From Deseret News archives:
Sanderson continues wrestling legacy as a coach
He had, after all, accomplished nearly everything possible as a wrestler, including an unprecedented, undefeated college career and an Olympic gold medal.
So the 29-year-old Heber City native moved from the center of the mat to the sideline.
In his second year as the head wrestling coach at Iowa State, regarded as one of the country's premier wrestling programs, Sanderson said he has not yet had enough of the sport that catapulted him to fame and the record books.
"I love wrestling," he said during a recent trip to Utah in which he held a weeklong wrestling camp. "I love coaching it. It's a big part of my family, and I've spent a lot of time doing it. It's what we talk about."
Sanderson's life was filled with wrestling from a young age, as his two older brothers wrestled, and his father was their coach.
"They spent a lot of time at it," said his dad, Steve Sanderson, who coaches wrestling at Wasatch High School. "They loved it."
Like most little boys, Cael played a variety of sports, including baseball, soccer and football.
"He was very good at all the games he played," said Steve. Steve admits he had no idea just how legendary Cael's career would be, but there were signs that he wasn't just an average wrestler.
"By his third or fourth year, I could see he was considerably better than most people his age," Steve said.
Still, 159-0, an experienced coach knows, is more than a long shot.
"When we sent him off to college, we were just hoping he'd be competitive," Steve said. "It was surreal. You know people get hurt; they have a bad day. Somehow he got past all of that."
The expectations for Cael grew with every collegiate victory.
"The first two years we were nervous all the time because kids were in more of a position to beat him," Steve said. "They were older, more experienced. The strange thing is, he'd destroy those kids."
Cael Sanderson said he simply set out to do his best every day.
"There were difficult times, but I had a very solid base of people around me," he said. "Focus on effort. Focus on little things. Focus on being your best. If you start worrying about the distractions, and there can be a lot of distractions ... that's when you get into trouble."
While an undefeated college career was unexpected , winning an Olympic gold medal was the essence of his boyhood dreams.
"Winning a gold medal was something I always wanted," Cael said. "It's something I always expected to do. ... Going undefeated wasn't a goal of mine until I got into college."
The two accomplishments, he said, are very difficult to compare.
