#89 Pat Lugo: Inking the Journey from Florida Mats to Iowa's Wrestling Elite

Every wrestler's path is strewn with challenges and breakthroughs, much like the intricate patterns inked onto their skin. In our latest episode, we sit across from Pat Lugo of the Iowa Hawkeye Wrestling Club, and his narrative isn't just etched in ink but is a visceral chronicle of the wrestler's soul. From the sunny grind of Florida mats to the frosty rigor of Iowa's wrestling rooms, Pat weaves a tale that transcends the sport, charting his transformation from a young athlete to a standout on the college scene.

Wrestling isn't just a sport; it's a lifestyle, a philosophy that tests the limits of both body and mind. Pat's recount of his high school exploits, grueling weight cuts, and the mental fortitude required to bounce back from setbacks is a masterclass in resilience. As we navigate the twists of college recruitment, the tactical gambles of redshirt years, and the strategic moves that define an athlete's career, we're given a backstage pass to the unyielding world of collegiate wrestling. Pat's discussion about his transfer to the University of Iowa, guided by the enigmatic Brands brothers, reveals the layers of strategy behind the mat.

Tattoos mark the milestones in Pat's narrative, each a silent testament to a victory, a loss, or a moment of personal significance. But beyond the ink lies a relentless pursuit of excellence, underscored by the unshakeable support of coaches who double as cornerstones in his journey toward Olympic trials. This episode isn't just a glimpse into a wrestler's life; it's a saga of passion, adaptation, and relentless pursuit within the hallowed halls of the Iowa wrestling program. Join us as we peel back the layers of what it takes to sculpt a champion in the unforgiving crucible of the wrestling world.

See the links below for all things Pat Lugo and the Miami Hawks Wrestling Club!

Website - https://www.miamihawkswc.com/
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/miamihawkswrestlingclub/?hl=en
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/MiamiHawksWC
Twitter - https ://twitter.com/miamihawkswc

Transcript

Speaker 1: 3:05

Thank you, thank you.

Speaker 2: 3:11

And we're back. We are back. We are back for another episode of the Vision Quest podcast. We are gathered here today. It almost sounds like church, right, we're gathered here today For all those who went to church on Easter. This is not church. We are here for another episode with a very special guest, pat Lugo of the iowa hawkeye wrestling club, formerly iowa hawkeyes. Appreciate you joining us. Man, how you feeling today?

Speaker 3: 3:44

feeling good. Thanks for having me not a problem.

Speaker 2: 3:46

Not a problem. You and I kind of talked a little bit before this and everybody kind of knows the premise, so I know you got to practice to get ready for. So let's just cut to the chase. Man, let's talk. We've, liam and I, have watched you since you got to iowa. Man, we've, we've loved watching you. Everybody is no stranger to us. We're iowa fans. So anytime you know we iowa does something bad, hey, what's up? What are the hawkeyes doing? Whatever dude, just zip it. So we're here to have fun. We're here to have fun and kind of have pat, tell us your story. So as we go through here, we're going to ask questions. Like I said, pat, and you know what kind of a flow, things like that. But this can be from beginning to end. So let's start off from the beginning. What, uh, what kind of things do you remember? The first kind of sports and things that you started out doing? Was it wrestling or was it something else that you kind of got the athletic feel?

Speaker 3: 4:34

So I definitely remember wrestling. First I grew up doing other sports like football and soccer. The earliest memory I could have for wrestling was getting my first pair of wrestling shoes. I remember my dad gave them to me and he told me that they're going to make me faster and stronger. So I was like, oh, heck, yeah. And my first thought was like now I'm going to be faster and stronger than my older brother. So then once I realized that he had the same shoes on as me, I was like, oh man. So that's kind of like the funny story.

Speaker 3: 5:09

I remember when growing up but I always wrestled I started when I was four years old. Like I said, I did all the sports. I did soccer and football. My dad was also my wrestling coach and football coach. Wow, I kind of went back and forth with that. We would go to wrestling practice and then right after go to football practice and, yeah, he was my coach for both. But we kind of always knew that wrestling was going to be, you know, their main sport. Eventually I did these other sports just because, you know, my friends at the time were involved with soccer, yeah. So, yeah, that's kind of the reason why I did all these other sports, but it was fun. I loved it, you know.

Speaker 2: 5:53

Yeah. So, with that being said, you're're in the other sports, but you said you kind of knew that you were going to be in wrestling already. Was your dad a wrestler? Did he wrestle?

Speaker 3: 6:02

so he wrestled for like three to four years, uh, like in middle school and high school. Um, he didn't wrestle, he didn't go to college for wrestling or anything like that. But my, his close friend, which is which was my uh youth club coach he went to college for wrestling.

Speaker 2: 6:23

Who's that?

Speaker 3: 6:25

His name's Roberto Reyna, Coach Duck.

Speaker 2: 6:27

Okay.

Speaker 3: 6:28

Yeah, nice, many people know him as Coach Duck. He went to I believe Waubonsie. I think, okay, he went to I believe Waubonsie. I think I could be wrong. I forgot what college he went to. But after college he became my youth coach, my youth club coach. There wasn't that much wrestling at the time. I mean probably zero clubs at the time for wrestling in the state of Florida, especially down south, and we're kind of the ones that kind of picked it up and it's growing. Now it's to look back at it and then like see how much it grew and how much it's still growing. It's pretty cool.

Speaker 2: 7:05

We got Mako down there now too, kind of throwing things in the mix too. When he picked Florida I was kind of like what is he going to Florida for? But at the same time I mean he wasn't just doing wrestling, I mean he was in the fight thing too at the same time. So, um, with with it being so small down there, I mean, were you guys wrestling like out of garages like tiny little buildings, like what? I've been on the floor and I seen a couple things I don't know all of florida, though, just kind of interested to see what. What was that environment like?

Speaker 3: 7:33

just kind of a gritty, kind of no hard type environment so yeah, I mean, I remember I remember us first starting off at, like this karate gym and um, it didn't really work out with that.

Speaker 2: 7:46

So we kind of went on our own route and we we got this like old warehouse it used to be like a welding warehouse and I knew it yeah, it was like there's like four walls and you know, that's all we needed you know, it's like a van damme movie yeah, exactly it was hot in there, man, it was so hot it's already hot down there in the first place guys probably lizards running through the building and stuff and yeah, it just uh, we kind of just put wrestling mats on the ground and wrestling mats around the wall and that's pretty much it it was not a rip.

Speaker 3: 8:21

They made like a homemade gym outside and it was just like a man. That's awesome, it was pretty unique, you know, at the time, you know, I was just like all right, you know, and it kind of took off from there.

Speaker 2: 8:33

Okay, okay. So obviously you had some other sports in the mix and did you find it, even as a kid, like with the wrestling? And then, as you're playing those other sports at the same time, did you find that you were a little bit better at those other sports than the other kids. While you were in wrestling you kind of excelled a little more for sure.

Speaker 3: 8:49

Football, yes, yeah, yeah, at the time I I enjoyed football more. That was fun to me a lot more than wrestling. I wouldn't say it's like I tell people all the time I liked wrestling growing up but I really fell in love with it when I got to high school, like sophomore year. These other sports I did they were like just a little more fun. You know, yeah, I guess I had a little more success, a little more fun. You know, like, yeah, I guess I had a little more success. It was easier to like compete and have fun in these other sports because they're team sports. You know you have a team, you score a goal, you celebrate with your team. Whatever Wrestling, you're by yourself out there and it's harder to, you know, win. You know it's harder to, I guess, have fun. You know, because you're winning, you have fun.

Speaker 3: 9:50

So when I was, younger, it was like some time to like you know, fall in love with the sport, but I'm glad that my dad pushed me. I'm happy, you know, because at the time I was I didn't know I was a young kid. You know I'm happy, you know, cause at the time I was I didn't know I was a young kid, you know, really you know grateful for him.

