John Smith pondered retirement at various times during his 33-year tenure as Oklahoma State’s head coach but never made the move to leave the Cowboy corner.

It's the second week of the 2022-23 NCAA season and we've got tiger mania, wrangle-style!

Yelena Makoyed won three international ranking tournaments in 2022, which places her near the top of FloWrestling's pound-for-pound women's college rankings. She is also a two-time NCWWC (NCAA) champion and a three-time finalist.

Mark Branch was a two-time NCAA champion (1994 and 1997) and a four-time NCAA championship finalist (1994-97) for Oklahoma State head coach John Smith. Branch was an assistant coach under Smith until he took his current role as the head coach at Wyoming. As a wrestler, Smith won NCAA titles for the Cowboys in 1987 and 1988 before winning six World and Olympic titles in a row (1987-92).

What more does John Smith have to do?

USA Wrestling executive director Rich Bender has consistently called this a golden age for American wrestling. And if you look at the output at the senior international level — he’s right.

John Smith is one of the best wrestlers in the world. In fact, FloWrestling recently selected him as the greatest American wrestler ever as it counted down the top 100 wrestlers in U.S. history.

We're night upon the 55th meeting between the bluest of college wrestling's bluebloods. Directing those programs are the Hawkeyes' helmsman Tom Brands, now in year 16 of his tenure, and John Smith, who is in his 31st year of corraling the Cowboys.

Below is a full listing of FloWrestling's Top 100 American Wrestlers of All Time along with college wrestling affiliations. Several went to multiple colleges, which is why a wrestler may be listed more than once.

Most wrestling aficionados know January marks the “real” beginning of the wrestling season. Sure, a handful of quality duals and tournaments litter the November and December schedule — see the Cliff Keen/Las Vegas Invitational or the traditional-rich Midlands, the Cy-Hawk and Bedlam rivalries of old — but most coaches and athletes will remind you that the run toward March gets going once the second semester begins.

The countdown concludes as FloWrestling has officially released its top 100 greatest American wrestlers of all time. The inaugural episode was released on November 4 and ended with the announcement of the greatest wrestler of all time on January 10, 2022.

Will the next great college wrestling coach please stand up?

For some time now the topic in major team sports leagues has been the formation of super teams and what they can accomplish. With the movement in coaching this summer the question should now arise: what about coaching super staffs in college wrestling? Some may come easily to mind but there are more than you may think.

Bader catches up with John Smith and talks about the upcoming super match between Jordan Burroughs and David Taylor.

Michael Jordan vs LeBron James. The argument of who is the greatest basketball player of all-time divides family, friends, and instantly provokes a response from everyone no matter what side you are on. While John Smith is widely considered the greatest American wrestler of all-time, we hear you Bruce Baumgartner fans, Jordan Burroughs is currently making a push at the crown. The debate between Smith and Burroughs may not be as heated as MJ-LeBron, but there are several similarities between the two debates.