the Year up there, and he said that in about seven years I’d be a good coach. I was arrogant and didn’t believe him but he was on the money. I ran into four good kids, and they did pretty good and we placed second. But we dropped to third then sixth and I was looking for answers again. It was pretty simple. The good kids, the gifted athletes, will be good in spite of what I did. I real- ized I had a lot of kids in the room without talent. I had to make those guys better. I taught them to get in stance, use their power hand, control ties and learn to fight. That is when I start- ed to become a pretty good coach.
USA Wrestler: Explain how you moved into college wrestling as an assistant at wrestling’s most successful program at Oklahoma State. Burnett: It was divine intervention. Stuff like this does not happen. Myron Roderick and I did a clinic in Idaho, and after- wards, he asked me if I’d be the head assistant at Oklahoma State. He was the athletic director then. Just think, how many good wrestlers and coaches were down there then? It was quite a story. I asked Myron about the pay, and it was less than I made in high school. I said I’d think about it. I told our football coach about it. He said that if Barry Switzer at OU asked him to coach there, he would pay him to get that chance. So I called up Myron and the rest was history. I went from being a high school coach to going to a room where John Smith was already World champion, Mike Sheets, Kenny Monday and the Sunkist Kids trained there. In high school, we hadn’t lost in four years. What else could you do in high school? I loved wrestling and went for it.
USA Wrestler: In your role as the Cowboy assistant, what did you focus on while helping lead the team to a pair of NCAA Div. I titles?
Burnett: I was pretty quiet for awhile to see how things worked there and how I could help out. It took me only a month of watching and listening. At the time, Tommy Chesbro was on the staff. The first month he ran the practices. One day, I went to Tommy, who was also assistant AD, and said I’d like to run the next practice. He didn’t jump on it, but let me anyway. I started running every practice and never relinquished it. At the time, Monday, Sheets, Smith were training for the Olympics. Everybody just wanted to wrestle.(Head Coach) Joe Seay liked live wrestling too. We had great guys, but what they didn’t have were the basics and they’d get tired, too. I think I helped and they responded. It’s not rocket science. You have to do the basic things right.
USA Wrestler: What are your top memories and what ath-
letes stand out during your stint with Oklahoma State? Burnett: We had Kendall Cross, Chris Barnes, John Smith, Pat Smith, Alan Fried, Cory Baze, Kirk Mammen and more. They were great guys and good wrestlers also. I thought I died and went to heaven. I loved wrestling, and at OSU, wrestling was important which made it fun. With these guys, you didn’t have to ask them to stay late, come early or watch videos. They went there to win a national title.
USA Wrestler: Why did you decide to join USA Wrestling’s coaching staff, first as the Freestyle Developmental Coach, then ultimately as the National Freestyle Coach? Burnett: At the 1988 Olympic Trials, I had the opportunity to work with Sheets, Monday, Smith, Carr, Woodburn, and that was a different level. I watched our NCAA champions not get a takedown for a month against these guys. I wanted to learn it and be around it. I made my contacts with USA Wrestling and
Greg Strobel when I was at Oklahoma State. I knew there was more in wrestling. Why were the Russians so good? I wanted to know. What can we do to beat the Russians? I wanted to be part of it. Whether it is Junior, University or Senior, I wanted to be the best at every age. I had to see the best from Russia, Iran, Korea, everywhere. That is exciting stuff.
USA Wrestler: As a coach, if you could boil down the ele-
ments that lead to success, what are the building blocks that have made your athletes and teams achieve? Burnett: Take a guy and break it down. What are your physi-
cal gifts? What are your technical gifts? You learn what the physical gifts are and that determines the technical gifts. Each wrestler is different. On an individual basis, these guys all need certain basic skills. You get outside of that and must understand each athlete’s needs. Randy Couture can’t wrestle like John Smith, so you develop Randy’s gifts differently than John’s.
USA Wrestling: During your tenure as National Coach, Team
USA won two World Team titles as well as an Olympic Games medal count. What were key elements to the helping the team succeed? Burnett: I had gotten some respect from the guys at Oklahoma State, but the other guys didn’t know me. As Developmental Coach, I made inroads with younger wrestlers, and I worked hard at it during my one-and-a-half years in that job. As National Coach, I had to let those other guys know about me. There was Dave Schultz, Chris Campbell, Bruce Baumgartner, everybody was older athletes. They didn’t want to let go what they had. It was like a secret with them. I had to learn the sport and earn the respect of the athletes. One of the neatest things was in 1995 when Dave Schultz wrote a letter to me about my coaching. If you had his respect, you were on the right path. I had to find out who knew freestyle wrestling in the country and translate that to a larger base. It was about know- ing the younger guys, getting around the experienced guys and getting them much more international competition. It started with little things.
USA Wrestling: You put a strong focus on video study and scouting of international opponents as the National Coach. Why is this so important to success? Burnett: Everybody doesn’t have the same physical gifts, which changes their technical gifts. They must work on the areas where they are weak. With one guy, you need to get bet- ter in this area, and another guy, in that area. With the National Team guys, once the team is picked, there are 8-10 weeks to train them. Can you change five things? No way. You better pick two things, the areas you can fix to win a medal and have a chance to win the World Championship. The winter tours gave information on things we need to fix. I studied the enemy. When you rank the top 10 in every weight class on VHS, that is a lot of watching. You’d watch 10 matches for each of those guys. The work was done before the training camp. Our plans were different for each one of the wrestlers.
USA Wrestler: What are you most proud of during your years as National Freestyle Coach? Burnett: I feel comfortable saying I helped wrestlers get bet-
ter. I tried to help all of the wrestlers, not some of them. There were times that No. 1 or 2 got the focus, but I worked with them all. You could ask, and people would say I made an effort to make them better. I was proud to be around the top athletes, give them a chance to learn and get to know them as people. It
Continued on page 37 25 USA Wrestler
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