InterMat: Wrestling, from every angle

Senior Ricky Turk talks with Columbia coaches Yero Washington (center) and Brendan Buckley during a January match against UC Davis.

Columbia squad garners first national ranking in 104-year program history

By Jason Bryant
jbryant@intermatwrestle.com

The signature line on Brendan Buckley’s e-mail is simple: “the nation’s oldest wrestling program.”

While some might want to question it, there’s no questioning the Buckley and his young coaching staff at Columbia have the Lions moving in a new direction.

Two weeks ago, the USA Today/InterMat/NWCA Division I Wrestling Coaches Poll ranked the New York City school 24 th in the nation – the first national ranking of any kind in 104 years of organized wrestling.

“We’ve sort of been waiting for it,” Buckley said from his hotel room in Buffalo, N.Y., where the Lions will compete at the New York State Intercollegiate Championships today and Saturday at the University of Buffalo.

“It always seems our individuals are overlooked because we haven’t had a solid tradition – we have in longevity -- but it’s relatively new that we’re sending guys to the nationals,” said Buckley. “Of course it’s nice to be recognized for the first time.”

But the Andrew F. Barth Head Coach of Wrestling at Columbia University (yes, that’s his full title), wasn’t sure what to expect when he came to the campus that sits between 114 th and 120 th streets.

“I was 25 years old as a head coach, it was a huge learning process,” said Buckley, who was three years removed from a seventh place finish at the NCAA championships at 142 pounds for Fresno State in 1997.

Buckley, as he said, had much to learn.

“I was at Virginia for two years, and then when the job opened up, I asked a lot of questions. There’s no scholarships, how do you recruit?”

But even without scholarships, he makes a solid recruiting pitch.

“For families that fit that financial profile, it’s a no-brainer to get a great education and to be in one of the top conferences in the country,” Buckley said. “When I came here, my recruiting approach was to look for guys to fight for a position right away and I knew right away that we didn’t have the talent that some of these other teams had, so I tried attract a lot of people away from Cornell and Penn, and said hey, this is going to try to be something new.”

Out of something old, of course.

Cornell, Harvard and Penn have had dominated the success in the Ivy, but for Buckley, he’s hoping to not just be the fourth best team in the Ivy League.

And a national ranking is just a start.

“I definitely wanted to get our team ranked, but I feel we have the ability to climb higher,” said Buckley. “Our goal is to be consistent. We’re trying to win an Ivy and Eastern title. This year, I think we have the lineup to do it. Cornell and Penn have some great individuals, but we have some good talent and we can scrap with those guys.”

It seems this season, the depth is in the Ivy, despite Navy and Lehigh also ranked in the Top 25.

“Whoever wins the Ivy, is most likely going to win the Easterns. If you win the Easterns, you’re going to be Top 15 in the country,” said Buckley.

As he alluded to earlier, Columbia lacks the wrestling tradition in terms of All-Americans. In 2005, Matt Palmer became the first All-American for Columbia since 1982 and only the fourth in school history.

Need perspective? When Dave Galdi placed eighth at 150 pounds in 82, current Columbia assistant coach Tim Foley was a year old.

“Palmer’s recruiting class was probably the most highly touted,” said Buckley. “That year we had four high school All-Americans.”

“We’re getting a lot of guys that may not always be the national champ, but we’re getting the guys we know and have seen compete and have done well at the national level,” he said.

But what exactly does Buckley and assistants Foley, Yero Washington and Viktor Sveda look for in a recruit.

The answer might be simple, but when asked about it, the explanation doesn’t appear to be that easy.

“We’re looking for character and guys with passion for the sport and guys we know that can hack it,” started Buckley. “Handle the academics, not afraid to live in away from home and succeed in a challenging environment. We’re looking for personality. We’ve been blessed to pull in some awesome guys.”

Oh yes, living away from home. In case you missed it earlier, Columbia’s in New York City. NEW YORK CITY!? … And don’t worry about getting a rope.

Salsa references aside, Buckley knows it’s unique.

“It’s an eye-opening experience,” said Buckley of his campus setting surrounded by one of the world’s largest cities.

“I think for some people, they know that wherever they were born and raised and their accustomed to, this is their opportunity to experience something totally different from my own. Some realize it’s a great opportunity for their career beyond college,” said Buckley.

So stepping off a flight from say, Wyoming like 184-pounder Justin Barent, it might be intimidating.

“Sometimes it’s night and day,” Buckley said. “They may come in a little intimidated and questioning the idea of living in New York City, but we have a stunning campus. It’s not an urban campus like a lot of campuses where you can’t decipher what’s campus and what’s the city.”

