This final episode of the series culminates with the Buckeyes traveling to Tulsa, OK to compete in the NCAA Championships.

Tom Ryan and the Ohio State Buckeyes knew what they were up against Friday night at Virginia Tech.

The Ohio State wrestling team closes out their regular season with a dual meet against Cornell in Tampa, FL and get to enjoy a little time in the sun before they gear up for the post season, starting with the Big Ten Championships. They make their final preparations at the Covelli Center back in Columbus, OH then load the bus and hit the road for Ann Arbor, MI where the Wolverines host the conference championships.

This episode follows the Ohio State Buckeyes and their strong freshman class to their first competition of the year, the Michigan State Open. At this event we focus in on Jesse Mendez, Nic Bouzakis, Luke Geog and Seth Shumate.

Tom Ryan reflects on his teams performance after their win against Virginia Tech where the Hokies pulled off a few upsets, including Sammy Sasso's defeat at the hands of Caleb Henson.

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.

From his chair in the Arizona State corner, Zeke Jones saw an aggressive wrestler working to get to his attacks against a backpedaling opponent. 

This article was originally published on June 10, 2020 but was updated on December 21, 2020 to reflect minor changes.

On November 14, Anthony Echemendia will wrestle his first senior level match since immigrating to the United States, but stories of his practice room intensity have already become commonplace in the wrestling world. Listen to a number of wrestling personalities describe times Echemendia threw caution to the wind in a workout.

On this episode of The Bader Show, Bader and Bray catch up with Tom Ryan and Michael Chandler.

Cuban defector Anthony Echemendia ran, swam, and flew across four borders before landing at Sunnyside High School in Tucson, Arizona. While there, his noteworthy performance at Fargo earned him two championships, which jump-started his recruiting process.

Earlier this month, Oklahoma State beat writer Seth Duckworth published a fun look at potential successors to living legend John Smith at The Other OSU. Someone asked me, “Hey Andy, who’s the next man up at Ohio State when Tom Ryan retires?”

Tom Ryan was a month away from coaching his third CAA Championship team in his ninth season as the head wrestling coach at Hofstra when his life changed in a way no young father can imagine. 

The abrupt end to the NCAA Wrestling season robbed wrestling fans of the most important tournament of the year, and more importantly robbed the wrestlers themselves of the opportunity to earn All-American honors or a spot atop the championship podium. Athletes, coaches, and fans all held some hope that the NCAA Council would take some extraordinary action to do right by those athletes — and athletes in other sports similarly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic — but those hopes were dashed Monday evening when the Council declined to extend eligibility for athletes in winter sports.

NCAA Wrestling is done for the season, and Luke Pletcher got me thinking about Hank Williams Jr. and some folkstyle fans from somewhere around Ithaca.