CycloneReport.com - The Jackson Report: Media day Q & A

November 3, 2009

Paul Clark
CycloneReport.com Publisher

It's the start of a new wrestling era at Iowa State as Kevin Jackson takes the helm and looks to lead the Cyclones over the hump and into a national championship. Here is the Q & A text from Jackson's media day press conference Tuesday in Ames.

Opening comments:

Thanks for being here you guys. We're excited about our upcoming season, starting next Thursday against South Dakota State. Our athletes and our coaches are very, very excited to get started with actual competition. We've been training a long time, through the summer and pre-season training and begin the year training. Working on skills and drills and tactics and techniques that are going to help us be at our best. This competition coming up is going to give us more insight into our athletes, making the proper connections to the techniques and tactics and skills we're trying to embed in them so they are able to do them instinctively by habit. This dual meet is going to give us a chance to see that first-hand and then everything else after that's a process. Continuing to build towards our next even, which will be the Harold Nichols Open. Continue to gain information, continue to evaluate our athletes and make sure they're doing the things they need to do correctly.

We just recently had our intra squad match. We had four starters out of that match: Andrew Long, Nick Fanthorpe, Nick Gallick and David Zabriskie. But everyone else who competed in that, we were able to gain some valuable information on and kind of identify their areas of concentration. Not only will we continue to train them from a team aspect, we will start looking at the videos and training them from an individual standpoint in the areas they are strong at and improving the areas they are weak at. So we're eagerly anticipating the start of the season with South Dakota State.

How might the tactics and techniques you're coaching be different for these guys?

We're trying to teach complete wrestling, to wrestle in every situation, every position. I think from a tactical standpoint we want to be aggressive, we want to score points, we want to score points in that first period. That first three-minute period, we believe as a staff that it's unacceptable to go 0-0. You saw me emphasize that in our intra squad match, trying to force these guys to get their offense off, get their attacks off. Give themselves an opportunity to score and take commanding leads into the second period as opposed to 2-1 or worse case, 0-0. That's one specific tactical approach we're going to have is to try to be aggressive and build on our lead after that. Everything else is just complete wrestling, to be able to wrestle from every position and try to dominate the match as opposed to just trying to win the match. So that's really what we're pushing for. If you watched our athletes over the last couple of years, I think we could be a little bit more dominant over opponents we're beating or should beat.

Who are the newcomers you're looking at to make the biggest mark early on?

Well I'm excited about Andrew Long. He's gotten his weight down to striking distance for 125 pounds. He's not a small 125-pounder. I like the way he competes, I like the way he trains, I like his focus. He's a young man we're looking forward to competing at a high level for the next four years. As you know, we have pretty much an upperclassmen group that we're dealing with. But I'm impressed with the attitude as far as buying into the plan. They could very easily say what they've done in the past, they've had some success, and not totally buy into it. Believing that what they did in the past would allow them to have that same success and maybe win a national championship. We've convinced them that what you've done in the past has not gotten you a title yet, with the exception of Jake Varner. So we have to change some things, we have to change quite a few things.

Are all of your starting spots set or are there some openings?

We're going to continue to evaluate and wrestle guys off and base our decision on who is going to wrestle at the NCAA tournament based on how they train, how they perform in competition and based on the wrestle-offs. So we're going to try to put the best guy on the mat. What you're going to see in the South Dakota State match are the athletes who have connected to the positions in the areas we're trying to present to them, as well as the wrestlers who are dominating or have had previous success here. I don't think Jake Varner has to worry about his spot.

What do think of the season ticket sales record announced today?

We don't want to have to put the curtain back up so we're hoping that we get even more people to buy season tickets. We're very, very happy with where we're at right now. I've been tremendously blessed to be in this position right now and to get the support from all of Cyclone Nation. From our administration, from our clubs, from our alumni, everyone it seems like is in full support of Iowa State wrestling. We're excited that people have more season tickets than ever and we're hoping that continues to climb. We definitely want to fill Hilton, especially at the right times.

Are all of your All-Americans good enough to win a national championship?

For sure. I don't think anyone in our room has reached their full potential. I think the majority of them have only scratched the surface. Being with them every day, putting them through the daily drills and putting them in must win positions. There's a few must-win positions that happen in a match that are going to determine if you win that match. And I think that's one of the areas we're going to improve most in. When we have to perform a certain skill when it's called for. There is much more depth to our athletes as far as reaching their potential. And like I said, it's a process. We'll continue to train and compete and bring them back in the room and move them forward in making those connections we know they need to make. I'm excited because these guys have had success, they've won a bunch of matches, they've become All-Americans. When I come into a room and see flaws that should be corrected and are going to be corrected, it makes me even more excited as to what their potential could possibly be.

How much of an adjustment has it been for you coming into college wrestling?

It's been an adjustment without a doubt. It's been more of the little things that surround the program than major things. Obviously I believe that my staff has done a great job from a recruiting standpoint, getting a kid on campus and displaying what Iowa State has to offer them academically and athletically. The big things are well taken care of and well under control. It's the little things. I hadn't been in a college room on daily basis in 10 years. It's just dealing with everything that surrounds a program rather than the day-to-day operations.

Is there any extra pressure for you being at Iowa State?

I don't feel any pressure, I feel zero pressure, actually. The bottom line is I've been in wrestling for a long time and ever since I've been in wrestling, I've been trying to be the best that I can be. Whether it's city champ or Olympic champion. To be the best is my goal, it's been what I've shot for my whole life. So when I come into a program like Iowa State, regardless of the expectations are, they by no means exceed what my expectations are. What I feel is that if I do everything in my power to train these guys the right way and to give them the right mentality and the technical and tactical skills they need, it all falls into the process. What we do every day in the room. The national championship is not going to be won in March. It's going to be won every day in Iowa State's room. Now when December 6th shows up and you've got 15 thousand in the stands and you're expecting to win and you're expected to perform, I'm sure I'll feel some butterflies.

How do you see the national race?

I really don't size it up. You know the teams that are major players that have a team that's capable of being the best. It can shake out any kind of way. The way it shook out last year I'm sure was unexpected, the way the results ended up falling out. How Iowa won that national championship, or Ohio State taking second or even us taking third. For me to try to figure out what that looks like, I can't really do that without taking away from what we have to do as a team. All I want is for my guys to wrestle the way their capable of wrestling, to wrestle the way they're trained, to wrestle with a mentality and skill level that's second to none. If we can do that I'm going to be happy with the performance in March. So I couldn't tell you. It's my first time in the show as a coach. We'll see, I'm looking forward to it. We want to be great in March, though, we really do.

Does Iowa winning the championship last year enhance your motivation against them?

It's never just another match against Iowa. We'll all try to play it down. I'll try to play it down, the Brands will try to play it down. But we all know. It's the Cy-Hawk Hy-Vee Series for a reason, that's because Iowa vs. Iowa State means something. So obviously it's something we look forward to and it's obvious they look forward to it. When you watch those matches, it shows the intensity of both programs. I don't think anything has changed. I just know we're down 0-4 over the last four years and if I said over the last ten we've probably got, what, two victories in there? You really can't call it a strong rivalry until the other team wins so that's what we're up against.

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