Nebraska Head Coach Mark Manning and Jordan Burroughs
Mark Manning is the head coach of the current number two team in the nation, the Nebraska Cornhuskers. Manning's Cornhuskers have won eight of their last nine duals. This run includes an appearance in the NWCA National Dual Finals, a feat that was accomplished by beating the then-number one team Penn State, and last season's national champions Minnesota. One week later the Cornhuskers beat Big 12 rival Oklahoma State, the first victory over the Cowboys in fifteen years. Coach Manning's wrestlers will take the mat Saturday night in another Big 12 dual with the Missouri Tigers. This week Coach Manning took some time out to talk with D1CW about the Cornhuskers season.
D1CW: Coach, how do you feel about the team's progress at this point in the season?
Mark Manning: Pretty good, so far. A big positive for us is that we have gotten healthy over the Christmas Break. Right now we have everyone back into the lineup. We would like to solidify 141. Our guy there (141) Mike Rowe has gotten back into the lineup and seen some action, so he should be alright. The most important thing is getting the ten best guys into our lineup and on the mat.
D1CW: Recently you beat Oklahoma State for the first time in 15 years, what does that do for your program?
MM: It shows that we performed up to our capabilities that day. Everyone can see now that we have a legitiment chance for the Big 12 championship. We are also now one of maybe seven teams who have a real shot to win the National Championship. With that win we put ourselves into the national spotlight.
D1CW: What are some of the reasons for the great showing at the National Duals?
MM: Going into the Duals people had underestimated us because of how we performed earlier in the season. Paul (Donahoe) was hurt and didn't practice before Vegas. Paul ended up wrestling only a few matches. Craig Brester didn't even wrestle, and Chris Oliver only wrestled one match. Even with all those guys out, we were in fourth place, only fifteen points away from Michigan in first place. From there we went into Minnesota for a dual meet. We forfeited two weights and lost 25-13. It's hard to beat anyone when you give away two weights, much less Minnesota. Our guys that wrestled Minnesota competed hard. Jordan (Burroughs) wrestled Dustin Schlatter tough, and Vince (Jones) wrestled Roger Kish tough. At the duals we saw Minnesota again and this time the breaks went our way. That time Jones got the best of Kish. That dual proved that we have the ability to bounce back as a team. A lot of people didn't see us beating Penn State and Minnesota, but our guys had no doubt that they could do it. All of this being said, we still have a lot of work to do, and I don't think this team has reached its peak.
D1CW: Although you lost in the finals to Iowa (24-6), there were three one-point matches. Can their be some positives brought out of the loss to the now-number one team in the country?
MM: Iowa wrestled really well. They simply outwrestled us that day and we didn't preform at the level that we wanted to. We did have a tough road to that final match, beating Northwestern, Penn State and Minnesota that weekend, so I think we were a bit tired. What's good for us, is that it is only January. You want to win every match, but what counts the most is in March. Overall, the team learned a lot from the Iowa match and it gives us something to work towards.
D1CW: You are getting near the end of the dual season and gearing up for the postseason tournaments. What do need for your team to focus on, in order to be sucessful?
MM: We have a tough dual schedule ahead to finish the season. We are at home with Missouri and Oklahoma, those are both conference matches. Then we go to the East Coast to see Rider and Hofstra and we finish up in Iowa State. These matches are all very important because a lot of seeds and national rankings will be decided during these matches. We will use these matches in order to prepare for the Big 12 tournament and Nationals. The big thing in coaching wrestling is that you want to prepare each of your wrestlers for winning a national title. So these next five duals will have to prepare us for Nationals.
D1CW: Your team has a lineup full of highly ranked wrestlers, yet only one returning All-American (National Champ, Paul Donahoe). Is that something that concerns you going into the postseason?
MM: Well, yes and no. That is the exciting part of coaching, seeing guys reaching their goals. Last season with Paul Donahoe, no one thought he'd win but himself and his coaches. Even now, a lot of people don't think he'll repeat. I know he feeds off of that talk. He is internally motivated, and we have a team full of guys like that. Last year going into the NCAA tournament, we had three freshman (Craig Brester, Jordan Burroughs, and Steve Dwyer) who made noise but didn't place. This year I wouldn't bet against them.
You could have said the same thing about Minnesota three years ago and look what happened to them. There are other teams who are in National Championship contention who have guys who are not All-American's yet. Guys will find a way to step up and reach their goals.
D1CW: Can you tell us your expectations for the team entering this season?
MM: Well I knew that we would be pretty good. However, there are always a lot of unknowns such as keeping everyone healthy, stuff that every team worries about. What I knew was that we had a great spring and summer's worth of training. The group of kids we have are really good, they have worked hard and bonded together as a team. The guys individually all want to win National Championship's, but they also want team championships as well. They have proven this to the coaching staff by the way they work. You can tell these guys really want to be good. We do know that it is tough to break through and win a team title and right now there are quite a few teams who think that they can win it too.
D1CW: Talk about your upcoming dual Saturday night with Missouri....
MM: They match up well with us. Brian (Smith) has really done well over there, they have a good team. After National Duals, they seem to have rebounded well tying Oklahoma State in their dual. 133, 157, 165, and 184 (Tyler McCormick, Michael Chandler, Nick Marable, and Raymond Jordan, respectively) are their strongest guys. That's a tough group. Also the heavyweight (Mark Ellis) is wrestling well. They are high on the 141 (Marcus Hoehn) and their 149 (Josh Wagner) is as dangerous as anyone in the country. Once again, there will be a lot of good matches.
D1CW: Why would a recruit want to come to wrestle for Nebraska?
MM: The biggest thing is that we have family oriented program. Our team is very close to each other and the coaching staff does a good job of including everyone in the program.
Nebraska's sports programs unique because we are not overshadowed by local pro sports. We don't have any NBA, NFL, or MLB teams and we are the only D1 program in the state. The wrestling team has been on the front page of the Omaha sports page twice in recent weeks, and they discuss our team on the local sports talk radio shows. Around the state people know Paul Donahoe and Jordan Burroughs. Lincoln is also a mix of a small city and a college town, and contrary to what people believe we are not in the middle of a corn field.
As far as the school itself is concerned, we have produced more Academic All-American's than any other school in the nation. The academic center has tremendous resources for our athletes, as well. Our entire athletic department has a commitment to be the best in every sport.
D1CW: So is there anything else you would like people to know about the Nebraska wrestling program?
MM: We have recruited kids that really want to buy in to our program. Next year's class included too, there are some neat kids we've signed for next year. The kids want to be a part of something special.
We have a honest coaching staff, when we sell the program we back up what we say. Honesty, Trust and Integrity are important to us. Kids like the family environment we have here. There is a lot of positives to sell about our program and we have had quite a few guys who have been successful after wrestling here.
D1CW: Thanks Coach, good luck with the rest of the season!!