Dan Chandler GARY ABBOTT’S MATSIDE CHAT WITH...


Dan Chandler has been one of our nation’s best Greco-


Roman athletes and coaches and a key to the development of the sport in our nation. A native of Minnesota, he wrestled in college for the Univ. of Minnesota, where he was exposed to Greco-Roman wrestling. Before he was done in Greco-Roman, he made three U.S. Olympic teams and placed at the World Championships many times. Chandler has made a huge impact as a coach, not only within


U.S. Greco-Roman wrestling but as a youth coach for Minnesota USA Wrestling. He has coached successful World and Olympic teams, as well as many top stars including Olympic medalists Dennis Koslowski, Brandon Paulson and Garrett Lowney. USA Wrestler asked Dan about his career and experiences.


USA Wrestler: How did you get involved in wrestling, and


who were your early influences in the sport? Chandler: I used to watch All-Star Wrestling growing up, and


Verne Gagne made it look so easy to win with a scientific approach. He was a local hero and had wrestled at the University of Minnesota. In 1976, six Minnesotans made the Olympic team and all of us had started to wrestle because of watching Gagne on TV. Later, I had a middle school coach, Rance Howe, who didn’t give up on me after a 1-9 record. In high school, I wrestled for the legendary Ron Malcolm at Anoka High.


USA Wrestler: Tell us about your high school career, and


how those years affected the goals you had for yourself in wrestling? Chandler: In 10th grade I had a losing record on JV. At a


team meeting after the season our coach asked how many of us thought we could become district champions the next year. I raised my hand and got laughed out of the room, but I was a district champion the next year. My senior year, I lost one match and was not a state champion, so that motivated me.


USA Wrestler: You competed for the University of Minnesota.


What were the highlights of your college career in your mind? Chandler: In my junior year I placed third in the Big Ten and


was one match from becoming an All-American. My senior year I suffered a knee injury that kept me out the first half of the sea- son and I didn’t qualify for NCAA’s.


USA Wrestler: How did you get involved in Greco-Roman wrestling, and what did you like about this kind of wrestling? Chandler: The U of M was where the old Minnesota Amateur


Wrestling Club practiced. I met all of the wrestlers from what I like to call the “Golden Age” of Minnesota Greco, wrestlers such as Jim and David Hazewinkel, Larry Lyden and Gary Alexander. They encouraged me to try Greco. I was always tall and had long legs so my build was better suited for Greco. I learned how to use my height for leverage, which is more difficult to do in Folkstyle.


USA Wrestler: Why do you think Minnesota became such a 24 USA Wrestler


USA Wrestler: When you wrestled on the Senior level, ath-


letes were just starting to specialize in Greco here in the USA. What was different about the Greco-Roman wrestlers than those who were pursuing freestyle at the time? Chandler: There had been quite a few successful Minnesota


guys who had specialized in Greco. After working with the Poles, I could see it was all about learning the techniques. It was a no brainer. You had to specialize if you wanted to com- pete well internationally. The only problem was that we were unable to get much international competition. Most years we were only able to compete in the USA and if we made the World Team, then we would go to the World Championships. Now, our Greco wrestlers get dozens of matches every year and training camps. The main difference was that the Greco guys had to learn


new skills while the freestyle teams were made up mostly of successful collegiate wrestlers who were refining skills that they had been working on for many years.


Dan Chandler offers advice to 2008 Olympian Jake Deitchler. Larry Slater photo.


hotbed for Greco-Roman wrestling? Chandler: The Minnesota Wrestling Club was probably the


first club in the states to specialize in Greco. Alan Rice was one of the club founders. In 1974, he brought over the Polish Olympic team to train in Minnesota for several weeks and we had several matches with them. They came again the next year. We learned from some of the best technical coaches in the world and in a short period of time we were way ahead of the rest of the USA. We were able to maintain that edge for many years.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44