The Money Round – Cody Sanderson

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Cornell Robinson: And welcome to the money Round. I am the money coach. Join me down the bottom and we have a special guest today. We are sponsored by spring Training, where the elite come and train with the elite. All right. And today we have a special guest. Took a while to get him here. A lot to get him here. I one of the Penn State coaches and definitely one of the best coaches in the world in the country.

Cornell Robinson: And I get to kind of hang around coach a little bit here and try to annoy him and get all the knowledge I can from them and the staff. So it’s pretty awesome. Coach Cody Sanderson Let’s talk about.

Cody Sanderson: How much guys are you doing?

Cornell Robinson: Good, good. Thanks for coming on.

Cody Sanderson: Oh, yeah. Happy to be here.

Cornell Robinson: Hey. Hey, dude, I am not happy. So, what’s going on in the years now, coach? Well, yeah, right now.

Cody Sanderson: We’re just getting ready for season start. We get official practices going later this week. Big focus right now. It’s just been on preseason strength, training, conditioning and Bart’s work with a lot of guys just sharpening up some freestyle techniques. So and enjoying a little bit of fall weather out here in State College.

Cornell Robinson: Yeah. Yeah. Fall weather, too. I was waiting. I was getting.

Cody Sanderson: This a little cold this morning.

Cornell Robinson: So is there something that you really you guys really focus on in the fall? More than any aspect of. I mean, I guess every season, you know, we’re playing certain attention, but there are certain things that you focus on in the fall for sure.

Cody Sanderson: Yeah, I mean, it’s a little bit consistent. I look back at my notes from from practices and prior years and it’s pretty consistent. A lot of the technique that we focus on, you know, there’s a lot of positions that just come up over and over again. But I guess the other thing that changes year to year is, you know, we watched the World championships closely, whether it’s our guys or other guys and pay attention to what the best guys in the world are doing or what’s trending.

Cody Sanderson: And we spend a little bit of time, you know, once we’re back from the world championships working in those positions. So so there’s some riding.

Cornell Robinson: Yeah, with those positions too, you know, because we always do this thing, especially with some of my, uh, you know, coaching girls. Our girls are freestyle and they’re like, well, you know, well, we’re not gonna do folk style because we do a freestyle. Do you guys intertwine, intertwine those world championship positions or your folks style positions?

Cody Sanderson: Yeah. A lot of the with it’s not exactly the same, but there’s a lot of similarities, a lot of principles that carry over, you know, just the hand fighting, positioning, the pressure snapped where guys are wrestling, even like top guys, their attitude, how they compete, you know, what they do for warmups. And we try to watch everything we can learn as much as we can.

Cody Sanderson: We’re in those situations right now.

Cornell Robinson: Did you notice anything different with the the warm ups that other countries do more than ours or just certain people?

Cody Sanderson: Oh, I watch more individuals. But yeah, it’s interesting. I actually enjoy one of the things I enjoy is just watching how countries operate as a group, you know, is or do they operate as a group? Does the coach run it or there are athletes running it, you know, is a difference between, you know, the men’s freestyle, the women’s freestyle and the Greco-Roman just being kind of a you know, in the sport.

Cody Sanderson: I enjoy that aspect of it. So it’s interesting.

Cornell Robinson: It’s it seem like, you know, the little bit I’ve been around, see, like Iran and some of the other countries where I’m more of a group where we’re more individualized.

Cody Sanderson: Yeah, I think it sometimes depends the training situation that they come from. Right. Are they all training together year round or is it more of a you know, like with us we have a RTC situation where we have people coming from all over the country together. But it’s you know, they do change that up a little bit as they get closer.

Cody Sanderson: It’s interesting to watch some of their I would say, superstars, you know, when they’re with the group, when they’re not with the group, you know, sometimes they’re they’re sometimes they’re not. Sometimes it’s photo ops. Sometimes they’re they’re doing stuff for the media, just like, you know, guys will do here for their Instagram stories. And, you know, it’s it’s interesting to watch them, you know, do similar things, but just navigate in a different system.

Cornell Robinson: All right. So what are some things you’re looking forward to for these folks? Our season coming up.

Cody Sanderson: Just to compete. We love it. You know, we train all year. We want to go out there and just enjoy ourselves and compete hard. You know, every year’s a little bit different, but there are similarities. And, you know, I like the early season. You get different looks. I like the mid-season over the Big Ten to all stretch postseason.

Cody Sanderson: You know, it’s all fun. It’s just the opportunity to compete right now.

Cornell Robinson: Are you guys going to have a lot of wrestlers at the U.S. Open? You think? Our Bill Fair?

