InterMat caught up with Jones and talked to him about the present and future of the Sun Devil wrestling program, what change could help college wrestling, Team USA's performance at the World Championships and more.
Zeke Jones (Photo/Sun Devil Athletics)Jones: For me it's just catching up on basic operational stuff ... recruiting, logistics, operations, compliance ... the nuts and bolts of running a collegiate program. I kind of joke, the one rule for the Olympic program is 'win.' In college it's 'win plus.' Win plus run your program responsibly and compliantly. You're still leading young men. They're a little younger and certainly still formulating their adult thoughts and opinions, and the kind of people they're going to be. Wrestling is still wrestling. The goal is still the same. We want to help guys get on top of the podium and certainly want to help them get their college educations and continue to still work through the college program both academically and athletically.
What has been the biggest surprise since arriving in Tempe?
Jones: I would say the pleasant surprise has been recruiting. It has gone exceptionally well. I wasn't sure that we would get to pick before schools like Penn State, Minnesota and Oklahoma State. Usually they pick and then everybody else picks after them. That has been a pleasant surprise. One thing I didn't factor in as much as I should have is the love for wrestling in Arizona. For a good 20, 25 years there was a history and tradition of excellence of wrestling at all age groups. There are a lot of World and Olympic champions, medalists, national champions and All-Americans walking around this community. It's been dormant, but now it's a loud thunder around the community.
Have there been any roadblocks with the changes in the athletic administration at ASU?
Jones: No, we haven't really run into any roadblocks. Ray Anderson, new athletic director, his first hire was wrestling, and he hired our senior associate athletic director who will ultimately be in charge of wrestling in the future, Scottie Graham. He's a New York high school state wrestling champion. So our athletic director puts his gear on and comes to practice. The president Dr. Crow was a wrestler when he was a young man. So we're really vertically aligned within our university and our athletic department for the sport of wrestling, and I know that has been a huge help. Sunkist and Art Martori are excited about rejuvenating the regional training center here and changing the model that Sunkist will use, which will ultimately benefit those who live here in Tempe.
Jordan Oliver talks with his U.S. coaches during the United 4 Wrestling event in LA (Photo/John Sachs, Tech-Fall.com)Jones: It's pretty simple. We want to put a staff together that will help our young men graduate and do well academically, but also put them on the top of the NCAA, World and Olympic podium. I think between Jordan, Chris, and Lee you have a staff that is committed to a holistic approach, on the wrestling mat, in the classroom. They're good young men who are willing to roll their sleeves up and do the work to help them. I think we have the right blend of experience, youth, energy, relevancy ... and certainly have achieved at the highest levels in the collegiate realm and the world and Olympic realm.
You have talked about the importance of building a strong regional training site at Arizona State with wrestlers training for World and Olympic titles. How are things progressing with the regional training site?
Jones: It's going well. We've got four athletes and we're pretty close to five. We have Jordan Oliver. Tyrell Fortune will be training here at the Sunkist Regional Training Center. He's a University World champion and on the national team, and certainly a good young prospect for America. And then we've added two women. Helen Maroulis, of course was third this year, and then Kelsey Campbell, who was in the finals of the Trials this year. That will be the start of our nucleus. Our plan is to have 8, 10, 12 athletes living and training here on a year-round full-time basis. In our short period of time since the summer I think we've had some good additions and we're only going to continue to grow and expand.
Oliver Pierce transferred from Oklahoma to Arizona State. What kind of impact do you expect him to make in your program?
Jones: First off, he's a great young man and a super leader. He likes structure. He likes a heavy training load. He likes intensity. He's got fire in his wrestling. So I think it's a good match for us, and in particular me. We picked up four great transfers. Christian Pagdilao was a state champ who beat Valencia. He was at Michigan State and came here. Judson Preskitt was at Minnesota and transferred here. Dalton Brady made his way back home. He went up to Utah Valley and is back. He was fifth in the Cadet Worlds. He had a great high school career. All four of those guys were redshirts last year. Oliver certainly comes from a good family and a hard-working wrestling program. He demands excellence of himself. He's thinking high on the podium, and that's great. That's what we want to see.
No. 1 recruit Anthony Valencia has committed to Arizona State, along with four other recruits ranked in the top 30 (Photo/John Sachs, Tech-Fall.com)Jones: I think it's going well. Our goal is pretty simple when it comes to recruiting. We want to recruit the best young men in America. What that means is those that are committed to the total effort. We want to have great students who achieve high goals academically and get a world-class wrestling experience, and get on top of as many podiums as they can. I think we've been able to establish that the best kids in the country are looking at Arizona State University because they realize that they can achieve all those goals. They see that Arizona State isn't a four or five-year commitment, but it's really an eight to ten-year commitment where they come and win national championships and get a great undergraduate education. Those that aspire to be World or Olympic champions and get their master's degree or their Ph.D, they can do that here. There is really no ceiling in the program. As good as they want become, they can.
