Maryland wrestling coach Alex Clemsen opens up about Terrapins rebuild

Maryland wrestling coach Alex Clemsen went into Year 4 after a big rebuild of the Terrapins program. 

The Terps grapplers went 10-9 in the regular season and broke a long Big Ten losing streak with a win over Purdue and nearly knocked off Indiana. But now, the attention switched to the Big Ten Tournament Saturday and NCAAs in two weeks.

Clemsen spoke with On3 about the rebuild job over his first three seasons as head coach and it finally paying off in 2022-23.

“It was a good year of growth,” Clemsen said. “It was a big step forward again for our program. I think when we got to College Park, we knew that there was a lot of work that needed to be done. I think that’s something that excited myself and our staff and I think it excited the young kids that we recruited and that are in the lineup right now. Everybody’s kind of hungry to make a mark and make a name and forge a new path. And we’re starting to really kind of see the fruits of some of that labor.”

Maryland has four ranked wrestlers in their respective weight classes, per InterMat. But that’s not essentially not enough for Clemsen and the staff.

“It was a long three years to get here,” Clemson said. “And the interesting thing is I don’t think anybody feels great about it. I think we all think we left a couple on the board (in duals this year). And we recognize that our league is the best sports league in college athletics, regardless of sport, and that’s part of what attracts us as well, right? We don’t do it because it’s easy. We do it because it’s hard. 

“So as good as the regular season was, I think we know that we need to finish strong here these last two weekends. And then also next year we need to take another step or two or hopefully three or four as we continue our build in College Park.”

Maryland had three NCAA qualifiers in 2022 but that could very well increase this time around.

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The 2023 Big Ten Tournament begins Saturday and runs through Sunday. The pre-seeds for the brackets in each weight class were announced earlier this week.