Oklahoma State named David Taylor the newest wrestling head coach, replacing the retired John Smith.
Following Smith’s retirement, the Cowboys’ brass decided to open up a wider ranging coaching search than originally anticipated. Coleman Scott, who spent eight years as North Carolina’s head coach, returned to his alma mater ahead of the 2023-24 campaign as the associate head coach. He was named interim head coach after Smith’s retirement.
However, Oklahoma State opted to go in a different direction with Taylor, an Olympic Gold Medalist.
Scott, a four-time All-American for Oklahoma State, won a national title in 2008 for the Cowboys prior to his coaching career.
In his international wrestling career, Scott was a member of the 2012 Olympic Team and won a Bronze Medal.
Scott was a volunteer assistant at Oklahoma State, aiding NCAA champions Jordan Oliver, Chris Perry (twice) and Alex Dieringer. He then coached Austin O’Connor to two NCAA titles while with the Tar Heels.
Taylor won a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 at 86 KG. He’s also a three-time World Champion and won a Silver Medal at the 2021 World Championships.
Taylor was a two-time NCAA champion and four-time finalist while at Penn State. His losses in the finals came to Bubba Jenkins (Arizona State) and Kyle Dake (Cornell). Ironically, Jenkins was at Penn State but transferred to ASU when Sanderson arrived in 2010.
Taylor was in contention to go to the 2024 Paris Games this summer but was defeated at the Olympic Trials. In the best-of-three finals, Taylor was outlasted in two matches by Aaron Brooks, who just won his fourth NCAA title for Penn State back in March.
Smith was Oklahoma State’s all-time winningest coach with a dual record of 490-73-6. His 490 dual wins is the most among active coaches and third overall at the Division I level, only behind Harold Nichols and Dale Thomas. Smith joined Nichols and Thomas as the only Division I head coaches to reach even 450 career dual wins.
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