Brian Smith On His Coaching Journey, Current Group Of Tigers

Missouri coach Brian Smith shares his thoughts entering his 29th season leading the Tigers.

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Missouri coach Brian Smith here in Baltimore at the NWCA convention.

Entering year 29 with the Tigers, if you could go back to the beginning with what you know now, what are a couple things you'd tell yourself?

That's, an interesting question because in w- you know, one way I wish you did know it back then, but I think through maturity and gr- you know, you have to grow through making mistakes or just living through it and knowing, man, I don't wanna be at that point.

I gotta do it this way, learning it through the hard way.

I, I don't know if I would change too much.

I, I don't know.

It's, it-- That's a-- I always get that question and you think back, what could I change?

I don't know.

Probably if it was anything, recruit, recruit more Missouri and Wisconsin kids, but we do a pretty good job of that.

But, I don't know if I would change anything.

Just keep doing what I was doing and growing from it and getting better.

I think that's the answer.

What was the biggest challenge you overcame in those early years?

You know, and how did you overcome it?

Yeah.

It was just getting a culture built that, you know, had some belief that we could be really good and 'cause it wasn't, you know, there really wasn't there.

There were some individuals that thought they could be really good, but it wasn't a culture of a program that thought, "Man, we're gonna-- If we do these things, we're gonna be great."

And so it was just starting with surrounding myself with good coaches and getting the administration to buy in as much as you could get them to buy in.

You don't always get them to.

You have to have success first.

But then getting the state, really, the state didn't believe so much in the program.

You know, the high school coaches, youth coaches.

So you have to hustle and get out there and speak, do clinics, get people to know you, build relationships, and then eventually you start getting that one or two kids, and then that recruiting class with three or four good kids, and the team starts to improve and people start to buy in.

But especially the program, getting the young guys to come into the program, living the culture where they're going to every class, they're good model citizens, they're doing it right, and then, you know, competing hard on the mat.

That took y- It took us to our fourth or fifth year to get it to a point where I knew we were making big improvements and getting the kids You know, had a better chance of getting the recruits we wanted.

Where in the journey did it feel like this could be a final stop for me?

I mean, I never thought about leaving Missouri.

There were opportunities where I could've, but then, it's just I, I always think you should, I'm a pretty boring person.

I've been going to the same church, married to the same girl, and, coaching at the same school for twenty-nine years, but I think that's a good thing.

I think it's a great thing, honestly, that And there was a point years ago where I, you know, there was an opportunity, and I remember my brother calling me and saying, "What do you want your legacy to be?

You know, not that you worry too much about that when you're in the heat of it."

He goes, "Think ten, fifteen years from now.

If you leave, you're gonna have You know, you're gonna be forgotten at the last place, and they move on.

Where if you finish, you get-- you have the opportunity to finish at the same place.

Not a lot of coaches get to do that."

And it made me sit back and it's like, man, I gotta love the one I'm with.

And at that point, just completely s- bought in.

I'm staying here.

I'm never leaving.

And, and it definitely changes your perspective when you're not looking to get other jobs.

You, you don't even think about it, which I never really was.

It's usually they're approaching you.

So it's, But I'm glad I stayed.

I'm glad I'm at Mizzou, and I get to pick when I'm gonna step away and do that.

Have you thought about m- that much?

You think about it, but you're too busy and you're focused on, all right, this is the next class, the next class.

But you ha- eventually have to have an exit, you know, where you're gonna say, "All right, this is how it's gonna happen," and that's getting closer.

And when I say closer, I don't know if it's one, two, three, four years, but it'll be soon.

What keeps you going?

What is it you enjoy most about coaching right now?

It's what I've always wanted to do.

You know, from five years old, my dad was a football coach.

I was on the sidelines, in a locker room, in a coach's office, in the basement with my dad breaking down film.

It was just a passion of mine that I love the coaching side.

I love to compete.

So I love to compete at sports and played a lot of sports, but the coaching side was just like a passion for me from a young age, and it's what I wanted to do, always do, and still do it.

And, and you know, even when I step away, I'll probably still help out with something, you know, on the coaching side, whether it's fundraising, which is a part of coaching and helping a program or, you know, just watching, breaking down film for somebody to help them or But it's just something I ha- I have always wanted to be a part of and so it's just That's, that's what When I wake up, I get to do that every day.

So that's fun.

