Tuesday Q&A: Tossin’ 10 at Mark Cody, Oklahoma head coach

Photos of Mark Cody courtesy of Oklahoma’s athletics website.


Each Tuesday, TheMat.com will be tossing 10 questions at a college wrestling coach. This week, we visit with Oklahoma’s head coach Mark Cody. After a successful stint building American University’s program, Cody moved on to Norman, where he leads one of college wrestling’s traditional powers.


Question 1: The Sooners just beat No. 3 Michigan up in Ann Arbor, winning six matches all against ranked opponents. What was the key to OU’s victory over the Wolverines?

Cody: I think it came down to individual strategies. My assistant coaches did a great job putting those together. They really did a lot of research, a lot of homework, and they sat down and compared notes, and let the guys know what they thought was important in each individual match. That really helped make a difference.


Question 2: As an original Big 12 school, what are your thoughts about the Big 12 expansion starting this year and what it means to the conference and to college wrestling?

Cody: We are so excited about the expansion. We felt like it really needed to happen, and we are glad that these schools stepped up and wanted to be a part of it. We got an overwhelming response when we reached out to them. They were excited about being part of this conference. I think it will work out great for everybody. All these schools have great coaches. It is going to make it much more competitive.


Question 3: Talk about the significance of the Bedlam Duals series, and the annual matches between Oklahoma and Oklahoma State in their home gyms?

Cody: I think it’s important for the sport to have a rivalry like that. I have been on both sides of this. That is kind of a unique situation to be in. I love the fact for those two meets every year, we pack the house. It’s great for our guys to be in that type of environment. It’s great for the sport, anytime you can walk into a gym that’s completely full. A good example was Michigan this weekend. What a great job they have done promoting not only the sport but this match. It was packed to the rafters. Anytime you can have that kind of turnout to the gym, it becomes very important to your team. The Bedlam Series goes way back. Bedlam matches started with the sport of wrestling, and now that tradition is carried on to the rest of the sports. It is always a great, heated battle.


Question 4: You have been a head coach at American and at Oklahoma, two different kind of institutions. What have you found different in how you coach and recruit since taking the OU challenge?

Cody: The big difference is our recruiting base is a little bit different. It’s mostly the Midwest. Here, I push a little bit more the tradition of the program. They’ve won seven national championships here. That helps in recruiting. At American, I really pushed that the athletes there could be real pioneers for something very special. That was attractive to a lot of the kids we brought in to American University. We pushed it two different ways. Wrestling was very important at American University, and it’s very important here. In that respect, they are no different. I was fortunate enough to coach at two programs that are very supportive of the sport of wrestling. We do have great resources here (at OU). Our facility is very big. It is one of the nicest facilities in the country. With that being said, facilities aren’t as important as what’s happening in the room and how much you use the room. We had a great advantage at American too, as we do here, that people realize it’s very important that we train 12 months, all year round. That room got a lot of use, and so does this one here.


Question 5: There are talented OU grads trying out for the Olympic team this year: Andrew Howe, Kendric Maple and Sam Hazewinkel. In your mind, what are their prospects from making that Olympic team?

Cody: If you look at the last Olympics, (Jared) Frayer and (Sam) Hazewinkel were both seeded fourth or fifth going into the tournament. They really focused on getting better. Even at that point in their careers, they were really focusing on technique and focusing on individual strategies, what they needed to do to get better. I think, with these three individuals, they are really focusing on getting better. Sam Hazewinkel has had a run of bad luck with injuries. He’s had a wrist surgery and a shoulder surgery. This is the first time we will see him at 100%. Even at the last Olympics, he wasn’t 100%. I’m excited to see what he does, once he gets his timing back and once he gets back into shape. He is going to be a major contender at that weight class. Maple, just getting into it and getting out onto the scene, he has done a great job focusing on getting better. Of course, with Andrew Howe, it’s a lifestyle with that guy. He loves to compete. He’s over in Iran right now competing. We really missed having him around this weekend. That’s great, not only for him, but for our program, to have somebody still wrestling at that caliber. To have all three of them as workout partners for our program is great. It has paid off for us and them.


Question 6: Cody Brewer put on a great show at the 2015 NCAAs and has had a great start so far this year. What makes his such a special wrestler?

Cody: It’s his work ethic. In this sport, no matter what type of athlete you are, no matter what kind of background you have, you have to improve, and you have to do something to make yourself better every day. He is great outside of the room. He lives the lifestyle of a champion. He is very disciplined in his lifestyle. He works hard. After the NCAA Championships last year, he took a week off and went right back to work. It’s great for our guys to see that. You just put the work in and you are going to have success. Bottom line, that’s why he is having the success he is having. You would have thought last summer, with all the time he was putting in, that he had never won a title, because he kept working on improving. He fascinates himself with the technical aspect of the sport. That is what sets him apart, along with his lifestyle.


Question 7: You were an assistant coach for a number of top programs. Which coaches that you worked with were instrumental in helping you build your skills as a head wrestling coach and what did you learn from them?

