One-on-One with Matt Nagel

Matt Nagel has taken the Concordia Moorhead wrestling program to new heights in his first season as the lone head wrestling coach of the program. The Cobbers recently finished runner-up at the NWCA National Duals in Division III and climbed to No. 2 in the national rankings.

Matt Nagel (Photo/Jeff Beshey, The Guillotine)

Your team recently finished runner-up at the National Duals, knocking off two higher ranked teams. How would you assess your team's performance at the National Duals?

Nagel: For the first time it was a test for our guys. We just wrestled with a whole other level of intensity. I think that was the difference maker. They believed that they could be in that position. By believing in themselves they just wrestled a lot harder. They won all the close positions. We made some huge improvements, but we're not there yet. I think we can continue to get better.

How important was it for your program to face Wartburg, the No. 1 team in the country?

Nagel: I think it was great, especially after having the bit of success that we did. The guys were on a real high note. But at the same time it was good for them to see that next level. We got to that high point, but then kind of got beat up on by Wartburg. It was good for them to see that so that they know we need to go back to the drawing board and that we have room to get better.

Concordia is now ranked No. 2 in the latest rankings. What does that No. 2 national ranking mean to your program?

Nagel: It's great for our program. It's a big deal for recruiting purposes and things like that, and just for people to know that what we're doing here is the real deal and we're trying to build this thing up. But as far as the end of the year, it's just a number and the guys still have to commit to the rest of the season and continue to get better. Ultimately what happens at the end of the year is going to be the difference maker.

Your 133-pounder Jacoby Bergeron recently climbed to No. 3 in the latest rankings. What has been the biggest difference in his wrestling of late?

Nagel: I think he has just done a really good job with his weight. His training has been spot-on, and that then allows him to go out and wrestle as hard as he can. He has a very good gas tank and he wrestles through all positions, and I think that has been the difference maker. We've gone up against some of those ranked opponents before, but this weekend we're starting to close the gap and beat those guys. He's finding his shots. He's finding his openings. Like I said, he's just wrestling through all positions.

This is your fifth season at Concordia, but your first season as the lone head coach of the wrestling program. What has been the biggest change with your title change?

Nagel: To be honest with you, there's not a whole lot of change. The previous two years we were co-head coaches. We see it more as just a label change. Clay does a lot of recruiting, and that's a huge impact on our program and a huge time-consuming task. He's able to get out and meet those kids, make those contacts, and get the kids here. I've been doing a lot more of the technique. So not a lot has changed.

What's it like working with your father?

Clay Nagel

Nagel: To have him as a mentor has been a huge thing in the respect that he's a veteran coach. He has all those good pieces of information when it comes to those tough questions … like whether to wrestle someone or not wrestle someone, or whether an athlete needs to be training harder. So he has all those little bits of information that come from being a head coach for a long time. Sometimes as a young head coach you can get caught up in the intensity. So I think we have a real nice balance. I have been able to bring in a lot of the stuff I learned at Minnesota, like with the intensity, but at the same time we're keeping a nice level of intensity that fits for our kids.

Your roster includes several Minnesota wrestlers, but you do you have wrestlers from states like California, Idaho, and Montana. How do you approach recruiting?

Nagel: The biggest thing for us is that we want to give opportunities to the kids that are from around this area. That's what college wrestling is for. There are a lot of schools around the metro area, but there are kids around here that want to wrestle in college, so we're giving them that opportunity. So it's important for us to seek out the local kids and get them around here. And then after that, we're just trying to make contacts with as many kids as we can. It's a unique division to recruit for. In Division III you really have to have a specific profile to meet the academic criteria and be able to make it work financially. So there's a lot of that goes into it. Not every kid is able to make it. We have to reach out to as many kids as possible and if they fit the profile and it works out for them, then we'll get them on campus.

You spent time at the University of Minnesota as a Division I athlete. Now you're a Division III coach. How does a Division III wrestling practice compare to a Division I wrestling practice?

Nagel: I try to instill almost all the things we did at Minnesota, but I have to tailor it to the athletes I have. These kids that we're getting here maybe haven't been exposed to quite as much as some of the kids I was wrestling with at Minnesota. But at the same time they can still get that same amount of intensity. We just have to break things down a little bit more and try to get them to that level.

You had a successful career at Minnesota, where you earned All-American honors in 2005 and had over a 100 career victories. When you look back on your own competitive career, do you have any regrets?

Matt Nagel earned All-American honors at at Minnesota (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)

Nagel: I really don't. I used every opportunity I could to get better while I was there. It was a phenomenal experience. I credit everything I'm doing today to my experience at Minnesota. I learned so much and was able to connect with so many important people. J Robinson and just all the lifelong lessons. I think about the other coaches that I had, like Mark Schwab, and all the motivational things that I still use to this day. Marty Morgan, Luke Becker, Brandon Eggum, and Jared Lawrence … all those guys had such a huge impact on my life. My freshman year I took some serious lumps and in that position might not have taken the opportunity to wrestle as high as I did, but I think it was a great experience for me and it made me a lot tougher later on in my career.

You had a tremendous amount of success in Greco-Roman. Do you believe Greco-Roman wrestling can help wrestlers in folkstyle wrestling?

Nagel: Absolutely. I think it's huge. The things you learn from Greco-Roman wrestling, like how to use your hips, balance, and pressure and things like that, really help. It's very evident to me when we get in those positions that some wrestlers don't know how to use their hips if they have never wrestled Greco-Roman. That's a huge part of wrestling. They need to be able to feel that balance and use their hips in those ways. That's what Greco-Roman wrestling is all about. I can't encourage it enough. We're trying to move in that direction where I'm trying to get my guys to go to events like the FILA Junior World Team Trials to get them exposed to that. In practice I'll put them in body lock positions, seatbelt positions, where they'll just battle with their hips and learn to use their hips.

When you were getting out of college, MMA was really gaining in popularity. Some of your contemporaries, like Johny Hendricks, have gone on to great success in the UFC. Did you ever seriously consider an MMA career?

Nagel: No, I didn't. I just don't know if it was ever in the cards for me. If someone would have approached me, then maybe I would have considered it. At that time in my life I started to train a little bit for two years after college, and the competitive fire wasn't quite there. I was working on my master's and trying to get my graduate work done. But it's fun for me now to watch guys like Johny Hendricks and Tyron Woodley. I wrestled both those guys at the NCAA tournament and many other times. So it's fun to see those guys and it's great to have wrestlers in the UFC.

What is this year's team capable of accomplishing?

Nagel: I really believe that we can be a top-two team in the country. I really think that with the guys that we have and our abilities, we can get a number of All-Americans. With our upperclassmen, I think we have a chance to get two or three guys in the finals or in that third-place match. That's what it's going to take. We're not there yet, but I think we can continue to get better. I think that it's a realistic possibility for them. The biggest thing is the guys are finally believing that we're a top-tier team.

This story also appears in the Jan. 24 issue of The Guillotine. The Guillotine has been covering wrestling in Minnesota since 1971. Its mission is to report and promote wrestling at all levels -- from youth and high school wrestling to college and international level wrestling. Subscribe to The Guillotine.

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