Despite COVID-19, it has been a ‘Fantastic Year’ for new Beaver wrestling coach Chris Pendleton
Chris Pendleton (Photo courtesy of Karl Maasdam/OSU athletic department)
It wasn’t what Chris Pendleton had in mind when he dreamed about his first year as Oregon State’s wrestling coach.
To begin with, the season was abbreviated due to COVID-19. From January 14 to February 14, five meets were canceled. At one time, the Beavers had seven wrestlers — including a pair of starters — in 14-day quarantine due to contact tracing.
“We had kids stuck at home,” Pendleton says. “We had assistant coaches delivering wrestling mats to their apartments to try get their workouts. That made it tough.
“There was such a feeling of uncertainty. It was hands in the air and wondering, ‘Are we competing this week?’ By far the toughest year I’ve had in coaching.”
On the other hand, there were blessings. On January 27, Chris’ wife, Selanee, delivered their first child — a boy, Ryker.
“He is a handful already,” Pendleton says with a chuckle. “He is healthy, happy and keeping us up at night.”
The Beavers managed some successes on the mat, too, finishing second to Arizona State at the Pac-12 Championships in Corvallis and qualifying six wrestlers for the NCAA Tournament in St. Louis.
“It wasn’t so much about results as getting the kids to buy into the right things,” says Pendleton, 39. “We hit our markers. We went from fifth place in the Pac-12 to second. We got six wrestlers to the NCAA tournament (up from two the previous season). There were a lot of good building blocks in such a tumultuous year.”
And then there were the results from Oregon State’s campus-wide “Dam Proud Day,” a fund-raising effort that concluded on April 28. Under previous coach Jim Zalesky a year ago, Beaver wrestling raised $2,700 from 25 donors. This year, the program reaped more than $30,000 from 213 contributors. Pendleton had advertised on social media beforehand that if the figure exceeded $75,000 — intentionally setting the bar extremely high — he would shave his head.
“I like my hair,” he says, chuckling again. “But if we’d have raised $75,000, I’d have done it. Maybe that will be the goal we set for next year.”
Was the more than ten-fold increase in funds raised a sign that enthusiasm for the wrestling program has increased under Pendleton’s watch?
“Absolutely,” says Bob Tomasovic, a former OSU wrestling All-American who was a member of the selection committee that chose Pendleton. “It was a great outpouring of support.”
It’s a small sample size, but Beaver alums like what they’ve seen so far.
“Chris is doing a bang-up job,” says Jess Lewis, the two-time NCAA heavyweight champion and Olympian from the late 1960s. “He is doing what he can do, and it’s going to get better.”
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Pendleton cut his teeth under one of the greats in college wrestling history — John Smith at Oklahoma State. Oklahoma State wrestling is the most successful Division I program in NCAA history in any sport, with 34 national team championships and 142 individual NCAA winners. As a wrestler, Smith won a pair of Olympic gold and four world titles. As a coach, he has led the Cowboys to five NCAA titles.
“One of the greatest dynasties in all of sports,” declares Pendleton, a standout wrestler in his own right, a two-time NCAA champion and three-time All-American who helped the Cowboys to three straight NCAA crowns (2002-05) while amassing an individual record of 118-12.
“Wrestling under John was a life-changing event,” Pendleton says. “I consider him the greatest American wrestler ever. He was an amazing coach, too. He had a way of holding you to a very high standard. It wasn’t always the easiest, but we knew he believed in us, and we believed in him. We had to rise up to a level of his expectations.”
Pendleton did that, competing on the international scene for nearly a decade after college before retiring in 2014. He was a member of three national teams and placed second at 96 kilograms (211.5 pounds) in men’s freestyle at the 2012 U.S. Olympic trials. Pendleton served as an assistant at Arizona State for six years before taking the helm at Oregon State last year.
The Beavers’ lineup featured only one senior — Devan Turner — in 2020-21.
Devan Turner (Photo courtesy of Karl Maasdam/OSU athletic department)
“Wasn’t a problem,” Pendleton says. “Inexperience can be cured by gaining experience. Our coaching staff did a great job establishing a culture, which included raising the team GPA (to 3.4), fund-raising and performance on the mat. It was a fantastic year.”
It included a January 10 visit to Pendleton’s alma mater. In a battle of OSUs, Oklahoma State — which finished 10-0 in dual meets and placed third at the NCAA Tournament — prevailed 29-8.
“That was one of my proudest moments all season,” Pendleton says. “I loved the way we competed and scrapped and fought with one of the top teams in the nation in a very hard to place to wrestle.”
Turner (133) and junior Grant Willits (141) won Pac-12 titles in Gill Coliseum. Six wrestlers qualified for NCAA meet. Other national qualifiers were sophomore Brandon Kaylor (125), junior Hunter Willits (157), sophomore Ryan Reyes (184) and sophomore J.J. Dixon (194).
Devan Turner goes for takedown against Cal State Bakersfield’s Chance Rich en route to winning the Pac-12 133-pound championship match. (Photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo/OSU athletic department)
Due to the pandemic, no one lost a season of eligibility this year. All will return to the OSU program next year.
“It’s a very good feeling to have everybody back another year,” Pendleton says. “And — knock on wood — we’ll have more of a sense of normalcy in our competition schedule.”
