1-on-1 with DP – 93.7 The Ticket KNTK - Nebraska Wrestling Coach Mark Manning (part 2): February 26th

Episode Date: February 26, 2025

Nebraska Wrestling Coach Mark Manning (part 2)Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

You're listening to One-on-One with D.P. Brought to by Canopy Street Market on 93-7 The Ticket and the Ticketfm.com. I love that we still have my pro wrestling music in for one-on-one, the Ultimate Warrior. I would love maybe one meet next year. We have, hey, Bach, what do you think? If we had Coach Manning put on the Ultimate Warrior face paint and just run out, like, he leads the Huskers out. with the face like the Husker face paint. I love it.

You're like Coach Osborne. You want to bring back tussle on the turf. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Absolutely. We were talking during the break. It's just thinking I've talked about it on air,

but I haven't talked to you about it. And I want to say thank you to you for what you did for me. It was, it wasn't planned. It just, I happened to be walking into Devaney as you walked by. You pulled me in, took me up to the locker room. Let me, you gave me my 30 seconds to yell at the guys and talk.

And then I was going to get out of the way, right? Because it was just cool to be in the locker room. But then I was going to get out of the way. And you were like, nope. And you pulled me in and I said, okay, at least I'll go to the back because they're doing the tunnel walk. First of all, I've been all over this country and arenas and stadiums and done that sort of thing.

I got goosebumps. I got goosebumps walking behind the team. And to feel that and see that and experience that. And then I asked the listeners whether that would be something they were interested in. Because I think as a revenue stream for Husker wrestling, that's a thing that's sitting there in broad daylight that you have fanatic fans

who would love the opportunity to support Nebraska wrestling and we could do a thing, you know what? You raffle them off or auction them off. Folks get to walk the tunnel and then maybe for their donation they get assigned singlet or something, right? Or you could have a future Husker to run the, lead the team out with a flag, right? Yeah.

And they're walking out next to Snyder or Green, right? Yes. Or another alumni that's in town, you know, just happened to be there. And I know that there are sponsors who would subsidize that for you. Yeah. And I have to say, I wanted to say thank you for allowing me to experience that. And it was so appreciative and so humbling to be in that space. And I wanted to be so respectful about it.

But what you did for me, sir, I'm forever grateful. No, DP. We're ever grateful, man. One, you know a lot of our guys on our team, and, you know, they've been on the show, and they loved it. I knew they would love it and having you there and going through kind of our pre-match, you know, talk,

get them fired up, talk. But, you know, a lot of our guys are already fired up, ready to go. So it's just putting icing on the cake, but having you there and, you know, seeing our team prayer and then marching out, getting them going down to the the the the tunnel walk is it is an amazing experience that we started and I'm so thankful for all the the parents and the kids that just rallied around our team

this year that's such a it brings such more so much more energy and and just recognition to our to our guys when they come out for a match they know hey this is a big deal I'm I'm wrestling for the Huskers, man. I'm wrestling for our team. I'm wrestling for Husker fans and to feel it. And that was kind of the idea around it. Now, let's build on it. I love those ideas.

So be great. Well, I kind of jokingly, like I often say, like I'm giving away a million dollar idea. But I know Husker Nation. And I know that when I mentioned that there were people that were jumping on the text line saying, listen, here's how much I would pay. and it was a full range from 500 to 5,000 just to do that tunnel walk.

Yeah. And just to be able to be a part of that, to experience it. And I'm going to say this to Bach so he understands it. Bach knows that I'm kind of a really good pregame hype speech guy. I was so afraid. I'm like, they better go out here and perform. If I'm going to say something, they better go kick tail. Because if, look, if I speak to them and then they go lay an egg, I'm just, I'm going to never live that down in my head.

And it was spectacular. Like, the ego involved was like, okay, what do you say? What do you say? But there's such a, you have such an amazing group from bottom of the lineup to top of the lineup from all the peripheral people on the staff that they were warm and welcoming. And then another thing to praise you on, Nebraska wrestling does such an amazing job at their intermission and these athletes will go wrestles with the first five wrestlers. Yeah. Will then come out and take pictures and sign autographs with the fans, which is remarkable business. It is such a statement of who Nebraska wrestling is and why there's always a packed house at Devaney.

And then afterwards, I took pictures of the autographed session afterwards. And Bach to tell you that 90 minutes after the meet was over, there was still a line. There was still a line of young people and adults who were just there to shake hands, take pictures. And your athletes do as good a job of anybody that I've been around at Husker Athletics of being available and accessible and warm and friendly to the fans. So kudos to the Husker Wrestling piece. My goodness, you guys are special. Really neat.

