'We're tired of being 14th in the country': Rutgers wrestling is looking to become top-10 program
You would be hard-pressed to find a Rutgers wrestling fan who isn't excited for the 2024-2025 season. After all, the Scarlet Knights had their first Big Ten champion since 2019 and produced two All-Americans last season.
Looking ahead to this season, Rutgers returns 9 of its 10 starters and brings in the No. 4 recruiting class, the program's highest since 2007-2008.
In the offseason, associate head coach Donny Pritzlaff left the program to become the head coach of Columbia. Despite the change in the coaching staff, head coach Scott Goodale still has long-time assistant coaches Joe Pollard and Steve Mytych. Mikey Labriola, a five-time All-American, was brought in as an assistant coach in August.
The Knights ended last season ranked No. 14 in the country and are expected to finish around that number again this season. But Goodale is no longer satisfied with that expectation – he wants the program to take a step forward this season.
"We're tired of being 14th in the country and that's kinda been our statement to our program," he said. "It's enough … what's the next step for us? The next step is to be a top 10 program, that's kind of a goal of ours … There needs to be another step to what we're trying to do here and that's kinda been our mainstay, our focus, our talk."
With All-Americans like senior 133-pounder Dylan Shawver and graduate student 285-pounder Yaraslau Slavikouski back on the Banks, that expectation is not impossible. Shawver is coming off a Big Ten title and wants to be a national champion. Slavikouski entered the transfer portal in early April but decided to come back to Rutgers for his final season.
The Knights have wrestlers with national experience. Senior 125-pounder Dean Peterson, Shawver, graduate student 174-pounder Jackson Turley, junior 184-pounder Brian Soldano, senior 197-pounder John Poznanski and Slavikouski are all NCAA qualifiers and are fully capable of taking Rutgers to the next level.
The Knights also have more depth than ever before with the incoming class. Freshman 165-pounder Conner Harer is projected to be the starter at 157 pounds, according to Goodale. Harer is a three-time PIAA Class AA champion and had a 136-5 high school record, with four of those losses coming in his freshman year. According to FloWrestling, he is the No. 24 overall recruit nationally.
"Especially in this state, in this team, in this conference, it's really hard," Harer said. "So every day you gotta go in with an open mind of willing to get better, you can't take anything for granted. Each day, you gotta come in with a new mindset of 'how can I get better?' ... Once you come into practice, you gotta lock in on that, nothing else, get better and then move forward."
Heading into the summer, it was unclear if Turley would return for his final year of eligibility, but unfinished business brought him back to Rutgers for one more season.
"(Goodale) and I had a lot of dialogue going into the offseason. We figured something out where I can come back, and I think we got something special here with this team, and I think we have the chance to even win a trophy this year," Turley said. "My one and only expectation is to win it all, I mean, that's the only reason why I'm here. I wanna be a Big Ten champ but I wanna be a national champ."
The Knights will begin their season on the road in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, on November 9, with duals against Duke and Franklin & Marshall.
"I'm always optimistic, especially this time of year. We're in the middle of October, I feel really good about it, but we gotta wrestle," Goodale said on if the team could take a step forward this season. "We have some guys that have placed before and it's been a long time since they've been on the podium … Take the next step, and if you were fourth make it second or be a champ ... That's the type of step we're looking for (in) this program and until we do that ... we'll finish 14th in the country."
For more updates on the Rutgers wrestling team, follow @TargumSports on X.
To view more of Matthew Mangam's work, follow @MatthewMangam on X.
