Matt, tell us about your first wrestling coach and how you got started in wrestling.
My Dad, who was one of the biggest influences in my life, was my first coach and he was my assistant coach all through high school. My mom's side of the family were also all heavily involved in wrestling so there was a deep tradition of wrestling in my family. I started wrestling when I was 8 and my younger brother Tim started at 6. My oldest brother, Jeff, by the way, wrestled here at Penn State in the late 80s. Initially, wrestling for us began as family time together and it gradually grew in importance. My brothers and I all started getting competitive and having success in it and it took off from there. Everything I've been able to accomplish I can attribute to my Dad. And my Mom for that matter, too. She was hard core into wrestling and did everything along with us-our training, our travel-she was our quasi nutritionist growing up too. She deserves a lot of credit, also, for everything she did for us.
Talk about your high school and college wrestling careers.
I was fortunate to have a lot of success in high school, I was a 3 time Ohio state champ. My best memory, however, is watching my brothers win state titles. When you are doing it for yourself you have certain expectations and mine were to win state championships. That was what I was driven to achieve so when I achieved it that meant something to me. But when my brothers achieved, it was really pleasing to me. When Tim and I were on the team we were only the 2nd team from Southwest Ohio to win an Ohio state team title. When I look back on it now I see that as one of the most satisfying things we achieved, especially with my brother as a teammate and having my Dad in my corner as a coach.
I went to college at Liberty University and was a National qualifier my sophomore year and then they dropped the wrestling program the next year. Although my competitive career ended prematurely, when I look back on that disappointment I see now it probably fueled me to become a coach and have aspirations to become who I am today. I choose to look at it as something that was meant to happen for a reason. In some ways it allowed me to end up here at PSU so I can't look back and be bitter about it when I see all the good things that came from it. Even though that door closed I had a lot of neat doors open.
Talk about the process that brought you to Penn State.
I told my wife when we first got together that I couldn't promise her that we were going to make a lot of money, but that we would have a lot of interesting experiences. And we have. Out of college I helped Jeff Jordan start his camps in Ohio, and I coached at St. Paris Graham which has now won the last 9 Div. 2 state titles in Ohio. Jeff has arguably developed the premier wrestling camp system in the country. I was with Jeff for about 5 years and it was a very rewarding experience getting that business up and running from the ground level. We literally built it from scratch; we built his first wrestling room with our bare hands. After that I went to USA wrestling and was with them for a period of time when I was doing more development and fund raising. Then I moved to Florida and ran some gyms for a year. I then started my college coaching career at a Division III school-Ohio Northern. I coached for Ron Beach who was and still is a big mentor for me. I also started my grad work there. My brother Tim was here at Penn State as an assistant coach at that point and a staff position opened up here. They called me up and Troy Sunderland offered me a position and that's how I ended up at Penn State.
Tell us about what you do as director of wrestling operations at Penn State.
The neat part about Penn State is that the Athletic Department and the wrestling program are so comprehensive. We probably have the most comprehensive program in the country. There are a lot of things that go into my job. I'm a liaison with the Athletic department in a bunch of different areas from compliance to admissions to travel. I'm involved with all the support areas that go into running the program. I don't mind being behind the scenes. I know the work that's being done and its necessity in order for us to put this program on top.
Tell us about your PhD program.
I got my Masters degree in Sports Administration at Bowling Green University in Ohio and once I completed my Masters I started my PhD program in higher education administration. I still have a couple years of course work to go and my program has kind of been on hold since I got here with my job and family responsibilities. One of my long term goals, however, is to obtain my PhD. As a coach its easy when you are recruiting to talk about the importance of being a student athlete and how what you accomplish as a student will determine what you do after college. A lot of people only pay lip service to that and so that was one of my primary motivations-to get my graduate degree so I could be a walking example for our athletes. Obviously there are also some professional benefits to getting advanced degrees. At some point in the future I will finish that degree.
What are your other long term goals?
My main goal in wrestling as a coach is to win national titles. I want to see Penn State become the mecca of wrestling. As a staff here, top to bottom, we're all committed to the same thing. It's exciting-our vision isn't just to win a title. We want to establish Penn State as the dominant program in college wrestling. Once we accomplish that I will be open to new professional challenges. Ultimately I would like to move into administration. I love being a part of this wrestling program and I love being in State College. This is a great place to raise a family.
What makes wrestling a great sport?
For me it's the level of accountability and responsibility you have to embrace, along with the level of critical analysis you have to engage in with respect to yourself. You have to be able to critically and honestly see your strengths and weaknesses. You can't hide in this sport so you have to embrace and accept your wins and losses along with all your actions. Another great thing about this sport is the camaraderie. My two best friends (outside of my brothers) came from the wrestling world.
What is/are the most important thing(s) that an athlete can learn in college?
Too many times people focus on outcomes and people tie their identity to a win or loss when that's not the final objective at all. It's about the effort and one's attitude toward achievement. When you have the proper perspective you will have success. Being a student athlete is a great opportunity; you are required to embrace so many different responsibilities. If a student athlete views this situation in the proper
context and attacks it in the proper way, they will definitely have a jump start over other individuals when they head out into the world after college. They will have the work ethic,
the attitude and the persistence it takes to be successful in life.
I think a lot of times athletes look at the success they had in a sport and think other things will therefore come easy for them. But what they need to learn is to apply the same attitude and work ethic that led them to success in their sport to other areas outside of sports.