By Jason Bryant
jbryant@intermatwrestle.com

There's been some recent scuttlebutt about who might take home the hardware as the Division I Coach of the Year. 

There's always the cast of usual suspects, but a pair of Big 12 coaches have really made a push for the award. One from a traditional national player and the other from a former doormat turned contender.

Rookie coach Cael Sanderson has shaken nearly everything off his team's early season loss to Iowa in which the Cyclones lost eight of the 10 contested matches. Last week, the Cyclones moved into the No. 2 spot in the country after beating Brian Smith's Missouri Tigers in Columbia.

Smith, another noteworthy candidate, has been on a slow process to build a team up that once was finding itself lucky just to win a match or two at the Big 12 Tournament.

Iowa State bested Missouri 27-12 in one of the nation's premiere duals. One of the most talked about matches was at 197 pounds where redshirt freshman Max Askren was starting to get some feelers about being compared Sanderson's amazing career. Both had redshirted, both were at heavier weights as freshmen, and both had been undefeated going into the stretch run their freshman year.

That was until one of Sanderson's wrestlers - Kurt Backes - that ended any such possibility that Askren could duplicate Sanderson's historic college career. 

Backes reached back, scooped the head and scored the fall from a defensive start to end Askren's unbeaten run and clinch the dual victory for the Cyclones.

Sanderson's squad wasn't only aided by the Backes win, but the youngest of the Sanderson brothers, redshirt freshman Cyler Sanderson, knocked off highly-ranked Josh Wagner at 149 pounds, putting the chances of a Mizzou victory in doubt before the dominant middleweights took the mat.

Then seniors Trent and Travis Paulson delivered back-to-back wins to really put a comeback in doubt.

The win gave Iowa State claim to a regular season dual crown heading into the Big 12 Tournament and gave Sanderson momentum for Coach of the Year honors. That's not the only where award he could challenge for. There are several folks lining up for Rookie Coach of the Year honors, an award handed out by Amateur Wrestling News.

Zalesky guides Beavers to 17-2 mark
After starting the season fattening up on Division II and lower-tier Division I programs, Oregon State's presence became known after the Beavers and first-year coach Jim Zalesky knocked off nationally-ranked Nebraska on January 5.

With a solid core of returning starters, but some holes nevertheless, Oregon State blistered through much of the Pac 10 season with relative ease. With NCAA qualifier Eric Stevenson back in the lineup, things are looking up for Oregon State and a possible Pac-10 championship as the tournament gets started next weekend in Bakersfield, Calif.

One roadblock was first-year coach Chris Bono at UT-Chattanooga, the other was a very familiar face, not one from Zalesky's days on the bench at Iowa, but one from his own upbringing - brother Lenny and the UC Davis Aggies.

Lenny's team topped Oregon State 21-11 on Groundhog Day, perhaps a scenario that Jim would like to have another crack at, like Bill Murray in the movie with the same name.

More Rookies
Heading into the season finale against third-ranked Missouri, it's Bono's UT-Chattanooga Mocs that have been one of the South's brightest spots. The Mocs have just one loss on the season - to now fifth-ranked Central Michigan - and have reached the highest ranking in the school's history (13th).

Leading the way for Bono have been All-Americans Matt Keller and Michael Keefe, along with 149-pounder Aaron Martin, 157-pounder Jake Yost and 174-pounder Lloyd Rogers.

The arrival by transfer of heavyweight Matt Koz hasn't hurt things either, as the Mocs solidified its upper weights along with Josh Edmondson, another transfers.

Blackout
Expect another large crowd at Carver-Hawkeye Arena this weekend as Iowa hosts top-ranked Minnesota. According to Denny Diehl of the LU Wrestling News, Iowa has essentially clinched the nation's top attendance figure. 

A large crowd against Iowa State early in the year gave first-year coach Tom Brands plenty of distance between his competitors in the crowd category. Any time J Robinson brings the Golden Gophers into town, it's a spirited affair.

Iowa has been billing this event as a "blackout" of Carver-Hawkeye, because fans will be showing up in droves adorned in black shirts.