Some wrestlers win a national championship and want to be a World and Olympic champion, and they look around and don't see anyone that can help them do that. Then they've got to move. Well, obviously here they're in the environment for it where they'll have world-class coaching, training partners and resources to be successful. There's a reason why the very best kids in the country are visiting Arizona State and committing to Arizona State. They want to be the best in the country and the best in the world. That's the kind of program we want to be here at Arizona State, so we have a mutual goal. We're going to attract those types of kids, those that want to be the best in the country and the world. That's the kind of program we want to be, so it seems to be a pretty good marriage between their goals and ours.
Zeke Jones spent 5 1/2 years as Team USA's head freestyle coach (Photo/John Sachs, Tech-Fall.com)Jones: It's to do the best thing for the student-athlete and the best thing for the program. I think you look at it individually -- what works for that student-athlete -- and what's the goal of the team. I have watched teams on a title run pull somebody out of redshirt in February because they need the additional points to win the NCAAs. That makes sense to me. If we're not in the title run, then we're building toward a title run in a particular year or two or three. So maybe we take our time developing that person so that when they finally get in the lineup they're ready to go. I do think sometimes it's good for kids to go in right away if it makes sense ... if physically and emotionally they're ready to go, they've demonstrated success and ultimately the team needs them. But usually there's a pretty big gap between the maturity of 17 or 18-year-old and a 23-year-old. Redshirting early seems to always make sense.
This past season Arizona State finished fourth at the Pac-12 Championships and had one NCAA qualifier. What are your expectations this season for the program?
Jones: The goal for the season is always to improve each and every day. We want to get better. We want to make sure that we're taking the steps to make each individual on the team better and the collective better as well. Right now we're instilling a culture that is a very hard-working, disciplined, dedicated, sacrificing team -- making the sacrifices each and every day that help us climb up the podium. In our schoolwork, study hall and schedule, it's a very structured environment, including our wrestling in practice. We're wrestling with a discipline that is going to help us win matches and instilling a championship culture where the expectation is high, that we want to be the best in the country. We're going to do the work that is required. We're going put in the time and the effort that is required. But ultimately to do that they've got love what they're doing. They've got to have fun. They've got to know that the sacrifices they make today will pay off for them tomorrow. The emotional focus is not too high one day and too low another ... It's steady and consistent each and every day. The wrestling season is not a sprint ... It's a marathon. It's about being smart about how we train and how we prepare ... the minutes that we put in. Everything we do is for a reason. I'm pleasantly happy because I'm not surprised that this group here has done those things. The effort is good. The focus is good. The discipline is good. When you have a team that does those things day in and day out, that's when improvement starts to occur. I like where we're at right now.
Zeke Jones and Brandon Slay talk with Clayton Foster at the World Cup (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)Jones: I don't put a timeline on it. But I think what we all do is each day make an effort to improve. Improvement happens sometimes slowly, sometimes quickly. In discussions about the program with the athletic director and the president of the university, the great thing is more than anything we're going to do it the right way. As we do it the right way, then that's the best way and it will happen on its own timeline. Of course like anything we want things faster than slower. But we understand that sometimes making those deposits in a better fashion -- making sure we're doing it the right way -- sometimes comes a little slower. We're going to work as hard to do it as fast as we can, but recognize doing it the right way might take a little longer.
There has been a lot of discussion about stalling in college wrestling and rule changes. In your opinion, what is one change you would like to see to college wrestling that could help the sport?
Jones: No doubt the edge-of-the-mat rule. You can call it pushout, but I can tell you, I run the numbers, both folkstyle and freestyle. In the freestyle version, in my mind it's not the pushout rule. It's the stay-on-the-mat rule. You can't go out of bounds in freestyle without a steep penalty. I've been breaking down the NCAA championship video right now, and wrestlers just go off the mat way too much. They use the out of bounds to eliminate scoring, where in freestyle the edge of the mat creates scoring. I would love to see some form of a stay-on-the-mat rule, or like most people call it the pushout rule. I think it has been great for freestyle wrestling. The edge of the mat helps create points. It doesn't take away points. I think that would be the best thing we could do for folkstyle wrestling. Not only would it help folkstyle wrestling, it would give America a better chance to win World and Olympic gold medals. So it's a win-win if you ask me.
U.S. coaches Mark Manning and Zeke Jones celebrate with Jordan Burroughs after the gold-medal match at the 2012 Olympic Games in London (Photo/John Sachs, Tech-Fall.com)Jones: I know they're going to come back hungry. Obviously, they didn't perform as well as they wanted. I love those guys. I miss them each and every day. When they lose it cuts me in the stomach. That's a real resilient group. I've watched them have bad tournaments before in the past. One thing they're good at is bouncing back. It's hard to hold an American down each and every day. Eventually we're going to fight back and we're going to climb and scratch our way back up on top. I think it's the little things they need to work on. I think some of the basic freestyle ... pushout, controlling the tieup, lead management, offense, defense-type drills and skills that if they put a little more time into they can turn a lot of those close losses into close and big wins. Two years until the Olympics, there is certainly time. Like anything we don't want to wait. We want to make it happen now. But I don't think they're far off. With a few adjustments I think they'll get there.
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