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on for Omaha Skutt who won Junior Nationals in freestyle and Greco-Roman. One of the nation’s premier recruits, Meneely signed with the University of Iowa. Meneely started briefly for Iowa as a freshman, but left the program a short time later and transferred to UNO. He then left school and had been away from wrestling when Denney agreed to give him another chance.


Meneely went on to win three straight


NCAA Division II titles for the Mavericks from 2007-09. Meneely is now a UNO assistant coach.


“I had made some bad decisions off the mat, and there basically was no light at the end of the tunnel for me,” Meneely said. “He took me in and gave me my last chance. He’s a special guy, and he means the world to me. My loyalty to Coach Denney runs deep. I don’t think there’s anybody like him. He cares about you as a person more than he does as a wrestler. He’s an amazing man. My life’s great right now, and I pretty much owe it to him.”


Denney’s first national team title came in 1991, but his second didn’t come until 2004. The Mavericks had numerous near-misses during that 13-year span. Through it all, he and his teams perse-


vered.


“At times, it got frustrating,” he said. “Each year, we tried to become more cut- ting-edge and become better. I’ve studied a lot of other programs, in wrestling and in other sports, to see what they’ve done to be successful.” Denney’s Maverick teams also excel academically. His teams annually rank near the top of Division II in grade-point average.


More than 40 of his wrestlers have earned Academic All-American honors. “We try to recruit kids who are good wrestlers and good students,” he said. “We want a certain type of young man who will fit in with what we are trying to do here.”


Many of his wrestlers have gone on to become successful coaches, including Nebraska’s Mark Manning, Nebraska- Kearney’s Marc Bauer and St. Cloud State’s Steve Costanzo. Bauer coached UNK to a Division II national title and Costanzo coached Dana to an NAIA title. This season’s Nebraska-Omaha team is led by returning national champion Elijah Madison, who won the 2010 heavy- weight title as a freshman. The Mavs also bring back NCAA run- ner-up finishers in Mario Morgan (141 pounds) Esai Dominguez (149) and George Ivanov (157).


8 USA Wrestler


Denney congratulates Todd Meneely after Meneely won his second of three national titles for the Mavs in 2008 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Sandy Higdon photo.


“I had made some bad decisions off the mat, and there basically was no light at the end of the tun- nel for me. He took me in and gave me my last chance. He’s a special guy, and he means the world to me. My loyalty to Coach Denney runs deep. I don’t think there’s anybody like him.” - Todd Meneely, 3-time national champ for UNO


“We have a strong group of guys, and we have some good depth,” said Denney, already a member of the NCAA Division II Hall of Fame. “It’s always a battle to keep key wrestlers healthy and make it through a tough schedule. We’re excited to see what happens this season.” Denney’s efforts have caught the atten- tion of coaches like the legendary Dan Gable, who coached Iowa to 15 NCAA Division I titles.


“I’ve known Mike for a long time, and


he’s done an extraordinary job in Omaha,” Gable said. “Year in and year out, his teams are in contention to win national titles and that’s really impressive. He is a very positive individual who has done a lot of great things for wrestling.” Even with all his success, Denney remains as humble as ever. “I’m just a small cog in this whole machine,” said Denney, who grew up on a farm in north central Nebraska. “We not only have a great group of wrestlers, we have a great group of assistant coaches along with a great training staff and aca-


demic support staff. “We have a great group of parents, alumni and volunteers. I am just along for the ride. I’m glad they let me come along.”


Higdon has been an assistant to Denney for 19 seasons. Higdon, a native Texan, was an All-American wrestler under Denney.


“Coach Denney has created a family and a culture here that people want to be a part of,” Higdon said. “He’s very loyal to every guy on the team, and he earns their respect. They want to win for him as much as they do for themselves.” Higdon has made huge contributions to the UNO program.


“Ronnie has been so loyal,” Denney said. “He knows our system and we work really well together. He knows our pro- gram inside and out. He’s meant a great deal to our program.”


In addition to coaching, Denney teach- es three classes in the fall semester and three more in the spring at UNO. He


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