Yes

by Mark, Wednesday, March 11, 2026, 09:16 (21 days ago) @ Jay
edited by Mark, Wednesday, March 11, 2026, 09:22

My Dad was an assistant coach from 1970-1975 (while he was getting his PhD at ND in Math) and head coach of ND wrestling from 1975-1980. His final season, Emil T Hoffman argued the university shouldnt pay him for being the wrestling coach and so he was not paid for his coaching work. My Mom basically said that’s enough and my Dad stopped coaching bc of what Emil T did to my Dad. My Dad’s main job outside of wrestling was working advising students in the First Year of Studies and so he was trapped under Emil’s evil leadership. (Seriously, fuck that guy.)

My Dad could have left for another job, but my brother and I all went to ND for free, so he just sucked up it up. My Dad’s name also helped get an uncle and a cousin in to ND, so all in all we have 5 family degrees from ND.

We’re following this tournament pretty closely. My Dad is a big fan of Jesse Mendez bc he was from Crown Point, IN, a school I used to wrestle against back in high school. My Dad’s proud of the local kid’s success. I just want to know if anyone will beat PSU’s dominance. Seriously. PSU just had 6 or 7 kids win their Big Ten tournament. Its crazy seeing PSU w almost an entire team line up in the finals of a big tournament like that …

Historically, ND f’d the Bucky O’Connor family. Bucky’s son was a walk-on on the wrestling team at ND when he was murdered one summer. Bucky donated millions of dollars SPECIFICALLY for ND wrestling (in the name of his son … my Dad was there when the donation was made and had been the coach when Bucky’s son was murdered). ND waited for Bucky to pass away and went to his widow and talked her in to moving the money into women’s sports (specifically the women’s soccer team). We heard that Bucky’s other sons were upset with what ND did, but I’ve never talked to them, so I havent verified it. However, once that happened the ND women’s soccer teams started winning NC’s at ND (since they were one of just a couple of universities that had a full set of scholarships for women’s soccer at that time).

And yes, Bob Golic, ND’s famous middle line backer on the 1977 NC football team and an NFL hall of famer, wrestled under my Dad and finished 3rd in the NCAA’s. (He only lost to the national champion, a 365 behemoth of a heavy weight. Bob only weighed 265lbs at that time.) In Bob’s 3rd place match he pinned his competition. He was clearly one of the best wrestler’s ND ever had.

Lots of wrestling stories, some ND, some just the history of the sport are what I grew up on. My Dad’s a bit of a historian when it comes to NCAA wrestling.

My Dad wrestled on West Point’s winningest wrestling team and was awarded in to his HS hall of fame. His Dad (my grandfather) had an award for something like 60 years of support for Ohio wrestling. My Grandfather had wrestled, coached and then reffed in Ohio for decades (HS and AAU tournaments). My Grandad is in Ohio’s wrestling hall of fame.

So yeah, I know a little about the sport.