Speaker 2: 10:02

Let's uh, let's talk about ass kickings for a minute. Let's talk about you know you little and, like you said, you don't know you're, you're still learning sports it in things like that, because you guys came from such a, I would say, isolated wrestling community where I don't know what. Obviously the internet's around, so it's not like you guys are blind to everything. But were you guys going to, you know and I always ask everybody this like going to like a national tournament, or were there hard tournaments that were close by you guys that you traveled to those? Like tell me about the first kind of like really high-level type competition you went to.

Speaker 3: 10:36

So, yeah, we used to go to a few national tournaments growing up. We had to raise money to go over there. There was times that we would drive from Florida all the way from Miami to Tulsa Nationals and it was a long drive, cutting weight on the way up there. It wasn't fun and you know I didn't have much success growing up. Actually, my little brother had a lot more success than me. He actually won a few Tulsa National Tournaments and I would go out there and go 1-2 or 0-2. And it was just like man, I came all this way and my dad would be pissed Like, yeah, it was definitely a struggle, you know he started off and, um, as I got older, you know I just learned that you know, if I work harder, you know myself, you know, you know have more success but uh, but yeah, it was definitely uh like harder in the beginning for me. I found more success in high school and you know so on.

Speaker 2: 11:37

But yeah, you talk about siblings. You got an older brother and younger brother. How many siblings do you have?

Speaker 3: 11:42

about three siblings, uh, younger brother, older brother and then my sister. She's the oldest out of all of us, so oh man, so she was your protector yeah, I guess. Yeah, we used to wrestle like in the living room and stuff. It was pretty funny that's awesome.

Speaker 2: 11:57

So you know I talk about you know, being an Iowa fan. Obviously we know Tom and Terry wrestle with each other all the time and things like that. But did you guys find an advantage of having each other as siblings in the same sport, being able to work with each other, or were you guys just so different in size that you couldn't? It didn't work out. It was just kind of like play wrestling. Did you have a practice partner as a sibling?

Speaker 3: 12:18

uh, no, I didn't, because, well, because my older brother was a lot bigger than us. But my younger brother, um, we were kind of same size, but we would fight, so much like, and we would, we didn't even wrestle, like we weren't even learning, we were just, you know, fight. So we were always separated, exactly. Uh, yeah, we never really, you know, drilled with each other or like wrestled live. We're always different groups, but we're more like, more on the mental side, like, hey, man, like you got this, you know, like okay, ready for this match, you know, but we were never like partners.

Speaker 2: 12:54

Yeah, but yeah I get it, I get it, totally get it.

Speaker 2: 12:58

So, as you guys are growing up, you kind of had each other and, uh, as far as you guys are pretty tight-knit family, I mean every duel that we've watched or gone to, we saw your dad there like I mean big, giant arms, ripped dad's balkans, and when you're talking about he was your football coach and wrestling coach. Like I could tell you, tell you, hit the weight room with you guys too, man, cause that I was just watching the, uh, the match against Sasso, and your dad was in the crowd and I think, uh, jim Gibbons made a comment about the size of your dad's arms too. But with, uh, with kind of growing up in the in such a tight knit group and and, and having a tight family like that, what was your support system like? Kind of you know, mom, dad you just talked about your brothers, kind of like on the mental side, kind of telling you you got this kind of thing. How did that go? Did you guys find like a great dynamic that just worked for your family?

Speaker 3: 13:47

obviously almost everybody does, but tell us what it was like for you, uh, with the family dynamic you had so my dad was hard on us, but he was hard on us because he loved us and he made sure that. You know he would tell us that and as I look back at it I can remember him saying you don't understand now, but one day you'll thank me and I really, really understand now. Like at the moment I didn't. You know, like, why is he making me work out? Like, why is he making me do this stuff? Like at the moment I didn't. You know like, why is he making me work out? Like, why is he making me do this stuff? And you know I was kind of pissed off at the moment but I'm thankful for him now. You know it's awesome. You know the kind of guidance I've had from my parents. I feel truly blessed. You know, I feel like I have parents that, like you know, any kid would you know kid would die for. I say that humbly. Like I said, he was hard on us.

Speaker 3: 14:48

A lot of people would probably say, looking at our family and say, hey, you need to relax on your kids, like to my dad. But my dad it was all out of love. So I understood it. It wasn't really a punishment, it was more like I'm going to make you suffer, but just to help you. You know, you know and that's that's just. You know it's kind of like what I go through now in the Iowa wrestling room. You know that stuff right there is kind of like similar to how I grew up with. I think that's why I click so well with Tom and Terry. You know it's kind of reminds me of my. You know upbringings and you know my childhood. You know you want to. You want something. You got to earn it. You know you can't nothing, it's just nothing's given to you.

Speaker 2: 15:30

And that's and that's a familiar sound, especially in our house. I mean, I was there's a lot of things that we talk about that we did here but I remember cause I listened to the guys that you know that were coming up that had been in college Like I don't want to push my kid too much, so I took a little bit of that. But I also grew up in an environment where I didn't I didn't I the things that my son, liam, has now. I didn't have those opportunities. So I had to create my own opportunities. I had to make sure that everything I was doing was to the best of my ability, and you can't do that by sitting around and doing nothing, right, you can't. That's not how you earn anything. So we're, I mean, he was at nine, 10 years old and we knew what his goals were and I wasn't like Kerry Kolod's dad with like a cattle prod or nothing like that. But you know, but I, I thought about it, but we, I had him down in the basement with a workout machine at nine, 10 years old.

Speaker 2: 16:16

You know, just to. I had no regimen for him. I was like, just go down and work out. You know, five o'clock in the morning. Just go down and work out. I don't care what you do, pushups, sit ups, go on the, go on the Airdyne, I don't care, but just work out. It wasn't about what he did. It was about that he was like he is not happy with you today. I was like I get it, but you know that's, this is part of it, you know. So that's it's interesting.

Speaker 2: 16:44

And it's good to hear that I'm not the only one that made my kid do that stuff. But so as you're, as you're kind of going through, you're talking about high school is kind of where you really started to fall in love with it. What was middle school wrestling like for you guys in Florida since the? I guess the pack was so small when it came to wrestling. What was that like for you?

Speaker 3: 17:00

Yeah. So again, my dad was my middle school coach. Yeah, yeah, we wrestled, you know, a few tournaments here and there, but it was more like we didn't really like go wrestle for our middle school, it was more for like our club when I was in middle school. So we would travel for that and uh, we did. I did have a middle school team my seventh and eighth grade year and, um, the counties, that's the, that's what the tournament was called, county tournament. But yeah, we, uh, I did that it was.

Speaker 3: 17:33

It was growing at the time. Uh, not a lot of kids, not a lot of food teams, not a lot of teams had a food roster, but yeah, it was good. The competition wasn't as tough. That's why I would travel more with the club. At that time I was already pretty much saying, yeah, I'm going to go to college, I'm going gonna go to high school to wrestle. You know, I wasn't. I wasn't gonna be a football player, I wasn't gonna be a soccer player or anything like that. Yeah, strictly, already, once I got to high school I was strictly wrestling okay okay, so.

Speaker 2: 18:10

So middle school a little bit of a breeze kind of kind of one of those things, just because, again, I and I know the demographic wasn't, you know, like I said, wasn't that you just at the time? But as you're going getting into high school, what is the talk? I mean, are you in in your freshman year? What was, I guess? What was your biggest match, your freshman year?

Speaker 3: 18:28

freshman year um, I just remember cutting a lot of weight. I cut a lot of weight the bad way. I didn't have the right information. I feel like, sure, that's not a knock on my coaches at the time or my parents, because I just think I'm still learning about nutrition today. I think nutrition is something that we're not, you know, taught, especially in like our education system. Yeah, gotta like really go out there and you know search for it. But, um, so, yeah, my weight was bad. My freshman year um, I was kind of my biggest enemy. I was top three in the state, top five in the state the whole year. I end up not placing at the state tournament just because I was like cutting weight so bad like I, I did not enjoy that process throughout my.

Speaker 2: 19:22

So what were you walking around and what were you cutting to?

