'We Want To Win National Championships': OSU Introduces New Cowboy Wrestling Head Coach David Taylor

Friday morning, Oklahoma State introduced former Olympic, world and NCAA champion David Taylor as the eighth head coach in Cowboy Wrestling history. 

Director of Athletics Chad Weiberg’s Opening Statement:

Thank you everyone for being here this morning. Sorry we had a little bit of an adjustment that had to be made and the timing of it. But we’re grateful that you stuck with us and that you're here this morning. I especially want to thank current members of Cowboy Wrestling team for being here. It’s great to see you, and we appreciate you being here. We appreciate your patience as we worked through this. I’d like to thank the number of former Cowboy wrestlers that are here in the room. And I'd also like to start out this morning by thanking John Smith again, for his nearly four decades of service to Cowboy Wrestling. He will forever be a legend of Cowboy Wrestling. Thank you, Coach. I'd like to thank Coleman Scott, along with Chris Perry, Tyler Caldwell and Gary Wayne Harding for how they represented Cowboy Wrestling during their time here and for their work with the team, and especially for their leadership over the last few weeks since John's retirement. It was important to take time to celebrate John Smith and all that he's done for Cowboy Wrestling, which we did.

As I started to think about the future of the program, I felt a huge sense of responsibility with this decision. We obviously had a very good option here. I felt good about that. This job has not been open in over three decades, and only eight times in its history. So, I knew we needed to go through the process of doing the due diligence it deserved. And I was transparent about it. As I said in the news release: with 34 National Championships the Oklahoma State wrestling program is the most successful in the country, regardless of sport. There should be no expectation of this program that can be too high or that is unattainable. We had to make sure we did everything we could to find the next great leader. And so, we began the process that has led us here.

I appreciate those most closely involved with me through it. I'm grateful for the support from Reid Sigmon, our deputy AD, and Tony Petro, our associate AD for business and the sport administrator for wrestling. I'd also like to thank Kyle Bowlsby of Bowlsby Sports Advisors. I've known Kyle’s love for and knowledge of wrestling and appreciated his assistance including helping us make the connections we needed to get through the process. In addition, I appreciate the support of Joe Hall, the Chair of the Board of Regents and a great supporter of Cowboy wrestling, and the advice and counsel he provided. Thank you for being here. And I want to thank Chad Richison. As most of you know, Chad is the founder and CEO of Paycom, headquartered right here in Oklahoma. Chad wrestled on the first state championship team at Tuttle High School, and now they have 18. He went on to attend the University of Central Oklahoma. He is passionate about wrestling in Oklahoma at all levels of the sport, youth, high school, all levels of college and beyond. He has supported John Smith and Cowboy Wrestling significantly through the years, so I knew I wanted to Chad’s involvement, as well. And he graciously agreed. Chad is here with his wife, Charis, who is an OSU alum, thank you for being here.

As you can imagine, Chad is a very busy leading a large company, but I'm grateful for him being willing to join us in the process, being exceedingly generous with this time and counsel for providing this plane to get us where we needed to be and for the contributions to our program. It put us in a position to hire the best leader and coach for Cowboy Wrestling. Again, as I said in the press release, we are allowed to have the expectations we have for this program only because of the elite support we have. While there are many others so thank, and we will, Chad embodies the commitment that is necessary if you want to be great. It isn't a one-time thing. It has to be ongoing. So, thank you, Chad, for your support that you provide and commitment to the future of Cowboy wrestling and for the sport of wrestling in Oklahoma.

And finally, I want to thank President Shrum. We are fortunate to have a president that supports athletics and believes in the value that brings to her vision and strategic plan for the university. Plus, as a former athlete herself, she is competitive and wants to win. President Shrum had other obligations this morning. We're getting ready for graduation, a number of things are going on and she couldn't be here. We are joined by her husband Darren Shrum. Thank you, Darren, for being here.

As I told the team, sometimes in life, whether personally or professionally, the hardest decisions may come when you have several great options. But then you can only pick one. And because this is Cowboy Wrestling and everything that it represents, we had a lot of interest in this position with what I thought were a lot of great options. One of the things I kept hearing was David Taylor. And of course, if you follow wrestling at all, you know about David Taylor and his impressive resume, which we will get into shortly. But David was still training for the then-upcoming Olympic trials. So, it didn't seem like he would be an option anytime soon. And while most of the wrestling world was at the Olympic trials, our process paused.

During that pause, the unexpected happened. I was able to talk with David within the next few days. And then we visited David and Kendra in Pennsylvania shortly after that. Through those conversations we learned about David and what his vision would be for Cowboy Wrestling.

 David's path to this point is very similar to his predecessor, John Smith. Like John, when he took over Cowboy wrestling, this is David's first college coaching job. But also, like John, David as a winner.

 With an Olympic gold medal and four World Championships, David is among the greatest American wrestlers of all time. During his time at Penn State, he was a two-time recipient of the Hodge Trophy, which is the wrestling equivalent of the Heisman Trophy. Only five others have won it multiple times. He won two individual national championships and was a four-time NCAA finalist. But he didn't just win, he dominated. David's collegiate record was 134-3, and of his 134 wins, 121 came with bonus points. He led Penn State to NCAA team titles in each of his four years as a wrestler, the first of which was the first for the Nittany Lions in nearly 60 years and was at the very core of launching the Penn State wrestling program to the top of the sport. He was the first team Academic All-American. And during his prep days in Ohio, Taylor won the prestigious Dave Schultz High School Excellence Award, which was based equally on outstanding wrestling success, scholastic achievement and citizenship or community service. Again, he is a winner. In high school, it was 180-2. In college he was 134-3. Against the very best in the world in senior level freestyle competition was 152-21.

