Wrestling success due to players, families

The team’s journey into the spotlight was anything but easy.

By Ryan Huber
Feb. 22, 2008

When Brian Smith agreed to become MU’s new wrestling coach on May 5, 1998, he knew he had a project in front of him. The team had not had a winning season since 1992, and the facilities had not been updated since the ‘70s.

He shared one of the two offices on the fourth floor of the Hearnes Center, a few steps away from the practice floor. The wrestling mats butted up to the black metal railing that separated them from a two-story dropoff where gymnasts and track athletes practiced below. Jagged, green bathroom tile covered the gathering-area floor, while a musky, eye-burning heat made for a muggy, humid environment.

In the first year in that office, Smith created a checklist of things he wanted the program to accomplish. He included setting attendance records, winning individual and team Big 12 titles and ultimately winning the national tournament, along with goals to raise the team grade-point average and see every student athlete graduate.

But, like any daunting task, he knew he could not do it alone. Drawing from his childhood in Florida, where his father coached football, he implemented what he calls his “family restaurant” ideology.

“I think of this program as a family restaurant,” he said. “My wife is so involved with the team and wants to help in any way possible. If I don’t keep her up-to-date, she gets mad at me, because she lives for this.”

His son is the same way.

“He comes up to practices and helps keep time,” Smith said. “He wants to travel with the team, and he was crushed when I told him I didn’t buy him a plane ticket for this past weekend.”

Smith’s family-restaurant theme reaches beyond his team to his three children, his wife and his extended family back in Florida. Today, nearly 200 families make up the Missouri Wrestling Booster Club, which, in addition to attending matches, single-handedly takes care of hospitality for The Missouri Open Tournament each December.

“This whole facility was built by the alumni, boosters and families of this program,” Smith said. “Even the walls were put up by these families. The lockers were built by a father.”

Back in 1998, Smith opened up the doors to his family restaurant. The result was a new era in Missouri wrestling.

“When I got here it was, ‘We suck. It’s too tough when we are compared to the Oklahomas (University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University) and Iowa State,’” he said. “There were all these excuses. So I said, ‘Why don’t we find the kids that really want to be here?’”

Smith set out to build an elite program by attracting the best talent in America. He had created a knack for garnering the best recruits out of high school when he was an assistant coach at the then up-and-coming Cornell University, but Missouri would be different as the program had no facilities or obvious talent.

Smith began searching for what he called “under-the-radar kids” who had talent and, more importantly, the will to work.

“We had to find kids that wanted to be here,” he said. “We had a lot of kids quit, but then the kids that stuck with it really started to develop an attitude and work ethic within the program.”

By the third year under Smith’s domain, the team still hadn’t earned a winning record, finishing the year 7-10-1 after blowing several late-season matches.

But change was coming. The mindset of the of the team changed, and, in that fourth year, the squad racked up an impressive 18-3 record, closing the season with a 17th-place finish at the national tournament — 21 spots higher than any Missouri team had placed previously.

In the late spring of 2002, Smith received word from high-school senior Ben Askren saying he had decided to attend Missouri.

Askren proved to be the catapult who sent Smith’s team into the national spotlight.

“We knew we were getting a stud when we found out the news,” Smith said. “Of course how big of a stud, we never really knew. Obviously, we didn’t expect him to elevate the program like he did.”

Along with the team’s success, Askren’s flair and mop of hair drew crowds everywhere the team traveled. His talent on the mat was unprecedented for a Missouri wrestler, as he graced the national stage four times, finishing runner-up his freshman and sophomore years and winning the national title his junior and senior years.

“A wrestling team is a family,” Askren said. “One of the main reasons I came here to Missouri is because I saw the camaraderie in the team. Every team has camaraderie because of the battles it has to go through as a team, but I felt it even more strongly here at Missouri. I felt really close with all the guys.”

Askren’s ultimate goal wasn’t to win an individual title but rather to win a national team title — something Smith is still waiting to scratch off his checklist.

Askren attributes both his and the team’s successes to Smith’s “total person evolution.”

“He runs a tight ship with lots of rules and regulations,” Askren said. “He wants everyone not only to be a good wrestler but also good students and good within the community. Those are some of the cornerstones of the athletic department, and he holds very true to those. Those kinds of things are very important to him.”

While Smith has coached 123 young men, seen six consecutive winning seasons, earned nine Big 12 individual titles in the last four years, and achieved a No. 1 national ranking last year, the elusive national championship remains his ultimate prize.

“It’s why I am in coaching,” Smith said. “I couldn’t see myself in coaching if I couldn’t achieve a championship. I haven’t done it yet and I have been coaching a long time. If I never do reach it, I don’t know what I will say at the end of my career, but I know I am doing everything possible to try and achieve it.”

Today, the muggy heat is the only remaining feature of a facility and a program that once laid at the bottom of the cellar in the Big 12 Conference. The team has moved its mats onto what used to be the practice basketball courts. A weight room, leather couches and ottomans now sit where the old mat lay.

The grungy green tile has been replaced with hotel lobby tile and the Tiger Athletics emblem accentuates the middle of the floor. The metal railing has been replaced with a wall built by the team.

Smith doesn’t have to share an office anymore. He has his own space to put awards in, like the 2007 Dan Hodge Trophy, given to the best collegiate wrestling coach of the year. He said the award means nothing to him, and it will probably collect dust for years to come.

“Everything in here goes back to the family restaurant theme,” he said. “Everyone puts their time, effort and sweat into this program. That’s why it is successful. There are so many more people besides Brian Smith.”

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