David Taylor understands magnitude of new era of Oklahoma State wrestling

There’s a lot of expectations at Oklahoma State and David Taylor is well aware of the history. In a sport like college wrestling where Penn State is the dominant force, there could be a new challenger this winter.

Taylor left Penn State and the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club to become OKST’s new head coach. The two-time national champion and Olympic Gold Medalist embraced the opportunity despite coming out of left field as a candidate.

When talking to the team about the transition from legend John Smith to him, he reflected on his entry to college and Cael Sanderson’s transition.

“That’s one thing when I walked in yesterday and addressed the team and talked to him, it’s a tough situation, very tough situation,” Taylor said. “I felt like I could relate to it. You know, when I was a senior in high school, I was going to Iowa State. And back then, you know, it was a little different. Cael Sanderson took a job at Penn State and I was in a kind of a weird limbo, you know? 

“I didn’t know what I was going to do. I felt like I wanted to follow him, I wasn’t sure and I had to wait for the new coach to come in, let me kind of figure out what was gonna be next … Coach Kevin Jackson got the job and he allowed me to pursue what was in my heart and I feel like that was a decision that really changed wrestling.”

The parallels between Cael Sanderson leaving Iowa State for Penn State and now David Taylor’s move to OKST might be insane down the line. @On3sports x @CowboyWrestling pic.twitter.com/aDjrbAKeOG

— Nick Kosko (@nickkosko59) May 10, 2024

Change wrestling? It certainly did. Sanderson hit the ground running and eventually turned Penn State into arguably the best college sports dynasty in modern history.

Taylor could empathize with his new wrestlers. He couldn’t be in their exact situation, but he wanted to understand and learn how to build and move forward.

“And I feel like I can understand a little bit of what these guys have been going through,” Taylor said. “I can’t 100%, you know, it’s a tough situation. But what I realized when I talked to them yesterday, it looked like family. These kids look like they really care about each other, which is awesome. And we’re going to build on that and we’re going to build that moving forward.”

Taylor had a simple message to those who consider Oklahoma State.

“We want people to come to Oklahoma State because they want to come to Oklahoma State,” Taylor said. “You want to wrestle at Oklahoma State. You want to win national championships Oklahoma State. We want team championships at Oklahoma State and we want to stay and win World and Olympic gold medals at Oklahoma State. And I think that’s what makes this place special.”