How Oklahoma State’s Young Wrestling Staff is a ‘Massive’ Advantage

David Taylor’s young Oklahoma State coaching staff’s biggest disadvantage might actually be its greatest advantage.

Taylor, 33, was hired in May to replace John Smith and lead Cowboy wrestling as his first college coaching job. His only coaching experience before May was helping out at Penn State, his alma-mater, and running his training center, M2 Training Center, in Pennsylvania. But before Taylor was even introduced as OSU’s new coach, he started to assemble his staff, keeping only Tyler Caldwell from Smith’s previous staff.

First, Taylor added Jimmy Kennedy as associate head coach to be the coaching experience Taylor lacked. Kennedy, though not as accomplished wrestler as the rest of the staff, served as an assistant the past three seasons at Penn State, which won a team national championship every season Kennedy, 36, was on staff and broke NCAA Wrestling Championships point record in 2024.

The same day Taylor hired Kennedy, he also announced Thomas Gilman, 30, as an assistant. Like Taylor, it was Gilman’s first college coaching job. Then he also kept Caldwell around. Caldwell, 35, had been on OSU’s staff under Smith for eight seasons.

Although their coaching resumes are short, the OSU staff’s accomplishments as wrestlers is prominent. Caldwell was a four-time All-American and two-time NCAA finalist. After college, he placed third at the U.S. Open in 2014 and fourth the next year. Gilman was a two-time All-American at Iowa. Internationally, he won gold at the World Championships in 2021. He’s also gotten silver twice at the World Championships, most recently in 2022. Most notably, he earned a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2021.

All of them have stepped on a mat and competed against the best in the world the past decade, if not even this year.

“I think that experience and our youth is a huge advantage,” Taylor said. “That’s why we want to have a young staff that can wrestle and train. Our competitors’ coaches are 45, 50 years old, and you can wrestle a really high level — we’re going to still be able to wrestle at a really high level at that age — but it’s a different intensity level. We can still match that at the highest level, so I think that’s huge. For these kids that are part of this program over the next six to 10 years, you’re going to get the best versions of that from us. There’s a balance. Yeah, you got to show what that level is, and you got to build them up.

“I think it’s a massive advantage for us. I think it’ll make a big difference.”

Even outside of the coaching staff, Daton Fix and Roman Bravo-Young are training with Cowboy RTC in the same room. Fix, who just finished his OSU career, has represented the U.S. on the world stage, and Bravo-Young, who Gilman drew to Stillwater, represented Mexico at the most recent Paris Olympics. Fix was also a four-time NCAA finalist, while Bravo-Young won a pair of NCAA titles at Penn State.

“It’s essential just to have people of that caliber training every day,” Taylor said. “It’s inspiration. In the room right now on the college team, they don’t know what it’s like to be a national champion. They haven’t done it yet. No one knows what it’s like to be part of a team title. They haven’t done it yet. No one knows what it’s like be world champion, to be an Olympic champion. So when you have people in the room that have done that, it’s tangible. You can ask, ‘What was it like when you’re preparing for the national finals? What was it like when you’re getting ready for an Olympic gold medal match? What is it like when you wrestled at the Olympics?’ or whatever it is. Well, now, someone can do that.

“And I think this program, Oklahoma State, has always had that. It’s always had people that have done that at that level, which is why it’s had a tradition and the success that it’s had. But I think the RTC, just people that they’re close in age, and they can they can see it, they can feel it, they can wrestle it. They can make the adjustments real time. As it grows, obviously it’s a place for our wrestlers to feel if they can continue to train and reach those goals, the ones that want to do that, and I just think that being around it raises your level.”

Then there’s the guy in charge — one of the most decorated athletes in wrestling history. Taylor won gold at the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2021. He has three gold medals and a silver from the World Championships. At Penn State, he was a two-time winner of the Dan Hodge Trophy, college wrestling’s Heisman Trophy, and won a pair of individual NCAA titles. The Nittany Lions also won a team national championship every season Taylor was in the lineup.

Most recently, Taylor met with the media Wednesday as the biggest story in wrestling right now. After retiring from competition to coach the Cowboys, OSU announced last week Taylor was back and would compete at the U.S. World Team Trials last weekend in Omaha, Nebraska. With what felt like a moment’s notice, Taylor won the tournament and earned a spot on the U.S. World Team a sixth time. 

Every David Taylor Match At 2024 World Team Trials pic.twitter.com/FRjmE9mgA4

— FloWrestling (@FloWrestling) September 17, 2024

So while coaches around the country, particularly Taylor’s former coach Cael Sanderson at Penn State, might have led teams to national titles recently, no championship coach has stepped on a mat to compete in over a decade, if not longer. And in a sport as unique as wrestling, that’s more beneficial than a casual sports fan realizes. It’s not like football where a coach directs and instructs. Imagine Derrick Henry suiting up and running against Alabama’s defense to make it better, while also coaching in real time, as he prepares for the upcoming NFL season. The Cowboys have that with Taylor and the staff he’s assembled.

“Oklahoma State, it’s a destination,” Taylor said. “This is a wrestling destination. You want to be the best in the country? You want to be the best in the world? This is a destination that you’re gonna seek out and come to. I think that’s what we’re building. That’s what we’re working on every single day.”