Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1525333
4 4 S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 4 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M T he biggest news in college wres- tling this offseason is that Penn State alum and Olympic champion David Taylor is now the head coach at Oklahoma State. Running a close second, however, is how much the Cowboys are paying him. The Oklahoman newspaper re- ported in July that the Big 12 program lured Taylor away from State College, where he ran the M2 Training Center, with a six-year deal worth $7.45 mil- lion. A two-time NCAA champion and 2020 Olympic gold medalist, Taylor will receive a $1 million annual base salary, with $30,000 raises every year starting in 2025-26, per The Oklaho- man. W h i l e m a n y c o l l e ge w re s t l i n g coaches do not have publicly available contracts, Taylor's pact is believed to be the biggest in the sport — big enough to have prompted speculation within Nittany Nation about how Penn State will respond when the time comes to extend Cael Sanderson's contract. Sanderson, who has turned Penn State into a dynasty with 11 NCAA team championships in his 15 seasons at the school, does not have a publicly avail- able contract. He signed his most re- cent extension in 2022. Details of that pact were not disclosed. Speaking to reporters at Big Ten Football Media Days in July, Penn State athletics director Patrick Kraft said he hadn't spoken to Sanderson since the details of Taylor's contract were made public. He noted that Sanderson and his assistant coaches were leaving for Paris to serve as personal coaches at the Olympics for wrestlers with ties to Penn State. "He's so focused on what's impor- tant right now," Kraft said. "We'll con- tinue talking. Everyone knows how I feel about Cael. "We haven't talked about a contract extension. If he wanted to talk about a contract extension today, we would talk about a contract extension. He isn't wired that way, which is such an amazing trait that he has. He is solely focused." Kraft has made no secret his admira- tion for Sanderson, his staff and the program they have built. It has come up frequently during his short tenure in State College. While the athletics department has long made the head football coach's contract public, it only recently started releasing similar fig- ures for its men's basketball program. All others remain out of the public eye. Barring any new state or federal legis- lation, that will likely remain the case. It should be noted that the Penn State wrestling program is well taken care of both by the athletics depart- ment and the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club and its Olympic Regional Train- ing Center program. When it comes to PSU's financial commitment to wres- tling, Sanderson has preferred to focus on ensuring that the resources are in place to continue building and sustain- ing the program's success. Beaver Stadium Match Seen As Unlikely Four-time NCAA champion Carter Starocci sent Penn State fans into a frenzy in May when he followed up the announcement of his return for a fifth season with a simple nine-word tweet: "Now let's sell out the Beaver Stadium in November." The implication was that the Nittany Lions were planning to do what some other schools did a few years ago, host- ing a wrestling dual meet inside their AD Kraft Says Sanderson 'Solely Focused' On Program's Success G R E G P I C K E L | G R E G . P I C K E L @ O N 3 . C O M Head coach Cael Sanderson has won 11 NCAA team championships in 15 seasons with the Nittany Lions. PHOTO BY GREG PICKEL WRESTLING