Speaker 3: 19:25

I was cutting to 106 and I was. I was walking around like 120 and I did it. I did it, terrible like I was, I would eat so bad yeah it was just like I. I was just like working out to make weight, I wasn't working out to get better. And it was just like, yeah, I became a weight cutter instead of a wrestler. You know what I mean? It's like there's just sucks, yeah, just bad. Like my freshman year, I was just like ah, this is not done yeah yeah, what's up?

Speaker 3: 19:59

but things changed quickly my sophomore year, so yeah okay, okay, let's talk about that.

Speaker 2: 20:03

You didn't place your freshman year. I mean, I, I, liam, didn't have his freshman year that he wanted either. But learning curves right, were you guys kind of, did you, I don't know? Did you somewhere along the line going into your sophomore year, were you finding out a little bit more about nutrition?

Speaker 3: 20:18

Yes.

Speaker 3: 20:19

A little, yeah, a little bit here and there. Honestly, the best thing was just me going up a weight. I went from 106 to 132 freshman and sophomore year, wow. And I weighted like 145 at the time. So I was still cutting weight. Woo man, I think cutting weight is so bad. Like after the season was over, my freshman year, I was just like, you know, I'm getting heavy, I don't care, yeah, right, and but that helped me. You know, it's like I knew I stopped worrying about cutting weight, I stopped. You know, I just started eating a little healthier. Stop stop eating. You know certain things and it helped my, it helped my mind a lot and I went 132, and I had a tough weight class. I had a bunch of seniors in my weight class at the time. So my senior year was definitely a big step. I mean my sophomore year. My sophomore year was definitely a big step for me.

Speaker 2: 21:14

Did you find yourself, I guess, leveling up because of that now, Like cause you said it was a big year. Where were you getting better practice partners as well? Were you finding yourself being able to spread out a little bit more with who you had in front of you, kind of thing?

Speaker 3: 21:29

I think, um, I think it might think my mindset has changed. I had to say my mindset has changed. Like I said, I wasn't worried about cutting weight, I was worried about working hard. Um, I, uh, I went to Fargo that summer after my freshman year and I ended up getting second and then realized, like yo, like, like I don't have to cut weight and I just work hard and believe in myself, you know, and then what else can I do, you know? So it kind of took off from there. I, I went, I, yeah, I went, that I went to, uh, my sophomore year in high school. I, I got third and I still didn't get what I wanted. But it's fine, you know, I was like I had a tough bracket, blah, blah. It's fine, yeah, but keep working hard, keep doing what you're doing and you know, you know you'll find success in the future.

Speaker 2: 22:17

You talked about mindset. You know kind of your mentality kind of changed. What do you think brought about? I mean, obviously your freshman year was rough, but what got you to that point? What type of things were you doing to change your mental, mindset and everything like that?

Speaker 3: 22:32

I think a lot of it was just getting the distractions out of my life Kind of helped me clear my path, you know, like what's really important here. You know what do you really want to do? You know with your life and I think once I, you know, got like those bad apples, you know out of the way and it kind of just made sense to me.

Speaker 3: 22:56

It just clicked I don't really know how to explain it. It was more of a feeling just like you work hard, you stay tough, you stay in there, you know you'll find success. Yeah, and I just felt like the need to work hard was a must. You know, it was kind of like my drug. It's like work hard. It made me feel good and I started making goals for myself.

Speaker 3: 23:27

Even at practice, it was like I'm going to work out so hard today I'm going to try to break this guy, whoever I'm with, I'm just going to see what happens. Like I remember walking into practice, like just just just see what happens. If you just work hard for the next two hours, like let's see what happens, like let's see like I was just excited. It was like exciting to me. It was like I was curious, like like would you pass out, like would you throw up, or like you know, would you keep going? You know like wow happened. You know, like I just wanted to find out and I always, like I always, I always had this satisfaction feeling after practice was like man, you, you worked hard today, you know you can rest, you know it's like most kids aren't willing to do that shit.

Speaker 2: 24:11

You know, like most kids don't know what it's like to find that dark place, put themselves in that dark place, I should say, where in a match someone's gonna put them there and then they don't know what to do, whereas you're starting to put yourself there like all right, let's see. I want to see how far I go before I pass out, throw up, fall over whatever it is, and that's that's pretty impressive to be able to kind of. And yet obviously we know you had your dad along, you know, alongside you to kind of help you with. But I mean, obviously you guys probably talked about certain things in whatever mental state you were in. And so, as your sophomore year kind of came to a close, everybody wants to be a state champion, right, I mean, you want to wind up on top in your state.

Speaker 2: 24:51

But what kind of goals did you set for yourself going into your junior year? There was Fargo, things like that. But what type of little goals were you set for yourself going into your junior year? You know there was fargo, things like that. But what? What type of like little goals were you setting for yourself to? You know, I want to, at least you know place here, or I want to, because, winning aside, I mean realistically, when you you know where you're at, you know I want to win it, but I'd be good if I did this. You know kind of thing were you placing yourself in those positions? Or was it just something that you were just like, nope, I'm just going. You didn't care where you're going, how you're going Is that kind of where you went into your junior year then?

Speaker 3: 25:24

So I definitely set a goal. Besides winning, one of the goals I had was not to not get taken down for my junior and senior year and and I end up accomplishing that goal. So that was good, I remember. And then I ended up taking it a step further, was like, all right, let's not get taken down in practice for the next two years. And then I was like that ended like the first two weeks. But it was, it was fine.

Speaker 3: 25:48

But I think, um, I think setting these goals, even if you don't accomplish them, is is, uh, is the journey that matters. You know, correct, even if you don't accomplish this goal, that's fine. You learn so much, you grew so much as a person, as a wrestler or whatever, so it's like I've gotten better, you know, even though I didn't accomplish what I want to accomplish freshman year, it helped me for my sophomore year, you know, so on, so on. So yeah, it was. I definitely. Another goal I made was to win Super 32. And I remember at the time me telling my friend I'm going to win Super 32. And then he laughed and I was like, all right, that means like this goal is a good goal to have, because you know if they're laughing at your goals. You know, then that's a good thing. Yeah, they don't think that you can accomplish it. You know it's like all right, I'm approved. You know you're wrong, whatever, so yeah that's right.

Speaker 2: 26:44

No, let's talk about because around june 15th, 16th, colleges can start making phone calls and contacting guys. Were you getting any after your sophomore year?

Speaker 3: 26:53

no, I I didn't really get um contacted by colleges until my senior year okay, well, we'll get.

Speaker 2: 26:59

We'll get to that. We'll get that because I want to see there's some important stuff that happens in between there. So junior year, you know mindset changes and you want you. You set your goals. How many of the guys that you wound up wrestling from, like I would say, your junior and senior year all the way through college? How many of the guys that you wrestled in high school did you wind up wrestling in college?

Speaker 3: 27:20

um, when it, when it comes to like the state of florida, I don't think any okay.

Speaker 2: 27:25

Well, how about, like, when you got to like super 32s and things like that? How?

Speaker 3: 27:28

many of those guys for sure I remember, uh, max thompson, uh, times in high school, then then in college um, I can't remember any at the moment. I think hayden hitley, uh, maybe I remember wrestling him in high school, but I don't think I wrestled him in college. But these guys that are like you know, are pretty well known. Yeah, yeah, a few other guys I can't remember. Oh, freddie stroker oh yeah very early.

Speaker 3: 27:57

Uh, a few other guys. But like what really happens, a lot of guys that I wrestled in high school end up, you know, falling off in college and the guys that I wrestled in college weren't, didn't really have success in high school and they kind of like springed in college, if that makes sense yeah, yep, yep, okay, okay.

Speaker 2: 28:19

So junior year, did you accomplish any of the things that you set out to?

Speaker 3: 28:23

Yeah, I was able to win the state title.

Speaker 2: 28:27

No takedowns.

Speaker 3: 28:28

No takedowns, no takedowns. Fargo, fargo. That year I think I got. I didn't win Fargo, I think I got like fourth or fifth, but you're All-American, I'm All-American, yeah, still impressive okay. And then Super 32, I believe that's when I wrestled Hayden Haley. I think I got third or fourth, I think.

