Blue White Illustrated

nstead of wearing a collared shirt underneath his black suit jacket for the Coaches Caravan stop at the Valley Forge Casino, Cael Sander- son donned a dark gray T-shirt. Across the chest, in navy lettering, the shirt read "DOMINATE THE STATE." Sound familiar? It's the recruiting philosophy James Franklin espoused during his January in- troduction, and although he's slightly backed o. the proclamation in recent months, it's become a mantra around State College. Hence Sanderson's T- shirt. Over in the Lorenzo Wrestling Com- plex, however, Sanderson and his sta. have been trying to abide by that plan for the past -ve years. So while the slo- gan might be new, the strategy isn't. Not that the Nittany Lions feel constrained by the borders of the Keystone State. In their most recent re- cruiting class alone, they hauled in ver- bal commitments from the top-ranked seniors in California (Nick Nevills) and Texas (Bo Nickal). Sanderson may prefer to build his team's foundation around in-state standouts, but he's willing to go anywhere to grab the best talent. So once Franklin saw the shirt that Sanderson was wearing, he laughed and said, "I'm going to get a Cael Sanderson shirt with 'Dominate the Universe' on it, because that's what he's been doing." The two coaches have gone out to din- ner a few times since Franklin's hiring, and they got to know each other even better while traveling together on the Caravan bus. "I'm sure it gets a little annoying be- cause he's always got people trying to pick his brain and steal his time," Sanderson said of Franklin. "But [the Caravan] is a good opportunity for me." "Stealing some ideas or thoughts from me?" Franklin later responded, some- what surprised. "I thought that's what I was doing with him on the bus ride down." If the media availability before the King I WHITE COLLAR Despite losing two national champions, Sanderson is excited about Penn State's potential this coming season. Said the coach, "We're going to be pretty darn good again this year." Photo by Bill Anderson Q&A of Prussia Caravan stop was any indica- tor, these two will get along just 5ne as their Penn State careers continue to un- fold. Both are eager to start writing new chapters – Franklin for the obvious rea- sons, as he has yet to see an actual com- petition date at PSU, and Sanderson for reasons that are less obvious. Gone are David Taylor and Ed Ruth, the two phe- noms who led Penn State to four consec- utive national championships. Ahead lies perhaps the most challenging season since the Lions started their title run. During his exchange with reporters May 13, Sanderson talked about the loss of Penn State's two primary point-scor- ers, the arrival of those out-of-state blue-chippers and the task that lies ahead. Did USA Wrestling reach out to you about its head coach opening with the national freestyle team a+er Zeke Jones le+ for Arizona State? I spoke with [USA Wrestling executive director] Rich Bender a couple of times. He was just trying to reach out to the top programs to see which direction they should go and what they should do. So I spoke to those guys a few times, but not about the job, actually. Would something like that ever be of interest to you in the future? I don't think so. It's a di6erent kind of job. You don't get to spend the whole year with your athletes; it's a couple-of- months-of-the-year type of thing. I re- ally enjoy the college scene, because you get to recruit your guys and you get to spend the whole year with them. [The national team] is a little di6erent. It's a di6erent system, a di6erent structure, so it's really not that appealing at this time. Maybe down the road, when they get rid of me at Penn State, then that might be an option. In the meantime, I love what I'm doing here. You made a couple of additions to the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club: David Taylor, Ed Ruth and Frank Molinaro. What do they bring, and how do they take the next step within your [freestyle] program? All three are knocking on the door. They're right there; it's just a matter of making the adjustments to international style. They're also competing at a higher level, obviously, so they have to keep do- ing better. A lot of that comes from just competing overseas. ... They've been working hard. All three of them are good enough to make the [national] team and win medals for the United States. We love having their intensity in the room and their con5dence. When col- lege kids come in there, they get to spend time with Olympic hopefuls, training and stu6. So it's a win-win. Frank took fourth at the U.S. Open [in April]. Ed took third and David took sec- ond. That kinda shows how they're right there. [Jake] Varner won [the Open]. We have a great club right now. It's fun be- ing there. The practices are amazing. The credentials – there are a lot of na- tional titles training in the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club right now. What led to Frank leaving his assis- tant coaching position at Rutgers and deciding to come back and train with NLWC? He's all in. He wanted to jump into coaching right out of college, and [Rut- gers] provided that opportunity. He was getting a nice paycheck and had the vi- sion of building a program in New Jersey. Then I think he just got that itch to com- pete again, and if you're going to com- pete, you have to be surrounded by like- minded training partners who have the same goals and the same talents. If he's going to make a legitimate run [at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics] in 2016, he needed to be back in State College. He wants to compete and train, so he's back. We'll be there for him for the rest of his life. You're getting ready to add another recruiting class, too. Obviously you're still adding to it as it goes along, but can you talk about what Nick Nevills, Jason Nolf and Bo Nickal will bring into the room this summer when they arrive? They're coming for summer school, which we're excited about. So we have about a month le7 until they're here. It's a great class. I think they bring the atti- CAEL SANDERSON A fourth NCAA title is in the books, but two mainstays have graduated, and new challenges lie ahead | WRESTLING

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