Penn State Wrestling Great Returns to NLWC

A Penn State legend has returned to Nittany Lion Wrestling Club.

Justin Basch of the Baschamania Podcast reported late Tuesday night that, after more than a year away from NLWC, Roman Bravo-Young has returned.

Additionally, Basch reported that RBY is “opening a training facility in his hometown in 2 weeks!”

Bravo-Young is from Tucson, Arizona. He came to Penn State in the Fall of 2018 and immediately became a factor, becoming an All-American as a true freshman. He would repeat that feat three more times, twice winning a national championship and the third time, making it to the championship match.

After his college career ended, Bravo-Young hit the freestyle circuit, competing for Mexico.

He’s won four Gold Medals for the Mexican Grand Prix and won a Pan American Championship at Monterrey in 2025, all at 57 KG.

57 KG is also where RBY competed at the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

Penn State Wrestling Legend Roman Bravo-Young is Going to the Olympics

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It was the same month of those Olympics that Bravo-Young left NLWC for Cowboy Wrestling Club in Stillwater, Oklahoma. The connection here was obvious– David Taylor had just become the head coach at Oklahoma State, and Taylor had been training with Bravo-Young at NLWC for several years. Now, Bravo-Young is back in Happy Valley, and he isn’t the first person to leave NLWC for Cowboy Wrestling Club and then return.

Former Iowa wrestling star Thomas Gilman did the same over the spring.

Here’s what Gilman said about why he left Oklahoma State on Basch’s Podcast back in April.

“The decision in the first place (to go on staff at Oklahoma State)…was fast…and that’s probably the genesis of everything,” he said. “Right when we got down here, it seemed like, there were issues.”

Gilman made it clear that he wasn’t blaming one specific person.

“Were (the issues) with me? Were they with the staff? I think that everybody is at fault,” he said. “I’m not going to point fingers…I think that it was mutual.”

Gilman also said that there were “no hard feelings.”

“You can have a disagreement and move on, and still be fine,” he said.