Seven Minutes is a series of interviews with top wrestling coaches and athletes. Most of the question-and-answer sessions last roughly seven minutes. Hence the name. Ohio State head wrestling coach Tom Ryan led the Buckeyes to an NCAA team title in 2015 and was a two-time All-American for the University of Iowa under Dan Gable. You can listen to the entire interview above or read the transcript below. 

 

If you could take what you know now and have a conversation with yourself at 15 What advice would you give yourself?

Listen more. Suffer more. Listen to your parents. Read more. Be more curious and hungry to learn more things.

What do you mean by suffer more?

I mean put myself under more duress, chosen suffering.

What is the biggest break that helped you helped you get to where you are today?

I had so many breaks. I think that the most critical tool for success is people and the people you surround yourself with. I've had so many people around me that are so good at what they do. I went to the J Robinson Intensive Camp. I think the J Robinson Intensive Camps changed the way I think. As a young person, I'm not sure there was anything more valuable for me at that time than to learn the value of deep, deep suffering. To work at a level that most people are unwilling to go to. That was a big factor for me. The other is the loss of my five-year-old, Teague. He changed my vision.

Can you elaborate on how he changed your vision?

I think as human beings we all choose our ‘priceless.’ They are so precious that its value cannot be determined. When my son passed away, it changed my priceless. It's usually the deepest pain that causes us to reflect. When we're not in a lot of pain and things are going relatively well, it's not that often that we reflect and that caused me to do that.

Let's go back to recruiting when you are in high school. What do you remember about it? What were your top three schools? Why did you pick Syracuse and then why did you transfer to Iowa?

My dream was to wrestle for Gable (at Iowa). I spent about every summer of my life training at those one-month training camps. I went to that a few times so I wanted to go to the University of Iowa but my senior year in high school I was injured at the state tournament when I was heavily favored to win the tournament and I didn't win it. My brother was at Syracuse and he was a captain at Syracuse University. And we were really close. He was two years older than me. 

If I couldn't get to Iowa, I took a full scholarship to wrestle alongside my brother at Syracuse. I was recruited by a lot of schools and then when I hurt my ankle, my senior year in high school at the state tournament, they dropped off of me. That really, really pained me. I thought they were recruiting me as the person that I am and the work ethic I have, and I thought all the things that mattered went beyond whether or not I won the state tournament. It taught me a lesson at a young age that sometimes we can get caught up in titles more than the things that are going to get us to the title. So I chose Syracuse. 

I was deeply in awe of Coach Gable and what he was building at Iowa and I just want to be a part of so after two years I left. I didn’t want to die and not give myself a chance to make that team. So I just packed my bags and drove out to the University of Iowa.

So you just packed your bags and drove out? You didn't let Gable know you're coming. You just did it.

He didn't know who I was. I felt like I had to leave. So I just let the coaches know at Syracuse that I'd be transferring. I packed my car, let my mom and dad know and actually drove out. I drove out to the University of Iowa and enrolled. The first practice when I got out to Iowa City, I was in sitting in a corner of the wrestling room. 

I didn't expect it to be packed and Gable came over to me and he said, ‘Who are you?’ 

And I said, ‘My name is Tom. I'm gonna be wrestling here next year.’ 

And then he said to me, ‘You're not going to get any better sitting there. Go wrestle with these two brothers.’ 

I wrestled with Troy and Terry Steiner. It was the first practice I ever had in the Iowa wrestling room. It was a summer practice and they beat the living tar out of me for quite a while. I remember thinking, ‘Should I go back to Syracuse or should I stay?’ I chose to stay.

Which match in your past sticks with you the most?

Two matches. My national final against Pat Smith and my high school semi-final when I had one leg and I tried to wrestle. Both of those losses were probably the most painful losses in my experience, but also helped me grow the most.

Do you still think about them?

Now and then. I’m over it. I'm on to lots of different things. But, yeah, when you pour your life into something and you don't attain what you would hope you to attain it stays with you. It's useless pain if you don't learn from it. I'm not a big fan of useless pain.

Let's say wrestling has one governing body and you are the president, what would you want to change?

I would make the dual meet have greater value. The single greatest reason why I got involved in the sport when I was in seventh grade was the absolute unity of a team. I think that the dual meet is something that should be heightened.

How do you do that?

You create you create value. You’ve got to make it a national championship so that whoever is the best team in the country wins. You have a system throughout the year where there's a more organized system of dual meets. You do exactly what college football has done to some degree. You've got to create a system that people want to follow the sport year-round. 

What's the most interesting thing about you that has nothing to do with wrestling?

I'm pretty boring.

How about your love for smoothies?

I absolutely love smoothies. Yes.

When did you get hooked on smoothies?

I've been hooked on smoothies for a while. As a kid growing up in New York, after a snowfall, I would take a black garbage bag and fill it up with snow and put it in my freezer and then make slushies. When I travel overseas, it's painful because they don't know what ice is. They're not big fans of ice and I like things cold. So it started young.

What's the greatest compliment someone could give you as a coach?

Great example. Endless love. Truth and love.

Who were a couple of coaches in college wrestling that you admire and why?

I admire Tom Brands. Tom is a great teammate of mine and Terry. Those are guys I look up to. The Steiner brothers. They were teammates. I know who they are and what they're made of. I like J Robinson a lot. I like Brandon Eggum a lot at Minnesota. Just a lot of good people.

Which recruiting loss was the hardest to deal with?

If I had a crystal ball we'd be champs many times over. I've dropped off people who went on to be amazing superstars and I recruited some guys that at times didn't have the deep love for wrestling like I thought they would. I would say probably the biggest loss was Dustin Kilgore. He wanted to be a Buckeye and I chose someone over him and I think that was always just a big mistake. So if I could go back in time I would make Dustin Kilgore a Buckeye.