Speaker 2: 28:49

Okay.

Speaker 3: 28:49

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 28:51

Okay. So, as you're going through your junior year, kind of leaning into your senior year, what are your thoughts as a kid as you're going through that transition of? I mean, a lot of kids are becoming men at that stage, you know, where you're kind of having a little bit of a turn from boyhood to getting into manhood a little bit more. What are your thoughts, kind of going into wrestling and, and you know, if you're thinking about college, what are your thoughts like? What were you kind of thinking as you're going? You were you trying to contact colleges like, hey, I'd really like to here. What were you kind of going through into that transition into your senior year?

Speaker 3: 29:25

So, yeah, I definitely knew at that time that I wanted to wrestle in college. I didn't really know anything Like. I didn't know how to contact college. I didn't know how to contact coaches. So I kind of let my high school coach at the time like figure it out for me, and he was kind of like the one who helped me with that recruiting process and uh, we kind of went from there, um uh, but it was mainly my senior years when I started talking to colleges, but it was kind of like a problem I had was my grades, um, and it wasn't necessarily that I wasn't like like smart enough for these classes, it's just that I didn't show up to class. That's what it was. Yeah, I just didn't go.

Speaker 2: 30:08

Oh, that's a disease. I had, too, the show up disease. That's what I had yeah.

Speaker 3: 30:14

So, um, kind of like, that's kind of like a problem I had. I was just showing up, but I definitely did. My coaches, my high school coach at the time definitely told me like yo, if you want to go to college like you said, well, you have to show up for high school. So I was like all right. So that that was pretty convincing to me, like okay all right, I better do this.

Speaker 2: 30:35

That's the plan. Yeah, okay, okay, so, as as you're going into your senior year, were there? Did you deal with any injuries in high school?

Speaker 3: 30:45

No, thank goodness. Right, I think a lot of it was just my style of wrestling, Like I stayed in a good position and I didn't really like the funk and stuff like that, Okay. So like I feel like a lot of people with funk, they put themselves in, you know, danger. You know knees Twisting yeah, they put themselves in danger, Knees Twisting yeah. So if you stay in good position, I think you could save yourself from a lot of injuries.

Speaker 2: 31:09

You're a heavy hand wrestler anyways. You're a wear-em-down collar-tie kind of I'm going to pull your face into the mat, then I'm going to underhook and probably come in for a single leg. That's right. I didn't really see a whole lot of funk in you when you were wrestling. It was pretty straightforward. I'm going for legs and I'm going for a takedown kind of thing. So that explains a lot. So, senior year uh, what were your goals going into your senior year?

Speaker 3: 31:34

let's, let's talk about that first senior year was pretty much the same as my junior year, not getting taken down. Win the state title, win Fargo, win Super 32. That was one of my goals. I was able to win the state title. I didn't win Fargo. I got second that year, my senior year, and then Super 32, I got, I think, third again. I can't remember it's a tough tournament, man.

Speaker 2: 32:00

Yeah, it's easy. Sure for sure, Tough tournament you're talking about hayden hitley's and stuff like that, being in there it's. You're not dealing with slouches.

Speaker 3: 32:07

Man, exactly yeah we joke, but a fourth? Something like that okay, okay.

Speaker 2: 32:13

So senior year, you, as you're going through your high school season, that what were some of the highlights from, uh, high school wrestling that year um, definitely like celebrating with my team that we won the state title team wise you did too say that again team wise, you did too yeah, we won as a team yeah nice okay we actually my senior year was pretty crazy for my high school.

Speaker 3: 32:36

We won it for wrestling, baseball and football state titles. It was. We had like a parade and it was pretty cool. That's awesome, man, yeah. So that was a good year for that, but uh.

Speaker 2: 32:49

Liam's team just. I think their baseball team has won it three times. I think they're going for four. Liam's team just won it four times. I think there's another uh, sports team it's kind of the same thing where they were going for a state championship as well. So that's crazy. That's. That's a fun time, man. As a kid you guys had everybody's watching you.

Speaker 3: 33:06

You guys are probably all over the news and everything it was pretty cool and then we end up having like a big party at the end of the year, like all the teams were there and it's a good time that's awesome.

Speaker 2: 33:17

That's awesome. So you guys had a great year. Um, and we talked about earlier about this is where the contacts and stuff started to come a little bit in from for colleges. So who's throwing uh, who's throwing some information your way saying, hey, we like what we're seeing. What do you? Who are you hearing from?

Speaker 3: 33:33

so at the time I I got contact from iowa state um nc state, edinburgh, virginia tech and a few other schools. I think that was pretty much the. The other schools were like naia and stuff like that.

Speaker 2: 33:49

But yeah, no slouches man. I mean, you're getting some good contacts, dude so it's interesting, though, because you only took two trips yes you went to one place in arizona called grand canyon, I think it was, that doesn't even exist anymore.

Speaker 2: 34:05

School might be there, but they don't have wrestling, that's for sure. And you went to Edinburgh. Okay, so on your trips just hearing the places that you listed off and then hearing the places that you actually visited, to run me through that how was the decision-making process going on for you as far as what you were showing interest in?

Speaker 3: 34:25

So yeah, so my first visit was Grand Canyon and it was a good visit, good coaching staff, but I didn't see myself there because they didn't really have a foundation built yet, you know, like base. So I was like I'll take the visit. You know, I definitely wanted to like, like go on all five of my visits. At the time I didn't obviously, um, because I just hate to travel, I think that's. I like going places, but like getting on the plane coming on blah, blah, blah, waiting in line, I'm like hotel room and all this shit like ah, this sucks, but um, but the places were cool.

Speaker 3: 35:03

You know, the coaches were cool. When I got to edinburgh, good, it was like, like I didn't, I didn't go to college, to like, like go to college yeah, go to college. Exactly, I went to college to wrestle yeah, you ain't the only one man.

Speaker 2: 35:19

I mean, we just listened to that. What was that? Starachi? I think that was saying that too. He's like they asked if he's gonna use this europe year. He's like I don't like classes, man.

Speaker 3: 35:26

Yeah, I know exactly what he means too. I didn't go here to learn, that's awesome.

Speaker 2: 35:34

Don't take that advice. Kids Go to school and learn. Man Go to school.

Speaker 3: 35:40

When I went on Edinburgh's visit it felt right to me. You know, at the time they just got third at nationals. The past year they had a good lineup like guys around my weight Mitchell Port, dave Habit, aj Shaw. You know these guys were hammers and they didn't stay. The only one who stayed was Mitchell Port. But like I was telling myself that if this coaching staff can get these athletes around my way, to be contenders, then why can't they do it with me?

Speaker 2: 36:07

Was that Flynn? Was Flynn there as a?

Speaker 3: 36:09

coach yeah, he's awesome, awesome.

Speaker 2: 36:13

Was that the head throw?

Speaker 3: 36:14

Was that head throw Academy or something like that, oh, slow, right, yeah, that was my that was, and at the time too it was. Uh, remember that, that was my that was. And at the time too was they had a like their little documentary that came out too, and it was pretty cool I was a senior. And then they, flo, just put the documentary out and I was like, oh, this makes me want to go there even more.

Speaker 2: 36:32

Yeah, yeah, because they showed that weight room they had. I mean, it was like in a boiler room or something.

Speaker 3: 36:38

Some kind of crazy setup they had. Yeah, yeah, yeah, they made it work man, I loved and it reminded me of, like how I, how I worked out, you know, in florida. That's all that's what I had, you know, I remember, by the gladiator of the, my wrestling club, four walls, and it felt right weld shop. Yeah, if, yeah, I feel like. Uh, I just felt like I was a little bit at home when it came to the workouts nice, okay, okay, all right.