Cody Sanderson: Bill Farrell Probably not as much. You know, it’s very close to the all star meet, and it looks like we’re going to have a few guys wrestling in that. It’s also right around the same time that a bunch of our guys will be at the AMI tournament. And that’s an important meet for our guys to get matches and get get the season started.

Cody Sanderson: So I think that be fewer. Bill Farrell But the U.S. Open, you know, we have a lot of interest and we’re just in the process of narrowing that down right now, just making sure that it makes sense with the guys their season. I think their biggest challenge for that is it actually happened at the end of our final exam week.

Cody Sanderson: So just making sure that guys are finished up with the final exams before we need to travel.

Cornell Robinson: Now you got some for coach?

Dom Federici: Yeah, Coach obviously making a transition from high school wrestling to college is a big and difficult to do. What do you think are some of the best ways to become a successful college wrestler? Well, I think that one thing that’s really helpful, especially with with this age group, is the opportunity that guys have to actually get in college rooms with the Regional Training center.

Cody Sanderson: You know, it’s a1i think that’s you know, it’s a big advantage that athletes have now that we didn’t have in the past. So any time you get an opportunity, get your hands on a college guy that will help out. And, you know, they’re not there’s not not a lot of secrets. You get in the room and you get to work, Right.

Cody Sanderson: Get your hands on the best guy in the room every day that you can and just see, see where it takes you. You know, work with your coaches. They’re going have a lot of knowledge and they’re going to be able to help you start working. The positions need to work in to get ready to go. So, you know, there’s not a lot of secrets out there in wrestling to get a hold of a guy wrestle hard and see what happens.

Cornell Robinson: I, I So how did you personally get into wrestling like, you know, your your dad’s a coach. Is that how it all started?

Cody Sanderson: I think so. A long time ago. Decades ago. I hate to say it, but now my dad was a he was a wrestling coach and we just ended up with him at the gym all the time, you know, every Saturday or during the week. We were just with my dad and the wrestling room and myself and my younger brothers, just what we did and it was natural for us.

Cody Sanderson: And, you know, fortunately we had a dad that was a great coach, but also supportive in the right kind of ways. You know, he knew how to push us, but, you know, didn’t didn’t overdo it. So, yeah, it was it was well, like any other guy that had a wrestling coach is a dad. We just we just came through it fell in love.

Cody Sanderson: And the older I got and the more competitive we got, the more I like to do it.

Cornell Robinson: All right, So how many state titles have your dad won as a coach?

Cody Sanderson: Oh, I guess I should know that. I don’t know. I know he won several. I think his first round. I think he won maybe five or six in a row at the high school and then once more and then won a couple with a couple of different high schools. So yeah, yeah. And he had all kinds of success.

Cody Sanderson: But I’m going to get in trouble because I don’t know how many, how many he won, but yeah, I don’t know. He doesn’t talk about it’s not like you go home and he’s got trophies up in his house so But yeah, he, he did, he did a great job. He just, you know, when we were young, he took it a community approach.

Cody Sanderson: We lived kind of a small community. And his goal was to have every kid in elementary school spend some time in the wrestling. And so every year he would put on a youth program and we’d run around town hanging up fliers on every lamppost that we could find. And he got a whole bunch of kids to go through his wrestling room.

Cody Sanderson: And, you know, from that he was able to build that just a monster of a wrestling program. It was a powerhouse, you know, for a small little community. I don’t know how high we were ranked, but I think we were ranked as high as top five in the country at some point in their.

Cornell Robinson: That’s pretty cool. So. All right. So how did I guess the all your brothers go to Iowa State?

Cody Sanderson: Yeah. Yeah, they will work.

Cornell Robinson: So I end up in Iowa face.

Cody Sanderson: So well that was I’m the oldest and so I wanted I wanted to wrestle I mean the closest program to our house at the time was Brigham Young University. But at the time there was concerns that the program would end up being dropped and which unfortunately, it ended up being being eliminated. So I just I didn’t really want to take my chances on being in a program that wasn’t on solid ground.

Cody Sanderson: So I, I looked out and, you know, I went visit a handful of schools. I went on officials to Minnesota, Cornell, North Carolina, Oklahoma State and Iowa State. And big thing for me is I just wanted to go where my brothers would follow me. I mean, that was the number one when I was going to school. I was like, all right, is this a place that my brother is going to want to go?

