Bedlam wrestling dual brings memories, future of the rivalry to mind of coaches, wrestlers | Sports

Bedlam has gained loads of consideration over the previous yr with the announcement of Oklahoma following Texas to the SEC.

But most of the focus has been on the soccer sequence – whereas curiosity nonetheless stays on the different sports activities that sq. off yearly in Stillwater and Norman.

Perhaps the most important is the sport during which the Bedlam rivalry derives – wrestling.

The pair of wrestling packages sq. off this Sunday in Norman for the first of two duals, the different scheduled for mid-February in Gallagher-Iba Arena.

Oklahoma State’s wrestling legend John Smith expressed Wednesday that the significance of the rivalry transcends each universities when it comes to the rivalry inside the sport of wrestling.

“I think we will still see Bedlam wrestling,” the Cowboy coach stated. “I don’t see any reason why we wouldn’t do that. It sure wouldn’t be healthy for the sport if we didn’t see Bedlam wrestling. I just don’t see that it’s better that we’re not wrestling.”

The future of Bedlam wrestling may even be secured by the Big 12 Conference, as nicely.

With former commissioner Bob Bowlsby having labored to enhance the imprint of the league’s wrestling by way of associates, it noticed a current return over a former program that had its athletic division transfer to the SEC – the place there is no such thing as a wrestling – in the Missouri Tigers. While Smith hasn’t met with Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark, he has instructed OSU athletics director Chad Weiberg to cross alongside phrase to the new commissioner on the significance of wrestling inside the league.

And maybe that features retaining the Sooners’ wrestling program as an affiliate at the same time as the the rest of the OU athletics division dip for the SEC.

“Hopefully we learned from that because here they (Missouri) are back in 10 years, 11 years later – when we wanted it to happen 10 years, 11 years ago,” Smith stated. “We had to work every year to get them back home, so I don’t think we’re in that situation (with Oklahoma).”

For Smith, Bedlam has been a big half of his whole life.

The 57-year-old wrestling legend recalled some of the current Bedlam highlights – Stillwater High graduate Kaid Brock pinning OU’s Cody Brewer, the defending nationwide champion, in 2015 and the 2001 dual in GIA during which Daniel Cormier pinned Oklahoma’s Josh Lambrecht (who can be a nationwide finalist a season later) in entrance of the largest crowd for a Cowboy wrestling dual at the moment.

Though the quantity of Bedlam matches he has coached makes tough to pinpoint any particular second as one of the most memorable, it’s completely different went he thinks about his time wrestling towards the Sooners.

“I remember mine, my own battle and experience – which were tough,” Smith stated. “My freshman year, beating a guy named (Mark Zimmer) that ended up placing at nationals – and I didn’t, so that wasn’t a very good feeling.

“I remember Bedlam when I was a kid when the fight broke out in 1978. I remember being the towel boy at 10 years old, hitting the referee on the back with the towel when my brother was wrestling here at old Gallagher Hall. So yeah, I got a lot of good memories.”

It’s an analogous scenario for a lot of of the Cowboys on his roster, as nicely.

There are 21 Oklahoma natives coaching in the wrestling room for the Cowboys, with seven of the beginning 10 in the lineup hailing from in-state.

And for them, Bedlam is wrestling.

“It’s gonna be important that we continue to wrestle them because it could be the only kind of Bedlam we have is those wrestling duals,” stated Sand Springs native Daton Fix, whose father additionally wrestled at Oklahoma State. “So hopefully it makes those matches even bigger for not just wrestling fans, but fans of the schools if it’s the only time that we’re going against each. I think that would be a pretty big event.”

While they cheered for the Cowboys whereas rising up all through the Sooner State, they’ve realized a extra precious lesson when it comes to Bedlam now that they’re entrenched in the rivalry at private stage.

It’s a easy message that Smith instills into each Cowboy class that steps foot onto the mat carrying the iconic orange and black chevron that has been emblazoned on OSU’s warmups for generations.

“They just don’t beat us,” stated 157-pound starter Kaden Gfeller, who grew up in Oklahoma City. “That’s what Coach Smith preaches, ‘We don’t lose to them!’”