When that day comes, whenever you step away, what part of the job do you think you would miss the most?

Being with the guys.

You know, I think the practice room is such a special place where you get to spend time working on things that they're struggling with but And getting them to buy in that this hard work is gonna pay off, that you're frustrated right now.

But man, when you end that practice and you just feel like the team's coming together, they're learning things, they're growing and getting better, it's fun That's the fun part of a coach.

Yes, the competitions are great too, and we have had great wins and great moments, but it's that practice room and growing with them in the after time of just hanging out and getting to know them, the bus trips and things like that, where you really get to know guys and, and your staff and spending a lot of time.

You know, you're traveling and living with these people.

That's probably the part I'm gonna miss the most, is the relationship of being in it with, with these great people.

How has coaching changed your life?

How has coaching changed my life?

Well, it's allowed me to do something that I love.

So, and I've had some amazing people that influenced my life, you know, my for- my dad being one, who was a coach.

So I had a coach that was my father, invest in me, and take- knew- saw that I had a passion for coaching, and then just kinda kept helping it, and, taking me to coaches clinic as a teenager when it's all these, adult coaches, but I wanted to be there, and then sitting with me and discussing things.

Even when I started in college coaching, calling me and, you know, "What are you working on and what are you doing?"

And, and just, you know, if he couldn't help, he wanted to hear from me and, but it was always that guidance.

And then from like Jack Spates and Rob Cole, people like that investing in me made me realize that I got to- I became a part of a program, and they fully were invested in me and helping me become a great coach.

Even when I was trying to get away from there and applying for jobs, they were helping me.

And still we have relationships now that it taught me that that's the right way to do it, and I have to be that way and invest in my student athletes, my coaches, my people on my staff, if they're, you know, whether it's your marketing, helping them too, and be fully invested.

I think that's- I've gotten to be pa- a part of something that I love to do, and it's given me a great life.

My family's had a- gotten to grow up in the same city.

Go- all three of my kids graduated from the University of Missouri.

So I mean, coaching's awesome.

It's, it's allowed me to do all that.

So if I rem- remember correctly, you were gonna be your dad's starting quarterback, correct?

It wasn't my dad.

It was at another school.

Okay.

I was spring ball and as a sophomore, I thought it went really good.

But then my cousin Kevin, who was a big factor in wrestling in my life, and Kevin calls me from Long Island, New York and says, "Man, you had a good year in wrestling."

And I'm like, "Yeah, but I'm gonna be football, running the option, doing all this stuff."

And he's like, "You need to go, you need to come up here and learn wrestling.

You could win the state next year.

Think of you could go further in wrestling."

And he started putting these thoughts in my head, and I knew he was right, but I loved football too.

But I knew if I made this decision to go all in with wrestling, I might have to give up football.

And so I talked with my dad, and my dad said, "If you think that's something you wanna do, then you gotta jump in all in and do it."

Spent seven weeks in Long Island learning all summer, learning how to wrestle, and did it the next summer too, and won both state titles the last two years and changed my life.

And then I moved down to Fort Lauderdale and get coached by Randy Miller, who was a Michigan State grad, and got me recruited there.

And just all that just changes your life with decisions you make.

If I decide to step back on that football field as a junior, I'd probably have fun playing football and wrestling, but not becoming the wrestler I probably could've.

And having people in my life that see that, that, "Man, if you invested in this, you could go do something special, and we're here to help you do it," that's how a coach changed my life, my cousin changed my life.

And hitchhiking across Florida to practices too, to work out .

Yeah, not across, but like in the When I was living in Fort Lauderdale, I was with- living with my grandmother.

I didn't have a car.

I would take city buses places.

Then there would be times, man, I'd get out of a practice or something, so I'd hitchhike home instead of hopping on the city bus.

I feel, I know now I would tell kids, "Please don't do that."

But it was just, I was just I guess I was mature 'cause I was living on my own, even though I was with my grandmother.

I was so focused on just going to school and wrestling and, and that's it.

And so if it meant I gotta find a ride and I couldn't get it, I wasn't gonna miss practice.

I'm getting there.

So I hitchhiked a few times and just to get to a practice 30 minutes away, and it worked.

People would see me and, "Hey, hop in."

But I think of how dangerous that could be today.

Don't listen to Coach Smith, what he did when he was younger.