Cody Sanderson: And, you know, I wanted Cole who was next, and then Kell, you know, who was third. I had my little brother Kyler, but he was ten years younger, so I wasn’t really planning for him. But but yeah, I visited all the schools and all of them were great. But I, you know, I went to Iowa State and I really, you know, I really liked Coach Douglas.

Cody Sanderson: I felt like we had a connection right away. I just liked his approach, you know, I didn’t feel like he was selling me on anything. He was like, This is what we have and this is what we can do. And, you know, let’s work to do this together. And I just I liked how he approached us. I liked how he approached my family.

Cody Sanderson: And I felt like it was a place my brothers would would want to follow. And so I chose Iowa State. And then Paul came, and then Cal came the next year. So it all worked out.

Cornell Robinson: Right? So now did you after you had done wrestling, then you coach at Utah Valley for a while also.

Cody Sanderson: Yeah, Yeah, I did.

Cornell Robinson: Head coach there.

Cody Sanderson: Yeah. Yeah, I was I was at Utah Valley, so right out of college I wasn’t really sure what I’d one wanted to do. I’d taken all the pre-med courses in college, so I was like, Oh, do I want to go to med school? But I know I knew I didn’t want to spend some time in grad school, spent some time helping Coach Douglas.

Cody Sanderson: And then I was approached by some people in Utah that they were trying to get the program started in Utah Valley. You know, it wasn’t a program. The athletic department was moving from a junior college to Division one in the NCAA, and they needed out in men’s sport. So they were lobbying at the time to make that wrestling.

Cody Sanderson: And, you know, fortunately, they they added wrestling and I, I applied for the job and I ended up getting it. I, I think when I was hired I was 25 and I started like I think I was 26 when I actually was out there and the program got started. So, you know, I was the head coach. I was pretty young.

Cody Sanderson: I didn’t know what I was doing. I worked hard at it. You know, I’m not sure I still look back and I’m like, Oh, what the heck was I doing out there? But I was you know, I was trying hard. It was an incredible experience. You know, I, I spent three years and I learned a whole lot about coaching.

Cody Sanderson: I learned a whole lot about relationships. Even some of the training structure that we still do at Penn State was some of the stuff that I kind of figured out there, kind of how to base and prep guys, have guys, you know, peek through the season and how to get peeks through the weeks. You know, it was it was a really you know, it was really valuable for me.

Cody Sanderson: You know, there was really zero expectations. I mean, outside of like myself, I wanted to be good. I want the program to be good. But, you know, it wasn’t like, you know, pressure. The athletic director I remember meeting with on the first day is like, well, you’re new here and we’ve never had wrestling. So, you know, good luck and let me know what we can do for you.

Cody Sanderson: So so that’s how it went. And, you know, I it was tough. You know, we weren’t the best team ever, but we had some scrappy guys and they were a lot of fun to coach. And, you know.

Cornell Robinson: And that program is still I mean, it’s thriving, right? Well, yeah, yeah.

Cody Sanderson: They’re the coach that came after me was Greg Williams. He was a guy that was a club coach on the scene in Utah growing up. He was well-respected in the community. He was able to take over. He actually really jumpstarted the fundraising. That was something I wasn’t very good at. I didn’t really have a concept on how that works.

Cody Sanderson: He really did a good job with the fundraising. They’ve been able to have a few All-Americans, and he just actually announced this will be his last year. So he’s going to be retiring. And I believe they’re still searching for another coach out there. But I I’ve heard that they’re working on building him a new facility and that the administration there is really supportive.

Cody Sanderson: So so yeah, this is all good things. And you know, fortunately we still have the college wrestling program, you know, in Utah basketball.

Cornell Robinson: So you’re talking about peaking like, you know, a lot of people say six week phases like do you guys go by that concept or how do you approach peaking?

Cody Sanderson: I like that idea, but I just don’t think that that’s necessarily practical for for wrestling, right? So like the six week phase, just because the way our competition season rolls and every year different fronts. So, you know we just we just map out the calendar, you know, look at what we’re trying to get, what we’re trying to get out of guys at a certain point the season and we just build back from there.

Cornell Robinson: So you start backwards.

Cody Sanderson: I do. I stand backwards. Yeah, I’ll print out. We do this every year. I print out the calendar like the NCAA tournament and, well, I also the US Open, the Nationals. We put that stuff in there and we just start building back and we’ll go all the way back to the beginning and just make a plan for where we want to be.

Cornell Robinson: And so I might ask you some advice because I do that. So for me, what I try to do for the high school kids is like, all right, well, the term is I’ll try to pick you for a Super 32. I’m in the prep nationals, which is important world team trials in Fargo. So I treat every other tournament like it doesn’t matter.