The Beavers will be adding at least four transfers and 10 high school seniors to the mix. Grad transfers Tanner Harvey of American University in Washington, D.C. (a two-time NCAA qualifier at 184), “Gas Tank Gary” Traub of Ohio State (2020 NCAA qualifier at heavyweight) and Cory Booker of Arizona State (third in the Pac-12 this season at 149) could be immediate front-liners. Incoming freshman Kodiak Stephens of Arnold, Calif. (184), recently qualified for the Junior World Championships.
“Kodiak will compete in Russia at the end of the summer,” Pendleton says. “We’re very excited for him.”
Pendleton is bringing in four in-state high schoolers along with prep stars from Nebraska, Iowa, Idaho and Montana.
“The assistants have been banging the pavement,” Pendleton says. “When we got the job, we wanted to put our emphasis on recruiting the Northwest. We have done a great job with that, but we’ve also gone coast to coast. It’s a pretty wide net we’ve been casting.
“We’re bringing an influx of talent. We’re trying to breed competition. We want to push everybody. There are no guaranteed spots on our roster. I want everybody competitive and making each other better.”
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College wrestling on the West Coast is on life support. Gradually over the past 40-some years, Pac-8/10/12 schools have dropped the sport due to budgetary issues. Stanford extinguished its program after the past season, though a bid to save it continues.
NCAA rules mandate a conference must have a minimum of six schools. Without the Cardinal, the makeshift Pac-12 wrestling lineup carries only five — Arizona State, Oregon State, Cal Poly, Cal State Bakersfield and Arkansas-Little Rock. The other schools in the Western region that retain wrestling -- Utah Valley, Fresno State, Wyoming, Northern Colorado, Air Force, North and South Dakota State — compete in the Big 12.
Assistant coach Mike Kosoy (left) and head coach Chris Pendleton encourage OSU’s J.J. Dixon in a first-round match against Wyoming’s Stephen Buchanan at the NCAA Tournament. (Photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo/OSU athletic department)
Oregon State’s program is protected by an endowment fund that was started in the 1970s by Hall of Fame coach Dale Thomas. If the Pac-12 loses Stanford and doesn’t pick up a Fresno State or Air Force, for instance, the conference would need to add a sixth school, though the NCAA would allow for a grace period.
“We’ve been reaching out to (potential new members of the league),” Pendleton says. “I’m optimistic about the future of wrestling in the Pac-12.
“In some ways, not having (opponents) close to us is a problem. But we have the luxury of being able to have a great home and away schedule. We wrestle teams from every Power 5 conference. We’ll have one of the strongest schedules Oregon State has ever had next season.”
As the only Division I program in the Northwest, Oregon State has a corner on the recruiting market in the region.
“Back in the day, that was Dale’s focus,” says Larry Bielenberg, an NCAA heavyweight champion at OSU in 1974. “Chris wants to keep the good kids in Oregon, which we haven’t done. We have enough good kids here to make us competitive at the national level. We have the whole Northwest and most of California to ourselves. There are a lot of good kids in this area.
“If we’d signed all the good ones that we lost to Midwest (colleges) in recent years, we’d have had a much tougher squad. You start with that and add what you can from elsewhere. The more good kids you get in the room, the better everyone is going to be.”
Thomas’ OSU teams would annually shoot for a great dual-meet record, the Pac-12 championship and a top-10 finish at nationals.
“We don’t talk about that kind of stuff,” Pendleton says. “We want to win. Everybody wants to win. But I’m
a big believer in if you do things the right way, good things will happen. I truly believe that. Our job is to prepare the young men for life as adults.”
Pendleton has also rebranded a regional training center that was formerly known as the “Orange Crush Wrestling Club.” Pendleton oversees what is now called “The Dam Wrestling Club,” a donor-funded program for post-collegians who live in Corvallis and train at the OSU wrestling facility. Currently, there are six men and four women in the program.
“Our college wrestlers gain experience against top-level competition this way,” Pendleton says. “It’s also a chance for high school kids to come in and train alongside potential national-team members and Olympians. Our goal is to give men and women opportunities to chase their dreams.”
Tomasovic is chairman of the newly formed Beaver Wrestling Committee, which works to permanently endow the NCAA maximum 9 1/2 scholarships as well as engage with the fan base and unite the wrestling alums. He attended the NCAA Tournament for the first time since he wrestled in the event in 1970.
“You could see the difference in the way (the Beavers) competed on the mat under Chris,” Tomasovic says. “It’s an aggressive style of wrestling. His intent is to score from every position on the mat, whether you’re down or on your feet. They’re going to be better next year. They have everybody back with a year of experience and a year of Chris instilling his philosophies, and they’ve added some depth.”
Says Bielenberg: “As alums, what we’re most excited about is the enthusiasm and (public relations) we’re seeing with Chris and his staff. They’ve been all in from the get-go. What a world of difference their PR skills and contact with the alumni has been. And I think the program is going to be an easier sell to recruits.”
Pendleton says he is appreciative of the response from Beaver wrestling alums.
“We couldn’t have had the year we had without that support,” he says. “These older-generation guys inspire me, they really do. A lot of times we think about what the program can do for us. Those guys think about what they can do for the program. They’re grateful for the opportunity Oregon State gave them and the life experiences they received. They want to give back to the next generation. It’s good for our guys on the team to see that.”
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