Speaker 2: 37:02

So you're senior, you got, you got to look at things. You, you kind of, I'm sure once, I mean, if you meet a staff like that, especially with Flynn, I mean, I'd be sold pretty quick too, because he talked about a foundation and those guys they build foundations as soon as they get somewhere. So I mean you're walking into a pretty solid room. You just mentioned shop. I mean, that guy was the riding king of NCAAs for when he was in college and you know Liam's learned a lot of lessons from him too. So now your senior year was great, you guys had fun, you picked a college. Now you're off to college. What was your plan? Since we talk about academics, what was your plan going into college where you're like I'm going to take a cooking class, I'm going to take this? What were you kind of thinking when you got to school? Was it a little harder than you really wanted it to be?

Speaker 3: 37:53

So I was kind of like. So, first of all, my major at the time was special ed and history, and I think the reason why I did that because that's what my high school coaches were and I was just, I was just like, all right, yeah, sure, I I was, I didn't really know, you know. I mean, so I was just like sure I'll do this again. I get a wrestle, I don't care about um, but that changed when I went to iowa, but we'll talk about that yeah, we'll get to that.

Speaker 2: 38:24

We'll get to that. So, because I know that you wound up, I mean, obviously you guys had a, had a decent competition uh schedule, but what were in in season, not the, not the postseason, what was kind of like the hardest part of the regular season for you was it still the weight thing, or had you kind of figured that all right out already at that point?

Speaker 3: 38:42

no, I definitely figured it out. Uh, the coaches at the time, I think the workouts were just more intense, um, so that kind of helped my weight out. Um, I was learning from some, from a heavier weight that that was on the team his name is vick avery. Uh, he really helped me a lot when it came to nutrition, uh, and mitch report too. You know, you know these guys, they, they tell, they tell me what to eat and when to eat it and you know how much to eat. You know, because at the time it was one hour, uh, one hour weigh-ins for due meets and tournaments and it's like you can't eat too much because your stomach's small, blah, blah, blah, and that's something I didn't know in high school. I would just stuff my face right after weigh-ins and that's not the case. That's not what you do, but it doesn't work exactly. So it helped me a lot when it came to my weight okay, okay.

Speaker 2: 39:34

So you had that kind of figured out and what was, uh, I guess because I've never, I guess I can't say I've ever watched like edinburgh schedule what was the toughest uh match, you had your freshman year.

Speaker 3: 39:45

Freshman year I would say I probably had the NCAA tournament, but I who?

Speaker 2: 39:52

Sorenson.

Speaker 3: 39:53

No, that was my sophomore year.

Speaker 2: 39:55

Oh, was it Okay Okay.

Speaker 3: 39:57

So my freshman year I think Zane Rutherford was definitely my toughest match as an NCAA term, but we had a good like due meet schedule. Yeah, I can't remember at the time like who we wrestled for due meets. It was a lot of like Clarion Lock Haven.

Speaker 2: 40:14

That's right. Yeah, yeah, okay.

Speaker 3: 40:17

BJ Ryder. He was a good opponent, bj, who BJ Klagan?

Speaker 2: 40:22

Oh, okay, okay. Yeah, he was a good opponent, bj, who BJ Klagan. Oh, okay, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah right.

Speaker 3: 40:28

So you got to NCAA as your freshman year you didn't redshirt. No, I didn't redshirt, I was red, yeah. And then I was like I didn't want to redshirt. Honestly, my coach asked me do you want a redshirt? I said no. I was like I want to go right now, like that's why this is why I'm here, you know. So.

Speaker 2: 40:43

Did you find that because you talked about the workouts and stuff and obviously your dad was your coach, but I guess I don't ask this a whole lot Did you find that when you got into the workout room itself Because I mean, I when I played soccer and I played soccer for a long time in when we played soccer we didn't touch a ball for two weeks, like we ran and we ran and then we ran and then we ran some more. What did you find that? That transition from a high school room workout to the college workout? Did you have a hard time keeping up?

Speaker 3: 41:10

um, I would say in the beginning, like pre-season workouts, yes, yes, because, um, of the running, like you're saying, I hate running I'm. I remember like me being with the heavyweights when I was running. We're going three, four-mile runs and I'll get back to where we finished. And then Mitchell Port was like look who you're around. I was like I look around. I was around the heavyweight and I was like he's like you got to pick it up. I was like you're right. But then I was like my body is like holy. So the running we definitely ran a lot more than expected. So I had to adjust to that and I think I did a really good job at that my second year because I was more prepared, I knew what to expect and that kind of helped me.

Speaker 2: 42:01

So, yeah, and um, that kind of helped me. So, yeah, so let's talk about that second year, because this is kind of where the transition into leaving is. I believe your sophomore year, isn't it? Yeah, okay, so what, going into your sophomore year, you obviously have goals, and your team has goals, and your coaches probably have some goals for you as well, but what were your, what was your mindset, uh, and and your, your goals, specifically going into your sophomore year, what were you trying to accomplish?

Speaker 3: 42:27

So my sophomore year I felt like it was like my senior year. I was more just like right on, like strict. I was focused that my sophomore year. My goal is to be a national champ. I would. I did everything to the t in my sophomore year when it comes to watching film, my diet, uh, my preparation before a match. You know my cool down after a match. I was, I was a professional.

Speaker 3: 42:55

My sophomore year okay and um, I was uh, it didn't work out the way I wanted to and I and it hurt me, and, but I learned a lot. So that's that's the year I was able to uh wrestle. You know these high caliber guys like brandon sorensen and anthony kalica, and you know these other guys. I was, I believe, my sophomore year. I was a contender um to win it, so I I believed in myself and I was just full head of steam, you know, and um, it was a great year. I learned a lot, you know, even though I didn't accomplish my goal, it doesn't really matter, because I grew so much.

Speaker 2: 43:36

Yeah, yeah, so yeah, you gotta be able to take something away, you know, I mean, there's always something to be able to take away from something. So, exactly when, what? As far as the goals weren't reached, were you talking about just getting the ncaas, like, was it? What were you? What was your ultimate goal?

Speaker 3: 43:51

my only goal was to win a national title. I wasn't wasn't to, you know, beat anyone. Specifically, it wasn't to. It wasn't to make it to the ncaas. No, I, I want to win. You know, be anyone. Specifically, it wasn't to make it to the NCAAs. No, I want to win, you know, okay, I'm here, you know. So, yeah, anything less would be like disrespect towards myself, you know, sure.

Speaker 2: 44:10

And the energy and time you've put into your craft, Exactly Okay. Okay, so things didn't pan out in your sophomore year. So what were your thoughts? I mean, what were you deciding? I mean this, this had to have been something that was going through your head at least halfway through the season. What, what? At what point were you like I think I need to change, I need to change your environment, I'm doing this. Was it something that I'm doing this and I don't feel like this program is going to get me there? Or I don't feel like this program is going to get me there, or you just feel like maybe this is the wrong environment. Like, what were your thoughts going through your head as that process started to kind of roll and started to take a take a shape?

Speaker 3: 44:45

So I never, I never blamed my coaching staff. I never blamed my environment for my success. It was all. It was always all on me. And so how this process went down was I found out that my head head coach at the time was looking for another job and he was looking for another job. So I told myself, I actually called my dad and told him and I told him well, he wants a better opportunity for his family. I respect that. I also want a better opportunity for me, you know. So that's when I that's the kind of that's kind of the way I told him. And you know I sat with him and the rest of the coaching staff and it was a hard meeting and you know it was, I remember, like my back sweating during the whole meeting.

Speaker 2: 45:34

It was just kind of nerve wracking man yeah.

Speaker 3: 45:37

So, like it was definitely a hard time, you know, for me, especially as, like a young, you know, college athlete. It's like what am I doing? Like I honestly wanted to stay, but then I had people really, really close to me, you know, trying to push me to, you know, find other options, you know, like Iowa, oklahoma State, penn State, ohio State, these other schools. My dad was really someone who convinced me to take these visits because I feel like I'm a loyal person. These other schools weren't looking at me coming out of high school. The schools that were looking at me were Edinburgh. Obviously I want to stay here with this team, you know, but I I was just, I just didn't see the bigger picture, you know, at the time and I'm I'm glad that my dad, you know, convinced me to, you know, take a visit here or whatever, because, like, um, I'm obviously I feel like I made the right decision, you know, to transfer.