Cornell Robinson: So we might train through that tournament. But the tournament where I try to make sure you feel rested and and most, you know, can get the most out of you at those terms that sound like a good way to do it. I think maybe you look at it more individually.

Cody Sanderson: I mean, you’re there. You have one heck of a program. I think you’re you’re the expert on, you know, age group wrestling. I’d be asking you that question. But to me, it to me, it makes sense. I think it’s going to work a little bit differently with like an NCAA Division one program because, you know, every competition is intense, right?

Cody Sanderson: We don’t we don’t have we don’t have easy matches. So I think our approach would probably be a little bit different than yours. But, you know, it sounds like it sounds like you handle into it right.

Cornell Robinson: So with you guys, where you do the dual meets every weekend and like, do you guys really put an emphasis on making the kids wrestle during a dual? Because I know like sometimes it’s hard to to get you know especially got some superstars getting them in those matches and and making importance of winning the duel as a team.

Cody Sanderson: Yeah it’s you know it’s something that you know we just have to be conscious of just making sure that our guys are healthy and that they’re, you know, prepared for every match. But yes, I mean, there’s not a lot of opportunities to wrestle and talk to guys. You know, it it happens, you know, blink of an eye. You’re starting college one day and the next day, you know, you’re getting ready for your last home duel.

Cody Sanderson: So, you know, we tell guys to be ready. You know, you don’t get a lot of opportunities in life to just go out there and freely do what you love to do and go compete. And so, you know, that’s something we talk to guys about. And I mean, I train hard to train hard year round. You might as well go out there on the mat and and enjoy that aspect of it.

Cody Sanderson: But I think that, you know, we’ve had a pretty good track record of guys competing and in most events. And that’s something that we think is important. We think it’s important for the, you know, the development and the promotion of the sport as well. We make sure that we spend, you know, a lot of time playing our schedule so we get the proper number of home meet so that we can continue to promote our program and promote promote wrestling, you know, nationwide.

Cornell Robinson: So, you know, I kind of noticed like years I know people went to Southern scuffle Midlands right steady like it seems like people are wrestling less now than than before. Is that because of COVID or what do you think?

Cody Sanderson: You know, I’ve talked to people I don’t know that I really have the answers to that. But yeah, I think the COVID rushed everything that was already taking place. I kind of tend to think that it’s a lot of it has to do with the attention that the guys get now. I think that it’s a little bit more difficult than it was, say, when I wrestled.

Cody Sanderson: I mean, I could I could go wrestling a match and in college and no one knows if I won or lost. There was no social media. I mean, there was there was no flow wrestling. There was no Big Ten network shoot. It was hard. I get beat not up to go home, you know, call, call, collect mom and dad and let them know that I lost a wrestling match.

Cody Sanderson: Right? I mean, that was that was the way it was then. But, you know, now, now every match is focused. And one thing that I think some guys bring this on themselves so is that, you know, every match they wrestle, they got to talk about it. They’ve got to put a picture about it on their social media statement.

Cody Sanderson: You know, this is where we’re going to be in the no matter what happens, they got to get back on their Instagram or their social media and they got to comment about how it went or talk about, you know, the challenge makes them stronger. I just I think that, you know, for better or for worse, guys tend to to bring a lot of pressure on themselves that we didn’t have.

Cody Sanderson: You know, I think it’s a tough thing for them to navigate. You know, we as coaches, we do our best to help them out with it. But I don’t know. We certainly don’t have the answers for that. I mean, I think that maybe you probably see some of that, too, with your you know, with your high school kids.

Cody Sanderson: You know, it’s yeah, when I was wrestling in high school, I don’t know how many matches a wrestler. I don’t know. No new, no new anywhere. You know, maybe they would see Fargo results in the USA Wrestler magazine, you know, one time in August. But nobody really knew what was going on too much. But this these kids and a lot of the guys on your team specifically, you know, they have a nationwide following.

Cody Sanderson: People are following what they’re doing, not just in a competition basis, but on a daily basis. And I think it adds a whole different type of pressure to stress to what they’re doing.

Cornell Robinson: Yeah, it definitely that aspect to it just to like say where kids may not want it to be because you know, them taking a lot of things, denial or some crazy stuff. So yeah, so it’s crazy that. All right so I’m a switch subject here So World this year USA brought home another teen title and the Penn State staff is definitely a key into that.

Cornell Robinson: And like, what makes you guys so involved in the USA Wrestling movement and the World Championship movement in Team USA? What what is that that you guys are all about That.

