By David Gibb
Before I came to Hofstra, I knew nothing about wrestling. I didn’t understand the scoring, I didn’t understand the strategy, and, to be honest, I thought the sharpshooter was a real hold. The wrestlers at my high school generally came in two flavors: big guys who weren’t good enough to play football and gentlemen who made me look like Arnold Schwarzenegger (for the record, I’m 5-foot-10 inches tall and weigh 130 pounds). However, in the last three years, I have fallen in love with wrestling, which never would have happened had I not gone to Hofstra.
In case you don’t know, we’re kind of a big deal in the world of college wrestling. If you don’t care, you should. The team’s that good. This weekend, the CAA Wrestling Championships were held at the Mack Athletic Complex here on Hofstra’s campus, and the Pride came through at home, finishing first in three weight classes and second in four. Hofstra ended their season with 104.5 points, with second-place Old Dominion tallying 87. Rider finished third with 73. Even if you don’t understand wrestling, you can tell that one of those numbers is a lot bigger than the other two. That’s dominance.
Unfortunately, media outlets like ESPN don’t care about wrestling. In fact, I think the “World-Wide Leader in Sports” has given more airtime to Floyd Mayweather’s flirtation with the WWE (that is to say “fake wrestling”) than it ever has to collegiate wrestling. If the national media paid half as much attention to wrestling as it does to college basketball or football, people would know far more Hofstra names than Chrebet and Claxton. The treatment of wrestling by the sporting press is a dirty shame. These men are fiercely competitive athletes. The have lightning quick reactions, killer instincts, and are in shape that only serves to embarrass the rest of us.
Basketball is fast-paced and thrilling. Football is gritty and physical. Baseball is emotional and beautiful to watch. Wrestling is all of these things. Pride wrestling, more so. Everything about the program is impressive. Not only are the wrestlers incredibly skilled, they’re also classy. During Saturday’s finals, while several members of other teams were clearly thumbing eyes or applying excessively sharp slaps to the side of the head, the Hofstra team remained composed and refused to fight dirty play with dirty play. They’re too good for that.
The Pride coaching staff is also exemplary. Head coach Tom Shifflet is exactly who you want to see coaching your student-athletes: he’s intense, but not angry; deeply involved, but not overly excitable during matches.
He’s a winner coaching winners.
At the CAA tournament, when one was presented with all the coaches in the division, it was clear to see which coaches were the most composed, the most professional, and the most intense. It should surprise no one who has ever been to a Hofstra wrestling match that Tom Shifflet and assistants Rob Anspach and Joe Dubuque were those men.
While most Hofstra students are on spring break, March 20th through the 22nd, the wrestling team will be in St. Louis for the 2008 NCAA Wrestling Tournament. The Pride will compete with the finest in the nation for the chance to call themselves “National Champions.” So many Hofstra fans are quick to point out the disappointing returns of the Pride football and basketball teams, acting like they are all that matter. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that they had just somehow forgotten about the wrestling team. Maybe you won’t see them on ESPN, but it’s nice to know that Hofstra has one team whose very mention strikes fear and admiration into the hearts of the nation’s best athletes.