Tuesday Q&A: Tossin’ 10 at Chris Bono, South Dakota State head coach

Photo of South Dakota State head coach Chris Bono by Dave Eggen/Inertia Sports Media.


Each Tuesday, TheMat.com will be tossing 10 questions at a college wrestling coach. We start off with South Dakota State’s head man Chris Bono.

Question 1: How does the expanded Big 12 help South Dakota State and also improve college wrestling?
Bono: First off, it helps South Dakota State in many ways. I look at it as the possibility of more qualifiers for the team at the NCAAs. I look at it now as another expanded area of recruiting. It helps us in those areas where the Big 12 name is very important. It helps our university. We are bringing Oklahoma State, Iowa State, Oklahoma and West Virginia into our arena, and it gives our wrestling name that Big 12 brand which is nationwide and one of the nation’s top wrestling conferences. It helps wrestling as being an automatic qualifier. Those original Big 12 schools not having an automatic qualifier is something that can’t happen. It puts wrestling in danger. For the WWC coming into the Big 12, it helps our little schools have a big time name behind it.

Question 2: How much better are the Jackrabbits than when you arrived, and what would be a strong season this year?
Bono: We are 1,000 times better. The way we’ve evaluated the program is not just on the mat. We are 1,000 times better in the classroom. Our team GPA is now 3.25. We are 1,000 times better in the community. We are bringing in better kids and they are behaving better socially. The last aspect is on the mat. We’ve improved with seven NCAA qualifiers in the last three years, being conference champions, beating ranked teams. We are far ahead from where we started but we still have a long way to go. A successful season for us this year, you know we have to get that first All-American for the program. We have to be in the top 20 in the country for us to consider it a successful year.

Question 3: Talk about your assistant coaches Jon Reader, A.J. Schopp and Zach Reed and how important they are to team success.
Bono: It has been wonderful. When you talk about Jon Reader, there is not one person in the country that will say anything bad about Jon Reader. Having Jon around is just been a blessing. This guy is unbelievable. I can’t say enough about him. He has taken the lead with this program and run with it. He is our recruiting coordinator. His training is unmatched with anybody in the country. His leading by example is amazing. He does every single workout with these kids. Jon and I are like family. We think alike, act alike. A.J. has been awesome too, being here a couple of months. He brings a little different feel to the program. A.J. is a little bit more laid back. His personality is not like Jon and I. We are off the wall, bouncing around, doing all this stuff. A.J. brings us back down to earth and lets us see the other side of things a lot. In the room, A.J. is a master on top. He’s done wonders with our guys in the mat positions, not just technically, but philosophy-wise, how he’s thinking, what he’s thinking, how he gets into his positions. Also with the recruiting game, he has a lot of connections in Pennsylvania and the East Coast. We are tapping into that market. As far as Zach Reed, this is our first year with a full fledged volunteer coach. Zach has done many great things building our youth program. He is working on campus as a GA in admissions, which helps us over there as well. Having three guys who are committed to our program has been a blessing.

Question 4: You are 41. Do you still go live with the guys and how are you doing these days?
Bono: I still go with them all the time. I am right in there where we have some really tough guys, 141, 149, 157. Sometimes you can’t tell them, you have to show them some things, how you want them to wrestle. I train every day, just like I am still competing. I get up and run, work out every morning, drill with these guys. When it is time to wrestle with them, I wrestle every day. I can hold my own in there. When I have to prove a point on how hard I want them to wrestle, when it’s time to get off the bottom in an overtime situation, when you have to ride somebody on the top. They look at me like I’m crazy when I tell them. So I get in there and get after it with them. I still got it a little bit, to tell you the truth. The next day, or two days after that, it hurts a little bit.

Question 5: What makes Cody Pack so tough and what do you expect from him this year?
Bono: I expect a lot from Cody Pack. He is a sixth-year senior. He is 23 years old. He has already graduated from college. He has been in my program, this is our fourth year together. He knows how I think. I expect Cody to give his 100% effort in all areas of our program every day. If he does that, the results in the classroom will be great. He is a great kid outside the room. His results on the mat will be great. Sometimes, when he doesn’t feel good in the room, he won’t pick the toughest partner. I believe all the consistency is what pays off in March. If you are consistent with your training, and you don’t feel good, but still pick the best kid and fight tooth-and-nail, you will have great results. I expect Cody to be on that podium, and be high on that podium. There is no doubt in my mind that Cody could be in the finals of the NCAA Tournament come March.