It was a different time, so What do you remember about that, those times shortly after you went all in with wrestling, the, the level- Yeah of growth you were making at that point?

It's crazy 'cause there was no Flo, there was no internet.

You couldn't go on and find how to improve in technique, so you had to find clubs, coaches, people.

And I just remember when I did that, I was finding books, the old Bobby Douglas book and, you know, finding VCR tapes of just people, breaking down technique.

I would grab people all the time and just say, you know, "I wanna work with you.

You know, come to your club."

So I would go to different clubs trying to find people with knowledge.

I couldn't It was like I was a sponge, and I couldn't get enough of it.

I just wanted to find it and, and find more wrestling knowledge.

I was possessed, really.

It consumed me, and I just loved it.

Every day waking up and working out.

I, I bought When I worked in Long Island for my cousin during the day, he had a pool company and landscape company, so the money I made from that, I invested in a mat and put it in my garage.

My dad would come out, and I'd work techniques and taking notes on techniques at clubs and bringing it back to the mat.

And anytime I could get on a mat and work, I did, and I just- I made a huge jump from that sophomore year just making it to the state, and the next year, of course, going through the state tournament and winning it.

And it was really unknown.

But I, I knew what I was doing, and I was getting better.

Your teenage self, how much did you see that, like, in guys like Ben and Keegan?

And I'm sure there are plenty others that have come along that you've coached.

Just i- it's a-- just this passion for something they're doing.

You know, I-- when I would talk to Ben on the phone, just his knowledge of what he wants to do, and reading books, and, you know, knowing his opponents.

And then Keegan, when I-- my first phone call with him, he's breaking down, you know, "What are you doing in practices 'cause I'm watching your team."

And he was breaking down film of Mizzou and had questions for me.

And I'm like, wow, this kid's very, very intelligent and, and does his homework and watching film.

And Aiden was this-- Aiden and I would have amazing phone calls.

And, and there's kids like that.

Jaden Cox, same type way.

I've been, oh, fortunate that when you think of the kids I've gotten to work with and coach, just their passion for the sport and the way they elevate a room.

They not only are great people and wrestlers themselves, but they elevate the practice room and the program because their-- of their passion for the sport.

People that are on the bubble of it get near them, and pe- they bring them up.

So it's fun to have them in the program.

But, it was just-- I just could not get enough.

And everywhere I went, I was finding people.

Even when I was at Michigan State, it wasn't the best of times, but right down the street at East Lansing High School was Don Beam, who was the head wrestling coach, a silver medalist, a runner-up in the country.

And, I would go to his house and watch films of his Olympics wrestling.

I would, work technique with him.

And he knew I wanted to be a coach, and he was helping me, not only helping me become a better wrestler, but also in coaching.

And I just-- And I've kept these relationships, that these people help me and, kinda just help that flame get bigger because they see the passion that I had and help me with it.

What have been the biggest challenges of navigating today's world in college athletics?

I mean, it's, you know, the name, image, and likeness.

All that now is completely changed with that and the transferring.

And I'm a big believer of bringing these kids in and making them a part of the Tiger-style culture, and they're gonna grow from that as people and grow as wrestlers.

The relationship we're gonna have from the freshman year to the senior year to then when they're having, you know, their weddings.

I'm going to weddings, and how they're raising their kids and just all that.

And seeing kids going to two and three and four schools now, it's n- it's not a good thing.

I mean, it's a good thing that they can get paid, but I just see of what's happening and, you know, really good coaches stepping away now in all sports.

I'm looking at the, the NCAA champion, men's basketball coach wins the title, and a year later he's like, "I'm getting out of this.

College is crazy."

I talked with some of the Kansas City chief coaches that worked at Mizzou, and I'm good friends with them, and they're like, "I can't believe what you have to do as a coach.

You're a general manager.

You're not only-- And you have to raise the money to pay the athletes."

And they're like, "We don't even know what the athletes get paid.

We just focus in on coaching.

You're doing what our general manager's doing, what our, you know, agents are doing, and, and you're doing it all."

And so it's not that it's a bad thing.

It's just completely changed in that, and it just takes a-- I, I think it takes away from our-- the time I used to spend on relationship and coaching.

Getting on the mat as m- m- as, as much as I wanted to, I have to spend more time fundraising and doing things like that.

And I still feel like culture's the, a very important thing.

