Aside from Gable Steveson announcing his return to college wrestling, Minnesota hasn’t been in the headlines all that much this season.

But let’s look at the numbers. The Gophers have won four dual meets this season, losing just two times in those 40 bouts and posting back-to-back shutouts — against North Dakota State and Campbell — for the first time since 1997 when head coach Brandon Eggum was one of the Gophers’ stars. Put those four wins on last year’s closing six-match streak and that’s 10 in a row for Minnesota.

And with each of its 10 wrestlers ranked among the top 25, including seven in the top 10 and a team ranking of #4, Minnesota is ever-so-subtly saying, ‘Hey, why not us?’ as far as discussions and projections for postseason conference and NCAA hardware.

The Gophers won eight titles in the recent Cougar Clash at Southern Illinois without Isaiah Salazar at 197 and Steveson at 285 and came close to going 10-for-10 overall.

“The thing that I love about this team, just in general, and especially even last weekend, they just kind of have a killer mindset,” Eggum said. “You see them go out and they're picking up good wins. They've been really consistent, and they're scoring a lot of bonus points.”

The Gophers have bookends in #6 Cooper Flynn, a transfer from Virginia Tech at 125, and Flo’s pound-for-pound #1 Steveson at heavyweight. In between, consistency is spread throughout with #4 Max McEnelly (184), #6 Vance Vombaur (141), #7 Tommy Askey (157) and #8 Clayton Whiting (174) leading the way.

Eggum has been pleased with Flynn kick-starting the lineup. “He’s been really consistent here,” Eggum said. “And for duals, it means a lot. He comes out against South Dakota State and beats (then #4) Tanner Jordan pretty decisively (7-2) and everybody was fired up for him, and it just kind of led the charge … we had really good momentum.

“Cooper’s just been a great start for us. And then you can close with a guy like Gable … that's a dangerous recipe there.”

All About Gable

Eggum began talking to Steveson, the 2021 Olympic gold medalist and two-time NCAA champion, after his tryout with the NFL’s Buffalo Bills didn’t work out. 

“We've always known that he could come back and wrestle. We were just kind of waiting to see what was best for him,” Eggum said about the process. “We had the discussion if he wanted to apply for the Olympic waiver, and if he wanted to come back and compete, we'd love to have him.”

Eggum said Steveson, whom he labeled as a born leader, is looking at a lot of different things in his life. 

“I think it could be good training for him if he decides to go a different path, meaning MMA,” Eggum explained. “From my end, I talked to him and said ‘I’d love to see him wrestle for the U.S. and win a couple more World titles and maybe another Olympic title.’

“He’s just an interesting individual to be around … just very competitive and obviously an extraordinary beast out there, but I think he thought this would be a really good fit for him. He just kind of increased the temperature in our room, and you could see guys were excited to have him come on and anchor the program, and he does a really good job of raising the bar and getting guys to believe in themselves.”

A Slow Go In December

The Gophers raced to the Cougar Clash title and will slow down until the Soldier Salute Dec. 29-20 in Coralville, Iowa. 

“I think we competed almost five weeks in a row. Now we have finals week coming up on us,” Eggum said. “We have this weekend off, and we'll have a few weeks before the Soldier Salute, which I think is good, it allows our guys to take a little mental break and make some changes, just work on some development stuff, but take a little break from the from the competing portion of it.

“The Soldier Salute will be a good test. We'll see some good opponents there, and then we'll kind of roll into the Big Ten dual meet season.”

A ‘Major’ Decision

Eggum graduated from Minnesota in 2000 with a degree in applied economics and repeated Big Ten academic honors. And even though that could have opened some doors in the real world, as he called it, the pull to stay associated with wrestling at Minnesota was too great.

He was the team’s strength coach until 2004 when he became an assistant coach; he was named interim head coach in 2016 and the term interim was removed a year later.

“I think for me, it was just the experience that I had as a student-athlete here, like my relationship with all the coaches … Joe Russell, Mark Schwab, J Robinson and Marty Morgan,” Eggum said. “I just had such a great experience here, and felt like they were family, that when the opportunity opened up for me to coach and be a part of their staff with those guys, it was a no-brainer.

“I know there's other opportunities out there that could be more lucrative in the real world, but as far as having opportunity to have an impact on the guys on the teams, because of the impact that had on my life, it was something that I just really wanted to pursue.”

In other words, it was all about the relationships. “I'm thankful for the relationships that I had coming through here and I enjoyed it so much that that's really the part that I'm most thankful for,” he said. 

“As for being a coach right now, it’s just being able to be with these guys and watch them continue to grow on the mat and off the mat, and help them with the different things that are going on in their lives,” Eggum said. “Those relationships are what makes coaching enjoyable for me.”

The Extended Relationships

Former Gophers Luke Becker and Zach Sanders are Eggum’s longtime assistant coaches, and this year they added former Iowa star Michael Kemerer to the staff.

“I spent so much time with those guys,” Eggum said about Becker and Sanders, “we’re all in a sense like brothers. I knew the quality people they were; I knew their work ethic. I just watched and admired the way they coached and the way they trained and competed and all those things. I just knew I was fortunate to have two quality men underneath me.”

Eggum said he heard nothing but good things about Kemerer. 

“He’s a guy we could see who could instantly make an impact on a young guy like Max McEnelly, who's doing phenomenal, and Isaiah Salazar, and was just a really good fit,” Eggum said.