is also ranked No. 1. He has had a superb season for the Tigers at 149.
“Drake is Mr. Consistency for us,” Smith said. “He shows up for practice every day and goes 100 miles per hour. He brings it every time he steps on the mat. I can’t think of one time where he didn’t give a great effort. He’s an awesome kid who has done a great job.”
Senior All-American Alan Waters, who redshirted last season, has returned with a vengeance this season. He is ranked No. 2 at 125.
“We decided to redshirt Alan last year after he broke his foot,” Smith said. “He’s come back strong and decided to go back down to 125. That’s really solidified our lineup. He’s wrestling at a very high level.”
The Tigers also have ranked wrestlers in senior Johnny Eblen (fifth at 174), sophomore Lavion Mayes (sixth at 141), senior Devin Mellon (11th at 285), freshman Willie Miklus (13th at 184) and sophomore Joey Lavallee (13th at 157).
Eblen and Mayes have both moved down a weight class in their careers to strengthen the team’s lineup.
“They’ve both done a great job,” Smith said. “Johnny Eblen’s only loss this year was to (top-ranked Robert) Kokesh of Nebraska. He’s wrestled well for us.
“Lavion Mayes went 2-2 at nationals last year, and he’s right there. He’s an explosive wrestler who has really progressed for us. He’s been real consistent.”
Smith has built his program by convincing the best wrestlers in the state of Missouri to compete for his program.
In addition to Cox, Waters and Eblen are from Kansas City and Houdashelt is from just outside St. Louis.
“My recruiting base has to be Missouri,” Smith said. “We have to keep the best kids at home for us to be successful. We have very good wrestling in this state and it keeps getting better.”
The Tigers have continued to thrive after bursting onto the national scene when Ben Askren won two NCAA titles and a pair of Hodge Trophy awards for the Tigers. He went on to make the 2008 Olympic Team and is now excelling as a world champion in mixed martial arts.
Askren led Missouri to its best NCAA finish when the Tigers placed third at the 2007 national tournament.
“You need a guy who can get it done and Ben Askren showed it can be done here,” Smith said. “He was kind of like Muhammad Ali. He said a lot of things, but he backed it up. Ben was a great wrestler, a great student and a great leader for us. He was the Pied Piper that brought kids to Mizzou. He gave us something to sell.”
Askren’s younger brother, Max, also won an NCAA title for the Tigers with Mark Ellis also winning NCAAs before Cox won it all last year.
Past Missouri All-Americans Nick Marable and Dom Bradley have excelled at the international level in freestyle wrestling.
Marable made the 2014 U.S. World Team and handed Olympic gold medalist and two-time World champion Jordan Burroughs his first international loss. Bradley is a Junior World champion who is one of the country’s top freestyle heavyweights.
Past Missouri All-American Michael Chandler won a Bellator world title in mixed martial arts.
The Tigers will host the Mid-American Conference tournament this year. The 2015 NCAA Championships are being held just down the road in St. Louis.
“Being able to wrestle at home – that’s big for us,” Smith said. “We don’t have to travel and we know our fan base will be there, which is nice. But you’ve still got to go out there and wrestle.”
Smith’s coaching staff now includes Alex Clemsen, Joe Johnston and Todd Schavrien.
“We have had a lot of good assistant coaches come through here, including guys who have gone on to become head coaches,” Smith said. “They’ve all brought something to the program at Missouri. That’s obviously been a real positive for us. The staff we have now is doing a great job.”
The Tigers’ next test will come against a strong Northern Iowa team on Saturday at home.
Smith said the Missouri program continues to make gains.
“We have amazing support from our administration,” he said. “And we have one of the best facilities in the country. Our wrestling program is an important part of this university. Our team is going to be introduced Thursday night before 14,000 fans during the basketball game against No. 1 Kentucky. Our wrestlers are going to sign autographs at the game. That’s great for our kids to be recognized.”
Smith is hoping more recognition follows over the course of the next two months.
“NCAAs and the National Duals are the only two tournaments we haven’t won since I came here,” Smith said. “We’ve been third at NCAAs and second at the National Duals. We feel like we have the type of team that can win those events. Our guys have performed at a high level all year.”
To say the wrestling program was struggling when Brian Smith took over as the head coach at Missouri would be a huge understatement.
Even though the school is nestled right between the large metropolitan areas of St. Louis and Kansas City, the Tigers had virtually no tradition when Smith took over nearly two decades ago.
Missouri had never crowned a national champion and it was the worst team in the Big 12 Conference.
Needless to say, not many people were expecting much when Smith arrived in Columbia.
“People laughed when I came in here and said we could win Big 12s,” Smith said. “It was tough at first. We set the bar really high and the culture started to change. The first three years we were god-awful. We had a lot of kids quit the team as we tried to build this program.”
Nobody is laughing at Missouri anymore.
Now in his 17th season at Missouri, Smith has built a strong and successful program. And now the Tigers are taking aim at winning the first NCAA tournament title in school history.
Missouri is 17-0 in duals this season and ranked third in the country, and the Tigers have flown under the radar for much of the season with Iowa and Minnesota holding the No. 1 ranking.
