Chris Bono describes 'hungry' Wisconsin wrestling program in 2023-24

Wisconsin wrestling head coach Chris Bono described a “hungry” group of guys going into the 2023-24 season.

After an 8-8 campaign, an 8th place finish at the Big Ten Tournament and 16th at NCAAs, the Badgers bring back some old and some new. But either way, they’re going to be scrappy.

Bono sat down for an interview with On3 and dove into the recent preparation over the summer and what he expects for the coming season.

“Well, we’re excited,” Bono told On3. “We’ve got a bunch of guys that nobody knows and we don’t have 10 superstars, don’t have highly ranked guys, we have a couple,  but when we’ve got our guys that are hungry. A couple of transfers that have something to prove, a couple of young guys that have something to prove, a couple of guys that have been around and haven’t really reached their potential yet.

“So it’s a team that I like, just for the fact that they’re hungry.”

Heavyweight All-American Trent Hillger graduated but 165 pounder and two-time 6th place finisher Dean Hamiti is back out of last year’s podium placers for the Badgers.

Eric Barnett (125), a two-time All-American, missed out on the podium last season, losing in the Blood Round.

The mentality is certainly different for next season.

“And they’ve got nothing to lose and they’re chasing, they’re hunting,” Bono said. “I’ve been a part of now a couple of teams where we had some highly ranked individuals and people were hunting them and whether we didn’t react to the right way or not, but this team right here we’ve got guys that you know, think they’re starters …

“The whole room thinks they’re gonna make this team and they’ll be All-Americans, national champs so I like this team.”

The goals don’t stop individually. Dual meets are a big deal to Bono and the Wisconsin wrestling program. 

“As far as goals, obviously, man, we want to win every single dual meet we step out there for,” Bono said. “Whenever there’s a score being kept, we want to win, and we want to be as high as we can in the Big Ten and we want to be as high as we can in the national tournament. 

“We’ve got some scrappy guys in this lineup and we’re just excited about it. November can’t get here quick enough because I can’t wait to get these guys out there to see what they can do.”