 Beyond the mat, first and foremost, he is a son, husband and father. And I'll let him introduce his family who is here with us today. He's an entrepreneur, a businessman, a creative thinker, and a problem solver, a hard worker and relentless competitor, a community builder. He will bring a fresh set of eyes to this historic program, and at the same time, be a fit for the Cowboy family.

 It's my pleasure to introduce to you the eighth head coach of the Oklahoma State Cowboy wrestling program, David Taylor.

Head coach David Taylor on…

 … His goals for the future:

“What I realized yesterday (when I first met with the team) was that it looked like family. These kids look like they really care about each other, which is awesome. And we're gonna keep building on that and moving forward… We want to win national championships at Oklahoma State. We want a team championship at Oklahoma State. We want to stay and win gold medals at Oklahoma State.”

… OSU commitment to wrestling:

“I think that’s what makes this place special. The administration, Chad, Reid and Chad. Richison, obviously a huge supporter, as Chad talked about. There was a genuine passion. That was a word that I just kept coming back to. How many athletic departments love wrestling like these guys love wrestling? Not many, if any, and you need that. We need that to be successful. And that's something that's special. They're going to pour into this program, and they're going to give us resources to be successful.”

… Replacing a legend in John Smith:

“Coach Smith, complete legend. I mean, I can’t even call him John Smith, he's ‘Coach,’ you know? He's never even coached me before, but that's kind of the kind of aura that he has. And to even be considered in this situation, to follow somebody (like that) -- This job hasn’t been open for 33 years. He's the greatest American wrestler that we've ever seen. So Coach, thank you for everything you've done. The impact you've had in the wrestling community, the impact you had on me -- you set the bar high in wrestling and in coaching. I'm very excited this opportunity, and I’m not going to take it lightly. Thank you.

… Leaving the familiarity of Penn State:

“I realize this is a tough challenge. It's a very tough challenge. To be honest, you guys, it is the most uncomfortable decision I've ever made. But just like training, just like when I was a kid, the best results come from being uncomfortable.”

… His new assistants -- Jimmy Kennedy and Thomas Gilman:

“My brother-in-law, Jimmy Kennedy – we just announced him as associate head coach. He’s a guy that's going to be with us and pouring into these kids. Thomas Gilman and I just finished our competition careers. What I like about these guys is their characters are the highest that I know. And I just want to be around them. They're people that are selfless, and I think to be a great coach, you have to serve your athletes. They're willing to do that.”

… What appealed to him about Cowboy Wrestling:

"This is the best decision for me and my family moving forward. This is something that I'm extremely excited for. When I envision Oklahoma State wrestling, I envision a place that every single recruit wants to come to school… The administration, the support, the history, the tradition -- all of those things make this place extremely unique. We have work to do, and I'm excited to get to work. I'm excited to build relationships with the student-athletes that we have. I'm excited to build relationships with the future student-athletes that are going to choose Oklahoma State."

 … His coaching style:

"I think you take a little bit from everybody (that you’ve worked under), and you start to craft your own style. My style is unique. It's about scoring points and having fun. I think that's something that's important. We've got to remind these kids that wrestling is already really hard. Don't make it any harder than it needs to be. Wrestling is hard, we know that [but] it's [also] going to be fun. It's going to be enjoyable."

 … Why he chose to get into coaching:

"I love coaching. I love wrestling. I've spent the last seven years building M2 Training Center with Mark McKnight, and in a short period of time, our club became one of the best clubs in the country. I think we were able to develop the talent and pour into the kids, and it's something I’ve always loved.”

 … Being a part of a tradition-rich program like OSU:

"Oklahoma State; it is THE place to wrestle, and I'm excited to be a part of that. I'm thankful for the people that were able to make this happen. I'm excited for the student-athletes that are a part of this program right now, and I'm excited for the student-athletes that will choose to wrestle here in the future. We're going to build something great here.”

 …. Making the transition from wrestler to coach:

I'm at peace with it, because I did everything I wanted to do in my career -- everything and more. And so many people helped me do that. I'm not at peace with losing. I hate to lose, but at some point, what are you still chasing?... I just realized that as my career came to an end that I wanted to pour into the next generation of kids. I believe this is the way I can do that to the best of my ability. I believe I can make a massive impact directly on the people I’m working with but also on the sport of wrestling. Hopefully we can leave wrestling in a better place. My journey as a competitor is done, but my journey as a coach is just starting.

 … His message to OSU fans:

I’ve competed here before. This place can get really loud. So we need to fill those seats. We need people in there supporting Oklahoma State wrestling. We’re going to do our job of putting people on the mat you want to watch wrestle. We’re going to go out and score some points and have fun. This is going to be a fun journey. The best way you can support a sports program is by going to support the program. We want to do our part in the community, and when we have wrestling events we want people to come watch and be loud, and let’s kick some butt.”