Troy Steiner GARY ABBOTT’S MATSIDE CHAT WITH...
Troy Steiner, an NCAA champion at Iowa and a successful
assistant coach at a number of major Div. I programs, has been named head coach of the newly reinstated Fresno State team. We visited with Steiner the week he became Bulldog coach.
USA Wrestler: What were your first thoughts when you heard
Fresno State was bringing back wrestling, and when did you start having an interest in that opportunity? Steiner: The first thing I thought when I heard it was bringing
it back was, “good for wrestling as a sport.” I didn’t think too much about it myself until at NCAAs, (Fresno State Associate Athletics Director) John Kriebs came up to me and asked me if I was interested. I said I would look at it. About a week after NCAAs, he called again and asked me to apply. I put my resume in, and had an opportunity to have a phone interview and they asked me to come down here. To be honest, when the program was out there, I didn’t think they would put the resources into it to have an opportunity to be successful. I didn’t know how interested I was. But I knew when I left here after my interview, I knew it was going to be a good situation. It was going to be a decision I would have to make, one way or the other and it wasn’t going to be an easy one. I had a great situa- tion at Oregon State. To leave that, it would have to be a better opportunity for me and for my family. It was a hard thing to deci- pher through, but I felt, in the end, I felt they really stepped up. I knew that if I let this opportunity go, down the road I would kick myself in the butt. I have always lived with those words, that I don’t want to have any regrets. I knew if I let this go, I would have a regret down the road.
USA Wrestler: What about the Fresno State job made you
decide to take on this challenge at this time in your career? Steiner: Number 1, when you have the president of the uni-
versity as the driving force to bring this back, that is a pretty good step, a pretty good sign to me that they want it here. And then, there’s the overwhelming support from the people in this area, from this Valley, that I have been shown and have experi- enced in only a few days. It was overwhelming, to be honest. It is incredible. I really think this could be built into something very special, because of the importance of wrestling in this Valley and in this state.
USA Wrestler: There will be a year and a half before Fresno
State steps out on the mat. What does your game plan for filling out your staff, and starting the recruiting process? Steiner: I am trying to think of guys right now that I would
want on staff. I am trying to get a pool of people who I want to go after. Number one for me when I’m looking for staff is that I want someone who wants to coach. I want someone who is going to be here for the athletes, and here to guide these guys and mentor the athletes we are going to go after. To me, it is not just about getting the biggest fame. It’s not just about us any- more. It’s not about what we did as wrestlers. It’s finding people that can coach and are really giving people, who will give their time and their energy to these recruits who are coming here. It is about finding the right people that want to be here. I don’t
24 USA Wrestler
Troy Steiner meets the press as he is announced as the new head coach at Fresno State. Photo courtesy of Fresno State Athletics.
want to have to talk someone into coming here. They have to want to be here and be part of this thing. It is going to be a lot of work to put this thing back together. I need someone who is willing to work. I have a few people in mind, but I am trying to figure out who I will go after.
USA Wrestler: What kind of goals have you set, and how
long do you think it will take to achieve those goals? Steiner: That’s the beauty of it. I get to come in here and set
the whole foundation. I have a whole year to do it. Once we get going after this next year, I want to hit the ground running. And I don’t plan to wait long to come into the upper echelon of pro- grams. I told Jim Bartko, the A.D., and John Kriebs, the Associate, that I have no intention of coming down here and taking over a mediocre program or running a mediocre program. I want to win, and this is the place I feel we can do it. I am not getting any younger. I don’t want to be too patient about it. The first thing is I have to set this foundation wide and strong, so when we go to build this, we can go high. I want to do it right, and I want to get the right people around me because I can’t do it myself. There are going to be a lot of people involved here. I know I have the support from the president, the A.D., the Associate A.D., the administration. I need to go out, get the peo- ple around me who have the same vision. It is fun. It’s exciting. It is not only a big position for Fresno State, but it is an impor- tant position for wrestling. There are not many Div. I programs who are bringing wrestling back and if I can do this thing right, and get it rolling in the next 3-5 years, I really think other institu- tions will look to do the same thing.
USA Wrestler: How important is it for wrestling in the West
and for Div. I wrestling for Fresno State program to succeed? Steiner: It is huge. We need it here. There are plenty of kids
out in this region of the country, this West corridor, that need another program. We finally got one more. That is why I think it is so important for the sport that we go in here, set this thing up
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