Speaker 2: 46:41

Oh well, we definitely think so, we, we thought as we. So it was kind of weird when, when we were, we were we had season tickets to go watch Hawkeyes, right, and we kind of heard some news about a new guy coming in and we're like, oh, what the hell is going on. It was this new guy and we had no clue. When we were pretty close to the cassiopaeas we travel, travel quite a bit with those guys doing dual teams things like that and um, they kind of wound up, kind of squeaking out a little bit of like what was going on, and I was like, oh really. So we looked you up and I was like man, I don't remember seeing this guy anywhere. I was like, who's this? Pat lugo dude? Um, so you know, we we got exposed to you and we're, and the way liam wrestled at the time, um, he's a little different now, but the way he wrestled at the time was a lot like how you wrestle. I mean very heavy hand, a very physical wrestling, very straightforward, because he wasn't. He was young yet he wasn't into funk and everything else like that. So he was, he was still straightforward.

Speaker 2: 47:34

So we got really excited when we saw you wrestling. We found out you're coming to iowa. But what were? What was the process like? Because this is a whole different thing that some of these high school guys don't know about. When you're, when you're, you know, obviously it was just a thought. You're like hey, I'm gonna, I'm gonna check out my options. Were you making phone calls? Were you emailing coaches like, how was that process for you to try to find that next place for yourself?

Speaker 3: 47:55

so it was even. It was hard because, like you said is, the rules were different back then. There was no transfer portal, there was nothing. So what I had to do was I had to meet with my coaching staff and the athletic director to get permission to speak, permission to speak to these other colleges, coaches, whatever. They first denied my permission to speak. So I wasn't even allowed to contact these other schools. But as this process went on with me and the university Edinburgh University I ended up getting the lawyer at the time to help me fight what was going on. Whatever, the lawyer a really good friend of mine gave me a letter to send to the university, pretty much saying that look, you guys broke a few rules, ncaa rules that if you don't give us permission to speak, we're going to take this to court, blah, blah, blah. So the next day, the next day, I was granted permission to speak.

Speaker 2: 48:59

Who pulls man? Yeah, it was uh it was polls man.

Speaker 3: 49:01

Yeah, it was like.

Speaker 2: 49:01

What like this is like happening, you know so and that's what attorneys are for to find those little things out, to kind of help, I mean. Because were you on scholarship too?

Speaker 3: 49:10

yes, I was so that's.

Speaker 2: 49:12

I mean, that's a whole other situation. You know, that's a. That's a different type of gig and I always talk about this with a lot of guys, because you guys are going into college, you guys are 17, 18, you're making an adult decision, yeah, for the next four years of your life, and I'll be honest, there's a lot of contracts I never read and just signed. Right, and how many people are going to pull up, get your scholarship contract, whatever it is. You're just going to be like, okay, cool, and you're just going to sign and date it Right, whereas I, if I, could tell every kid and every parent right now, before you sign anything, have an attorney, look at it, make sure it looks right, make sure it's asking everything.

Speaker 2: 49:47

It's not say that yours was bad, but look at it, you know, make sure you know what you're doing, because obviously yours were able to find some loopholes to help get you going and doing the things that you wanted to do. So obviously I'm pretty sure Flynn didn't have too much of a problem, right, because he wasn't going to be hanging out anyways. He's like hell, yeah, let this kid do what he wants to do to be successful. So when you finally got that? Who were you throwing some info out to right away, saying, hey, I'm looking to go?

Speaker 3: 50:13

So I spoke to Iowa, Oklahoma State, Penn State, Ohio State and a few other schools reached out to me like Iowa State, kind of like the same schools that were reaching out to me when I was in high school NC State. But I knew at the time I wanted to go to Iowa, Penn State or Ohio State.

Speaker 2: 50:36

That's what it was that's Big 10, I mean you get oklahoma state's big 12, which not nothing to slouch at. But I see I already kind of see where your path is and and what you're looking to do. So you're looking to go into a pretty big conference. So let's talk about your your I always call it run-ins. Let's talk about your running with the brands brothers. How did that go when you met up with those guys?

Speaker 3: 51:09

So I flew into Iowa, went on my visit, and the memory that pops up in my head right now is we met at a breakfast restaurant, bluebird.

Speaker 2: 51:15

Sounds brandy, sounds very brandy.

Speaker 3: 51:18

We met there and it's funny because, like at the time, I couldn't tell the difference between Tom and Terry. Who can? I was like, who am I speaking to? Like I don't know. I didn't want to like ask you know. So there was a table, the whole coaching staff was there, the weight training coach, the trainer, morning star was there, whatever they're all there and there was just one. There was two seats open, one for me and one for my dad, and then we sat there and I, I, me, I'm the type of person especially at the time I was younger, I didn't, I didn't speak much, like I was.

Speaker 3: 51:54

I only spoke, if you know, if someone's asking me a question or something. So I was quiet the whole time. I kind, kind of wanted to read the room before I showed my own cards, I feel you For sure. So I didn't realize that Terry was behind me because he was sitting at the bar and we were at a table and I was wondering where is, where's the other one that I was like who is this topper terry? I was. It was kind of funny and then, and then, uh, whatever we're talking, and then, whatever he, someone speaks behind me. I look behind me and it's terry. I was like I didn't know he was there sneak attack, shit, what's going on?

Speaker 3: 52:36

but, um, it was, uh, it was a good visit. That's the one memory I had. I had like three hosts. I had Michael Kemmer, paul Glenn and Cass Wookiee were my hosts. Nice, they were awesome, we had a good time. We ate a lot. I remember going to breakfast, lunch and dinner. It was good, it was cool, and then they'll show me the nightlife at night my host. So it was a good visit. After the visit, I didn't sign there, I didn't do anything there yet, so I went home after that. At the time I was already back in Florida because I left Edinburgh and I didn't go back. So I was ready. I flew back home. And then a few weeks later, maybe a month later, uh, tom and morningstar flew down to come see me and, um, they see me to, like, you know, get me, to get me to, you know, sign pretty much and whatever. We met. And then from there I flew, I flew back with them to iowa and so you made no other visits.

Speaker 2: 53:38

You visited Iowa and that was that. Was that man? Yeah you are a loyalty dude. I'll give you that.

Speaker 3: 53:43

You are a loyalty dude, yeah, hell yeah, okay, but yeah, so I mean at the time too, like these other, these other uh uh universities kind of like lost their interest in me, like because I was speaking with Oklahoma State, I was speaking with Penn State, but they kind of went with their own guy. Sure, I think the reason why Iowa wanted me was because I wrestled Sorensen the year before and Sorensen had one more year left to graduate and I had a retro year left too because I didn't retro Edinburgh, that's right, yeah, so it made perfect sense and I was like let's do it, man, I hate traveling too.

Speaker 3: 54:21

Perfect sense. And I was like let's do it, man, I hate traveling too again. So I was like all right, let's do it. So I just flew back with them. Uh, I remember going back with them and it was already like time for their summer camp uh schedule. So I went right into summer training with them and to get me ready for my uh red shirt year and um, and the rest is history.

Speaker 2: 54:41

I like to think that Terry was calling all the other coaches and telling them back off. We got them, otherwise I'm going to come and find you and take your legs out.

Speaker 3: 54:48

Yeah, which is funny, I had a visit scheduled to Iowa State and I didn't go to it. I mean, I had two visits scheduled to Iowa State and I didn't go to both of them. One was I was in high school and one when, when I was transferring well, you really screwed the pooch on that one right but, uh, no shows. Yeah, it wasn't that bad because the coach, yeah, changed. You know, yep, yep.

Speaker 2: 55:12

So like dresser yeah, dresser.

Speaker 3: 55:15

So so yeah, that's awesome visits.