Cody Sanderson: I think it was kind of a gradual approach. Just, you know, years ago they started talking about, you know, changing the NCAA rules so that college guys could work out and practices. And then these original training centers started to kind of develop. And actually, I think probably more than any program we were trying to pump the brakes on all that.

Cody Sanderson: They’re like, whoa, whoa, you know, is this what we should be doing? Is this the right thing for the sport? Is this the right thing for our kids? You know, should we be having, you know, this sort of thing? And we even looked at it from the standpoint of, you know, is it the right thing to do? Is this can help good programs is going to help.

Cody Sanderson: I don’t know. Good pull out larger programs, more supportive programs. Is it going to hurt our smaller programs, less support programs? So we were initially pretty lukewarm to the concept. But, you know, once the rules were in place and regional training started developing, we felt like, well, this is this is a next step to continuing to develop our athletes right.

Cody Sanderson: You know, we could talk at the time, you know, a lot of it really picked up when we were moving over from Iowa State to Penn State. You know, David Taylor, he’s a good example. You know, he was he was coming with us to Penn State. And, you know, he he it was pretty clear that he wanted to be a world Olympic champion.

Cody Sanderson: And that was his goals. And then, as you know, you’re an athlete, my goal is for you to reach your goals. And it really boils down to that. So we started looking at it and thinking of, all right, well, what do we need to do to help our guys reach their goals? And they looked out of the world.

Cody Sanderson: The next thing is, is support in the regional training centers. And so, you know, something that the colonel has to spend a lot of time doing is fundraising and promoting that and providing athletes or opportunities for our athletes to continue to compete, you know, post-graduation. And then, you know, it’s just kind of grown from there. And we’ve had an opportunity to have some guys join our program from other college programs who have just been, you know, just a joy to work with.

Cody Sanderson: So I just said it’s just kind of a gradual process. You know, right now we have a casting. We got a monster wrestler. I mean, it’s the Nittany Lions Wrestling Club is it’s fun to be a part of. Those guys are tough. You know, I’m incredibly grateful to be able to work with the athletes that I work with.

Cody Sanderson: And, you know, it certainly didn’t happen overnight. You know, it’s been a long haul and a lot of work. But, you know, we like where it is right now.

Cornell Robinson: Awesome. So near the team and I mean all our team because I coach girls now, too. So I had two girls boys, we we watched some of the cynical match well what was the city coffin date match what were some of the key elements in that match You think that they get that outcome? Like what are some things that change the swing of that?

Cody Sanderson: I think that I mean, I got to be a little bit careful because, you know.

Cornell Robinson: We’ll see them again.

Cody Sanderson: Pretty good chance this match happens again, right? Right. And here’s my chances. Match happens again and there’s a lot to happen between now and then. But, you know, we’ve already talked about, you know, do we need to switch of some tactics? We need to switch some technique. You know what what’s what’s the next step, you know, in Kyl’s progression, you know, to be the to be the best again.

Cody Sanderson: So I got to kind of say that, you know, with that match, there’s a couple key points. You know, when when Kyle was was put on the clock and he just reached a little bit and Citicorp was ready for him to reach, kind of they had a little break and they came back and his and him, Citicorp was ready for that.

Cody Sanderson: And he dropped and got that leg. You know, he was able to finish the shots on Kyle and score some points that people hadn’t been able to score in the past. So so clearly, we’ve got to spend a little bit more more time with some of those positions. But it really was it was an interesting match. You know, there were some back and forth, but I think that Citicorp won a couple positions or maybe a single position.

Cody Sanderson: I think there was like one single point where Kyle stepped and leaned a little bit high and Citicorp gun on his leg, I think had he circled and come in a little bit better position, Cal ends up scoring that the point because he’s on the clock. He’s tough to stop when he’s on the clock and it changes the outcome of the match.

Cody Sanderson: So, you know, when I think about that match, I think about that point when he reached in. I just think about the situation where he just got his foot off the mat when Citicorp was finishing, you know? Yeah.

Cornell Robinson: Right. It seemed like Citicorp like his go to. And I mean, is that kind of outside swim ICR just an outside step I see. You mean kind of got him in barrels with that late. MM You know, one thing it looked like that they did a good job of beating city cause left hand like you can’t beat him inside on that on that side which really took that slide by the way it seemed like.

Cody Sanderson: Yeah, the slide by was something that we worked on but it wasn’t really, it didn’t really play much of a role in the match. But yeah, I mean, the outside step shot, he’s as good as anybody in the world and then he dropped in there twice. So, you know, clearly something that we need to work on more. I mean, it’s not like we weren’t and not like it wasn’t.

