I’ve never written an article critical of Penn State wrestling before and I have no plans on making it a regular occurrence.
But this cannot be ignored any longer.
When Oklahoma State stunned the wrestling world by hiring Penn State legend and Olympic hero David Taylor as head coach in May 2024, people almost immediately began to think of the possibility of a mega dual meet.
Will it happen? If so, where? Is a wrestling match at Beaver Stadium possible?
Wrestling Coming to Beaver Stadium? Penn State Star Calls for Fans to Pack the Venue in November
Wrestling fans everywhere grasped how big a PSU-OSU showdown would be, and so did Taylor.
“It would be the most exciting dual meet probably in the history of wrestling,” Taylor told me exclusively in July 2024.
“I think both fanbases would really enjoy that,” he said. “I think the wrestling community would be excited about that.”
It’s hard to know exactly how hard Taylor and Oklahoma State have tried to this accomplished.
But what seems clear is that Sanderson and Penn State aren’t interested.
Instead, Penn State will be wrestling a Big 12 program from Oklahoma that not nearly as many people care about.
Prominent Big 12 Program Added to Penn State Wrestling Schedule
When people saw that PSU would be taking on Oklahoma… University instead of Oklahoma State, I bet a lot of them thought about what they could be missing with the mega dual.
To be fair, there are others who will argue that Penn State doesn’t need this dual meet, and to be clear, it doesn’t. Penn State wrestling might be the most dominant force in any sport, college or pro. The program has won 12 of the past 14 national championships and isn’t slowing down.
Sanderson and company didn’t get to the top by scheduling non conference showdowns, and won’t need non conference showdowns to stay at there.
Last season, Penn State’s out of conference slate consisted of Drexel, Lehigh, Wyoming, Binghamton, Arkansas-Little Rock and Missouri.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.Of those programs, only Missouri is nationally prominent, and since that dual meet took place at the Journeymen Duals in Nashville, it just wasn’t the same as if it had been at Rec Hall, the Bryce Jordan Center or Missouri Hearnes Center.
Imagine what would happen if Oklahoma State came to Happy Valley or if Penn State came to Stillwater.
Now, Penn State doesn’t have anything to prove by taking on Oklahoma State. It has enough stiff competition in the Big Ten, which is the world’s premier wrestling conference, and most importantly, the program proves itself every March by cleaning up at the Big Ten and NCAA Championships.
But what Sanderson would prove by moving to make this dual meet happen is that he cares about strengthening the sport itself and not just the program he runs.
Hours after Penn State sealed its latest national title this past March, I was sitting in the Xfinity Mobile Arena’s media room and got to ask last question of Sanderson’s post-championship presser.
I asked him if he felt that dynasties were good, bad or indifferent for wrestling, and his answer was quite telling to me.
“I just know, you know, what my job is,” Sanderson said. “My job is to put together the best staff that we can at Penn State and recruit the student-athletes that fit the character and the focus and the mold that we’re looking for and just be the absolute best we can be. If we do that, we’re going to continue to be successful. But that’s what I’m focused on. Anything else, it’s just not something we think about.”
Translation: Penn State matters, the health of the sport doesn’t.
To be clear, Cael’s top priority should absolutely be Penn State.
But Cael— who is one of the few that doesn’t need a last name for clarification— appreciates his role as the face of the sport, he doesn’t express it publicly.
One could argue that Cael is the greatest athlete (159-0, four national titles at Iowa State) and coach in the history of the sport all rolled into one. There’s a lot of pride that should come with that, and also a certain degree of responsibility.
Why is it that student-athletes like A.J. Ferrari and one of Cael’s former pupil, Carter Starocci, are more open to talking about their desires for the sport to grow than Cael, whose voice carries much more weight?
Even fellow Penn State coach James Franklin— who is less revered in his world than Cael is in his— is becoming more outspoken about changes he’d like to see in college football.
Before Taylor became part of the Oklahoma State family, this still would have been a dual meet everybody wanted to see. The most historically successful program (Oklahoma State has 34 team titles) vs. the current king.
Now, it’s something that needs to happen, and it’d be nice if some of the people who have the power to make it happen felt the same way.
