Sanderson, former Utah prep star, takes reins of Penn State wrestling

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Cheerleaders waved pom-poms, the lights dimmed and about 500 fans cheered and rose to their feet as Cael Sanderson walked out for his official introduction as the new wrestling coach at Penn State.

He stopped at a podium set up in the middle of the Rec Hall floor under the scoreboard, right where the wrestling mat is laid out for home meets. Quite fitting for an Olympic gold medalist and undefeated four-time NCAA champion who made waves in the college wrestling world when he accepted the Penn State job last week. The moved ended Sanderson's hugely successful three-year coaching run at his alma mater, Iowa State.

"I don't really have a lot to say right now ... I'm ready to get my feet on the ground and start moving," a soft-spoken Sanderson said to the crowd. "My plans are big, and my vision is big. It's just a matter of getting it done."

Sanderson, 29, is held in high regard in wrestling circles. Some fans throw out superlatives like "the Michael Jordan of college wrestling" in describing his feats on the mat. He's not bad at coaching, either. The Cyclones were an elite program under Sanderson, finishing in the top five at nationals each year of his tenure. Over the three years, all 30 of his wrestlers qualified for the NCAAs.

He's looking to build the same success at Penn State, which has had wrestling since 1909. The Nittany Lions won their only national title in 1953; the program had finished in the top 10 at the NCAA championships for most of the 1980s and 1990s before becoming inconsistent during the 11-year tenure of Troy Sunderland. He resigned earlier this month.

Iowa State has won seven NCAA wrestling titles, most recently in 1987.

Asked what attracted him to Happy Valley, Sanderson listed the challenge of building Penn State and the quality of Pennsylvania high school wrestling.

"Pennsylvania has the best high school wrestling in the country. Or second to Utah," Sanderson, a native of Heber City, said jokingly. "This is a school that people want to come to ... I knew about Penn State when I was a little kid."

He sidestepped a question about salary during a news conference.

In a blog posting Sunday on his personal Web site, Sanderson wrote, "I have answered many questions where people are speculating that I got a $1 million dollar contract ... or something ridiculous like that. The truth is that the offer I received was less than a 10 percent increase from what I made last year."