It's just you have to find a different way to do it now because you're gonna have different dynamics with kids transferring in from the portal and kids not all being there for four or five years with their good friends that they grew up in a dorm and then moved off campus, and they, they're bouncing around now.

If you had a magic wand, what would you, what would you change?

Phew.

That would be difficult.

It's-- I, I don't know if it can go-- you know, that toothpaste is out if it can go back in.

I, I, I get, a little nervous about when you hear, our, commissioner of the SEC saying, "We're ready to break away."

I mean, that's a fact.

He said it at the football meetings.

If the bigger conferences start to separate from the NCAA, that's great for football and basketball.

What does it do for the Olympic sports?

It's definitely an interesting time of what is going on.

And there is concern.

I know the president of the United States and senators and people are concerned about our Olympic sports because it's become so crazy, and the budgets are changing and very difficult for schools to raise money when they're raising it for the athletes that what's gonna happen.

I wish I, I wish I knew the answer, and I do think about it a lot.

I have discussions with other people in- involved in this.

But, to-- nobody seems to know the right things.

You know, every time they come up with something, there's a different lawsuits going on.

And so it's a very, very difficult time for c- college athletics.

How do we elevate wrestling?

How do we protect wrestling?

How do we make wrestling more relevant?

I think we're doing a great job of it.

I s- I just sat in a meeting with Flo's doing, and allowing more technology and AI to promote the sport and do more with, you know, bringing more statistics to the fans.

That's important.

I have a nephew that plays baseball in the Major Leagues.

Every day I'm checking his stats and what his ERA is and when he's pitching next.

Having that, people want that at their fingertips, and what You know, that, that is an important thing in our sport with that.

The National Duals being back, that has And the payments.

When I tell other s- coaches of other sports at Mizzou that, you know, we're making money going to these events, they're like, "Really?"

And you can win a couple hundred thousand dollars, and they're like, "That's crazy."

I said, but that's, that's the good thing that's happening in this era where you can get And some of that money can go to the athletes, then it becomes that's where at least they're going and earning it on the mat, and they're getting paid for it.

So there's some things like that.

I think watching, the RAF events has really I, I'm running into people and saying, "Man, I saw Keegan and the, the match with Ben last week."

And people are excited to see that 'cause it's on, you know, it's on the Fox network, so it's, really cool to see that that's a way for it to grow, where they're bringing fighters in too and mixed martial arts.

That, I think it's a great concept that's helping grow the sport.

We just gotta continue with things like that and getting into the, you know, trying to branch out to other people and grow it and continue that.

Our NCAA tournament sells out every year, so we're maxed with that.

Now we have to, you know I, I think focusing in on selling out the National Duals and making it the real, you know, that it is the National Duals, and give that, when that team wins it, they're recognized as the national champ.

And the same with the individual tournament too.

You know, why not have both, and do it and make it special?

I think that's, that- that's a way we can push, 'cause I think that's, where people can watch that two-hour block and then just watch team versus team.

I think the duals are important.

You've been pushing for those duals for a long time.

National Duals Invitational.

Taking a step back from that, what, what did you think of the event and, you know, winning your one?

It was they were a national championship ma- bouts going on.

You know, all of, they had the three or four mats going, and I'm watching some unbelievable match-ups in early November.

And I'm like, this is how you grow a sport.

College basketball, college football.

I tried to watch because they're, you, you Whether you, you know, some wrestling Oh, well how you gonna learn from wrestling and, from basketball and football?

Early season, Alabama is going to play Michigan in football, and Duke in basketball is gonna go play Gonzaga across the country, and they're both ranked in the top 10.

People wanna get excited.

In the beginning of the year you have these great match-ups.

It excites the fan base.

It brings other people into it, and I think that's important.

And when I watched, I mean, I was coaching too, but man, there were some great match-ups.

And for us, I mean, in two days we wrestled Iowa, then we wrestled Little Rock, then we wrestled Mi- Michigan, Minnesota, Illinois.

Think about that.

All in two days.

So if you're a Mizzou fan, and you're getting to see the, you know, the Michigan and Minnesota duals were knock-down, drag-outs, wars.

And I think the Minnesota one we lost on a team point.

One of my freshmen threw his headgear.

But, but the excitement of it.

You know, you step away from it and you're like, man, we had some great match-ups.

That's what, that's how you can grow the sport with these exciting events that happen in the earlier season that bring people to it.

