Tag: Tom Ryan

Ohio State wrestling coach Tom Ryan announces key changes to staff, one a familiar addition

Ohio State wrestling coach Tom Ryan announced two key changes to his staff on Friday, including the addition of Logan Stieber.

Ohio State wrestling coach Tom Ryan announced a couple of key changes to his coaching staff on Friday, and they are two familiar faces.

With the departure of Tervel Dlagnev earlier this year, Logan Stieber will join the program as an assistant coach and will continue to be the head of the Ohio Regional Training Center. Additionally, Bo Jordan has been officially promoted to an assistant coach after serving the last three seasons as a volunteer assistant.

“I couldn’t be happier with the composition of our staff,” Ryan said. “Adding a wrestler of Logan’s caliber is obviously amazing but it’s his overall being that should excite Buckeye Nation. He is extremely knowledgeable, well respected, and just an all-around great person. Promoting Bo Jordan was equally important to our program. I’m happy to be able to recognize the job he has been doing and look forward to his continued growth as a great coach.”

There is no denying the impact Steiber had collegiately and on the international level. Here are just some of his accolades and awards.

  • World Champion (2016)
  • Four-time NCAA Champion
  • Four-time Big Ten champion
  • 2015 Hodge Trophy winner
  • Member of the 2015 NCAA Championship Team
  • 119-3 collegiate record
  • .975 winning percentage is highest in school history

Bo Jordan is also one of the icons of Ohio State wrestling. His collegiate resume is astounding as well.

  • Four-time All-American
  • 2017 NCAA finalist
  • 2017 Big Ten Champion
  • Three-time Big Ten finalist
  • Four-time Academic All-Big Ten
  • Five-time OSU Scholar-Athlete
  • Three-time NWCA All-Academic

The program has been one of the best in the NCAA over the last few years, and there’s little doubt it will continue to be with the caliber of coaches and wrestlers overseeing things in Columbus.

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WATCH: Ohio State wrestling coach Tom Ryan’s hilarious antics watching Logan Steiber’s first NCAA Finals match

Video has surfaced of Ohio State wrestling coach Tom Ryan watching Logan Steiber during his first-ever NCAA Finals match. It’s hilarious.

There are coaches that get behind their guys and live vicariously through them, and then there are those that are literally on edge rooting for their athletes. If Ohio State wrestling coach Tom Ryan was a multiple choice quiz, we’d check all the boxes.

Video has surfaced thanks to Flo Wrestling and its Twitter profile of Ryan watching former Buckeye wrestling great Logan Steiber during his first NCAA Finals match. And yeah, it’s pretty hilarious.

To say that Ryan is an interested observer would be an understatement. He not only rocks back and forth in suspense, but he runs back and forth, and we believe at some point he even put an arm lock on an unsuspecting security guard.

Click on the below, watch, and have a good laugh.

What’s underrated here is the security guard trying to stop Ryan from running into the arena once Stieber presumptively sealed the deal. We’re going to go out on a limb and assume Ryan made it to his wrestler before being stopped.

Six Ohio State wrestlers get All-American recognition despite canceled NCAA championships

Ohio State received All-American honors from the NWCA for six wrestlers despite the shortened NCAA Wrestling Championships.

Wrestling has a unique way of determining its All-Americans. It has absolutely nothing to do with what you accomplish during the regular season and tournament championships, and everything to do with where you finish in the NCAA Wrestling Championships at the end of the year.

Well, there’s a slight problem with that this season. Despite seeding everyone, the NCAA Wrestling Tournament got canceled like everything else as a measure to mitigate further spread of the emerging COVID-19 health crisis. Right before all the fun began.

Afterward, head wrestling coach Tom Ryan was very vocal about finding some way to still recognize those that worked so hard and had the ending of their seasons canceled for reasons beyond their control. It was especially important for those seniors that had their careers abruptly stopped.

