Oklahoma State Wrestling Coach David Taylor Confirms He’ll Compete at World Championships

Oklahoma State’s wrestling coach will compete to be a world champion.

David Taylor, who was hired as OSU’s wrestling coach in May, confirmed on Monday that he will compete at the Senior World Championships on Oct. 28-31 in Tirana, Albania. The Cowboys’ first dual of the 2024-25 season is scheduled for Nov. 15 on the road at Utah Valley.

“The timing, I think, works out,” Taylor said. “It’s still been difficult. I think everyday I go through this, ‘Is this the right decision?’ thing, but I think it’s something that, you get an opportunity to wrestle at the World Championships, just how often in your career do you get an opportunity to wrestle and get an opportunity to be the best in the world? It’s something everyone in this room is inspiring to do. I think that that’s a good thing for these guys to continue to see that.

“I’m trying to temper this, obviously, but I’m excited to go wrestle. I am excited to go wrestle. I have some really good opponents to potentially get to wrestle against that I’ve looked forward to getting to wrestle for a long time, so I think that’s great. However, just balancing that with just the responsibilities obviously that are here and what we’re getting ready to do this year.”

Taylor earned the opportunity to compete at the World Championships while representing the United States at 92 kilograms after winning the title at the 2024 United States World Team Trials last month. He entered the tournament after saying at his introduction news conference as OSU’s new coach that he was done competing. However, Taylor told media after the U.S. team trials that he was unsure if he would actually compete at the World Championships because he wanted to do what was best for the program as its new leader.

“Just kind of give you an idea of the thought process that goes into this,” Taylor said. “The selfish thing is to be like, ‘Yeah, definitely, I’m gonna go wrestle and everyone else will figure it out.’ Not one time has that gone through my mind. It’s thinking about everything else that goes into it, making sure all that makes sense. And it does, so going and wrestling makes sense.”

Taylor also said during that news conference that he believed the fact that he and much of his coaching staff still being in shape to compete at a high level was a big advantage for OSU compared to other programs. He has also mentioned that OSU administration, including athletic director Chad Weiberg, and his team has been supportive of his decision to compete again while still coaching.

“I just think that’s a unique thing to have an administration that’s so supportive,” Taylor said. “That’s huge. I think the two things that would have derailed this whole process is obviously your administration’s not supportive of that, team’s not supportive of it. I think that’s the biggest thing. Obviously those two things have support in both those areas. I think that makes it feel like it’s a good decision.”

However, Taylor believes this trip to the World Championships will be his last outing as a competitor.

“This is it,” Taylor said. “I think coming back and wrestling in the trials, I was just talking to my wife about this last night, it was something that, I had made my mind up that I really wanted to do it, I really wanted to compete. So balancing everything was a little bit easier at that point. I think between now and the World Championships, it starts to hit you the significance of what you’re balancing. It’s a lot. At that point in time we were still in the summer, we were training hard, I was doing what they were doing, but now preparing guys for that level, I mean, it just takes more preparation, it takes a little more focus. And it’s focus that takes away from other things. Or if it’s not taking away from something else, it’s just extra stuff that’s on your plate. There’s obviously a lot on your plate being a coach at this program. So, excited to compete, but, yeah, this will be it for me.”