NU's Manning keeping busy this summer
You’d think preparing the Husker wrestling team for a run at a national championship would be plenty to keep a coach busy over the summer.
But Nebraska’s Mark Manning doesn’t see it that way.
Between running three camps for more than 1,200 young wrestlers and finding time to visit potential recruits, Manning has also taken on the role as head coach of the U.S. freestyle team for the World Junior Championships July 29-Aug. 3 in Turkey.
“I don’t burn out,” Manning said, taking a break from another camp Wednesday night. “I stay focused on bigger things, like helping these young kids get better. I love working for these kids and for my guys and the U.S. team.”
But that doesn’t mean he’s ignoring his duties as NU head coach.
Manning spent much of the past three weeks on the road, recruiting potential future Husker stars and finalizing the team’s 2008-09 schedule that includes duals against most of the top teams in the country.
“I was hired to help build this program, and I’m doing what I was hired to do,” Manning said. “I love being here and being at Nebraska, and that comes first. But when your national team calls, it’s hard not to answer.”
Today, Manning and his U.S. squad will gather at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., to begin a week of training with the U.S. Olympic team. It’s experience that Manning said his young team might need.
“We’ve got a lot of good, young guys, but none of them have competed overseas,” Manning said. “There’ll be a lot of countries, 40, at the Junior World Championships, and Turkey is a country that loves their wrestling. They have rabid fans.
“A lot of those kids haven’t wrestled Americans. Wrestling is wrestling, they all fall down just like Americans. We have to make them wrestle our style and show our toughness. We have to get (the U.S. team members) to believe in themselves and just go out there and wrestle.”
That’s probably not going to be difficult for at least one member of the team — Husker junior Jordan Burroughs, a third-place finisher at the NCAA Championships in March who will represent the U.S. at 66 kilograms (145½ pounds) in Turkey.
“A number of these guys have their sights set on making future Olympic and world teams, and Jordan is focused,” Manning said. “He’s in great shape and he’s ready to go to Colorado.
“He hasn’t really trained out there with the Olympic team, and that will be a good experience for him. This is a first step, exposing him to international wrestling, and it probably won’t be his last.”
Then, the second week of August, it’s back to preparing for the Huskers’ upcoming season.
“We’ve had a lot of our guys around this summer, and that has kept us busy, but that’s good, though,” Manning said. “We’re making progress already and that’s something.
“It’s like we tell our wrestlers, in this line of work, you’re either getting better or getting worse. Things rarely stay the same.”
Reach Karl Vogel at 473-7432 or kvogel@journalstar.com.
But Nebraska’s Mark Manning doesn’t see it that way.
Between running three camps for more than 1,200 young wrestlers and finding time to visit potential recruits, Manning has also taken on the role as head coach of the U.S. freestyle team for the World Junior Championships July 29-Aug. 3 in Turkey.
“I don’t burn out,” Manning said, taking a break from another camp Wednesday night. “I stay focused on bigger things, like helping these young kids get better. I love working for these kids and for my guys and the U.S. team.”
But that doesn’t mean he’s ignoring his duties as NU head coach.
Manning spent much of the past three weeks on the road, recruiting potential future Husker stars and finalizing the team’s 2008-09 schedule that includes duals against most of the top teams in the country.
“I was hired to help build this program, and I’m doing what I was hired to do,” Manning said. “I love being here and being at Nebraska, and that comes first. But when your national team calls, it’s hard not to answer.”
Today, Manning and his U.S. squad will gather at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., to begin a week of training with the U.S. Olympic team. It’s experience that Manning said his young team might need.
“We’ve got a lot of good, young guys, but none of them have competed overseas,” Manning said. “There’ll be a lot of countries, 40, at the Junior World Championships, and Turkey is a country that loves their wrestling. They have rabid fans.
“A lot of those kids haven’t wrestled Americans. Wrestling is wrestling, they all fall down just like Americans. We have to make them wrestle our style and show our toughness. We have to get (the U.S. team members) to believe in themselves and just go out there and wrestle.”
That’s probably not going to be difficult for at least one member of the team — Husker junior Jordan Burroughs, a third-place finisher at the NCAA Championships in March who will represent the U.S. at 66 kilograms (145½ pounds) in Turkey.
“A number of these guys have their sights set on making future Olympic and world teams, and Jordan is focused,” Manning said. “He’s in great shape and he’s ready to go to Colorado.
“He hasn’t really trained out there with the Olympic team, and that will be a good experience for him. This is a first step, exposing him to international wrestling, and it probably won’t be his last.”
Then, the second week of August, it’s back to preparing for the Huskers’ upcoming season.
“We’ve had a lot of our guys around this summer, and that has kept us busy, but that’s good, though,” Manning said. “We’re making progress already and that’s something.
“It’s like we tell our wrestlers, in this line of work, you’re either getting better or getting worse. Things rarely stay the same.”
Reach Karl Vogel at 473-7432 or kvogel@journalstar.com.
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