A new den
Wrestling complex helps PSU keep up with opposition
By Guy Cipriano
The Penn State Lorenzo wrestling complex practice facility. October 11, 2006.
UNIVERSITY PARK — Penn State junior 197-pounder Phil Davis has tried to put himself into the position of a 17- or 18-year-old recruit stepping into the Lorenzo Wrestling Complex for the first time.
Naturally, Davis sees banners of senior 174-pounder James Yonushonis, sophomore 133-pounder Jake Strayer and himself.
Yet there are many things that distract Davis from the images.
Like four flat-screen televisions inside the practice room. Like a lounge with plush navy carpet and leather furniture. Like bright lights, something few wrestling rooms feature.
“I can’t see a recruit coming in here and saying no, “said Davis, an NCAA finalist last season. “This pretty much forces you to say yes and want to come to Penn State. It’s just too overwhelming for a recruit.”
It might also be too overwhelming where recruiting and training needs are taking the sport.
Competition for recruits who have the potential to become the next Davis has convinced programs to construct gaudy facilities.
Penn State continued wrestling’s building boom last month when it opened the Lorenzo Complex, a $4 million training center funded by donors. An anonymous donor provided the bulk of the money and requested the center to be named for Lorenzo, the Nittany Lions’ coach from 1979-92.
Less than two years were needed to raise funds for the project. Lorenzo estimated between 18 and 24 donors contributed to the complex.
“It was something that was long overdue, “Lorenzo said. “Most of our competition has updated their rooms in the last 5 to 10 years and we hadn’t touched ours in 42 years.”
The program didn’t have to move far to enter wrestling’s modern era. The Lorenzo Complex is attached to Rec Hall.
The complex features:
* Four mats and 10,000 square feet of wrestling area. The old wrestling room had 21/2 mats.
* A fully furnished weight room that gives priority to the wrestling program.
* A 60-inch LCD television, a climate-control system and intercom connecting the practice room to coach Troy Sunderland’s office.
“Our goal is to win a national championship and this is something that can help us do that, “said Sunderland, whose team started formal practices in the complex earlier this week. “In the short term we want this to increase our recruiting capabilities and give our athletes a more comfortable place to train.”
The comfort extends beyond the practice room. The program also received a new locker room with stalls for 40 athletes. Outside the locker room rests a lounge with a flat-screen television, computers and leather furniture.
“It’s definitely going to help with recruiting, “Lorenzo said. “But more importantly it’s going to help the kids currently in the program. They now have a tremendous workout facility and great weight room. There’s an emphasis on the sport of wrestling.”
Keeping up with others
Wrestling’s current facility boom started in 2002 when Cornell opened its Friedman Wrestling Center.
Cornell coach Rob Koll, a former PIAA champion from State College High School , said it took his program 20 months to fund the $4 million project. Cornell raised the first $3.8 million in its first two months of fundraising. The program needed 18 months to raise the final $200,000, which came in smaller increments, including multiple $1,000 donations.
Penn State’s project also included secondary donors who paid $5,000 to place their name above a locker.
Cornell, like Penn State, had a primary donor, with the lead gift coming from former wrestler and alumnus Stephen Friedman and his wife, Barbara Benioff Friedman.
Cornell’s finished product included 15,000 square feet of training and office space. The Friedman Center features the 1,100-seat Niemand Arena which can host dual meets.
“What we did went far and above what anybody else had done, “Koll said. “Other people had rooms. We built a training center.”
The center is a stark contrast to what Cornell had when Koll arrived in Ithaca as an assistant coach in 1989 after a career at North Carolina where he won an NCAA title. Less than two decades ago, the program shared one mat with the gymnastics team.
The Friedman Center has turned Cornell’s program into one of the nation’s best. The Big Red have recorded two straight top five finishes at the NCAA Championships. Cornell’s fourth-place showing in 2005 represented the program’s best since placing third in 1953.
Prized recruits are flocking to upstate New York. InterMat ranked Cornell’s 2005 recruiting class, which included 2006 NCAA finalist Troy Nickerson, as the nation’s third best. The recruits are entertaining some large crowds. Cornell and Lehigh competed before a school-record 4,425 fans this past January.
Penn State used Cornell as a model when it started planning its own project. Koll said Sunderland visited Ithaca and toured the Friedman Center in 2005.
“We should not have let the Penn State crew in, “Koll joked. “We should have locked the doors or showed them our old facility. We were the first school to build a standalone wrestling center. It set off the building boom.
“Something like this had never been done before and it wasn’t acceptable to spend money on wrestling. When we built this thing, we wanted a recruit to feel like a basketball recruit does at North Carolina. When a recruit looks around, we want him to feel that wrestling is important to the school.”
Penn State isn’t the only school following Cornell’s lead. Ohio State, Missouri, Purdue, Maryland, Oklahoma, Virginia, Lehigh and West Virginia have improved their facilities in recent years. West Virginia started practicing at its 9,000-square foot, $1.4-million wrestling pavilion last month.
The construction boom coincides with a perplexing period for wrestling. James Madison, Slippery Rock and Fresno State have eliminated their programs within the past year because of Title IX and budgetary reasons.
Still, the building boom will likely continue.
“I have joked with Rob Koll that he started an arms race, “Sunderland said.
Added pressure
The reminders of Penn State’s zenith are vivid in the Lorenzo Complex. Banners and plaques honor the program’s 17 national champions and 154 All-Americans.
It’s impossible for current wrestlers to ignore the this past.
Many donors are expecting the complex will add to Penn State’s collection of All-Americans and national champions.
The Nittany Lions had three All-Americans and finished ninth in the team standings during the 2006 NCAA Championships, but they have not had a team place in the nation’s top three since 1994.
Penn State claimed its lone national team title in 1953. The entry way into the new wrestling room is named for Charlie Speidel who coached the championship team.
“All of this raises the bar and expectations, “Davis said. “I don’t have a million dollars, let alone a million dollars to give to somebody. These people are going to want to see results.”
Davis said the Lorenzo Complex will eliminate “every possible excuse “devised by wrestlers and coaches.
“I’ll tell you what, “he said. “Everything looks like a hot, sweaty gym compared to this. This blows everything out of the way. It’s like going from a horse-and-buggy up to a V-8.”
Wrestling Gear
