The current landscape of combat sports and the United States’ current standing in the world of international wrestling got me to thinking, “What college wrestling program provides the best pathway to success?” There were three categories that I used to try and best analyze this question: Olympic success of its athletes, UFC champions, and NCAA tournament individual success.
Olympic success: Iowa State (4). Using the data from 1980 forward, Iowa has the most total medalists with 5. Iowa produced 1 gold and 4 bronze medalists. However, Iowa State, while having only 4 total medalists, produced 3 gold medalists, a 75% gold medalists rate, giving Iowa State the edge here. Oklahoma State was also a strong contender in this category with 3 medalists and a 66% gold medalists rate.
UFC Champions: Oklahoma State (3). Oklahoma State ran away with this category. They have produced the most UFC champions of any school, including 2 of the greatest UFC champions of all time in Daniel Cormier and Randy Couture. Oklahoma State was really the first program to embrace the wrestler to MMA fighter pathway and have reaped thebenefits of that decision. Penn State will be a program in the future to watch here in this category. It appears they are following the Oklahoma State framework here.
NCAA Tournament Success: Oklahoma State (143). Another category that, on paper at least, Oklahoma State runs away with again. However, I will concede that the numbers are skewed by the massive success the program had from the 1920s to the 1950s. That being said, the advantage is still monstrous and as long as John Smith is at the helm, they will recruit at a high enough level to still churn out champions and All Americans at a high rate. Obviously when it comes to tournament success Iowa State, Iowa, and Penn State are all on the same playing field with Oklahoma State in this category. If this category was only looking at the last 15 years, Penn State would be the clear winner here.
In conclusion, Oklahoma State is the program to compete with if you want to advance your Olympic and MAA goals with the caveat that this conclusion is based on historical data. If were to write this article 15 years from now, I could very well seeing the result of this analysis being Penn State based on the current landscape today.
