John Smith Addresses Move to Wrestle Son Joe Over Two-Time All-American

When Oklahoma State beat Iowa in GIA in late February, two-time All-American Chandler Rogers was one of the main events. Maybe the main event. It turns out that would be the last match of his career. Rogers got beat out in practice by John Smith’s son Joe, who struggled to a fifth-place finish at the Big 12 Tournament.

Another pin for the Cowboys. Chandler Rogers gets a second-period fall over Mitch Bowman. OkState is up 18-12 pic.twitter.com/yCsveVy141

— USA Wrestling (@USAWrestling) February 24, 2019

There were takes of course because when a coach’s son is involved in something like this that goes poorly there will always be takes. But Joe Smith will go again when the NCAAs start later this week as the No. 33 seed, and his dad addressed some of the ways qualifying in the practice room works as Smith beat out Rogers between the Iowa dual and the Big 12s.

“I mean, we as a team, we knew the issue from the very beginning,” Smith said on Wednesday. “It wasn’t something like it snuck up on us. The nice thing about wrestling is you get to put the two guys out there and see who wins. You don’t have to pick or choose necessarily. Both of them are high performers, or have been. It’s just the way it is. I don’t know if you can do anything about it.”

Lineups in wrestling are a balancing act, maybe more so than in any other college sport other than football (because of injuries and health). Smith had to mix and match and move different wrestlers throughout the season, which he acknowledged isn’t always easy. For example: Joe Smith wrestled at 165 for the first time at the Big 12s.

“We had some injuries throughout the year,” said Smith. “And that was really part of the reason why we had to shuffle our lineup. Other than that, trying to win dual meets and putting our strongest team out. We, at one time, really thought everybody would stay up, and we thought Preston Weigel would be out for the season. And just a miraculous recovery that he had. All of a sudden in February he’s back, and we didn’t plan on that.

“So just some challenges that unfortunately the rules that are in place today didn’t really acknowledge some of those challenges that coaches have with weight issues, with guys getting injured, moving guys around, trying to fill a team. We like to win dual meets, so we’re going to try to put our best team out.

“Maybe in the future we can consider the challenges coaches have with injuries and moving guys around. But honestly it was a tough year and tough decisions at the end.”

Oklahoma State will go for its 35th NCAA title this weekend in Pittsburgh but the program’s first since 2006. Joe Smith will need to play a big role if the Cowboys are able to pull off what would be a monumental upset of No. 1-ranked Penn State (even though OSU is ranked No. 2).

One thing the Cowboys have going for them, though, is that no team brings in more individual victories from this season into the NCAAs than OSU’s 216. Here’s a look at the top 10 teams in the individual wins category as the event unfolds over the next four days.

1. Oklahoma State: 216
2. Iowa State: 215
3. Penn State: 209
4. Ohio State: 207
5. Wyoming: 196
6. Missouri: 190
7. Minnesota: 185
8. Virginia Tech: 170
9. North Carolina: 168
10. Iowa: 161

“Looking forward to it,” said Smith. “Kind of neat that we’re having the championships here. I think it’s a great place to have them. And I’m sure it’s going to be a great show.”