You mentioned your nephew, Shane Drouin, with the- Yeah Brewers.

Having a nice rookie season, breakout season.

What's it been like seeing that?

Well, I'm a Met fan, so it's been a tough season as a Met.

But man, having the Brewers, I f- I have a Brewer hat now, and I'm ordering a Drouin J- jersey.

And it's really cool, 'cause I've watched him grow up and being coached by my dad and my brother-in-law, Billy, who played in the Kansas City Royal organization.

And just seeing, I got to go to Omaha and see his team, Florida State, play in the championship when he was back in college.

And then, just watching him go through the struggles.

It's not easy.

You know, when I watch, you know, you hear of the struggles of people in wrestling.

You know, he was drafted by Boston, played for Boston, then got rule five to the White Sox.

And then he didn't even make the White Sox, and they're the worst team in the league, maybe in history that year.

And then he got picked back up by Boston, and then Boston traded him, got rid of him.

And I'm just thinking, man, that's difficult on the mind, where you're bouncing around new coaches every year, and it's not your choice.

And he gets picked up by the Brewers.

And the thing that stood out the most when I was talking with him, and I got to see him in St. Louis, and I said, "What's the biggest difference with the, the Brewers than being in Boston?"

He's like, "I have coaches that believe in me."

And that was it.

He's like, "I've always had great coaches with Gr..." You know, he said, "Grandpa and, and my dad believe in me.

They were tough on me but believed in me.

But it, it's these, these coaches at the Brewers believe in me and, just tell me I have great stuff, go do it.

They tweak little things."

But that was the biggest thing.

And I said, "Man, that just..." As a coach, I step back and the importance of, you know, just listening to a, this is a guy at the top level now.

And that's the most important thing to him, that, that my coaches believe in me.

What are things you do as a coach to show your athletes you believe in them?

Oh.

Just building the relationship with them.

Telling them that I'm watching them in practice and seeing the effort that they're putting in.

And, you know, just after practice when they're sitting there, they had a tough day, but I'll say, "Man, you did some good things," and remind them about that.

And just build- trying to build them up when they need it, and then they know that, that you're in your cor- in their corner.

I'm just there for them.

Even if it's not even the wrestling side, they come into my office and having difficulties in something in their life and saying, "Man, I'm here for you."

I mean, I get calls now from guys from the It never ends.

"Coach, what do you think about this?

What do you think I should be doing with this, with this job decision?"

Or whatever it may be.

And it's, it makes my day that an athlete, you know, 10 years after they graduate is still calling and wants some- Yeah advice.

That's a, that a coach never, your coaching never ends, and that's the part I love about it.

I learned that from my dad.

I was telling a story of when I was coaching at the U20s one year in Nebraska.

It was the U20 or U23 tournament, and my dad passed away at 3:00 in the morning.

So I was getting those calls at the hotel, and I was, like, sitting there thinking, "What do I do these next two days?

I can't get out of here.

We bused over.

I don't have a car."

And I, and g- leaving really wasn't a part of it.

I was like, "Dad would want me to coach."

And it was not easy, 'cause as I was coaching, I kept focus.

My phone would buzz, and it was former players of my dad reaching out to say, "Man, your dad impacted my life.

And you sh- you just gotta be so I know it's a tough time for you, but your dad, I wouldn't be where I am today if it wasn't for your dad."

And I kept getting these texts and calls like that, that it was like, wow, this is why I'm out here today at the U20, U23s coaching kids.

'Cause I had some parents at the end of the day figured it out and were like, "Coach, if you need to leave, we understand."

And I'm like, "No, I'm where I'm, I should be.

My dad and I, you know, he taught me to be this.

He was my inspiration, and this is where he'd want me to be."

What do you like about this bunch?

How close they've become this summer.

Really, really close.

And we had a couple kids transfer in, and how they've just kinda become a part of the team with Luke Giog and Zan Fugett and, and then the rest of them.

You know, Seth is really growing up, Seth Mendoza, and just getting better and better.

But he has this quirky personality that the guys love.

Aiden, of course, you know, never stops wrestling, so there's the, one of your leaders of the team.

He's going the U- U20s world team, the U23 world team, battle to try and make the US, you know, regular team, and it, it's just amazing.

And then he's wrestling in three or four RAF events and, and just loves it.

And he's like, "Yeah, I'm gonna take some time off.

