Tom Ryan details how Ohio State could pass Penn State wrestling

Tom Ryan is no stranger to battling with Penn State on the wrestling mat. The Ohio State head coach regularly duals with the Nittany Lions in meets and tournaments.

The Buckeyes coach led his squad to a national title in 2015, one of the few years Penn State hasn’t won it all under Cael Sanderson. Heck, they nearly got it in 2018 as well.

In an exclusive conversation with On3, Ryan said only a few teams could dethrone Penn State, and Ohio State might be one of them to finally topple them again.

“I mean, obviously we’re one of the schools,” Ryan told On3. “I don’t believe anybody can do it. I think if you look at the College Football Playoff, I don’t have the data but I remember seeing the data when I was watching the championship game in football. It’s only been seven or eight teams since (it began) right? So I mean, seven teams that have made it, I think seven have made it into the final four.

“It’s very small in football, typically it’s very small in basketball, and it’s extremely small in wrestling. So over the last 125 years, only 12 teams have won the national (title) That’s it. It’s a mind boggling stat. I mean, it really is. And Penn State recently has been very, very hard to beat.”

Ryan detailed how the 2018 NCAA Tournament came down to the 184-pound national final between Bo Nickal (Penn State) and Myles Martin (Ohio State). Nickal won via pin in the first period.

“We had (Nickal) on his back and he hit that move, so it’s been there,” Ryan said. “Been a lot of close ones. We haven’t gotten them since ‘15. So yes, I think we can. I think we’ve got to continue to assess, I’ve got to assess who are.”

In the age of NIL and the transfer portal, other teams reloaded their rosters with veterans as a plug-and-wrestle through transfers.

“We’ve seen Penn State, I mean they had Michael Beard who grey-shirted, redshirted (qualified for NCAAs) and they went and got (Max) Dean. I want to use the word, they’re kind of assassins in many ways. (Cael Sanderson) just doesn’t care (and he’ll do what it takes to win). 

“I need to come to terms with who we’re gonna be? You know, I got a guy that’s ranked sixth in the country (but) I can go get No. 2. Do I go get No. 2? So that’s something quite frankly, that I’m dealing with personally right?”

Since Sanderson took over as head coach of Penn State, the only years the Nittany Lions did not win the NCAA title were 2010, ‘15 and ‘21. There was no tournament in 2020.

Iowa won it in 2010 and ‘21 and Ohio State won it in 2015.

“I want to win as bad as anybody but is that a method,” Ryan said. “So we can raise the money we can get NIL money. And yes, I believe we’ll beat them. I mean, they just picked up a couple of transfers … and they’ve completely increased the power of their lineup in the last six weeks. 

“I felt very confident that the talent we brought in out of high school was better than the talent they brought in out of high school. But they’ve gone into the portal and grabbed some real studs. You know, and it’s gonna make it very difficult.”