Cody Sanderson: You spent a lot of time and worked hard for it to prep for that position. But, you know, that’s the fun of it, right? You work to work your tail off or not train it to go beat the guys that we just beat all the time. Right? Trying to go beat the best in the world. And, you know, you do something and you make an adjustment and beat you and you get to make an adjustment, come back and beat them.

Cody Sanderson: You know, that’s that’s the fun part of it. I mean, a perfect example is David and Yazdani. I mean, David’s definitely got the better of them, but the adjustments they’ve made, you know, back and forth, you know, that’s just a fun process to be a part of.

Cornell Robinson: A It was interesting with Taylor and Yazdani like, you know, do you think Yazdani can make another adjustment to try to figure this out? I now that’s worth six five times that in wrestling. Yeah, well, I don’t know.

Cody Sanderson: I don’t know. I mean, I hope he’s working on it, right? I hope it’s fun. I hope he comes with something. And that’s what we’re doing this for, right? You’re doing this to get the best guys in the world. Just just go out there and battle.

Cornell Robinson: You know, I think, you know, with in the islands a one dimensional. But he definitely has a hard time when he can’t get to his boot on time.

Cody Sanderson: And what a hook in that pressure snap. And David’s just so good when when he has been able to kind of snap and David ends up dropping down. He just if can’t get around him and he gets around everyone else, he gets them on their knees and he snaps them and he’s around him. David is just so dangerous and tricky in that position that, you know, he’s just been able the last two matches specifically just been able to stop from getting scored on their.

Cornell Robinson: Yeah.

Cody Sanderson: Yeah. I don’t know Hopefully hopefully Yazdani has got an answer and comes back and or maybe they got some other guy coming up.

Cornell Robinson: Yeah they might they might ask one more question on a physical match and you know it’s easier said than done because I know how good Dake is in that chess wrap position, but it seems like he’s even better when he has her head on the inside. Like. And cynical, really. It seemed like he was really, like, sticking low to keep his hand on the outside.

Cody Sanderson: You asked me a question.

Cornell Robinson: I’m asking you a question like with that. Is that something that we could work to try to redirect his head and get his head on the inside?

Cody Sanderson: Yeah, that’s part of it for sure. I mean, it’s he controlled. I look, here’s how I look at single leg finish. There’s a rhythm I see finishes, I look at control and two joints. You got two joints locked down. You’re going to be in a position to, to finish. And that was kind of I wasn’t able to maneuver the way it is normally able to maneuver.

Cody Sanderson: And whether that’s keeping his head outside, doing something different with his knee in his foot or getting the head inside or punching a foot back, you know, I’m not exactly sure what the answer is, but you can’t be in that position where you get in, get two joints controlled.

Cornell Robinson: It makes sense. So like, I’m like, you’re ain’t going, your knee are here. Yeah.

Cody Sanderson: Knee and hip. If you just have one joint, you guys can bend all over the place. You have just like by the hip. They can move if you like, by the knee. You’re just locked on the foot, you know, they’re able to move and change positions on you. But yeah, he, he was tight. I mean his foot was tight and was off the mat and he just couldn’t really generate pressure that normally generates.

Cody Sanderson: So we have to find a different way to do that.

Cornell Robinson: So it sounds I think it had a great tournament. We’re definitely excited to see him win the world title is like, we would do it all these guys now that he got to go to six weights.

Cody Sanderson: But I don’t know. It’s just he’s going to use the word tragic that there’s only six weights but yeah no mean he’s were tragic It’s just really unfortunate you know six weight classes but hey that’s what it is, you know, six weights, six guys get to go to the Olympic Games or six guys get to win the the Olympic team trials for Team USA.

Cody Sanderson: And we’re going to have to make some body adjustments. That’s not easy. You know, the question always is, do you go down or do you go up? You know, those there’s not there’s not clear answers all the time there. But but yeah, I’m just so happy for Zane here. You had a you had some ups and downs and he’s a pretty private guy.

Cody Sanderson: You know, he’s not going to say much about it, but you had some ups and downs and just really last year to see him just kind of burst back on the scene and get that silver medal, even though it was frustrating the way his his gold medal match happened last year. Then to see him come back again and just dominate through the world championships.

Cody Sanderson: It’s just so nice just to see him just to see him happy, you know, I see him before my athletes. Their goal is to be a world champion. You know, that’s my goal. And it’s just it’s so nice when somebody finally gets there or reaches the goal that they have. So. Yeah. And you know, what a you know, what a great guy to work with.

