cial support to make ends meet. As far as competing with those mentioned and others, it was just like any other match, I just wasn’t guaranteed victory.
USA Wrestler: In 1990, you had a tremendous season and won a very competitive World Team Trials event. What did you do that season that made the difference against your top com- petitors? Koll: In my matches against my top competitors, I found a way to score more points than they scored against me. In other years, this was not the case. Sorry, but this is an impossible question. If there was a definitive answer for this question, I would have made more World Teams.
USA Wrestler: What are your memories of the 1990 World Championships in Tokyo, Japan, when you placed fifth but had a win over the eventual champion Rahmat Sofiyadi of Bulgaria? Koll: I remember going 5-1, beating the champ but placing 5th! Other than that, I remember trying to fit into a 5’ by 3’ bed with my wife. The Japanese are pretty small, and thank god so is my wife.
USA Wrestler: What did you learn in your years as an assis-
tant at Cornell working with Jack Spates? Koll: In my opinion, at that time, Jack was the best coach in the United States. He was a tireless worker and brilliant orator. He did an amazing job of turning the Cornell program around in a very short period of time. He accomplished this by outworking the competition and building relationships within the Cornell and Ithaca community. When he left, I was presumptuous and arro- gant. I believed I could inherit relationships which had taken him four years to build. I learned, quite unceremoniously, that one does not inherit someone else’s relationships. Typical of many young coaches, I also overworked my early teams. So, although I learned a great deal from Jack, it was unfortunate that I did not apply the lessons that he taught me until many years later. The most important lesson was to not try to train everyone the same and that your job is never done. There is always something you can do to make your program better.
USA Wrestler: What kind of goals did you set for the Cornell program when you became the head coach in 1993-94? Koll: It wasn’t until I retired from competition that I started set- ting long range goals for Cornell wrestling. Like too many young and ambitious coaches, I used to make decisions with the goal of getting a great job instead of making my current job great. It wasn’t until I realized that I might be at Cornell for a long time that I started making decisions that would benefit the program not only in the short term but more importantly into perpetuity. My No. 1 goal was and is to turn Ithaca and the Finger Lakes region into a wrestling community. I don’t believe Cornell wrestling can indefinitely sustain its current success unless we have a large and loyal following.
USA Wrestler: Your first NCAA champion came in your rook- ie head coaching season, when David Hirsch became Cornell’s first champion in 34 years. What was it about Hirsch that allowed him to achieve that level of success? Koll: By David’s senior year, he was one of the toughest kids I ever met. This is ironic because as a freshman he was the antithesis of tough! David hated losing and he was a tireless worker. He is now a dual degree (MD, DDS), board certified Oral and Maxillofacial surgeon in Manhattan, N.Y.
USA Wrestler: You were one of the few to compete on the
Senior level in freestyle while also serving as a head coach of a Div. I program. What were the unique challenges of trying to excel as an athlete while also managing the demands of being a head coach? Koll: Almost every Olympic level wrestler that I know was extremely selfish during their competitive career. Unfortunately, I believe you almost have to be so in order to reach your ultimate goal. This attitude does not mesh well with the job requirements of a successful Div I wrestling coach. I believe, in large part, my competitive career hurt me professionally as a coach. At the time, I rationalized that I was helping Cornell wrestling by keep- ing my name on the national scene. In hindsight, I realize that I was not putting the necessary energy into building Cornell and I was only fooling myself.
USA Wrestler: What are the biggest challenges in building a strong wrestling program at a school with strong academics such as those in the Ivy League? Koll: This is somewhat of a rhetorical question. Obviously the biggest challenge is that 90% of the wrestling talent cannot get into Cornell. So we have to make sure we get the “Lions share” of the remaining 10%. Of course, everyone else is recruiting these kids, on top of all the top academic wrestling schools. I do not believe the inherent academic rigors of a school such as Cornell are particularly relevant because the students who we do matriculate are academically qualified to handle the higher academic standards.
USA Wrestler: Is there a “Cornell style” of wrestling under coach Rob Koll, and what do you believe is important to suc- cess in Division I college wrestling? Koll: Since we cannot just go out and recruit anyone we want because of the previously mentioned issues, we tend to have an eclectic style of wrestler. For this reason, I am careful not to force any style down our wrestlers’ throats. We bring in very tal- ented kids and they were obviously doing something correct in high school or we would not have recruited them. We do have certain techniques that we insist everyone masters. I cannot tol- erate being ridden. I expect everyone to be tough on top and we work a great deal on defense. I don’t mention offense because that is something everyone works on every time they step into the room.
USA Wrestler: Over the years, Cornell alumni have been tremendously supportive of your program, as well as providing additional support to the University, such as tremendous facili- ties. How did this support develop? Koll: When I took over, we already had a great support sys- tem because of the stewardship of Andy Noel. Andy coached at Cornell for 14 years and is the Athletic Director. I was the fortu- nate recipient of his hard work. Over the past 19 years I have worked to keep our alumni involved in our program. I make sure that they are aware of what our wrestlers are doing both on and off the mats. Our alumni are incredibly generous because they know their gifts are going to enhance the lives of our wrestlers.
USA Wrestler: What did signing Troy Nickerson, perhaps the
nation’s top recruit, mean to your program? Koll: Signing Troy showed the wrestling community that Cornell could attract the country’s top prospects. That same year we signed Adam Frey. Those two were arguably the top two recruits in the country so it definitely put us on the map. Troy’s resultant collegiate success, albeit injury-plagued, legit- imized his decision to attend Cornell and proved that we could Continued on page 31
25 USA Wrestler
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