Pat Kraft was asked a simple question. He knew it would require a detailed answer. Kraft responded in detail, and then some.
In the world of college wrestling, what separates Penn State coach Cael Sanderson from everybody else?
Sanderson, the Iowa State wrestler who went 159-0 in college and won four NCAA titles, followed by an Olympic gold medal, hasseparated himself.
“I get asked that by everybody, and I get asked that by not just (Penn State) alums, but, like, elite football coaches, basketball coaches,” began Kraft, Penn State’s athletic director since the spring of 2022, when asked the Sanderson “separation” question earlier in the week.
Sanderson) is one of one. He’s a unicorn, we would say in our world. But Cael is, it’s Cael, it’s (PSU assistant) Casey (Cunningham), it’s (PSU assistant) Cody (Sanderson), it’s that entire organization and how they run it.”
Kraft was just warming up.
No. 1 Penn State finished the regular season 15-0, extending its win streak under Sanderson to 71 consecutive matches.
No team came within 14 points of Penn State. No. 2 Iowa? The Lions, competing without regular 133-pounder Braeden Davis, beat the Hawkeyes 30-8 in front of a sellout crowd at Bryce Jordan Center on the final day of January.
Sanderson, who took over at Penn State at the start of the 2009-10 season, has won 11 NCAA titles and eight Big Ten titles. He is 218-16-2 as the Lions’ head coach.
“(Sanderson) recruits amazing young men who understand and are fully committed to being the best,” Kraft said.
“And Cael does it in a way that is so special and unique. When you come into a wrestling program, people think it’s like fire and brimstone. No, take care of your person, first. Take care of who you are and bring people who understand that and who love to wrestle.
And then we’re just going to get better and better and better. … And it’s so sounds simple, but the culture that he builds in that building, that Casey builds, and Cody like that, that unit builds, there’s nothing like it.”
