Tom Minkel is in his final season as Michigan State's wrestling coach (Photo/Mark Beshey, The Guillotine)For wrestling fans outside Sparta, Tom Minkel is known for having a pet bird ... and for heading up a program that has struggled for a number of years that had a negative team score in the final standings of the 2015 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships, and, just this month, was shut out 35-0 by Eastern Michigan, and suffered yet another loss to cross-state Big Ten rival University of Michigan.
However, there are other aspects of Tom Minkel which are revealed in a fascinating, detailed profile this week in The State News .
In the second paragraph of an article that weighs in at a hefty 2,000 words, Casey Harrison writes, "Whether it's hyperbole or not, MSU wrestling head coach Minkel is one of, if not, the most fascinating people on campus. He's both wrestled and coached at the collegiate level, for the U.S. National and Olympic teams. He's traveled the world while playing in a band with his wife. He's even competed in the World Series of Poker. And if you can find a more interesting person at MSU, then kudos to you."
Tom Minkel was first introduced to wrestling as a fifth grader, when his mother signed him up for wrestling camp. He not only fell in love with the sport, but immediately sought to beat older, more experienced wrestlers. However, Minkel's quest was detoured a bit when the family moved to Guatemala for two years ... only to be resumed when the father accepted an administrative position at Michigan State. Tom Minkel settled in at Williamston High School just outside East Lansing, becoming the school's first Michigan state wrestling champ.
After graduation, Minkel headed north to Central Michigan University, where he was a three-time NCAA All-American and twice a Mid-American Conference champion. He was undefeated in dual-meet competition for the Chippewa.
It was at this time that Minkel took another time-out from wrestling, this time to pursue a music career. He and his wife Jackie formed a rock band called The Masque, where they performed with superstars such as Little Richard, and in unusual venues, such as on Carnival Cruise Lines. After five years on the road (and out on the high seas), Minkel returned to wrestling, as an assistant coach at his college alma mater ... and on the mat, earning a place on the 1980 U.S. Olympic Team that did not participate at the Moscow Olympics because of the U.S. boycott over the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan.
Casey Harrison's profile of "The Most Interesting Man on Campus" is full of facts and stories that may be news to college wrestling fans who may not know much about Tom Minkel. For instance, as the article points out, in his 25 seasons with the Spartans, Minkel has produced 38 All-Americans, 13 Big Ten champions and has had 13 teams place in the top 25 at the NCAA Championships. Harrison also goes to great lengths to share Minkel's coaching philosophy, in his own words, as well as from the perspective of future head coach Roger Chandler, and some MSU wrestlers. And it's fun to discover Minkel's post-retirement plans. (Let's just say that he plans to continue to compete ... just not on the mat, or as a coach at the edge of the mat.)
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