How Penn State’s Cael Sanderson has turned State College into USA Wrestling’s epicenter

It shouldn’t be surprising that the biggest weekend for United States Olympic Wrestling took place in central Pennsylvania.

Sure, State College is not the easiest town to travel to and isn’t the most central location for fans to flock to from all over the country, but that doesn’t change what it has become for the sport. Thousands of fans poured into the Bryce Jordan Center on Friday to root for their favorite wrestlers — with especially loud cheers filling the arena whenever a Nittany Lion took the mat.

Friday and Saturday’s U.S. Olympic Team Trials for wrestling were just another indication of what has become increasingly clear.

Penn State wrestling coach Cael Sanderson hasn’t just created a college wrestling dynasty — he’s turned State College into the epicenter of the USA Wrestling universe.

That isn’t by accident. Penn State athletic director Pat Kraft has been around the program frequently since he arrived just under two years ago, and has seen firsthand what it’s capable of. He’s already seen two national titles and now he’s seeing the team trials bring wrestlers from across the country to Happy Valley, four years after the event was supposed to be here before the COVID pandemic forced its cancellation.

Now Kraft is searching for what the next step looks like.

“I continue to talk to Cael and pick his brain about just that,” he told the Centre Daily Times. “I think there’s so much upside to wrestling that the growth and evolution of this, I think there should be a strategic thought to where it could eventually go. But I have seen it in two years, the potential for so much more. ... It’s just a remarkable thing and I think there’s so much growth opportunity there.”

Kraft has tried to continue fostering the exponential progress the program has made under Sanderson, in part because of what he sees at nationals and Big Tens, where arenas are frequently sold-out no matter what venue is hosting.

That could help the athletic department, but will also continue helping Sanderson’s juggernaut.

Because that growth isn’t just about the litany of national champions and All-Americans that he and his coaching staff have helped develop over the years. It’s also about the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club that he’s turned into a force.

It’s no coincidence that wrestlers like three-time national champion Kyle Snyder, who spent his college career at Ohio State, and four-time national champion Kyle Dake, who wrestled at Cornell, made the move to the NLWC in order to prepare for their freestyle careers.

“Being around this program, being around the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club, I believe we have the best of the best training in State College,” Kraft told the CDT.

You don’t have to take anyone from the Nittany Lions’ word for it either. Former Iowa State and Nebraska wrestler Patrick Downey, who fell to Carter Starocci in his first round bout in the Olympic Team Trials, lauded what Penn State has built.

“We’re in Penn State’s backyard,” Downey said after his loss. “Arguably Penn State is the best in the world. They could put together a world team or an Olympic team and they could compete with Team USA and Russia.”

It shows in the numbers, too. Penn State had 21 wrestlers with connections to the program competing at the team trials.

There were former multi-time NCAA champions like Zain Retherford and 2020 Olympic gold medalist David Taylor, who train at the NLWC after representing Penn State in college. There were current Nittany Lions like Beau Bartlett and Mitchell Mesenbrink, who still represent the club and the program, and Aaron Brooks who recently wrapped up his PSU career as a four-time champion. And then there were former national champions like Mark Hall and Vincenzo Joseph, who have moved to different clubs but did their damage in college in a Penn State singlet.

Taylor said that mass representation of the program all starts at the top.

“Our coaches are the best leaders, role models, that you can ask for,” Taylor said Thursday. “ ... I think every athlete that comes to Penn State, their desire is to be great. That’s why they come. And for the last 15 years Penn State has shown that if you want to be a national champion, you come to Penn State. And I think now we’re saying if you want to be the best in the world, you come to Penn State and you stay afterwards and you train at the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club. ... We just have a great group of people that are willing to be selfless and help us achieve our goals. And we’re just trying to follow their lead and do the best that we can.”

With all of that talent, it makes Penn State an obvious destination for this weekend’s event. The packed Bryce Jordan Center can tell you that as soon as you walk into the arena.

And so will Kraft.

“It’s an honor, and it does say a lot to have the country’s best coming in to go and have the opportunity to represent the USA is pretty cool,” Kraft said. “And I don’t know of any other place that it should be other than in Happy Valley.”