Bucky Maughan’s Bison Were a Division II Power, But Now Must Endure the Growing Pains of Moving to the Division I Level. Still, the Future is Bright For Maughan and The Bison
By Andrew Berglund “TWM Freelance Writer
The numbers North Dakota State and head coach Bucky Maughan amassed at the Division II level are staggering: 17 conference championships, four national titles, 158 All-Americans, 21 wrestlers capturing 30 individual national championships and 408 coaching victories by Maughan in his 40-year tenure at the helm of a Division II national power.
When the NCAA Division II championships wrapped up in Mankato, Minnesota in March of 2004, and the mats were rolled up one last time following the Bison’s runner-up finish, so too was a storied history of NDSU wrestling at the Division II level.
NDSU’s 36th straight winning season marked the last time that Maughan would pencil into his schedule the names of North Central Conference foes that he’s become so familiar with over his past four decades of coaching.
A new era began.
And now, after a two-year hiatus due to reclassification, NDSU has become eligible to compete at this year’s NCAA Division I championships in Detroit.
“We’re finally getting through this experience of (Division) II to (Division) I which has been a horrible experience to go through,” Maughan said of the two seasons filled with new scheduling, numerous transfers and tough recruiting trails. “That’s the big thing”fighting through this with no tournament,” he said. “We had a lot of defections. It was a tough deal.”
NDSU recorded a 10-4 record in their first season of Division I, their 25th season with at least 10 wins, followed by a 6-6 finish last year. The Bison, who returned all 10 starters this season, are off to a 4-2 start after a 46-0 blanking of Utah Valley State last week. The season has been highlighted by a strong seventh place finish at the Virginia Duals. NDSU went into the 16-team tournament unseeded.
The results didn’t leave Maughan satisfied, which based on the National Wrestling Hall of Fame member’s track record for winning, is fully justified. “I thought we should have won our last one against Old Dominion,” he said of ODU’s 20-16 victory. “I don’t think we wrestled as well as we could have.”
The Bison notched wins over Drexel and Duquesne in the tournament, but fell to tournament runner-up Penn State 39-3 in the opening round.
“We were not ready for Penn State,” Maughan said. “They are a pretty well balanced team as compared to where we’re at. I felt, realistically, we were in the top five out there. I didn’t feel too bad about that.”
Maughan and company had plenty to smile about in April of last year, when NDSU, along with seven other institutions (including Fresno State at the time, which has since dropped its wrestling program) formed the Western Wrestling Conference. The WWC will give members North Dakota State, Air Force, Northern Colorado, Northern Iowa, South Dakota State University, Utah Valley State College and Wyoming a conference championship to contend for, individual recognition, and added exposure, in terms of media and recruiting.
A definite void was felt by the lack of conference affiliation and the lack of Division I competition in the area. “What happens is, we didn’t have anybody to wrestle out here,” Maughan said. “You take the Big Ten and the Big 12, and that’s it.”
“You’re scrambling every year for scheduling, and started a conference was the logical thing. We can have a wrestler of the week and dual meets that we know we’re going to have every year.”
Maughan’s son Jack, the head coach at Northern Colorado, was instrumental in putting together the conference along with other league coaches and administrators. The two Maughans have been battling as NCC foes, independents and now WCC rivals for 20 years. Throw Bucky’s youngest son Bret, NDSU’s head assistant coach, into the mix, and you’ve got the making of a great wrestling family feud.
All members of the WWC will compete in the West Regional, which will serve as the NCAA qualifier. But only 21 spots are up for grabs amongst eight teams competing, making the odds of making it to Detroit that much more difficult.
“It’s a tough deal to get people there,” Maughan said of the NCAA’s. “They take the champion and 11 wild cards, so that doesn’t necessarily mean that if you’re the runner-up that you’re going to go. It’s depending on the strength of the weight class.”
“We would hope that we could get two to three kids to the Nationals,” Maughan said.
The goal of the Western Wrestling Conference is to replace the West Regional with the conference tournament, which would then serve as the NCAA qualifier.
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