Cody Sanderson: You just it’s been with us for years and he just he always does what he’s asked to do. Anything that’s asked of him, it doesn’t matter. Zane shows up and he gets going. He takes care of business.

Cornell Robinson: That’s all. I mean, he has some good scrambles. That was good matches.

Cody Sanderson: Yeah. Yeah, he’s. He’s fun. And, yeah, I’m just. Just happy for him.

Cornell Robinson: So what’s the expectation for this year for for, for Penn State. Is it you think another title might be in the future.

Cody Sanderson: I just I mean, sure. I don’t know. I hope so. Those championships are hard to win. Every one of them is different and everyone’s hard to word. But, you know, you know, that’s a that’s a goal. Every day people ask, what are you doing today? Well, we’re kind of building a national championship team, right? The thing we do every day work and try to figure it out hard.

Cody Sanderson: But, you know, hopefully, hopefully so. Hopefully our guys have the same goals and same expectations they’ve had for themselves the last couple years. And, you know, hopefully find a way to figure it out and get back on top.

Cornell Robinson: I got another question for coach.

Dom Federici: I No, I’m good, Coach.

Cornell Robinson: All right, Coach, you about to enter the money round? All right, well.

Cody Sanderson: What’s the money around?

Cornell Robinson: Oh, you see, you can watch the whole podcast.

Cody Sanderson: We quickly watch like 2 minutes and money around.

Cornell Robinson: All right, Well, it’s about the athletes. I guess I would say rapid fire questions. And just got to pick which one you like.

Cody Sanderson: About what’s our topic here.

Cornell Robinson: Is whatever coach is whatever can be fool wrestling, whatever, huh, Booboo? Food, food, food.

Cody Sanderson: Oh, okay. All right.

Cornell Robinson: All right. You ready?

Cody Sanderson: I guess so, Yeah.

Cornell Robinson: Pizza. Hamburger.

Cody Sanderson: Depends. Is it Friday night?

Cornell Robinson: Yeah. Friday night, Coach. Pizza. Pizza. Pepperoni, sausage.

Cody Sanderson: What’s that?

Cornell Robinson: Pepperoni or sausage.

Cody Sanderson: On the pizza? Yeah, Bacon.

Cornell Robinson: Bacon. All right. Does pineapple belong on pizza?

Cody Sanderson: No, It can be next to a pizza. Never on top of the pizza.

Cornell Robinson: Okay. Popeye’s or KFC.

Cody Sanderson: Oh, well, it depends. Where am I?

Cornell Robinson: Busy. Do you?

Cody Sanderson: Yeah. See, you know.

Cornell Robinson: I. Chick-Fil-A chicken sandwiches are Popeyes chicken sandwiches.

Cody Sanderson: But I pretty much just get the French fries at Chick-Fil-A, so I got to go at Popeyes.

Cornell Robinson: Okay. All right. Do you call it pop? A soda.

Cody Sanderson: Pop? Of course. Doesn’t everybody.

Cornell Robinson: Though, as a youth off a. All right. Would you rather have a bear or a chimpanzee?

Cody Sanderson: A what?

Cornell Robinson: A bear or a chimpanzee?

Cody Sanderson: Would I rather have one.

Cornell Robinson: As a pet? Yes.

Cody Sanderson: As a pet. Um, can I have both?

Cornell Robinson: Well, it is a r b.

Cody Sanderson: I want both. I want a bear and I want a chimpanzee.

Cornell Robinson: You got to pick one, Coach.

Cody Sanderson: We’ve got the chimpanzee.

Cornell Robinson: All right, All right. This is a tough one here. Would you to have ghost Are roaches in your house?

Cody Sanderson: Well, I have ghosts, and they don’t bother me too much, so I’m just going to stick with what I know.

Cornell Robinson: All right? That’s. That’s good, because I grew up with roaches. You don’t want to go out. They go any day. All right, Panatag.

Cody Sanderson: What about after? How about the pin tech detection day?

Cornell Robinson: There you go.

Cody Sanderson: Back in deck.

Cornell Robinson: I double or single.

Cody Sanderson: Like a double burger or double.

Cornell Robinson: Double eggs.

Cody Sanderson: I always want to hit a double egg. I never could. So I’ll take the double egg. Even though as a single egg guy.

Cornell Robinson: I Would you ever have I mean, you call it a armbar or a chicken wing?

Cody Sanderson: What about a bar or bar? There we go.

Cornell Robinson: Our defense, our offense for wrestling. Yeah.

Cody Sanderson: Offense.

Cornell Robinson: Offense freaks our rules. Shoes, couch shoes.