I'm going to, a Bible camp or whatever, a Christian camp."

And I said, "Well, don't work out down there."

He "Well, I, I got some way..." And you know, he can't get away from it.

But just having young people like that that just have such a passion for the sport, and they have meetings separately every week, and they're reading books and breaking into small groups and doing things.

They're just doing all these extra little things that, bring a team close together, and they keep growing, that, I'm excited about it.

I, I'm excited to see what they can accomplish.

And, and that as a, as a coach, you can make them do things and force them to do things, but when it's coming from the group and the leadership is strong, man, it makes coaching fun.

And this group is gonna be a lot of fun to coach.

I was just gonna ask, how much easier does it make your job when your best guy sets an example like Aiden does?

Oh, it's Aiden, it's Cam Steed, it's, you know, all these guys.

You know, they're, they are on the mat.

You gotta You know, we went this summer.

We would have three workouts in the summer, and then they would be lifting.

And I did my part.

I lifted with them every day.

I would go to the early morning lift, and I would do my own lift, but I'd be in there when they're lifting.

So I wanted to be like, hey, if the old guy can be out here lifting, we can't complain.

But then when they were in the practice room, you know, those three days, it was real- The, the great thing was the time after.

We wouldn't go long, but the time after that they would spend.

And then other days I'd look in, and there's Maple or Dom running an individual or Keegan with guys that wanted to get extra workouts in and just working to get better at technique.

That's fun, 'cause it's coming from them.

They have to request those, and they did.

It was a constant busy room, and, that, that makes for a fun team.

But then I, I found out like 20-something of them went to a rodeo one night together, and they showed me a video how they pulled them out there, and they were ripping a cow down or whatever and they were s- you know, stringing it up, and I don't even know it, and the whole crowd's chanting MIZ at this rodeo outside of town.

But the fact, I'm not even worried about that much.

I was worried that they might get hurt doing that, but it was, like, that they chose to do things together.

And that's the You know, when you look at teens, when they're buying in and the p- you know, what, what the culture is, but then they're doing stuff together as a team, you know you got a special group, and they're gonna compete hard for each other.

Your brother had a name for this bunch?

Oh, he just called them kinda nerdy, 'cause they are.

You know, you see Keegan is taking, graduate classes in accounting, and of course Aiden's doing some of them too, and they're, they'll be on the bus talking about accounting.

And then he's like, "So your GPA's all up here.

You're doing all All your guys are talking about business and these things.

Then I'm looking, and they're getting baptized.

I see the social media.

These guys are about the nerdiest guys I've ever seen, I've ever, seen."

I said, "Yeah, but they're awesome.

They're a lot of fun.

They're just great people."

And he says it jokingly, but it is.

You know, usually when you're seeing kids in the news and stuff, they're doing crazy things, and my team, it's getting baptized.

It's, you know, hanging out as a team at a rodeo and having fun together and, and then, doing all these extra events and working tons of youth camps and having fun with the kids.

Half my team works the Columbia Youth Club And there's 170 kids in there, so the kids all love these guys.

The parents, know all these guys, and there's just a great relationship with that club.

And so it- they just love the personalities of our team and the example they're setting for the youth kids too.

So it just grows our program.

You got Aiden, I think, taking piano lessons maybe.

Yeah.

You got Seth flying planes.

Yep.

What else?

What else is going on in there?

Making wood- doing his woodworking.

Yeah.

He had a flood at his house, so he was redoing walls.

Seth, he was telling me that when the rains were bad.

It's just funny just hearing all the things.

They go fishing together.

It's a, it's a really fun team to be around.

What are some of the best lineup battles that you could see coming this fall?

There aren't too many.

You know, there's some good kids in the room, but we're pretty solid.

33 will be interesting.

You have two national qualifiers there with Gage Walker and Cade Moore.

They're both very talented wrestlers.

41, Easton Hilton was our starter at the end last year and had some really good matches, but Zan Fugett's there, so that'll be a good battle.

Other than that, there's At 57, two young, really talented kids in David Gleason and Colin Rath.

You know, they red-shirted last year, but both, Colin was injured for part of the year, so didn't compete much, but David Gleason placed in a lot of tournaments and did well in freestyle and beat a lot of good kids, so that'll be an interesting one.

But really, other than that, we're pretty solid all the way through.