Speaker 2: 55:19

I didn't even go to those, I was like whatever, that's cool, you seem pretty. You seem like you know what you want. You know like, when something is presented to you if it appeals to you, you'll stick with that Like. But if they're like you said in that, in that meeting you were kind of quiet. You're kind of sitting over in the corner a little bit and just kind of reading the room more. But I think it's hard to just read the room with the brands brothers around because they find a way to get you to be who you are somehow some way. It seems like it doesn't. I'm sure other coaches have great qualities, but I've watched these guys forever since they were, like in high school, so it's just kind of knowing how these guys operate. I'm not surprised that one of them was sitting at the bar and like turns around and says something like holy shit, what the hell's going on here?

Speaker 2: 56:01

So so you're sold. You're sold with Iowa we were sold. When you got there, I noticed the tattoos and I'm like, holy shit, this guy really likes tattoos, man. He's got them like all over himself. And I know you were asked about these tattoos a couple of times, but it was seemed like it was pretty simple for you. You had something set up that you liked and your dad was like, yeah, go get them. And then you were going to do a whole sleeve and you wound up doing like half your body.

Speaker 3: 56:24

Yeah, I mean. Well, I didn't start this other tattoos I have until, like, I graduated high school. I mean graduated college.

Speaker 2: 56:32

Oh, okay, okay, Cause I was like I saw a couple other ones. I'm like man, he's got them all over, dude, I thought it was just on the one side, but is there a little story behind the type of tattoo that you have?

Speaker 3: 56:45

So the first one that you probably seen first. Yeah, I mean, it was kind of like my sophomore year of high school. I told my dad I wanted a tattoo and he said if you went Fargo you'd get a tattoo. So I didn't went Fargo, but I got second that year. So he's like, all right, go get the tattoo. And I got the tattoo and it was my my whole sleeve and my chest. And then you know, we me, my dad and my little brother all did it at kind of like the same time, so we kind of have the same tattoo.

Speaker 3: 57:15

And then the tattoos you see now is like something that I just wanted. I wanted more like after I graduated college and now I got my. My left leg is sleeved up and my right yeah, it is, yeah my right whole, my whole chest is tatted and my both sleeves and my arms are tatted. So a couple hours yeah, a few hours, but it was. I think I had this conversation with someone that like literally like yesterday, two days ago. He's like I just love the feeling of tattoos. That's what he said.

Speaker 2: 57:47

It was nelson brands and um loves the feeling of tattoos, like getting a tattoo yes, yes, freak freak and then when he said that I was was like bro, I know exactly what you mean.

Speaker 3: 58:01

And it's not to itself, it's just a feeling of it. It's like it's like I don't know how to explain is like, man, you feel this pain, but you feeling the pain and fighting, and fighting the pain. It's like a great feeling, especially like afterwards, like when the pain is over. It's like I just went through that. You know it's like, yeah, went through that. You know it's like yeah, it was good.

Speaker 2: 58:21

You know, like so I got a tattoo on my arm and so I have a problem needles right, like I pass out, so if I get a shot I'm gonna fall to the floor. So I got a tattoo on my arm. I'm like it's a tattoo, it's not like getting a shot. I passed out getting the tattoo on my arm right. So years later I said because 920 uh tattoo company, they said they sponsored the show and I was like I'm I need, I'm irish, so I wanted a celtic cross on my back, right, nice. I told my wife I'm doing it. She goes, yeah, but you're gonna pass. I was like it might be different. I think it's because I can see it. Yeah, back here, I can't see it.

Speaker 2: 58:52

When you're describing that feeling of like fighting through it, so like when they're going over my spine, it reminded me of someone with a hammer and like just real fast over your bone kind of thing. So I sat there taking that. I was like how can I take this? But I couldn't do that and I got my whole back covered, like the whole, the whole scenery back there. But it kind of the way you described. It is just that feeling of getting through.

Speaker 2: 59:17

That is the best feeling like yeah, man, I did that shit. This is awesome. So that's cool. That's cool. That's even cooler that you did that with your dad and your brother. You know, it's kind of a, it's a bonding thing, even though you didn't win fargo and your dad I'm gonna say it because I'm in wisconsin, he's in florida your dad kind of wussed out on it and said okay, you can get a tattoo. Don't tell patricia, don't, please, don't beat me up. I swear to God you probably kill me. But uh, okay, so you get to Iowa and we obviously know you had some really really good success. But let's talk about that. What was that? You know, what was that like? Going from Edinburgh to that. Was that a big change for you?

Speaker 3: 59:50

Yes, 100%. Um, I think I took a mental step back when I first got to Iowa and, um, I think I was kind of like figuring out who I was at the time and you know how, how I wanted my wrestling to be, cause I thought, oh, I have to be like you know these guys to be here. And then, when that was not the case at all, I was in my head, they, they said, you know, your style is is Iowa style. You know, whatever Lugo style is Iowa style. You know, whatever Lugo's style is Iowa style, his style, whatever.

Speaker 3: 1:00:25

I kind of like I would say my confidence wasn't as high as it was like in the past. My first year competing for Iowa, I put a lot of pressure on myself. The standard was higher standard. The fans, you know, know, like everything just kind of waited on me and I was just like I wasn't really expecting, you know, that weight, because I was like I didn't feel that edinburgh, you know, and um, the, I guess the atmosphere in the room, you know, was kind of like you know whatever. So like, uh, yeah, that changed, that changed, uh, completely my senior year, I think. I think, because when I, when I go into a situation and I don't know what to be aware of. I don't. I kind of like lack a little bit, but one once I'm aware of what's going to happen, or what's you to happen, or how this workout is going to be, how it's structured of it, I can work out harder. Yeah, so that's kind of like how I was my senior year I really knew what the run was going to be or whatever. Yeah, so yeah.

Speaker 2: 1:01:35

So you got a pretty slick win. You know, going against Sasso, to me that was probably, and I know you took a loss against him. But just seeing the win coming back from that, we noticed a difference just in you in general. Just the wrestling that you had, and you could even tell, because the way you kind of carry yourself, you almost talk to yourself on the mat Things were a little tense, a really close match. You're like just kind of breathing it out and were a little tense and really close match. You're like just gonna breathing it out and you can tell yourself you're bringing yourself down a little bit. You can see it on the mat, which is awesome because I mean, to be able to keep that composure in a tight situation against a dude, that's that good, that's. I mean, that's impressive, right.

Speaker 2: 1:02:09

So let's talk about your first year. Your big 10, like, uh, you went in the big 10s, that was, that's pretty, that's pretty big. When you're talking about the conference that you're in, I mean NCAAs are tough, but Big Tens, I mean some guys are saying that the Big Ten tournament can be as tough as the NCAAs. But how was that? That was a goal, probably, obviously, that you had set. I'm going to win this. What was that like kind of going through that tournament? That's a heavy hitter.

Speaker 3: 1:02:34

Yeah, so my first Big Ten tournament was my junior year. I got third. It was a good tournament. I lost to Brady Berge from Penn State.

Speaker 2: 1:02:44

Penn State yep.

Speaker 3: 1:02:46

Then I lost to him second round, ended up getting third that year. But, yeah, good tournament, a lot of tough wrestlers, and it's like, yeah, that composure that I have to, like, you know, keep myself in. It's like the wrestling match inside the wrestling match. You know the battle inside the battle. It's like you know you can't let yourself be your biggest enemy, if that makes sense. And it's like you got to stay composed. You know you got to stay relaxed but be explosive at the same time and be aware you and not not be too anxious. You know a lot of things go into it, you know, and that's what makes this sport so hard, you know so so unique. You know it's uh, not like, uh, you can have a bad day and have someone help you out, like a football team or something. You know you gotta be on it, uh, and it's uh, it's an awesome experience once you can figure it out and you can keep it there so let's, let's, uh, we'll wrap up the college.

Speaker 2: 1:03:47

But I want to ask a couple things about the brands brothers in general. Okay, so there's lots of instances. No, no secrets, but just guys probably like some funny stuff. Like can we talk about? Uh, we had dan dennis here. I brought him in for a camp one time and uh, he in obviously in his flow documentary he talks about he goes, I give anything and no one practice is gonna end right, and tom or whatever was like yeah, anything, chop your arm off, kind of thing.