Question 6: What guys on the team that people don’t know about should fans look out for this year?
Bono: I don’t know if there will be any surprises. Everybody knows Seth Gross’ story. Transferred from Iowa. He’s young, a freshman. He is going to win a lot of matches for us. Alex Kocer, he was an NCAA qualifier his freshman year. He didn’t make it last year. We flirted between weight classes. Maybe it was my mistake, I may have hurt the kid a little bit by trying to have our best team. Alex Kocer has had a great fall. He has a new mindset. I love the way he is training. I love his attitude, I love he is being a leader. He is going to have a great year. His brother David Kocer, the 174-pounder, is another guy who should have been at the NCAA Tournament. He had like 18 losses, and I think 17 of them were to the top 10 in the country and they were all kind of close. Everybody knows Nate Rotert, ranked 10th in the country at 197. We feel like he has All-American potential and national champion potential. You can throw in Collin Holler. He’s certified at 157, but I think Collin might find a spot on this team somewhere.

Question 7: What things do you tell recruits about South Dakota State and why they should go there?
Bono: South Dakota State is a hidden gem. Brookings, S.D. is amazing. We have the best athletic director in the country for supporting wrestling, and the best guy overall. Justin Sell has done amazing things with us. He has been in our practice room all the time, in our offices all the time, trying to get our program better, supporting us and finding ways to make us better. You don’t find that in every institution. He just built $100 million in athletic facilities the last two years here. He’s a great reason to come here. The academics are second to none. We have some great programs, our pharmacy program, our nursing programs, our ags programs are tops in the country. The support we have from the community and the administration is why kids should come here. Our fans are unbelievable; they support all the programs here. The city of Brookings, you can’t beat living in this small town.

Question 8: Will any of the old Western Wrestling Conference teams surprise the previous Big 12 teams this year?
Bono: I think a lot of these teams have wrestled. Wyoming has wrestled Oklahoma, Oklahoma State a lot. NDSU had Iowa State on its schedule. Northern Colorado, Nickerson is doing a great job out there with some things. Are we going to surprise them? I don’t think we’ll surprise them, because I think these coaches are good in our conference. They will do their homework. They know we have been building programs. They have seen us at the national tournament. NDSU has had some All-Americans the last few years, Wyoming is always producing All-Americans. I don’t think we will surprise them. It is going to be a great conference tournament.

Question 9: What was the biggest win you ever had as an athlete?
Bono: I have really sat back and thought about my own career, in terms of wins. I can tell you my biggest losses. I never accomplished my goals and it eats at me every single day, what could have been or should have been. The fact that I gave every little ounce trying to win a gold medal at the international level, it hurts. Collegiately, I never really knew that I could do what I did. I have not looked back over my career quite yet. Maybe some day I will do it. I don’t know what my biggest win is because I was always looking at the next event. As soon as I was done, what’s the next thing?, where can I compete?, what can I do next?, what can I do to be Olympic champion. That never happened, and luckily I got to stay in the sport. If I could compete again tomorrow, I’d be out there trying to win a gold medal. I never really lost that fire. It’s just that my body has given out a little bit, and my coaching career is going to lead me into my 60s and 70s. That is where I have to focus.

Question 10: As a Florida native, how does wrestling in the Southeast stack up these days in your mind?
Bono: I am out of the region now, but I have my eye on it every single day. I’m involved in Beat the Streets Northeast Florida now and I have been down there a couple times for that. I have my eye on Florida. My heart’s in Florida, no doubt about it. I want to see those kids succeed, because there isn’t any opportunity. I am one of the lucky ones. A couple of us got out, got to the Midwest and did some big things. That area, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, that whole area it’s tough. We need more opportunity for these kids. It’s expensive to come all this way and be able to compete. It’s a different culture. It’s hard for kids to get away from their culture and succeed. The kids down there know how to wrestle. The coaching has gotten so much better, as well as all the clubs that are popping up all over Florida and Georgia. They are developing kids and sending them to schools all over the place. It’s growing. It’s way, way better than when I was competing, that is for darn sure.