The Secret Sauce to a Successful Wrestling Program

When asked what it takes to build a successful program coaches in all sports often use words such as vision, culture, leadership, buy-in, and support.

They never use the word win.

For wrestling coaches, off the mat success, building student-athletes, and developing young men and women for life after wrestling is what they strive for when building a program. 

That's exactly what Josh Nolan is trying to implement as he builds his new Silver State Wrestling Academy in Reno, NV. Nolan launched the new wrestling training academy in September 2019 after previously serving as a coach with the Legends of Gold Training Center in Beresford, SD and as an assistant coach at Northern State University in Aberdeen, SD. 

"A wrestling program becomes great when the leaders are able to create a culture that runs on trust and high expectations," says Nolan. "The coaches have to continuously add value to their athletes' lives both on and off the mat and show that their relationship is not solely based on whether the athlete wins or loses wrestling matches."

So what ingredients go into the secret sauce that develops a successful wrestling program? Several coaches weigh in on the topic.

Vision

Brendan Buckley is the Executive Director of Beat The Streets New York City Wrestling, a non-profit organization that strives to develop the full human and athletic potential of the urban youth and to strengthen the wrestling culture within New York City. He also has 16 years of experience as a Division I head coach at Cal Poly and Columbia University.

Buckley believes the recipe for success includes four ingredients: Vision, leadership, culture, and good people.

"Everything starts with a vision," says Buckley. "The leader of the program has to set the tone and create a unified vision for everyone to believe in, including coaches, athletes, administrators, parents."

Quincy Osborn has been a competitor and coach at high school and college programs in Minnesota, Ohio, New York, and Wisconsin. Osborn was a two-time NCAA qualifier at the University of Minnesota and an NCAA DIII national champion at Augsburg University. He then served as an assistant coach at Augsburg, Ohio University, and the University of Buffalo before head coaching positions at Lakeland University (Plymouth, WI) and now, Concordia College, where he's in the first year as head coach of the NCAA DIII program in Moorhead, MN. In addition, Osborn has served as an assistant at Grand Rapids High School, the northern Minnesota high school which became a two-time Minnesota state high school champion. He also has a minor in Coaching.

Finding the secret sauce to building a successful program is Osborn's passion and something he admittedly obsesses over.

A vision that focuses on winning wrestling matches only is not a vision that can sustain and succeed, says Osborn.

"Winning wrestling matches, in and of itself, isn’t enough for me to find fulfillment,” says Osborn. “I think most, if not all, great programs start with a bold but concise vision and dedicated leadership in order to follow that vision through."

Leadership is the guiding light, especially during difficult times, says Buckley.

“Strong leadership is absolutely necessary to guide that vision,” he says.

Culture

A strong culture will lead to positive results.

"Commitment, discipline, leadership, and camaraderie are important components needed for a strong culture," says Buckley. "When good athletes enter a winning culture, great things happen."

Develop culture first, says Osborn, adding "success can’t happen consistently or be sustained if there’s not an excellent culture in place. If there’s any quick fixes that lead to results I’m interested in, I do not know of them. You have to be willing to follow the process and have faith the results will come. For me, the right culture begins with getting the athletes to understand what a successful lifestyle looks like, and then getting them to believe in themselves enough to where they will go all-in on that."

Support

"I don’t think building a successful wrestling program at any level is any secret," says Steve Costanzo, head coach of NCAA Division II wrestling power St. Cloud State University. "There are several components to success that every program needs but it starts with support."

Costanzo resurrected the St. Cloud State University wrestling team when he took it over in 2007, taking a program that was at the bottom of the NCAA DII wrestling scene—and possibly on the verge of being eliminated—building it into a perennial national powerhouse that won NCAA team titles in 2015, 2016, and 2018. Prior to that, Costanzo turned around the struggling Dana College wrestling team, winning an NAIA national title in 2006.

While Costanzo may receive recognition for the success at St. Cloud State, he's the first to admit he hasn't done it alone.

"Great programs come from a great support team such as family, friends, alumni, administrators, community members/groups, role models, mentors, and more," says Costanzo. "Each program needs to build a team of supporters whom they can count on for help, a team of experienced and non-experienced individuals. So, start building relationships and make everyone on your team feel a sense of belonging and purpose."

Buy-in

At Concordia, Osborn is looking for student-athletes that want to be excellent in all areas of their lives. They need to buy-in to being committed on and off the mat. He wants a good student, good citizen, and a wrestler who gives it his all. Someone who buys-in to the culture and vision.

"This means they should demonstrate they’re capable of self-discipline and utilizing the resources that are provided to them," says Osborn. "You can’t win matches or have success in academics without bringing in talent that reflects those aspirations. For success to happen there needs to be a culture with a lot of trust and belief in each other, which leads to the buy-in we’re all looking for."

The right people

The best coaching staffs include a good mix of personalities and capabilities, on and off the mat.

"It’s imperative to bring in coaches that compliment your abilities and also exemplify the values you want to promote in the athletes," says Osborn. "For me, I want coaches that I trust as mentors more than I care about their wrestling knowledge."

Coaches must also be willing to put others before themselves and not expect success to come easy, says Costanzo.

"The most important ingredient of all is people," says Buckley. "Without good people, it is simply not possible to run a successful program that is sustainable. As the leader of the program, you need to have coaches you can trust, athletes that will work for you and represent you and the program well, administrators that will support you and parents that will help you."

How to develop a new recipe for success

So what can a coach who is leading a program that isn't finding success do to help create a vision and culture that ultimately leads to success?

Start by defining your purpose, says Nolan. The purpose cannot simply be "win wrestling matches."

"The purpose should be a long-term goal to utilize wrestling and the program to add value to other people's lives," says Nolan. "When this is the mission, the wrestling will take care of itself." 

Look inward, says Buckley. Are there things you are doing or not doing that are hampering the program’s ability to be successful? Are there opportunities to lead that are not currently taking place? Are you leading by example? Are the right people on board? Do some people need to get off-board? Are there conversations with athletes, the coaching staff, parents, administrators that need to take place? And lastly, is the leader of the program willing to ask for help (from other coaches, leaders on the team, mentors)?

The secret sauce to a successful wrestling program isn't an easy recipe. It takes several key ingredients, blended together at the right time, tested and tried over time to generate the right results.

What's your secret sauce to building a successful wrestling program?