Northern Colorado Head Coach Ben Cherrington
On July 16th of this summer, Jack Maughan announced that he was stepping down after 22 seasons as the Head Coach of the Northern Colorado wrestling program. Following a brief search, Assistant Coach Ben Cherrington was elevated to lead the Bears as the team's Interim Head Coach for the 2009-10 season. Cherrington, the 2006 NCAA Champion at 157 lbs, had served as an assistant for Northern Colorado the past two seasons. Recently D1CW caught up with Coach Cherrington to discuss his new position and the future of the UNC wrestling program.
D1CW: Coach, what can we expect from this season's Northern Colorado team? From an outsider's perspective, it looks like you have a few guys who will be able to win matches at Nationals mixed in with some young guys.
Ben Cherrington: We are going to be better than last year's team. Last year we had seven freshman starting at times, and only two seniors. This year (Tony) Mustari and (Kenny) Hashimoto are the only seniors. Last year we were young and this year we will be young again. Our young guys will have no choice but to get better. With the schedule we will wrestle, you have to. Otherwise its going to be a long year for them. I think that we have a couple of young guys that will suprise people. The kids that we have in the room this year have been working hard and are improving every day. They are working harder now than they have at any point in the three years I've been here.
D1CW: You currently have the label "Interim Head Coach". What exactly does that mean?
BC: Well, it's a trial year for me. Jack Maughan really pushed hard for me to get the job. I feel that if I do a good job and show that the program is moving in the right direction and kids are improving on the mat, and in the classroom, there will be a good chance that I get the position permanently.
D1CW: In Western Wrestling Conference action Northern Iowa has always been the power, Wyoming is quickly improving, and now you have Utah Valley to contend with. How long will it take before Northern Colorado is challenging for the WWC title?
BC: I believe that if all of our guys wrestle up to their potential, they are capable of doing it this year. Since I have been here we have been in that 2nd/3rd range. I expect that it will be a four-horse race. UNI is UNI, they will always be in the hunt, Mark Branch is doing a darn good job at Wyoming and now there's Utah Valley who is very tough. It's going to come down to whichever team gets their guys best prepared to peak at the right time of year.
D1CW: How difficult has it been for you taking over a program that has been led by Jack Maughan for the past 22 seasons?
BC: It really hasn't been too bad at all. Jack is still involved in the athletic department, so I can confide in him, or approach him with any questions that I have. It has helped a tremendous amount that I have been here for two seasons prior to this year. I have had a chance to get to know the team, alumni, boosters and the athletic department. There are of course a bunch of responsibilities and administrative things that go along with being the head coach that I have had to learn. It may be a bit more difficult just because I took over so late in the summer. Overall though it has went very well.
D1CW: You mentioned earlier the difficult schedule that you will wrestle this year. Why such a big upgrade?
BC: It's actually not really an upgrade, it has pretty much the same teams as last year, minus Boise State. If we ever want to seriously compete with the top teams in the country we have to wrestle them. We don't want our guys to just see the top competition at Nationals. By exposing our guys to the top kids in the country we are giving them something to shoot for. Wrestling the #1 or #2 guys in the nation give our guys a feel for what they need to work towards. Once we see these guys over and over our young guys will learn not to fear them. I just have never been one to duck competition. I don't want to have a team full of guys with "nice-shiny" records and not wrestle any real competition.
D1CW: Can you talk about the coaching staff you have assembled at UNC?
BC: Sure, the head assistant is Austin DeVoe. He was a 125lber for Missouri and has been with the program a year longer than me. Austin will work with the lower weights. This year we brought in Leister Bowling to work with some of the upper weights. Leister was a NAIA National Runner-Up for Dana College. Also, working with the upper weights on a volunteer basis is Shane Carwin. Shane was a DII National Champ who lives here in Greeley and is now getting to be a big name in the UFC. Later this year he will fight Brock Lesnar for the Heavyweight Title. All in all, we are a well rounded group. We each come from different backgrounds so we all have different ways of teaching technique and I think that's a good thing.
D1CW: You have earned a Division I coaching position at a relatively young age compared to most of your peers. What are some of the factors that prepared you for this job?
BC: That's a good question. I would say that I have had some great coaches to look up to. When I was competing at Boise State, I wrestled for Coach Randall and Coach Owens. They are phenomenal guys. In trying to build this Northern Colorado team, I took a lot of ideas from those guys. I got to see where Boise State was before they built it up to the state that it is in now.
Being around Jack (Maughan) the past two years has been great. He is the best coach that I have ever seen as far as PR and fundraising go. He's done an awesome job at ensuring that program will be around in the future. Jack really wanted to prepare me for this position, he took me to a lot of his meetings so I could learn about the non-wrestling parts of the job that are so crucial to a program. All of these guys have been great role models for me, I know that I can call any of them at any time and I'm confident they could answer any question I have.
D1CW: If I were a prospective recruit, what are some of the reasons why I would want to come to wrestle for Northern Colorado?
BC: We are an up and coming program, but I think a lot of teams can say that. One thing I like to tell kids is "Think about all of the programs you are considering. Then think, Will that program be around by the time I graduate". Our scholarships at UNC are fully-endowed, that's one thing Jack made sure to do. In the future we hope to have the coaching staff endowed, as well. These things are important because that's one less thing that the University has to cover. After what has happened the past few seasons at Arizona State and Oregon, it's hard to say that any team is 100% safe, but we are in very good shape.
The facilities we have here at UNC are great. Jack has had a million dollar wrestling room built. It is on par with any room I've been to in the entire country. There is also a new $11 million dollar weight room being built.
We are a young team with a young staff that is excited to have the opportunity to be the building blocks of a UNC program that can be one of the marquee programs in the West. Eventually, we are aiming to compete for NCAA trophies.
D1CW: Ok Coach, I'll end with a bit of goofy question. I've seen this debated on various message boards and you being a 1X All-American who won a National Title in that one season, would be more than qualified to answer. What is the more difficult achievement, winning a national title or being a 4x All-American who isn't a National Champion.
BC: That's certainly debatable, for sure. Either one is extremely tough to do. I have to give the edge to the guy whose able to get on the podium all four years, because that is a hell of a thing to do. It took me three years just to get on the podium once. Winning a national title is super tough, but it is really special to be able to be consistant for all four years.
D1CW: Good stuff!! Thanks a lot Coach!