The Fighting Illini Are Ready to Live Up to Their Name

Mike Poeta was named Head Coach of the Illinois wrestling program in April of 2021. Having been a fan of his for many years as a competitor, and in his early days as an assistant with the program, I was very excited about this move. The other day I had the honor of connecting with him to talk through what we can expect from his program heading into this season. I was very excited to talk through the potential for this season, who to watch, plans for their team, new additions to the roster, and some of their additions to the coaching staff. Without further ado, allow me to share some of the highlights from that conversation.

Last season was expected to be a strong one for Illinois, but a series of unforeseen events caused the team to call an audible to some postponed plans. In the end, this should end up as a real positive for this group for the 2024/2025 season. I asked Coach Poeta about the messaging to the team as they prepared for this season:

“The messaging for everyone was to push yourself and to try to get the best version of everybody. The team we have this year is really lined up to be successful. This is the team we thought we were going to have last year, so I had to be a little more patient. The Braunagels started having a ton of success, and they wanted to take the Olympic year and I wanted to allow them to have that life-changing experience.

One of the bright spots from last season was Kannon Webster who showed in his limited action that he could be a real force at 149. Here is what Coach Poeta had to say about their young thoroughbred, along with his thoughts on more experienced returners to the lineup, Lucas Byrd and Luke Luffman:

“Kannon Webster was able to wrestle in five events and was able to get up to being ranked seventh in the country. Then you had the unfortunate part of Lucas Byrd and Luke Luffman being hurt, which can happen any year. Losing them, I look at it as having five potential All-Americans, and they were on the bench last year. These guys are the hungriest that they’ve ever been. Luffman physically looks like a different person. He looks more intimidating and tougher. Braunagels spent the year wrestling primarily Greco and came back and their shots were better. Webster is a year older and has another year of maturity, and he’s ready for the best four years moving forward. Lucas Byrd had a bad injury over the summer, so we knew he was going to be out, but he’s very ready. Additionally, Byrd has stepped up as a leader. He seems to have grown into a great leader for the younger guys.”

I asked Coach Poeta about Zac Branuagel and the upcoming All-Star Classic opportunity he will have:

He has another year of experience at 197 pounds. He moved up the last season in Folkstyle. He had some enormous wins over guys like Jacob Warner (Iowa), Yonger (Iowa State), and Beard (Lehigh) he showed where he could be in the country. He’s more confident in the weight and ready to go. The All-Star Classic is a prestigious invite, and he can look back and be proud to be chosen to wrestle in this event. We are really excited for him.

Getting back to Kannon Webster, I asked Coach Poeta about what we can expect to see and where he feels he’s had the most progression. He already has shown that he can compete with the best in the country, but more specifically I wanted to know what he’s seeing day to day that has impressed him the most:

“He is composed and more mature. In the beginning, he was hard on himself with any mistakes, but he’s been able to relax and be more calm and patient, and his wrestling is better because he’s not as concerned with a potential mistake. Austin O’Connor was wrestling with him the other day and Kannon had him on the ropes. He’s going toe-to-toe with him.”

Great time to talk about the addition of two-time NCAA Champ, Austin O’Connor, returning to his home state of Illinois to help coach the Fighting Illini:

“I think he’s a rockstar. He has brought such incredible ownership in wanting the program to be great. He grabs guys and does extra work once or twice daily above the coaching responsibilities that I have for him. Illinois wrestling right now is bad for an introvert. There is never a time when you come into the room and there aren’t other guys in the practice facility. Guys are in here nonstop throughout the day doing stuff on their own. The kids are obsessed on their own and that leads to success. Austin is a big piece of that.”

I would be remiss if I didn’t ask Coach Poeta about their returning All-American, Edmond Ruth. I don’t like to be remiss, so I asked him about Edmond and specifically around what he’s been working on coming off of a strong season:

“We are trying to get him to unleash his offense a little bit more. He has a great arsenal, and we need him to not keep it in his pocket. He shows such glimpses of greatness, and we want him to give himself more opportunities to score, and to unleash that greatness.”

Illinois also will be bolstered by a couple of transfers at 125 and 157 pounds. They were able to bring in two grad student transfers from Iowa State with Ramazan Attasauov and Jason Kraisser. Here coach talks about their impact thus far:

“Great situations and great kids. Wrestlers being obsessed, I got here at 7:30am to our facility, and Ramazon was already here working out. Being a 125-pounder, we have an RTC guy from Mongolia, Zane Richards, and Lucas Byrd, he has three world-class guys whenever he wants. Same with Jason, if he looks down he has Kannon Webster, if he looks up he has Danny Braunagel, and AOC the NCAA Champ at his weight class. We are lucky to have them and they are taking advantage of this opportunity.”

To wrap it up, I wanted to ask Coach Poetta about the postponed upgrade to their wrestling facilities. He was able to share some excellent news regarding their funds and the future of the Illinois facility upgrades:

“The positive part is that we fundraised all the money ourselves, so the money is there and we are ready. We aren’t waiting on a handout, wrestling people take ownership and we worked really hard to get the money ourselves. This will be a facility deserving of these guys, who exemplify what a student-athlete is, and they deserve something in return at that same level. When we are ready to get this going again, it’ll be ready to be built.” 

I knew ahead of this interview that Illinois was in a great position to challenge for a trophy this season. Upon speaking with Coach Poeta, I’m even more convinced. Their returning guys are all in a great spot to battle for a podium finish, and their transfers have put themselves into a positive environment for one last run at the podium themselves. The future is bright in Champaign, Illinois. Friends of the program should have a bottle of their own Champagne ready to open in March to celebrate a team that is prepared to attack this season and expects results.