By Mark Walters
ST. LOUIS-“O-H! I-O!” “O-H! I-O!” “O-H! I-O!”
The chants were deafening as they reverberated all around St. Louis’ Scottrade Center. It was the battle cry coming from the scarlet and gray clad-section of the arena.
A couple hundred strong, these people were hungry for a championship. They were fed when J Jaggers won his title bout at 141 pounds, but with Mike Pucillo yet to wrestle and the Buckeyes still alive to win it all, the OSU fans wanted more.
In his third season as the Buckeyes’ head coach, former Hofstra head man Tom Ryan has given these hungry fans something for which to salivate. It was his goal when he arrived in Columbus to win a national title and after coming just 5 points shy of that goal one year after finishing in second place to Iowa by 38.5, the goal is becoming more realistic.
“I feel coaching is a service business,” Ryan said. “My job is to serve people above me, underneath me, the fans. And the only way to do that is to give them a product they can all cheer about.”
A product they can cheer about Ryan has certainly delivered to the people of Ohio. Heading into the final day of the NCAA Tournament last weekend, Ryan’s Buckeyes were ahead of Iowa and had three individual titles on the line-Reece Humphrey (133), Jaggers (141) and Mike Pucillo (184). The Hawks only had one-Brent Metcalf (149).
Jaggers delivered Buckeye Nation its only title of the tournament as he defended his 149-pound crown, something critics doubted he could do.
“Unbelievable,” Jaggers said of working with Ryan. “He has so much passion for Ohio State and getting it to number one. I don’t know if he even sleeps.”
Motivation is something the coach does not lack, and his faith drives him.
“Making a difference in as many lives as I can,” Ryan said when asked what keeps him going. “Hating to lose, liking to win.”
Rob Anspach, the current Pride assistant coach who wrestled and coached under Ryan, can vouch for Ryan’s competitiveness.
“He’s not gonna be content until they’re winning national titles because that’s him,” Anspach said. “He’s one of the most intense competitors I’ve ever been around in anything.”
His legacy lives on at Hofstra, as construction will begin shortly at the Physical Fitness Center to build the Teague Ryan Wrestling Complex, named in memory of Ryan’s late son Teague who passed away suddenly at age 5 in February, 2004. The facility will be the best on Long Island and one of the finest in the Northeast.
“It’s great,” Pride head coach Tom Shifflet said of the new complex. “Tom obviously brought the program a long way in his 11 years at Hofstra. He has great relationships with a lot of the alumni and a lot of friends of the program that are still there now.”
Joe Rovelli, a four-time NCAA qualifier for the Pride from 2005-08 who is now a current assistant on Shifflet’s staff was recruited by Ryan. He knows what the Teague Ryan Wrestling Complex will do for a program that could use a new facility to help draw top recruits.
“The new facility is huge,” Rovelli said.
“You bring these guys in and you got a guy looking at Penn State that’s looking at Hofstra, and at Penn State they have TVs in the locker rooms, they have huge wrestling rooms, big workout facilities, it’s gonna be big for Hofstra to have these facilities for recruiting,” Rovelli added.
The Teague Ryan Wrestling Complex will feature state-of-the-art amenities including a student-athlete lounge, refurbished locker rooms, a strength and cardio center, and its own sports medicine room.
It’s a far cry from when Ryan took the job in Hempstead 14 years ago. While here, the program more than doubled its scholarship total and attendance increased, yet Ryan what takes from his time at Hofstra is the relationships.
“He was a very personable guy,” Rovelli said. “When he was here every guy on the team built strong relationships with him.”
Anspach got behind Coach Shifflet in naming the facility after Ryan’s late son.
“Tom [Ryan] had been fighting for years to get a new wrestling room,” Anspach said. “With the relationship Tom had to this program, the best way to honor him wouldn’t be to put Tom’s name on it but to put Teague’s name on it.”
Ryan is very adamant about the relationships he’s forged over the years.
“Nothing I could say could clearly demonstrate what type of friendships I’ve built then honoring my son in that way,” Ryan said with apparent emotion.
Anspach remains good friends with his mentor and said he will always give back to Hofstra wrestling because of what he has taken from Ryan.
“This program gave me a chance,” Anspach said. “Tom Ryan gave me a chance.” He recalled running into Ryan after the tournament in St. Louis and catching up with him, his wife, and former Pride assistant Donny Pritzlaff, who is now on the staff at Wisconsin.
“Although we’re extremely competitive with each other, the relationships we’ve formed throughout wrestling and that bond. It’s an indescribable feeling. It’s rare that you find stuff like that to be so tight with each other,” Anspach said.
“It’s about the relationships,” Ryan said before being named National Coach of the Year. “I think we saw tonight in the loss by Metcalf that we have to hold on to so much more. How important it is to have other things, and the relationships are really what this sport’s about.”
Ryan will continue to give Buckeye Nation a reason to cheer. Although his late son may not be here to directly experience his father’s success, he will live on in the hearts of Hofstra Wrestling, the Ryan family, and all those affected by such an amazing man.
“This weekend, we had four or five hundred people put away their issues,” Ryan said. “They left them back home and they came out here and they’re on their feet, cheering for someone else.”