David Taylor on Finding His Passion for Competing Again
STILLWATER – Oklahoma State head coach David Taylor thought his on-the-mat career had come to an end this past spring when he failed to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympic games at 86 kgs.
He even mentioned it to the media on Wednesday, September 18, that he told Chad Weiberg and Co. during his first interview for the head coaching job he was done competing.
But being back in the wrestling room these past four months with Cowboy wrestling and the RTC has reignited his love for competition, which led to him competing in, and qualifying at 92 kgs, at the U.S. Senior World Team Trials in Omaha, NE, this past weekend.
“It gives you a different perspective coming into practice. It just created an energy and excitement that I hadn’t felt in four years. Sitting and talking to guys, you’re talking about when you have that fire to do something. It’s such a small window in wrestling and I started to feel that again. If I have it, I think this is a really good opportunity for OSU wrestling. It’s a great opportunity for our RTC.”
In order to compete at 92 kgs, Taylor had to put on close to 15 pounds over the past few months, which meant he was training with guys like Dustin Plott and transfers Wyatt Hendrickson and DJ Hamiti among others.
Not only putting on the weight, but winning the event at 92 kgs is a testament to both Taylor and the guys he mentioned as they all got better during practices. When asked if he did anything different to get ready, coach Taylor just talked about doing the standard workouts and practices with the team.
“I just did the workouts with the guys. They got to see a different level from me, and it raised their level. All the guys that I was wrestling, Dustin (Plott), DJ (Hamiti), Cody (Merrill), Kyle (Haas), Wyatt (Hendrickson), Konner (Doucet), Brayden (Thompson), their level started to increase. Once I said ‘Hey, I’m thinking about wrestling,’ they showed a different level when they came in... It’s creating a really cool environment, and I think that is what has been the most beneficial and unique about this process. Nothing I did was different than what they’re doing and that’s what we talked about when coming here. We want to wrestle with the guys and we’re not going to ask them to do anything that we aren’t doing.”
It's still surreal seeing one of the greatest American wrestlers of all-time not just wearing the Oklahoma State logo, but competing under the OSU/Cowboy Wrestling Club brands.
When asked if it took him a while to get used to wearing orange and OSU logos instead of blue, white and Penn State gear, coach Taylor gave a great answer.
I’ve been down here for a short period of time, but I take a lot of pride in the program and what it represents. It’s an honor. Orange is a color that you should earn the right to wear, it’s not just a given thing. A lot of tradition comes with those colors, and I was just excited to be able to represent the university and the people that had done it before me.”
The Seniors World Championships take place October 28-31 in Tirana, Albania, and while Taylor has qualified, he told the media he’s unsure if he’s going to compete.
“We have things, obviously, that we gotta work through and making sure everything is in place,” Taylor said. “That’s a decision that we’ll make. I think to go to the World Championships this year, it’s in six weeks, there are some exciting opponents that I could get a chance to wrestle, but to go would need a little bit more preparation than what I had going into the trials. So just kind of talking through what that looks like, and we’ll be able to make a decision here pretty soon.”