Cael Sanderson named WIN Magazine coach of the year for fourth time at Penn State
Penn State wrestling coach Cael Sanderson is the WIN Magazine 2023 Dan Gable Coach of the Year. The leader of the Nittany Lions saw two of his wrestlers, Carter Starocci (174 pounds) and Aaron Brooks (184) win individual championships during the NCAA Tournament in Tulsa, Okla., in March while his team raced away with the overall team title.
Sanderson has won the honor from WIN Magazine four times since he took over the program before the 2009-2010. He also earned it 2011, 2013, and 2017. In full, the Lions had eight All-Americans at nationals and won the team race by a whopping 55 points.
“There are three things that wrestlers need to be good at in the sport and that is being good on your feet, good on the bottom and wrestling where you are the best at,” Gable, the wrestling legend, told WIN.
“That’s what Cael brings out of his wrestlers. Not all his wrestlers are duplicates of each other. Sanderson breaks the sport down very well to carry on success year to year to year.”
Unsurprisingly, Sanderson credited his staff more than himself for bringing more hardware back to State College.
“It is an honor for the program,” Sanderson told WIN. His staff includes head assistant coach Casey Cunningham, associate head coach Cody Sanderson, and volunteer assistant coach Jimmy Kennedy. Director of Operations Adam Lynch and trainer Dan Monthley play key roles, as well.
“It is a full program and full staff honor. “I work with my best friends every day,” Sanderson said. “Every day I am surrounded by people with similar values, work ethic and the same lofty goals. Being grateful for the opportunity, enjoying yourself, and cherishing the relationships that you form are more important than the wins.”
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Sanderson, Penn State, prep for 2023-2024
It should come as no surprise that the uber-successful Penn State head coach wastes little time resting on his and the program’s laurels. All involved are already focused on improving two already impressive stats pointed out by WIN: At nationals, “the Lions had +22 differential in team points according to seeds. The Nittany Lions also added 16 bonus points off six pins.”
“You look at those stats as a coach because you want to make sure you’re competing in the big moments,” Sanderson told WIN.
“More consistent teams go into nationals with the better seeds, and kids choose to come to Penn State for that reason, so that stuff is special to us. Next year will be a new year, though, so now we reset and re-do everything.”
Sanderson made a similar statement in Tulsa when asked about the “Cael Sanderson dynasty.”
“It’s not my dynasty,” Sanderson said. “It’s a program. Our assistant coaches are unbelievable. Coach Cody and Coach Casey and Coach Kennedy, they work really, really hard.
“And I mean we just gotta keep getting better, and we’ve got a lot of things we can work on moving forward. That’s what you do. You come here and you’ve got to be quick to observe and figure things out, what can we do better. And that’s what we’ll do.”
The 2023-2024 Penn State wrestling schedule has not yet been released.