“It’s a little bit longer than a quarter-mile long and wide, so it’s a beautiful campus. A very European campus, trees and grass fields on campus,” he said. “For us, our primary goal is to, at the very least, step foot on campus. If we bring someone in on an official visit, we know we have a great chance of getting them.”

And Buckley’s not afraid to compare his campus setting to other competing programs within the Ivy and the EIWA.

“For us, we have something different,” said Buckley. “We’re the most dynamic city in the world. It’s not Ithaca and we compete with Penn and Harvard a lot -- because it’s a similar atmosphere.”

“It’s one of the world’s greatest cities, there’s no other city in the Ivy League or anywhere else in the country like that,” said Buckley.

Once a recruit gets to Columbia, the work and time they put in has had a direct role in Columbia’s slow, but efficient rise to the upper-tier of collegiate wrestling.

“Barent, for example, he was a three-time Wyoming state champ, maybe ranked somewhere like 15 th in the country. We knew he was going to be successful, but each year he came in, it was staggering, the progress he made,” explained Buckley.

“It was because of the commitment the guys made year round,” he continued. “Half the team stayed in New York in the summer, they get internships and they’re on the mat and lifting 3-4 times a week as well as building their resume.”

And in the summer, it could be a busy time for internships and practice as the Lions have 10 seniors on their roster, and something they haven’t had seemingly … ever.

But it was a trip to California for four duals that made Buckley and his staff convinced there was, as Buckley put it, something in the air. It might have taken the Pacific breeze the put whatever it was in the air into the minds of the Columbia wrestlers.

“This year, it’s just been talking about how our seniors want to end the year,” he said. “This is the seniors – this is going to be our season and make it one for the record books. Each and every year, we’ve just made huge progress. Both of the tournaments – Keystone and ( New York States), our goal going in was to win it.”

But if you scan the rankings, you might be hard pressed to find many Columbia wrestlers ranked … but as teams will continue to find out, it’s not about the Lions superstars, it’s about their ability to put anyone on the mat at any weight, and expect to be in the match.

“For us, (depth) was the biggest thing for me,” said Buckley. “Three years ago, we had a nice lineup, but if one guy got hurt, we didn’t know who was going to step in. Out in California we wrestled without three of our top guys – Devin Mesanko, Matt Palmer and Brandon Kinney.”

“(Derek) Sickles stepped in with two pins, (Dustin) Tillman stepped up to 174, (Sal) Tirico and (Derek) Francavilla haven’t wrestled off yet – but for us it was finally a point that we had not just depth, but quality guys. That’s been the thing that’s the key to our success is the quality of our depth,” he said.

Buckley’s got a handful of captains that have played the role since they were sophomores, and points out that while they’re not as vocal as some, but lead by their actions. Buckley acknowledges the difference between the team he has in 2006-07 than the one he picked up when he was just 25.

“They were light years apart,” he said.

Buckley credits his coaching staff and the school’s dynamic setting as a reason for drawing in recruits that aren’t just going to step in and start, but recruits that are coming in ready to fight for a starting spot.

“I’ve been blessed man, I’ve got some great assistants,” Buckley said. “My first year, it was me and Karl Roessler, who was a graduate assistant; he did an awesome job.”

Then, U.Va. grad John Pozniak came in, followed by Dave Esposito and Yero Washington, Buckley’s former teammate at Fresno State. All-Americans Foley (U.Va.) and Sveda (Indiana) came in successive years.

“We’ve been preaching year in and year out and we’re one of the youngest coaching staffs in the country,” explained Buckley. “We’re on the mat wrestling each day. I don’t feel our guys can get better workout partners anywhere. They’re great role models, they push the guys in the room, they’ve all been All-Americans.”

With home duals with Cornell and Penn and the first home dual with Lehigh since 1976, there’s some excitement amongst the Columbia fans and alumni, including Barth, for whom Buckley’s coaching position is endowed.

“He’s the most unassuming guy, an awesome person,” said Buckley. “What was it? Why did he do it? He just attributes success to wrestling. He’s a typical example of the type of alumni support we have. They’ve been a huge part of our success.”

“For me, (coaching at Columbia) has been a rewarding experience to see how far the program has come,” said Buckley. “We were in the cellar for a real long time, so it’s got to be rewarding for the seniors to see the fruits of their labor. They’re setting a good example for our freshmen. They’ve put in a lot of time. This is how it’s going to pay off.”

InterMat Lead Writer
Jason Bryant