Cody: I was so fortunate with who I worked with. I had Carl Poff at Bloomsburg. That was my first coaching job. He was just wonderful. He helped me with every aspect of the sport. He’s still a guy I keep in touch with. He is one of the great wrestling minds out there. From there, I went to Oklahoma State and worked for Joe Seay. He won a couple of national titles there, with the technical side of the sport. Had it not been for him, I probably would not be coaching today. From there, I made a move to Nebraska and worked for Tim Neumann for 12 years. You talk about a program builder. He brought that program to new heights. His big thing was that 20% of what you are going to be doing is coaching. We were trying to build this thing in all areas of the program. Reaching out to the high school coaches, that is what he was great at, putting fans in the seats, he was great at that. He was very business minded. On top of that, he was a wonderful coach. I left there to work with John Smith at Oklahoma State. I learned something every day when I was there, particularly on the technical side of it. Now, I always tell John Smith that I am taking what I learned from him and use it against him. I am fortunate enough to have a great bunch of coaches to work under and put all that together, what I could use here, as far as putting a system in place. I take little bits from each coach I worked for. It was a special time. I spent a lot of years as an assistant coach, probably more than most out there. All the head coaches I worked with made it enjoyable and it was a functional situation wherever I was. We were all on the same page. Everybody wanted to win.


Question 8: What are the goals you and the team have set for this season, and what will it take for the team to reach or exceed your goals for the year?

Cody: Our goal is to make sure to focus on what happens day-to-day in the practice room. Ultimately, we want to peak one time this year. We want to peak for the NCAA Tournament. This is a very technical sport, and it’s 99% mental. If we can work on both the technical game and the mental game, I think big things are going to happen for us by the end of the year. I think we are more well-balanced here than we’ve ever been. Every weight class we have somebody who is capable of going out and winning every time. That’s the first time I’ve had that since I have been here. For something special to happen at the end of the year, we have to continue to stay focused, stay disciplined, and make sure we are buying in. As coaches, we have to make sure that we are backing certain guys off at the same time, picking certain guys up at the same time. We are going to the Midlands. We are not sure who we are taking and who we are leaving. We have a couple high octane guys we think we might back off at that time. On the technical side, we have to keep improving. If they have the discipline to keep their weight under control, every time they walk out there, they are going to feel good. That makes them mentally tougher too. The national tournament will find your weaknesses. We have to be ready, and realize this is a process. Everything comes in little increments.


Question 9: Over your years coaching, both with college athletes and post-grads who were pursuing Olympic dreams, what wrestlers stand out in your mind as the most talented and successful?

Cody: I have been blessed to work with so many great guys. You look at Tolly Thompson. He was a World medalist. Rulon Gardner, I think everybody in the world was shocked that he won a gold medal except for me. I realized how hard he worked. I rarely have seen anything like it. When we were running sprints when he was at Nebraska, he was always at the front of the pack. At that time, he was weighing 270 pounds. It was not just one sprint, it was every one. Matt Lindland stands out in my mind, the great career he had. The three guys I mentioned, all World medalists, were students of the sport and really hard working guys. They put in more time than anybody else. Matt Lindland was a standout, in the time he put in. He was all about it. It was his whole life. He was disappointed with his college career. He was No. 1 and was undefeated, and he got beaten at the NCAA Tournament. At that time, if you get beat in the first round, if your guy gets beat in the second round, you are out. He didn’t get a chance to get on the podium. Some guys would put their head down. That sparked him to have the great international career that he had. He was special for the guys around him, like Brad Vering and Rulon Gardner. He helped those guys too along the way. I got to work with Daniel Cormier and Jamill Kelly. That was a lot of fun too. Jamill was done with his eligibility and we used to bounce around to tournaments. He was a guy who was very capable, but used the disappointment of his college career to ignite the international career. It was fun to be around those guys. To be a part of the USA Wrestling family was special to me. That whole crew always made me feel very welcome. We have several other guys who will head in that direction of they are done with their college careers.


Question 10: You have taken a leadership role by serving as president of the NWCA. What do you see as the biggest issues facing college wrestling now and in the future?

Cody: We have to keep our sport as inexpensive as possible. We should go to a one-semester sport. Surveying a lot of coaches, I think they are behind it. It would really help. We need to be sure we remain relevant on our own campus, to make sure our kids are doing well academically, are being good citizens and are representing the program well. That is going to be huge going forward. Mike Moyer puts it out there all the time. Since I have taken this role as president of the NWCA, I am just floored by everything he does. There’s not a week he’s actually home. He is always out doing something to make sure we keep our sport relevant. Anybody can be replaced in any job. But Mike Moyer is one of those guys who is not replaceable. I have learned a lot from him. You put your head down and keep your nose to the grindstone. He’s a great inspiration to our sport and our coaches. I couldn’t think of a better man to be in the position he is in.

Past Tossin’ 10 interviews
November 17 – Oklahoma City’s head men’s & women’s coach Archie Randall 
November 10 - Stanford head coach Jason Borrelli 
November 3 - Pennsylvania head coach Alex Tirapelle 
October 27- South Dakota State head coach Chris Bono