Danny Hiser is gonna cut down to 65, so him and Jay Conway will have You know, that's two really talented.

So I'm saying we don't have many, and then I start- going through it.

That young, young, young group, those freshmen that didn't wrestle as much last year but had some success, they, they are a, a really good group that's gonna fight for, to get in the lineup.

So that's a good thing.

They're gonna push the upperclassmen.

What did it take to put that class together from a recruiting standpoint?

Just getting, finding the right kids that fit the culture.

You know, when I would call a Danny Hiser, I- he would always have I always ask kids at the end of the call to, you know, "You gotta have a question for me next week," and Danny would have great ones.

We would have these great conversations and, and it just, we He just loved that we could talk about things other than wrestling, and he's a really, you know, smart kid, but loves wrestling.

He's an Askren Academy kid, so he had some knowledge of our program.

But things like that that make these kids It's that relationship to f- get these kids to wanna be at Mizzou, and I think once they came, like even the, the transfers, when they came down on their visits, you know, I think on, Luke Giug's visit, he went to the And, and Zan, I think they were at a Bible study that my team doctor runs, and they're like, "Man, I love this team and what they're doing and being a part of this.

They seem so close."

That, that's an easy That makes your When your kids are like that, and when kids coming in that fit that culture, it makes for an easy sell.

Your kids are doing the work.

Those questions that, you have recruits ask, what are a couple of the most memorable you've ever gotten?

Some, like just what w- One of them was like a really deep, difficult question.

"What was the most difficult loss you've had as a coach and as an athlete?"

And so I'm like, "Wow, all right.

I wasn't ready for that" and just trying to think of those things.

One of, one of the kids, Everett Joyce, who just signed with us and reclassified and will be here in a couple weeks, Kansas kid, really into history.

So of course I taught history, so we're just always talking about like when he was overseas or I was over, you know, different places and the, the cultures and just questions about history, and we get into these in-depth questions.

Aiden Sinclair, when I was talking to him one time, it was, "What are you doing in your English class?"

or something.

He I asked him, and we got into a 20 to 30-minute conversation on Shakespeare.

And my wife overheard the conversation and didn't know who I was on the phone with, and when I hung up, she's like, "Who the heck were you on the phone with?

You were talking about Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet and this" and I'm like, "You're gonna meet this kid, Aiden Sinclair, and you're going to love this guy.

He is amazing."

And of course when she met Aiden, she's like, "I know what you mean now.

He is special.

He can talk about everything."

But man, he gets into something, he can do some talking.

The five-for-five rule, what do you think of it?

It's the right thing.

You know, it's We've You know, you can call it amateur.

We are a professional business now.

These kids are getting paid, and man, I wish I could take a year and not get and get paid and not have to coach.

That it just We had the five dates with the freshmen, which was nice, and football had that, but then it's like why can't they just compete the whole year and just let not And especially in our sport, it makes a big difference because we only have so many 25-pounders and so many heavyweights that you, you wanna red-shirt a kid, but if you have injuries, you have to pull a kid and waste y- Now they, everybody's, everybody knows, "I wanna get in the lineup.

I'm gonna have opportunities.

I can put kids in dual meets and not worry about the amount of dates" And everybody knows, "I have five years to get five."

It makes it simpler.

I think compliance and all these When I was coaching Grant Leeth, god, you know, I loved him, but he was on like six or seven years getting injury years back, you know, these medicals, and it just got so complicated.

And for coaching, knowing if he gets this, then I offered all this money.

Now I don't have the scholarship, and I It just became too hectic.

Now a kid comes, he go- does his five years, and he's done.

What's one rule you'd like to see changed?

That's a good question.

You hit me with a good one at the end.

One rule I'd like to see changed.

Honestly, it's I think when we get in those crazy scramble positions, I just hope, I just wish refs would just blow the whistle quicker.

And if the guy is on top and going behind, but the foot's caught and stuff, and a lot of times they call it a stalemate, give it to the offensive guy and blow the whistle and cut down on the scrambling in those really dangerous situations.

Reward the offensive guy for getting there, but I just have, I've seen so many knees get blown out there that I wanna see quicker whistle, and I'd like to see the offensive guy rewarded.

That would be it.

Well, hey, thanks so much for the time, Brian.

Yeah.

Anything else for us?

No.

I always enjoy it.

We always have great conversations.

Enjoyed it.

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