But after earning dual wins over perennial powers Oklahoma State and Cornell while extending their dual-meet winning streak to 21, the Tigers have stamped themselves as a legitimate national title contender.
“I truly believe we have a team that can win a national title this year,” Smith said. “We’ve felt that way all season. I believe it’s going to take five or six All-Americans while pushing a few guys into the finals. I believe we could have three or four guys in the finals. We have a lot of depth. We need to qualify all 10 kids for NCAAs.”
Missouri has a deep, experienced and talented lineup.
It starts with returning NCAA champion J’den Cox, a sophomore who chose to stay in his hometown of Columbia, Mo., to wrestle collegiately for the Tigers. Cox is ranked No. 1 nationally at 197 pounds.
“I’m real pleased with the progression that J’den has made,” Smith said. “He has a lot more pins this year and he’s getting more majors for the team. He’s gotten better and better this season. He brings a lot of energy to our team.”
Senior All-American Drake Houdashelt is also ranked No. 1. He has had a superb season for the Tigers at 149.
“Drake is Mr. Consistency for us,” Smith said. “He shows up for practice every day and goes 100 miles per hour. He brings it every time he steps on the mat. I can’t think of one time where he didn’t give a great effort. He’s an awesome kid who has done a great job.”
Senior All-American Alan Waters, who redshirted last season, has returned with a vengeance this season. He is ranked No. 2 at 125.
“We decided to redshirt Alan last year after he broke his foot,” Smith said. “He’s come back strong and decided to go back down to 125. That’s really solidified our lineup. He’s wrestling at a very high level.”
The Tigers also have ranked wrestlers in senior Johnny Eblen (fifth at 174), sophomore Lavion Mayes (sixth at 141), senior Devin Mellon (11th at 285), freshman Willie Miklus (13th at 184) and sophomore Joey Lavallee (13th at 157).
Eblen and Mayes have both moved down a weight class in their careers to strengthen the team’s lineup.
“They’ve both done a great job,” Smith said. “Johnny Eblen’s only loss this year was to (top-ranked Robert) Kokesh of Nebraska. He’s wrestled well for us.
“Lavion Mayes went 2-2 at nationals last year, and he’s right there. He’s an explosive wrestler who has really progressed for us. He’s been real consistent.”
Smith has built his program by convincing the best wrestlers in the state of Missouri to compete for his program.
In addition to Cox, Waters and Eblen are from Kansas City and Houdashelt is from just outside St. Louis.
“My recruiting base has to be Missouri,” Smith said. “We have to keep the best kids at home for us to be successful. We have very good wrestling in this state and it keeps getting better.”
The Tigers have continued to thrive after bursting onto the national scene when Ben Askren won two NCAA titles and a pair of Hodge Trophy awards for the Tigers. He went on to make the 2008 Olympic Team and is now excelling as a world champion in mixed martial arts.
Askren led Missouri to its best NCAA finish when the Tigers placed third at the 2007 national tournament.
“You need a guy who can get it done and Ben Askren showed it can be done here,” Smith said. “He was kind of like Muhammad Ali. He said a lot of things, but he backed it up. Ben was a great wrestler, a great student and a great leader for us. He was the Pied Piper that brought kids to Mizzou. He gave us something to sell.”
Askren’s younger brother, Max, also won an NCAA title for the Tigers with Mark Ellis also winning NCAAs before Cox won it all last year.
Past Missouri All-Americans Nick Marable and Dom Bradley have excelled at the international level in freestyle wrestling.
Marable made the 2014 U.S. World Team and handed Olympic gold medalist and two-time World champion Jordan Burroughs his first international loss. Bradley is a Junior World champion who is one of the country’s top freestyle heavyweights.
Past Missouri All-American Michael Chandler won a Bellator world title in mixed martial arts.
The Tigers will host the Mid-American Conference tournament this year. The 2015 NCAA Championships are being held just down the road in St. Louis.
“Being able to wrestle at home – that’s big for us,” Smith said. “We don’t have to travel and we know our fan base will be there, which is nice. But you’ve still got to go out there and wrestle.”
Smith’s coaching staff now includes Alex Clemsen, Joe Johnston and Todd Schavrien.
“We have had a lot of good assistant coaches come through here, including guys who have gone on to become head coaches,” Smith said. “They’ve all brought something to the program at Missouri. That’s obviously been a real positive for us. The staff we have now is doing a great job.”
The Tigers’ next test will come against a strong Northern Iowa team on Saturday at home.
Smith said the Missouri program continues to make gains.
“We have amazing support from our administration,” he said. “And we have one of the best facilities in the country. Our wrestling program is an important part of this university. Our team is going to be introduced Thursday night before 14,000 fans during the basketball game against No. 1 Kentucky. Our wrestlers are going to sign autographs at the game. That’s great for our kids to be recognized.”
Smith is hoping more recognition follows over the course of the next two months.
“NCAAs and the National Duals are the only two tournaments we haven’t won since I came here,” Smith said. “We’ve been third at NCAAs and second at the National Duals. We feel like we have the type of team that can win those events. Our guys have performed at a high level all year.”
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