Quotes from the Coaches of the Top Four NCAA teams
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Gary Abbott (USA Wrestling)
03/17/2001
Team Champions - The University of Minnesota Head Coach J Robinson "We had a game plan for this year. I thought that we could win with 10 All-Americans and that became our game plan for the year. We spent a lot of time with our kids during the summer. There is a lot of courage in our kids. We knew that the only way we could win was with a team effort, and that is what it came down to." (Has a new dynasty begun?) "It's too early to tell. In Iowa, wrestling is the epitome. They don't have to win every year to be on top. This is special for our program because I know how much wrestling means in Minnesota. It's nice to see this happen for the people in Minnesota. This is big for me. It's for all the people who believed in the coaches and athletes, all those people. That's what makes it special for me." "If we were going to win, we need everybody. The beauty of this thing, is if one guy misses, somebody picks up the slack. Today, a few guys slipped, and then Owen and Lowney get pins and pick up the points we needed. They take care of each other. "You always want guys in the finals. To win this way was the only way we could do it. It was nice to sit in the stands and watch the others go at it tonight. This is the first time to get 10 All-Americans, the first time to win without a finalist, and we won it in Iowa. It's a great day." Team runners-up - The University of Iowa Head Coach Jim Zalesky "Minnesota had 10 guys coming in and 10 guys who scored points. We had eight, so we knew we were behind going in. Minnesota wrestled a good tournament. They had 10 All-Americans.When you do that, you score a lot of points." "We wrestled well as a team. Sometimes you lose. I lost before when I was a competitor. Sometimes you have to feel that to know what it is like. It becomes motivation, and you go from there." "Our team wrestled well. I would have liked to have won more today. We will always have a team that is ready to contend. We have some guys, and it will take a lot of work, but we will be ready again next year." Team Third Place - Oklahoma State Head Coach John Smith "We had a good effort. As a team, we wrestled pretty well. A couple of disappointments was the difference between staying in there and challenging for a national title. We has some great performances, people like Matt Brown and Shane Roller who came out of nowhere. With 10 guys, you'll have some good and bad performances. To win the team championships, you need more good than bad." (about champion Mark Munoz) "He had a good year. Coming into this year, he was considered a threat. He had five losses this year, more than even last year. He dealt with them well, getting better each time. That's why he is national champion; he focused after the tough times." Team Fourth Place - University of Oklahoma Head Coach Jack Spates "Honestly, last night I was so conflicted. To have five All-Americans, that's half your team. We had guys like Josh Lambrecht, who barely had a winning record, and Witt Durden, who had a tough season. Then there's Leonce Crump, a freshman who did not win a Louisiana state title and didn't place in the high school nationals. Michael Lightner and Jared Frayer have been great all year long. I also hurt about how close we came, and how they lost, guys like Barger and Waller, Ridings and May. It was a difficult time. Then today, our guys have been magical. They have almost been perfect. The guys have wrestled brilliantly."