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Jackson ready to start season for Iowa State
AP
AMES (AP) — Just winning isn’t good enough for Kevin Jackson.
The first-year Iowa State wrestling coach wants his athletes to dominate.
‘‘We’re trying to teach complete wrestling, to wrestle in every situation, every position,’’ Jackson said Tuesday. ‘‘We want to be aggressive.’’
Jackson has replaced Cael Sanderson, who stunned the wrestling community last spring when he left his alma mater to become the head coach at Penn State.
The Cyclones’ new coach also wrestled at Iowa State and, like Sanderson, won an Olympic gold medal. He inherits eight returning starters, including defending NCAA champion Jake Varner at 197 pounds, from a team that finished third at the national meet and shared the Big 12 title.
Three other returnees joined Varner as All-Americans last season. Nick Gallick was third at 141, Jon Reader took fourth at 165 and heavyweight David Zabriskie finished fifth. Also back is Nick Fanthorpe, who finished seventh nationally at 133 in 2008.
‘‘There’s a different approach,’’ Gallick said. ‘‘Overall it’s all wrestling, but a couple of things in our training are a little bit different. We’ve been on coach Jackson’s plan this preseason and right now in the season and it’s working great.
‘‘The whole team overall has improved greatly through our preseason. Everyone’s wrestling better than they were over the summer.’’
Jackson’s aggressive approach is aimed at getting the Cyclones to attack and score early. He wants to see points in the first period.
‘‘That first period being a three-minute period, we believe as a staff that it’s unacceptable to go 0-0 in a three-minute period,’’ said Jackson, who was the U.S. national freestyle coach before taking the Iowa State job.
‘‘We’re trying to force these guys to get their offense off, to get their attack off, to give themselves an opportunity to score and take commanding leads in the second period as opposed to a 2-1 lead or worst case scenario, 0-0.’’
The next step, Jackson said, is to build that margin and win big.
‘‘If you watched our athletes over the last couple of years, I think we could be a little more dominant over opponents that we’re beating or we should beat,’’ he said.
Varner said that fits right into his style. He finished 31-2 last season and enters his senior season ranked No. 1 nationally after competing for the U.S. team in the world championships in September.
‘‘I still have a year left. There’s still a national title for me to win,’’ Varner said. ‘‘That’s my plan. My mindset is to dominate and that kind of works out for us.’’
Varner won his title after two straight runner-up finishes. Gallick has lost in the NCAA quarterfinals each of the past two years, then had to wrestle back to place. He took fifth in 2008.
‘‘I was close enough to kind of feel what it feels like (to win it all), but far enough that you don’t actually feel it,’’ Gallick said. ‘‘That’s the whole point of the season for me, get the national championship and help the team get the team championship.’’
Iowa State opens the season Nov. 12 with a home meet against South Dakota State. The Cyclones host defending national champion Iowa on Dec. 6.
‘‘I don’t necessarily feel any pressure at all,’’ Jackson said. ‘‘Now when December sixth shows up and you’ve got 15,000 in the stands and you’re expected to win and you’re expected to perform, I’m sure I’ll feel some butterflies.’’
The first-year Iowa State wrestling coach wants his athletes to dominate.
‘‘We’re trying to teach complete wrestling, to wrestle in every situation, every position,’’ Jackson said Tuesday. ‘‘We want to be aggressive.’’
Jackson has replaced Cael Sanderson, who stunned the wrestling community last spring when he left his alma mater to become the head coach at Penn State.
The Cyclones’ new coach also wrestled at Iowa State and, like Sanderson, won an Olympic gold medal. He inherits eight returning starters, including defending NCAA champion Jake Varner at 197 pounds, from a team that finished third at the national meet and shared the Big 12 title.
Three other returnees joined Varner as All-Americans last season. Nick Gallick was third at 141, Jon Reader took fourth at 165 and heavyweight David Zabriskie finished fifth. Also back is Nick Fanthorpe, who finished seventh nationally at 133 in 2008.
‘‘There’s a different approach,’’ Gallick said. ‘‘Overall it’s all wrestling, but a couple of things in our training are a little bit different. We’ve been on coach Jackson’s plan this preseason and right now in the season and it’s working great.
‘‘The whole team overall has improved greatly through our preseason. Everyone’s wrestling better than they were over the summer.’’
Jackson’s aggressive approach is aimed at getting the Cyclones to attack and score early. He wants to see points in the first period.
‘‘That first period being a three-minute period, we believe as a staff that it’s unacceptable to go 0-0 in a three-minute period,’’ said Jackson, who was the U.S. national freestyle coach before taking the Iowa State job.
‘‘We’re trying to force these guys to get their offense off, to get their attack off, to give themselves an opportunity to score and take commanding leads in the second period as opposed to a 2-1 lead or worst case scenario, 0-0.’’
The next step, Jackson said, is to build that margin and win big.
‘‘If you watched our athletes over the last couple of years, I think we could be a little more dominant over opponents that we’re beating or we should beat,’’ he said.
Varner said that fits right into his style. He finished 31-2 last season and enters his senior season ranked No. 1 nationally after competing for the U.S. team in the world championships in September.
‘‘I still have a year left. There’s still a national title for me to win,’’ Varner said. ‘‘That’s my plan. My mindset is to dominate and that kind of works out for us.’’
Varner won his title after two straight runner-up finishes. Gallick has lost in the NCAA quarterfinals each of the past two years, then had to wrestle back to place. He took fifth in 2008.
‘‘I was close enough to kind of feel what it feels like (to win it all), but far enough that you don’t actually feel it,’’ Gallick said. ‘‘That’s the whole point of the season for me, get the national championship and help the team get the team championship.’’
Iowa State opens the season Nov. 12 with a home meet against South Dakota State. The Cyclones host defending national champion Iowa on Dec. 6.
‘‘I don’t necessarily feel any pressure at all,’’ Jackson said. ‘‘Now when December sixth shows up and you’ve got 15,000 in the stands and you’re expected to win and you’re expected to perform, I’m sure I’ll feel some butterflies.’’
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