After posting a 5-13 dual meet record, expectations for the Sun Devil wrestling squad heading into the 2011 postseason were at an all-time low.
There was talk about what a down year it was for ASU wrestling, and how the talented program underachieved over the course of an injury-plagued season.
But come crunch time, ASU took the opportunity to stick it to their doubters. The Sun Devils qualified six wrestlers for the NCAA Championships and took the tournament by storm, bringing home three All-Americans, two individual champions and a sixth-place team finish that surprised everyone but ASU.
“Basically, having two NCAA champions brings us back into the limelight and back to the height of when we were very successful,” ASU coach Shawn Charles said. “We’ve proven that we can, in spite of our season and our injuries, prepare guys and get them mentally and physically ready to be All-Americans and national champs.”
Seniors Anthony Robles (125-pound weight class) and Bubba Jenkins (157) were the heart and soul of the Sun Devils all season long, and fittingly, they both capped their phenomenal collegiate careers with national titles last week in Philadelphia.
“It’s been fun, and it’s an experience I’ll never forget,” Robles said of the season, which he finished with a perfect 36-0. “I’m grateful for the attention. I didn’t expect it … There are some amazing doors that have been and are being opened for me right now.”
Robles’ title has spring-boarded him into the next phase of his life, motivational speaking, and he is currently taking his time wading through calls from various agents, publishing firms and film companies as he decides what move to make next.
“I got some things laid out right now, but motivational speaking is my main focus,” Robles said. “I’ll be doing some wrestling camps here and there, but my competition is definitely done.”
Jenkins, who finished the year 21-3 and upset an undefeated wrestler from his former school, Penn State, in the finals, also has big plans after capturing the title.
For the short term, Jenkins plans on returning to ASU next year as an assistant coach while he trains for his MMA debut.
“There are a bunch of great, tough decisions that I have to make right now,” Jenkins said. “But I’m not done with this program yet. The ride’s just been so good and so smooth, and I’m just going to try and keep it going while I can.”
Though Robles and Jenkins are now reaping the personal rewards of their success, the impact of their titles (as well as the performance of the squad as a whole at nationals) on the ASU wrestling program cannot be understated.
Especially for redshirt sophomore heavyweight Levi Cooper, who earned his first All-American honors this season.
“It’s a dream come true,” Cooper said of the finish. “We put ourselves on the map big time and came out of nowhere to take sixth place. Now the guys in the wrestling room really have a buzz about them and an excitement for next season.”
Robles agreed with Cooper’s sentiments, and said that a program once on the brink of being eliminated is now quickly rising to national prominence.
“Not that long ago, our program was dropped,” Robles said. “This year, it was kind of a rough year with a lot of injuries, and we didn’t win a lot of dual meets. It was the right way to go out; with two national champs, and to finish off sixth as a team, it really shows that ASU’s back on the move. Hopefully it’s going to attract some recruits in here.”
The successful ending to a tumultuous year is largely a credit to the ASU coaching staff, which stuck by their guys through thick and thin this year with the unwavering belief that all their athletes’ hard work would pay dividends during the postseason.
“It’s all about time; time to develop the kids and the environment so that they come in here every day and their goal is to be an All-American and national champ,” Charles said. “I knew it was going to take me months to prepare them for that. That’s why I was saying all along that I knew we were going to be good at the end.”
All of the Sun Devil coaches have experience on wrestling’s biggest stages, including the NCAA championships and the Olympics, and this collective knowledge of the sport that they share between them was instrumental in the way ASU finished this year.
“Their implications on this program speak for themselves,” Cooper said. “The amount of talent in the room as far as coaches go is kind of nuts. They just have their own kind of charisma, and don’t do things the same way as everybody else.”
Jenkins also talked about how the coaching staff, coach Charles especially, stood tough in the face of criticism during the season and never once doubted the ability of their wrestlers to succeed when it counted most.
“The coaches just kept getting hit with negativity, and they just stayed together and stayed motivated,” Jenkins said. “When I got hurt, it was a really big setback for me, but these coaches just stayed on my side and motivated me.”
Looking forward to next year, ASU is expecting even bigger things from themselves on account of the strong finish to this season.
“We’re going to have a full line-up, and we’re going to be two or three deep in certain weight classes,” Charles said. “Myself and the coaching staff has to get back to the drawing board, and we have to start developing young men to fill the leadership roles of Anthony Robles and Bubba Jenkins.”
Cooper, who will return next year to provide leadership and anchor the Sun Devils at the heavyweight spot, knows exactly how much ASU is capable of achieving next year.
“We’re going to do it great and we’re going to do it our way,” Cooper said. “I know a lot of the guys are starting to embrace that mentality.”
Reach the reporter at kyle.j.newman@asu.edu