Speaker 2: 1:04:10

Like what are some of the crazy things like? Are they? I think they were a little more intense than they are now like do you think that they may have have? Do they tell stories? Like I remember back when we first started coaching, we made guys do this. Do you kind of notice like a little bit of a, of a um, I don't know a calm down? Not necessarily that the room calms down, but those guys have a better feel for what the room can be like and what it needs to be like, instead of just a smash and grab, because everybody thinks that iowa is just non nonstop just killing each other. And obviously you guys wrestle hard and practice hard. But who doesn't right? What are some of the differences between like the what you think the Iowa room offers, but between, besides, like another room offers?

Speaker 3: 1:04:51

I think, uh, the the word that jumps in my head right now is just passion okay passion.

Speaker 3: 1:04:58

A lot of people say it's it's intense, it's intense, but I think it's just passion, you know, it's like a lot of it just coming from the love of the sport that these coaches have that they love. They love you so much they're gonna tell you what you need to hear, right? No, they don't beat around the bush. And again, it reminded me of, like, how I was raised. You know, that's exactly how my father raised me, so I think I clicked well with it. I was. You gotta have thick skin, you know, especially in life, you know, I mean, this is how the world is, you know, and they tell you that you gotta have thick skin and you can't. You can't feel like it's personal, because it's not. They want what's best for you, they want what's best for the team, the program, and that's what they tell us every single day. And they don't only tell us, they show it with their actions. Good, and it's one thing I can remember I guess you'd call it intense was like we're running outside during preseason. The mud got all over our shoes.

Speaker 2: 1:06:06

Oh yeah, slippery.

Speaker 3: 1:06:09

When we came inside, right by the door of the wrestling room, there was a bunch of mud, because guys would hit their feet. There's a bunch of mud inside all over the carpet. We just finished our long run. We did a bunch of mud inside with it all over the carpet. We just finished our long run. We did a bunch of hills. Everyone's cooling down. I'm doing my extra right at the end with morning star and and then next thing, you know, you hear terry come in and he's just, you know, telling everybody what they need to hear, because what we did was wrong. We made a bunch of mess and he's calling us um, you know stuff, that is true, and uh. So he made us do the whole workout again and it was like, oh man, it's like we just finished, but it was right. I mean, it's like. It's like some people would say, well, you're being too harsh. No, like, no, we're. We're the ones that made the mistake. He's fixing the mistake and he and at the end of the day, he's only helping us and that's teaching you.

Speaker 2: 1:07:07

yeah, he's teaching you and I think I think a lot of guys. So we've had some kids that you know from around here. They take their visits and we've heard stories that it wasn't even bad stories about the brands brothers, just that they're like. They're like like you were saying, it fit your style, it was what you kind of grew up with, so it felt right, right, so it felt natural. A lot of these kids don't? You know they, and I'll be honest with that, the Askren room is not like a brands room, you know, it's way more relaxed. It's like a Penn state room where it's, hey, let't do anything, but I, I can imagine it being a little different. So kids going into a room like that, if they don't, if they aren't exposed to it and it's not something a that they like but that they're used to, they're not going to take to it where kids like that. There are certain kids that like that grind, you know, they like to have that push and that fight and they want their coach to have it, and those coaches then have it not only in the room but then in in your corner. You know, like you said, they do it in every aspect, it's not just when they're mad about what's going on at practice. They're fighting for every inch for you, on that mat too, at the same time. I think that's important. I think, obviously, cale does the same thing for his athletes. It's not like he's a screamer, but he's definitely fighting for his guys.

Speaker 2: 1:08:15

So college was? We had a fun, we had great time watching man. I mean, every time we'd go down to Iowa hanging out with the Cassiopes and just watching wrestling like we made sure that we watched your match for sure. There was no bathroom breaks. There's no getting hot dogs or dipping dots or none of that shit. We're making sure we're sitting down for a Lugo match. So now you got that. That end of that end of life is done. We know you're at the Hawkeye Wrestling Club. You're getting ready for the Olympic trials, right? I think you're going to be heading down for that, correct?

Speaker 3: 1:08:42

No, I'm actually done wrestling now You're done, you're done done. Oh man.

Speaker 2: 1:08:48

Yeah, I might as well hang it up and not even watch wrestling anymore, dude, seriously Okay, but you have another venture, though, so what is that that you're putting your time and energy into now?

Speaker 3: 1:09:00

so I'm starting my own wrestling club up back in my hometown, miami, florida, and I'm calling it the miami hawks. Nice, yeah, I had my first uh event this summer, june 6th through 9th uh. It's wrestling camp and tournament and it's open to all, so I'm very excited about that okay, so what?

Speaker 2: 1:09:18

what? What sparked this? Was it because you, like, you want to give back, kind of thing? It's a kind of the usual thing, but obviously you guys are coming from an area that doesn't have a ton of wrestling. Still, it's getting better, it's getting more and more kids now. But are you in an area that kind of needs that growth?

Speaker 3: 1:09:36

I think, yeah, I think, yeah, it definitely uh needs the growth um, a lot of, a lot of there's not a lot of uh universities, especially d1 universities of wrestling in florida, and there's not a lot of guys who come back and, you know, give back, you know, because there's not a lot of people from florida that go to d1. So I think, um, what started this was just. I feel like it's just. I'm ready for this next chapter. You know, in my life, I love wrestling, I love what it's done for me and I just want to, like you know, share my journey. You know, share my experience with you know, the future generation and I can help a lot of. You know little kids grow Someone who doesn't make the football team or basketball team, whatever. You'll come try wrestling you know, come on over.

Speaker 3: 1:10:26

I think, and I can, you know, be closer to my family. I haven't been with my family for the past eight years and I think it's time to reunite with them, you know. So I think it's going to be a good, you know transition.

Speaker 2: 1:10:40

Cool, that's cool. Well, we're excited. I know we shared it. Uh, we'll share it some more. There's a, there's a flyer out everybody, um, that we've put out on our social media. Lugo's got the miami hawks wrestling clubs on social media. He's got on facebook. He's got it on instagram, twitter not so much, but I know that he's out there kind of looking at stuff. But look at, look for it out on Instagram and Facebook. Um, are you on? Are you on TikTok?

Speaker 3: 1:11:04

no, I'm on like I have these, have them set up, but like I don't post them on there because it's like a lot, so like yeah, it is man yes and no it's, it's a ton yeah he's just doing this alone, trying to get stuff out there. So yeah, it's, it's nuts. I should have taken a technology course at some point, but I didn't.

Speaker 2: 1:11:19

I'm yeah. He's just doing this alone, trying to get stuff out there. Yeah, it's nuts. I should have taken a technology course at some point, but I didn't. I'm just going to learn on the fly. So, but everybody, take a look at that. If you guys are down, anybody's down in the Southern area, I don't care if you're in Georgia, I don't care if you're in North Carolina, head down and go check out this event June 6th and 7th you said, yes, just okay, through 9th, okay, okay.

Speaker 2: 1:11:40

So that's a, that's a camp and a tournament. I mean I'm pretty sure the camp's going to be well worth the time if it's. If the tournament isn't going to be something you want to do, get down and do the camp, but do both of them, seriously, do both. So everybody, he's got to get to a practice. We're going to kind of talk to him for a quick second when we're done here. But we've been joined by the Hawkeye Wrestling Club and the former Hawkeye, pat Lugo, two-time All-American Big Ten champ man. It's been great having you on and I hope we can get you back on as your venture kind of goes along in the path that I'm sure it will. I'm sure it'll be pretty successful. So, pat, much appreciated Everybody.

Speaker 2: 1:12:17

I hope you appreciate the episode. Take a pat. Much appreciated everybody. I hope you appreciate the episode. Take a listen. It'll be downloaded the next day or so. Put some clips outside where you guys get piqued some interest if you didn't watch it. But everybody, we're out gonna talk to you in a second. You're, pat, all right man peace.