World Cup one time, I took second and I beat the Russian. I didn’t do as well as I thought I could have at the World Championships. I look back at my old tapes, and I think that the kids now have it so much better. The coaching and the tools they have are much more than we had. I made so many mis- takes. One of the reasons is that I didn’t have a coach to work with me year round. We basically coached ourselves back then.
USA Wrestler: While you were still competing, you became coach of the All-Navy team. How did that coaching assignment happen?
Hermann: I don’t know how I did it. Coaching is so demand- ing. Back in 1983, the Navy asked me if I’d coach the team while I was still wrestling. I said sure. I didn’t think it was a big deal. Looking back, I felt it kept me off two Olympic teams. I’d take 12 guys to the Olympic Trials and I’d sit in their corners, and also have to wrestle my own matches. It wears you down. Coaching is mentally and physically demanding. I probably shouldn’t have done it. It hurt my chances as a competitor.
USA Wrestler: Who were the best wrestlers you coached during your years with the All-Navy program, and what made them special? Hermann: I had a lot of athletes come through the Navy. They’d stay one year or they might stay eight years. At one time, we had a program in the Navy where they would wrestle year round. The guys I made a difference with were Mujaahid Maynard, who made the 1996 Olympic team and Steven Mays who was on the 2000 Olympic team. I had a lot to do with Adam Wheeler, who won the 2008 Olympic bronze medal. All of these guys couldn’t spell Greco-Roman when they joined our team, and at the end of their careers, they were making World and Olympic teams. They were folkstyle wrestlers when we got them and it was our job to make them Greco-Roman wrestlers.
USA Wrestler: What were some of the things you are proud of during your career in the U.S. Navy, in your work outside of wrestling? Hermann: I switched jobs in 1987 to security, becoming a Master at Arms. I had to do months of training for that. I was working security later in my military career. At the end, I was also working in recruiting. That kept me pretty busy. I really enjoyed recruiting. It was public relations, getting with the kids and their families and offering them another avenue in their lives.
USA Wrestler: You served as head coach of the 1996 U.S. Olympic Team, which won three medals in Atlanta, Ga. What are your memories of the experience, including each of the three Olympic silver medalists? Hermann: There was a lot of pressure. It was one of our bet- ter performances ever. We won more medals at the 1996 and 2000 Olympics than any other country besides Russia. I was an assistant on that 2000 team as well. In Atlanta, we came to wrestle. We didn’t get too many calls, even though we were wrestling at home. We pulled a lot of matches out at the end. Brandon Paulson, Dennis Hall and Matt Ghaffari won silvers. It was great to see Brandon grow at that event. Dennis had won the World title the year before, and there was so much pressure on him going into the Olympics to win a medal. Ghaffari had been doing it for many years, and this was his final shot at the Olympics. Everybody performed well and it was nice to come out of it with the three medals.
USA Wrestler: With the Navy team, you often coached young
inexperienced wrestlers, but as a World and Olympic Team coach, you worked with our nation’s best. Do you coach those athletes differently, and how do you handle each assignment? Hermann: Being an athlete myself, I went through the trench- es like they did. With the World teams, you work on individual stuff. With the Navy, you work with them as a team and you teach them the basics. The World Team athletes are men, are more mature and they know what they have to do. As their coach, I am just a tool helping them to get when they are sup- posed to go. Even now, coaching with the USOEC, the athletes are more developed than with the Navy team. The USOEC guys are Fargo champions and could have been Div. I college wrestlers. With the Navy, the best ones might have been state champions, and they never wrestled any Greco-Roman at all.
USA Wrestler: What is different about Greco-Roman wrestling today than from the years when you were competing internationally? Hermann: You can call it the stone age. We had low cut sin-
glets and we wore beards. We wrestled nine minute matches. Now it can be over in four minutes. Back when I wrestled, there were more throws and you took more chances. When a person got tired, you could get your positions easier. You only have 1 ½ minutes to get the position now. The body lock was the thing then. Now you rarely see a body lock. The rules have changed so much. You go with the punches, change with the times and coach accordingly.
USA Wrestler: U.S. Greco-Roman has progressed dramati- cally in your years, topped off with a 2007 World Team Title. What do you credit for America’s improvement into a World power?
Hermann: It starts with the top dog, Steve Fraser. He’s the National Coach and sets the direction. He goes to Europe and Asia and he knows where we need to be. We carry out his National Team plan. I’d like to think we are on the same page and working together. We have somebody who gets us what we need to win. Starting the USOEC program in Marquette is also huge. This year at the Kiki Cup, 20 of the 28 wrestlers had been with the USOEC at some point. We won eight of the weights at the University Nationals this year. We are having athletes mak- ing U.S. teams at a younger age.
USA Wrestler: This year, you accepted the position as Head Coach of the U.S. Olympic Education Center program at Northern Michigan. Why did you take on this challenge at this time in your life? Hermann: It is a lot easier at this time. My oldest son started college and is no longer at home. My daughter is a senior in high school. I had the support of my wife Cindy who said to go for it. The timing was better for us, and it fits our plan as a fami- ly.
USA Wrestler: What kind of progress have you seen in the young athletes in the USOEC program this year? Hermann: I enjoy watching them grow. I have been here
since August, and they are getting much better. The Navy guys were about this age also, and you deal with some of the same issues. At the USOEC, I have them year round. You can mold them into better athletes working with them for 12 months a year. With the Navy, we’d have them from three to five months, and you didn’t see them for seven months. When you get them back, you have to start from scratch. At the USOEC, every year they are progressing. That is why we can get them to improve,
Continued on page 32 25 USA Wrestler
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