Coaches Corner – Brendan Buckley from Cal Poly

How happy do you feel to have such a great recruiting class with four wrestlers in Travis Berridge (Brandon, Fl), Spencer Empey (Reed,Nv), Sohrab Movahedi (Granada Hills, Ca) and Luke Wilson (Righetti,CA) at one point being ranked top 20 in Amateur Wrestling News rankings?

We are very exited about these future Mustangs coming to San Luis Obispo this fall.  My staff and the wrestlers on our team deserve a lot of credit for the last two recruiting classes.  This incoming class is certainly talented but more importantly, they are high-character kids that are a good fit for us and the demands that a school like Cal Poly demands.  We are expecting them to have an immediate impact on the program.

With the Central Section being so close and being a hot bed of wrestling, will you be recruiting kids from there?
Absolutely.  The Valley is obviously a hotbed for wrestling and while we did not land anyone this year, it does not mean we overlooked them.  Wrestling at Fresno State, coaching at a junior high school in Clovis (Alta Sierra), and then recruiting California kids over the years provided me with a great perspective on wrestling in the Valley.  We hope that many kids in the Valley will find Cal Poly an attractive place to finish their wrestling careers as well as earn a world-class education.

What do you look for when recruiting a potential wrestler?
While athletic talent is obviously important, it is by no means the most important thing that we look for in a recruit.  I will take the kid that has a moderate level of talent with a strong work ethic, positive attitude, and who is coachable and who lives the right lifestyle any day over the blue chip recruit that does not want to work hard, isn’t coachable, or is a social risk.

With the success of Devon Lotito, would you be recruiting more wrestlers from Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania?
The Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania certainly has terrific wrestling but after spending so many years recruiting nationally, I have learned that there are great wrestlers all across the country and that not everyone is fortunate enough to hail from one of the nation’s best high school programs (or states).  It is obviously a priority for us to recruit from within our home state of California however, we will certainly keep the door open for those high school kids that like the idea of competing for an NCAA Title while also living on the Coast.

With Nine returning starters, do you think you can challenge for a Pac 12 tittle?
Our goal each and every year will be to challenge for a PAC 12 Title at Cal Poly.  With this year’s returning wrestlers, several key guys coming out of redshirt, and 12-13 talented recruits arriving this fall, we expect the room to be much more competitive and are expecting much better results next season.

The last two seasons the team has placed Sixth and Fourth in the Pac 12 Championship. What can we expect from the Mustangs this upcoming season in the Pac 12?
We are excited about entering our third season with two full recruiting classes now under our belt and for the first time since I have been here, a decent amount of depth in our line-up.  There is a lot of positive energy when we talk about next season with our team.  It is imperative that we take advantage of the time that we have this spring and summer to improve on the mat, become stronger, and get into great shape.  Getting better does not magically happen with age and so we will be working hard in those areas so we can achieve our goals in 2013-14.

For those Athletes interested in attending Cal Poly, what advise would you give them to be ready for college wrestling?
As a nationally ranked school with a selective admissions process, it is important for the Cal Poly Wrestling program to recruit high school wrestlers that also take their school work seriously.  Therefore, the students that have have a solid GPA and those that take their SAT and ACT Tests early (and often, if necessary), are best prepared for admission to Cal Poly.  In terms of what a high school wrestler should be doing on the mat to catch our attention, we expect our recruits to be training year round and competing at national level tournaments.  They should also and be mentally and physically prepared for the transition from high school to college wrestling.  Spending time on their feet as well as in the top and bottom position is crucial since mat wrestling tends to be one of the biggest obstacles for high school wrestlers to adapt to.  The other would be the difference in strength and the physical style that college demands so they should be accustomed to spending a great deal of time in the weight room as well.

What do you think of the decision from the IOC to drop wrestling from the Olympics?
I think it was a sad day for our sport when the IOC announcement came however, I think it may prove to be the lighting bolt that the wrestling world may have needed. A change in FILA leadership was necessary and who would argue that rule changes may be necessary (no more ball grabs!).  However, there are other things that could be done to market our national wrestling events better as well as the overall Olympic Movement.  Lastly, we also need to realize that the onus is on us as wrestling fans to do our part.  While it is difficult to attend every event or stay current with everything going on in the wrestling world, its important for us as wrestling fans to support the Olympic movement by learning the rules (again, not always easy), attending Olympic style national events (Ie. the US Open, the World Team Trials) and teaching our youth not only folk style wrestling but also Freestyle & Greco-Roman.

California or New York?
Hmmmm…..C’mon now, while I was born and raised on the East Coast, I am a Californian now (for the second time) and do believe, The West is the Best!

Favorite placed to vacation?
I love going to exotic places.  My wife and I got engaged on a trip to Greece and Turkey and for our honeymoon, we went to Indonesia.  This summer we are taking a trip to Italy.  All that being said, I consider myself incredibly fortunate to live in such a beautiful like San Luis Obispo (SLO) and only have to walk out of my door to feel as though I am on vacation.