And we, our fan base is just growing and growing over the last number of years, but it's really, it was really special this year. And I don't see it changing and moving forward. So only growing and really grateful for that, really grateful for all the kids and, parents and and fans that come to our matches. It's really great. And, you know, they, they,

they've, they got an investment in our, in our team. And they're, they're vested into seeing how these guys are going to do in March when it, when, when it's most important, right? It's the pressure cooker, the big tens, and then the NCAA tournament. And, you know, we got, we got a bunch of competitors. So it's all about, you know, I told our team the last week, you know, courage test your talent, you know, and the more courageous you are as a man, the, you know, the more your talent's going to be showing here. There's nothing like seeing a talented person not perform, right? Talent without courage, man.

Talent without courage, is it? Yeah. You got, you got to have courage, and we talk about it all the time, and that's, that's been a staple for us this year, and our guys have really bought into it. So. When we talk about national rankings, and there's several. different things that happen for rankings and you're either all the way forward, all the way against it because it really can get in the way and it become a distraction.

But for seedings, and I think seedings is the better phrase for Big Ten. Yeah. Right. Seatings where a collective group of people, now do they go to coaches to get seating or do they go through media to determine seatings for the Bicton tournament? Oh, my goodness. This has been a hot topic in the wrestling world. It's done. The Big Ten conference is seated by the coaches.

The NCAA tournament bracket is seated by a committee that, wow, they need some work. Anyway, the Big Ten conference, it's about all. 14 coaches rank all 14 guys at each weight class. And so it's, there's a little bit of criteria. Obviously, head to head counts, but say, for instance, the hot topic is 149, Ridge Lovett, Shane Van Ness, and the kid from Iowa, Parco. They've all beat each other. So who's number one, right? And is it the number one ranked guy? or is it who should be seated number one at the Big Ten? So really, if they follow criteria, Ridge Lovett, won the Big Ten tournament last year.

He's the returning Big Ten champ. He should have criteria. Now, will they do that? I wouldn't, you know, I'm not. When do you know the rankings? Well, not until next Thursday. That's, next. next i think monday or tuesday they they send the bratt the the ballots out and then you have to have them

back like by tuesday they let us know thursday and then we kind of have a little joint seating meeting on friday and it's always yeah it's interesting i uh i try not to get worked up about these things anymore but it is what it is and you know you know you whether you have to beat this guy or that it's all the same you know you got to beat someone good and you just let's just go and do it but seatings are important and there is bias and so when you leave it in people's hand and you don't create enough criteria you know it's a having a rule and you know you can you can always slide in and be slippery and and create some other side rule to to to your advantage So, you know, it's a shame that that happens,

but, you know, teams, individuals tend to try to, you know, or they, they dodge you during the Big Ten season, right? And I was, I was, I didn't know whether to bring that up. Yeah. So you wrestle, maybe you wrestle eight duels and all of a sudden, hey, my guy's six and oh, uh-oh. We got two duels left. and it's Penn State, Nebraska.

Oh, oh, I think I'll just... Amen. I'll just take... I'm a little sick. More weight cuts. Not going well. Listen, I went through... And it is always a big part of it

that when the number one wrestler in the weight class in the country doesn't take on a dude. And it happens. We don't have to name names or programs, but it happened. That the number one was in the building and on the bench,

And, you know, it affects, right? Yeah, it does. And the thing is that, that number one guy, he got beat by our guy last year. That part. So, yeah, that's, that's real important. But it is what it is. You can't, you know, you can't hide too long. You're, you know, and it's wrestling.

You're going to have to face them. If you want to be the best, you got to beat the best guy. You have to show that you're the best guy. and there's no more dodge and now it comes to the Big Ten and nationals. You don't dodge anyone. And the same thing nationally. You know, you get the same amount of points

in the for the NCAA tournament seatings. You get the same amount of brownie points type of thing. If I win the Big Ten or if I win the Mac. If I win the Southern Conference, Nothing against those conferences. Just the big 10's loaded. And like you mentioned, there's a, so you get the same amount of brownie points for winning the big 10 as you do,

winning the Socon. I mean, and so, or winning the Ivy League, nothing against those guys. Right. It's just, everyone knows a big 10s,

but you only get so much, you know, 30% of that, that ranking is based on conference champ. and you only get 30%. You don't, hey, Big 10, you get 60%. You get the same amount as winning the Ivy League. So it's, you know, there's some disadvantage,

but there again, you got to go and prove it and you got to earn it on the mat. Yeah, there's no fake wrestling. No big 10, man. It just doesn't happen. You're going to get found. We'll throw it the break. Sam Stecker on the text license.

You don't know. you don't know non-competition coach intensity until you've been in a pre-termant wrestling meeting. Yeah, I would think that just from just battling for your guys to be heard and be considered is a big part of the coaching. We'll go through it. Take a break. Come back. We'll go through the 10 guys that are going to go to Evanston. And then I'll ask the question because the importance of the Big 10 conference tournament versus the national tournament that

follows. And there's got to be some consideration of who you see, how you go through the Big Ten tournament, and then the recovery from Big Ten championships to national championships in Philly. Lots to talk about with Coach Batting here on the ticket.