Andrew Hipps, Senior Writer
Tim Hartung, who hails from a Durand, Wisconsin, was a one-time state champion who wasn’t heavily recruited coming out of high school. But he went on to wrestle at the University of Minnesota, where he became a two-time NCAA champion, three-time All-American, and helped put the Gophers on the collegiate wrestling map. He became the first Gopher in 51 years to win back-to-back NCAA crowns. After his collegiate career, Hartung went on to have a successful freestyle wrestling career. He was an alternate on the 2004 U.S. Olympic team. In 2002, Hartung won the U.S. Nationals and was a World Team member. He also placed several times at the U.S. Nationals and World Team Trials.
Hartung has coaching experience at three of the nation’s top collegiate wrestling programs: Minnesota (five seasons), Iowa (two seasons), and is now in his first season as an assistant coach Iowa State.
RevWrestling.com recently caught up with Hartung to talk to him about his career at Minnesota, his international career, his brief stint at Iowa and whether or not he still harbors any hard feeling toward the program, his relationship with Cael Sanderson, and what the Cyclones need to do to challenge for a national title in March.
Coming out of high school, you were a one-time Wisconsin state champion, yet went on to become one of the all-time greats at Minnesota. You exceeded a lot of people’s expectations coming out of high school. Did you exceed your expectations?
Hartung: For sure. That’s an easy question. I was really uncertain coming out of high school what I wanted to do. I was a three-sport athlete. I played football and baseball. I almost signed at St. Cloud State, so that I could play both sports. The door to Minnesota kind of opened late in the recruiting process of my senior year. I didn’t even really know college wrestling coming out of high school. I didn’t follow it much. I was wrapped up in a lot of other things.
When I went on to Minnesota, it was definitely a crapshoot for me. I was kind of underdeveloped. I came in behind a lot of the people I came in with “¦ so my expectations were just to go up there and see what I could do. I really didn’t have any goals past that. And part of that was that I had a lot of people around me who said, ‘You’re not Division I caliber. You won’t make it there.’ It was an interesting decision. What made it even more special was that I got a chance to prove a lot of people wrong “¦ and I got a chance to prove a lot to myself. I learned a lot about setting your mind towards something “¦ and anything is possible. So it was a good experience.
What’s something about J Robinson that most people don’t know?
Hartung: He comes across as a pretty hard-nosed guy. I think a lot of people in the wrestling world, and a lot of people who know him from a business or wrestling side, kind of think he’s a really intense, hard-nosed guy. And he is. But there’s a whole side to him where he’s pretty tender, too. He’s an emotional guy. He cares a lot. If he has a good relationship with you, he cares about you.
Even since I’ve left there, I stay in touch with him quite a bit. I know that if I ever needed any help in any way, he would be there for me. I think a lot of people might not know that he’s really a great man behind all of the intense things. He’s always in the paper. I think a lot of people maybe get the impression that he’s this hard-nosed guy who maybe doesn’t have any feelings. But he’s really a tender guy if you get to know him and do the things you’re supposed to for him.
You have obviously developed a relationship over the years with Minnesota head assistant coach Marty Morgan. He is expected by many to be the eventual successor to J Robinson at Minnesota. If given an opportunity, what kind of head coach do you expect Marty to be?
Hartung: He’s going to be a great coach for sure. He just has such a good understanding of how to communicate with athletes, how to motivate them, how to peak them, how to train them, how to individualize is probably the best thing I’ve noticed about him. Brandon Eggum and I used to compete with each other all the time, we practiced together all the time, and he would have us doing completely different things. I just think he understands that each guy is completely different “¦ and what he needs is important, not necessarily what the whole needs the whole time.
He’s really doing a lot of things. J has kept him around for 14 or 15 years for a reason. He’s a great recruiter. He was the biggest person who steered my career. I think back “¦ and I model a lot the things I do after the way he treated with me. I know that he’ll do a good job once he gets a chance there. I’m sure that everybody in the Minnesota wrestling nation kind of expects that to happen.
When you look back on your collegiate career at Minnesota, is there a certain memory that sticks out most in your mind?
Hartung: There’s one that sticks out a lot. The class that I got recruited with: Chad Kraft, Troy Marr, Josh Holiday, Bart Golyer, and some others “¦ when our class came through, we cracked the top five for the first time in 1997. We were second in 1998. We were second in 1999. Just the way we put Minnesota wrestling on the map was really special. But the memory that was hardest to get over is our senior season, everything was kind of unfolding for us to be Minnesota’s first national championship team. We knocked Iowa off the Big Ten 25-years-in-a-row platform. Going into the NCAA Championships, we were ranked No. 1. And then we end up losing to Iowa by two points.
Even though I won the national title individually that year, it was really disappointing. I still have the picture hanging up of the second-place trophy picture “¦ and there were a lot of disappointed faces. It was a really heart-wrenching loss to lose by two points. Even though I won it individually, it was just really, really bitter. It would have capped off the greatest career “¦ for a group of kids to come in and build a program like that over five years and then leave with a national title “¦ and we didn’t get that opportunity. We were second again. We still talk about it when we get together. It’s one of those things that will be in our minds forever.
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