Ohio State's head wrestling coach said at the beginning of the season that his team had two goals: win another Big Ten title, and win the NCAA championship on home soil in Cleveland. With Sunday's win in the conference tournament, they're halfway there, and Tom Ryan was named Big Ten Coach of the Year for the third time in four years.
"What a great weekend," Ryan said after the tournament. "This is a special team that we knew what they were capable of, but knowing what a team is capable of and seeing it come together the way we did this weekend is pretty special, so really proud of the effort across the board, every weight class. It was a good championship. We’re looking forward to Cleveland in two weeks."
The 164.5 Buckeye team points were the most scored in the Big Ten tournament in nearly two decades. Minnesota posted 174.0 points 2002 with a team that would go on to be the only squad in history to finish with 10 All Americans at the NCAA tournament, a feat Ohio State would like to match in two weeks.
Since his arrival in Columbus, Ryan has made the Buckeye wrestling program a perennial powerhouse, leading the 2015 squad to the NCAA championship and coaching six different competitors to 11 individual national titles. He was named NCAA Coach of the Year in 2009 and 2015.
Penn State is the dominant force in college wrestling, having won 6 of the past 7 NCAA titles, and Ryan's Buckeyes are the only team to have seriously challenged the Nittany Lions along the way, now having won the conference crown in three of the past four years.
With Sunday's finish, Ryan-coached wrestlers have won Big Ten titles 18 times during his tenure. With the recruits he's brought to the program over the past few cycles, the Buckeyes should be in contention for Big Ten and NCAA gold for years to come.
In addition to Ryan's honor, four Buckeyes were named to the All Big Ten team: Joey McKenna, Kollin Moore, Nathan Tomasello and Kyle Snyder.
Penn State's Zain Retherford was named Wrestler of the Year, and Isaiah Martinez of Illinois earned Outstanding Wrestler of the Championships after winning his fourth Big Ten title. Spencer Lee of Iowa was named Freshman of the Year.
