Following Oklahoma State’s 40-4 win over Arizona State, Cowboys head coach John Smith walked back to the bench after the completion of the match to find over 200 text messages waiting for him on his cell phone.

The reason for the 200 messages, many from his former wrestlers, wasn’t because of the singular dual meet victory, but for the dual meet victory and the 299 that came before it.

The win was Smith’s 300 as a head coach.

“I didn’t realize it was 300 until after the match, went to get my cell phone and had about 200 text messages congratulating me,” said Smith on Wednesday during an Oklahoma State media call.

Smith’s been a winner in every aspect of the sport, but from a coaching perspective, he’s quick to give credit to everyone surrounding him.

“It takes a lot of good athletes and I didn’t really think a lot about it, but I don’t know if it’s a lot or not (300 wins) to tell you the truth,” said Smith. “I’ve been fortunate to have good athletes, a good staff and good administration that allows you to be a success.”

With this weekend’s NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals looming, Smith says the preparation is different from dual meet victory one, two and three.

“You just naturally take it to another level,” said Smith. “The National Duals is an event we’re going to hit competition that we haven’t seen. The top teams are currently there; the bottom line is we have to reach to another level during this weekend. If you don’t, you walk away disappointed. You walk away with possible damage if you’re not ready for better people.

“As a matter of a coach and a coaching staff, this is not a dual at Arizona State or a home dual meet, it’s a long tough weekend with two-day weekends wrestling the best guys in the country,” he said. “If things play out, we have some guys that could have a tougher weekend at National Duals than they could at Nationals.”

The Cowboys will still be without the services of All-American Alan Gelogaev, who was injured in an early-season open tournament. They will regain the services of senior 157-pounder Neil Erisman.

“Neil will be on the mat for the first time, (Gelogaev) will miss the trip, so we’ve got one of our two injured guys back,” said Smith. “Don’t know if (Erisman) will wrestle, but he’ll definitely weigh in. He’s been on the mat in practice and it’s sure good to have his leadership back in the room.”

This will be the Cowboys’ first trip back to the National Duals since 2007 when they finished fourth. The previous three years, Smith took his team to the Virginia Duals.

Smith backs the NWCA and the National Duals, but feels these types of high-profile matches should be held on campus, rather than events away from teams’ fanbases.

“I support the Coaches Association and that’s the direction they want to go and I think that’s good,” said Smith. “I think if they want a true (National Championship), you’re going to have to deliver an NCAA trophy to the event.

“The event becomes more important. It’s a great dual meet tournament and great national competition during the season,” he said. “These are going to be great dual meets and all of them are going to be wrestled away from Stillwater, Okla. If we’re going to wrestle Oklahoma in a dual, that should be at Oklahoma State or Oklahoma, same with Iowa or whomever.”

Regardless of the future of the National Duals, Smith believes the dual meet in season is important to success in March.

“If you have a tournament team, you’re not too focused on dual meets,” he said. “We’re focused on winning. We’re trying to win every event. You don’t learn to win at the end of the year. Duals are important and those who don’t treat it that way, they get lucky now and then, but their performance at the end of the year isn’t going to be what they wanted.”