Ryan has now gotten his wish. In lieu of All-America honors being decided at the COVID-canceled NCAA Championships, the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) has announced its 2020 All-America teams. Six Ohio State student-athletes were recognized for their ‘overall body of work through the conference tournament and up to the national championships.’

Those Buckeyes include Kollin Moore, Luke Pletcher, Kaleb Romero and Sammy Sasso as First Team honorees, while Ethan Smith was placed on the Second Team, and Rocky Jordan came in with an Honorable Mention.

It has to be especially gratifying for seniors Kollin Moore and Luke Pletcher. Without the distinction, they both would have left college without the ability to garner First Team All-American distinction. It’s Moore’s fourth time being recognized as an All-American, and Pletcher’s third.

“During difficult times there are always people who rise to the occasion and I’m proud of the action that the NWCA Division I Leadership Group in providing direction for honoring the 2020 Division I All-American team,” Mike Moyer, NWCA Executive Director, said. “It’s important that these athletes’ efforts and successes during the season are recognized. Congratulations to each this year’s honorees and National Qualifiers.”

You can get a look at the remainder of the All-Americans thanks to the list provided in the media release below.

NWCA All-America First Team

NWCA All-America Second Team

NWCA All-America Honorable Mention

Well done to Ryan as well in pushing for something like this to happen. And good on the NWCA for listening and doing what’s right in the midst of such a difficult situation.

Ohio State wrestling coach Tom Ryan challenges Buckeye Nation to give blood to the Red Cross

Ohio State wrestling coach Tom Ryan gave blood to the Red Cross during this COVID-19 health crisis and is challenging you to do the same.

In times like these, the sports world converges with real life and a call to do your part as an American to make a difference. The novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, is a global crisis that is taxing the healthcare of this country and planet. The crisis continues to grow by the day, meaning the need to help others continues to expand almost exponentially.

One of those areas that have been impacted greatly is our nation’s blood bank. With all the hospitals feeling the influx of patients, there’s a big need to get more blood to assist others that require it as a part of the therapy to improve and get better.

Ohio State wrestling coach Tom Ryan is bringing awareness to the problem and challenging Buckeye Nation to answer the call. He shared a video to Twitter of himself at a Red Cross donation center asking those that can, to sign up and give blood.

And it’s easy, and perhaps most important, safe. All you have to do is go to redcrossblood.org and sign up to give the literal gift of life during this awful pandemic.

It’s not often that we ask you to share something, but maybe we can get the word out and others can do a little bit of something to help in this extreme time of need. You can do this and still practicing the social distancing guidelines and stay at home orders that will get us all through this.

Click on the below video from Ryan and hear from him directly on this challenge to act.

Come on Buckeye fans and fans of the human race in general, let’s get the word out on this one!

Ohio State Wrestling impresses in upset of Arizona State

The Ohio State wrestling team upset No. 4 Arizona State on Monday behind strong performances from Luke Pletcher, Kollin Moore, and others.

The Ohio State Buckeyes had a strong opening half to the wrestling season, though a tough dual loss against Virginia Tech marred it a bit. The Buckeyes, as they have been all year, are clearly competitive in most weight classes, though a few still need work. How did the Buckeyes spend the month gap since their last dual?

Well, we were about to find out, as the Buckeyes hosted Arizona State in the Covelli Center. The Sun Devils are a top dual team, and they shockingly upset Penn State earlier in the year. Arizona State actually came into this match as the higher-ranked dual, team, at No. 4 to Ohio State’s No. 7 ranking. Would the top Buckeyes be able to take care of business to give the team a chance? And could the other guys step up and get the win?

Match Day: Ohio State vs Virginia Tech

The match went in order, from 125 pounds up to heavyweight. Ohio State’s Malik Heinselman fought hard against the nationally-ranked Brandon Courtney, but couldn’t quite get the win. At 133 pounds, though, the Buckeyes look like they finally have a new contender. True freshman Jordan Decatur burned his redshirt to compete in this match, and he wasn’t disappointed. In his first-ever college dual match, he pulled out an upset of No. 15 Josh Kramer. Decatur got an early takedown, and he managed to hold off his opponent and fatigue to gut out a 5-3 win. He’ll need to work on conditioning a bit as he adjusts to the full seven minutes of college wrestling, but he is clearly an incredible young talent.