Cody Sanderson: Well, I’m Penn State. It’s a Nike school.

Cornell Robinson: I’m just. I’m glad Nike was free. That’s what. That’s what I’m glad.

Cody Sanderson: Yeah.

Cornell Robinson: Brick’s history. I Jimmy jog or subway.

Cody Sanderson: I’ll take that roasted chicken breast from subway any day life.

Cornell Robinson: Yeah yeah. It’s good sprawl. I have blocks.

Cody Sanderson: Sprawl or headlocks.

Cornell Robinson: And blocks.

Cody Sanderson: Oh, sprawl. That’s how I hear you When Dixie’s in quarter.

Cornell Robinson: Nelson’s about to ask you, like, what’s the one that looks old in practice? The other day, the Utah.

Cody Sanderson: Oh, waterfall. Utah waterfall.

Cornell Robinson: Which one is better? Utah waterfall. I win this.

Cody Sanderson: I think wins the Winn-Dixie. And I’m actually not very good at the Utah waterfall. That’s like a Kyle Dake specialty.

Cornell Robinson: Yeah. Now named the Utah Dunk. I’m like, No.

Cody Sanderson: I did not see that. You said.

Cornell Robinson: You stop.

Cody Sanderson: The No Winn-Dixie.

Cornell Robinson: With this guy Plato or Cradle.

Cody Sanderson: Cradle.

Cornell Robinson: Batman, a Superman.

Cody Sanderson: Do I have to choose one? Because.

Cornell Robinson: Yes.

Cody Sanderson: Well, I mean, Batman is cool, but he’s not actually a real superhero. He has no superpowers. So. But Superman’s kind of boring because all he has is kryptonite. So. Superman.

Cornell Robinson: All right, Marvel our DC.

Cody Sanderson: I’ll go with Marvel. Incredible Hulk.

Cornell Robinson: I don’t care what goes. DC.

Cody Sanderson: No.

Cornell Robinson: No, no. Marketable.

Cody Sanderson: Yeah. Immortal.

Cornell Robinson: Uh, here we go. Dogs or cats?

Cody Sanderson: Are we talking like house cats? Are we talking tigers?

Cornell Robinson: The house cats? Like pets.

Cody Sanderson: Dogs.

Cornell Robinson: Dog. Would you rather be attacked by a shark or a tiger.

Cody Sanderson: Attacked by a shark or tiger? Definitely a tiger. All right. I had to think about it, but it was definitely a tiger.

Cornell Robinson: Because it’s a big one with the.

Cody Sanderson: Shark.

Cornell Robinson: Okay. But it’s a big one. I’m going to judge you on this one by your answer, just so you know.

Cody Sanderson: Look at it.

Cornell Robinson: I might not let you in my circle. Your answer is wrong.

Cody Sanderson: All right.

Cornell Robinson: Five guys are in and out.

Cody Sanderson: Burger okay, well, here’s a question. Am I able to take my own mayonnaise? The In-N-Out Burger.

Cornell Robinson: They think, Oh, mayonnaise. In-N-Out Burger. I will say so.

Cody Sanderson: Okay. In and out. The in and out sauce is bad, so you got to stop and pick up some manage. You can mix up your own sauce there and then that’s the way to go.

Cornell Robinson: Okay? Okay. Okay. I can live with that. I can live with that.

Cody Sanderson: About you five guys are in and out.

Cornell Robinson: In and out. Easy, easy, easy. Cow bait. Like five guys. I’m going to count Kyle Snider is like, five guys I don’t understand. All right, Tournament or tournament?

Cody Sanderson: Tournament.

Cornell Robinson: Got a license.

Cody Sanderson: When the Axis.

Cornell Robinson: The gallery. All right. Ought to be right out top of bottom. But chicken boneless are traditional, isn’t it?

Cody Sanderson: Like a Popeye KFC thing?

Cornell Robinson: The ball.

Cody Sanderson: Yeah. I’ll just take whatever KFC and Popeye have.

Cornell Robinson: But I hope they have bonus.

Cody Sanderson: All right. It’s just a chicken nugget, right?

Cornell Robinson: That is. It’s already chicken nugget. I’ve got one minute left, so I got to ask you this question here. Look, if you could wrestle anybody dead or alive, present or alive, who would it be?

Cody Sanderson: How about a match with you?

Cornell Robinson: I told you, I’m looking at that.

Cody Sanderson: I want to see what you got.

Cornell Robinson: George Porter just out.

Cody Sanderson: Now, let’s see.

Cornell Robinson: All right. I appreciate you coming on, Coach.