Unlike his usual tight matches, Luke Pletcher went straight for the pin from the start against Navonte Demison. He got four near-fall points in the first minute, and added four more towards the end of the first period. Pletcher couldn’t get the full six team points for a pin, but a very quick 19-4 win gave him five team points for a Tech Fall. Sammy Sasso followed that up at 149 pounds with a good win over Josh Maruca, but Sasso couldn’t quite hold on to his eight-point lead for a bonus point.

157 pounds is one of the weight classes where Ohio State doesn’t quite have an elite contender yet, and Elijah Cleary couldn’t get a win. He fell by decision to Jacori Teemer, so the Buckeyes took an 11-6 lead into the halfway mark. Arizona State’s biggest names were yet to come, though, so this was still anybody’s dual.

Second half

Ethan Smith fought hard against No. 4 Josh Shields, but he couldn’t pull off an upset. After two straight wins, Arizona State had cut the Buckeyes’ team lead to 11-9. At 174 pounds, ninth-ranked Buckeye Kaleb Romero took on No. 8 Anthony Valencia. Romero had a tough time at the Cliff Keen Invitational in Las Vegas, but he came out firing in this match. After a tight first period, he got a quick escape and takedown in the second, followed by a long and impressive ride out to end the period. Romero went for the Major Decision late and couldn’t quite get it, but he still picked up the win and three team points.

Of course, Arizona State’s Zahid Valencia was up next, and against Ohio State’s weakest weight class. Buckeye freshman Gavin Hoffman did an amazing job not only to avoid getting pinned, but to keep the final score to 19-5. Valencia only earned one bonus point, so the Buckeye’s carried a 14-13 lead into the final two matches. At 197 pounds, No. 1 Kollin Moore gave up a quick takedown to No. 14 Kordell Norfleet. A wild first period ended with a 5-5 score. Moore earned the only three points in the second period, and held on for the 11-9 win at the end.

So the stage was set for the heavyweights. Ohio State carried a 17-13 win into the final bout. If Ohio State’s Gary Traub won the match or lost by Decision or Major Decision, then the Buckeyes would take the dual. If No. 6 Tanner Hall could earn a Tech Fall or Fall, then the Sun Devils would win. Hall rode Traub out for the entire second period and earned a quick escape in the third. Traub gave up another takedown, but kept the final score to 4-2, so a Decision gave Arizona State only three points, and a very good dual win for the Buckeyes.

Next up for the Buckeyes is a home dual against Rutgers on Friday. The Buckeyes still have some holes to fill, but this is very clearly one of the top overall teams in the country.

Watch Ohio State wrestling coach Tom Ryan talk about big meet vs. Arizona State

Ohio State head wrestling coach Tom Ryan spoke to members of the media to preview the big dual-meet with Arizona State.

The Ohio State wrestling team is still trying to figure itself out. There have been injuries and guys still fighting and competing for spots that will ultimately determine what kind of season this team will have.

But in some ways, head coach Tom Ryan has to work on the car while driving it because there’s still competitive meets to make it through in order to position the team in a place for the postseason.

On that note, Ohio State has a big one Monday night at home against No. 4 ranked Arizona State at the posh Covelli Center. It’s a dual meet that’s nationally televised and extremely important for the confidence of this Buckeye squad.

Ryan took some time to meet with a few members of the media to discuss where his team is, where it’s going, and to preview the matchup with the Sun Devils.

You can watch thanks to the official Twitter feed and website of Ohio State wrestling. Just click on the below and have a watch. And if you want to catch the dual meet on television, tune into FS1 at 7:00 PM.