One-on-One with Marty Morgan

The name Marty Morgan has long been synonymous with the Minnesota Gopher wrestling program. Morgan, a native of Bloomington, Minnesota, became a three-time All-American, two-time NCAA finalist, NCAA champion, and accumulated a record of 110-12 while donning a Gopher singlet. (Morgan also won a Division II title at North Dakota State as a true freshman before transferring to the University of Minnesota.) He won the prestigious Big Ten Medal of Honor for his excellence on the mat and in the classroom. Following his collegiate wrestling career, Morgan, who has two older brothers (Gordy and John) that wrestled in the Olympic Games, went on to have a successful international wrestling career. He made two U.S. World teams in Greco-Roman and also competed in the World Cup.

Marty Morgan (Photo/The Guillotine)

Morgan then spent 16 years as an assistant coach at his alma mater, the University of Minnesota. Of those 16 years, 12 were spent as J Robinson's top assistant coach and recruiting coordinator. Morgan landed several top recruiting classes and was widely considered to be one of the nation's top collegiate assistant wrestling coaches. The program saw great success during Morgan's collegiate coaching career. During his final 10 seasons, he helped guide the Gophers to six Big Ten team titles, nine consecutive top-two conference finishes, and three NCAA titles.

In early September, Morgan resigned from his assistant coaching position at the University of Minnesota to train former Gopher Brock Lesnar in mixed martial arts (MMA) on a full-time basis.

RevWrestling.com recently caught up with Morgan and asked him what led him to his decision to leave the University of Minnesota program and whether he would consider returning as a collegiate wrestling coach. Morgan also talked about Brock Lesnar, Randy Couture, and much more.

You recently made the decision to resign from the University of Minnesota as the head assistant coach to train Brock Lesnar in mixed martial arts (MMA) on a full-time basis. Your decision to leave the program and the sport surprised a lot people in the wrestling community. What were the primary reasons for your decision?

Morgan: Well, obviously I've been in that head assistant role for 12 years. As enjoyable as it, it's still … being in the same position for a long time. It got to the point where I figured that I needed to make some kind of move. With Brock coming to me and offering me something that was full-time, I just figured the two things went together well. You start to kind of worry a little about where your market value is as a coach … as of right now, as compared to where it may be in four or five years. So I just kind of thought, 'Well, here is an opportunity to step out and do something different for a while.' Brock's not going to be fighting for an extremely long period of time, but while he's doing it I thought it would be a nice change of pace.

What was the hardest part about stepping away from the University of Minnesota wrestling program?

Morgan: Probably leaving the athletes that are currently there. And also a lot of the alumni that I'm well connected to. There are guys who have been graduates in the last 10 years that are still really close to the program that I have close ties to. I know those guys were sad to see me go. They understood, but they were a little bit bummed out by it. And there are some athletes on the team that you grow a little bit more attached to. It makes it tough. But I guess that just goes with college sports.

What is the likelihood of you returning to the University of Minnesota in the future?

Morgan: I don't know what J's timeline is. I've always told J that it's not my place to put a timeline on him or make him feel like he has a timeline. I definitely would be interested in the head coaching position if it were to open up. But as of right now, I'm going to concentrate on Brock. I'm pretty involved in real estate as well. So I'm just kind of going to kind of concentrate on my real estate career, work with Brock for the time being, and see what happens down the road.

So are you saying that you would not return to the University of Minnesota in an assistant coaching role again?

Morgan: You never want to say never with things, but it's not in my plans. As of right now, I would prefer to do something different and see where I'm at … and then find out what kind of timeline … see what happens with the program, see if there is any kind of change. As of right now, I think I kind of have a game plan to move forward in real estate and maybe something else in the fight world as well.

Is becoming a head coach for a Division I college wrestling program one of your career aspirations?

Morgan: Becoming a head coach at the University of Minnesota has been. Not necessarily at another school. I have a lot of local ties, family, friends, alumni, wrestling community, so I've never felt like I've wanted to go elsewhere. And I still don't. The only other program I've ever thought would be of interest is North Dakota State … because I went to school there. But otherwise, no, my goal had always been to take over at the University of Minnesota. But once again, you have to sometimes make a change in order to make sure my market value stays where I need it to be.

Entering last season, the expectations for the University of Minnesota Gopher wrestling program were extremely high. You were coming off a national championship season and had an extremely accomplished and experienced senior class. But the season was marked by injuries and inconstancy. You ended up finishing 10th at the NCAA Championships. Was last season the most frustrating season of your coaching career?

Morgan: No, I don't think so. There were some other years in there. Prior to our run of eight or nine top-three finishes in a row … my first four or five years coaching were very frustrating. We had very poor finishes at the national tournaments with some decent teams. We were just having a hard time figuring out a year-end game plan. And then things change. Last year was a bit of an anomaly. I think it was a lot of things combined. We still had great kids that put forth the effort. I think if you have a lot of guys that are really into it and they're putting forth the effort, it doesn't feel as diminishing when things don't go your way. So by no means would I consider it to be one of the worst years.

You come from a family of accomplished wrestlers and boxers. How did you become interested in MMA?

Brock Lesnar (Photo/Sherdog.com)

Morgan: Well, I've followed it and considered it when I first got out of wrestling. It wasn't what it is today, so I chose the path to coach. But more than anything else, I like coaching. I like working with guys. Brock was one of the guys I worked with when I was at the University of Minnesota … and we work well together. I had been training him for the past two years, but it was kind of a run-back-and-forth type of training. With his fight career escalating and obviously a title fight coming up, he asked me if I would ever want to do it on a full-time basis so that I can just concentrate on him and not be running back and forth from practice to practice and doing all this other stuff. So my interest then grew quickly.

Really, the work I do with Brock is very similar to what I do with wrestlers. I train him and try to peak him for a certain fight or wherever we are at with his training. The actual coaching and strategy is done by Greg Nelson at the Minnesota Martial Arts Academy. He has been there for years. Greg and I work together. My thing is more or less to oversee Brock and make sure he's feeling good and getting the right kind of training. I can also work in as a partner because of my size. So it kind of works in a dual way.

I heard through the grapevine that you were once pursuing an MMA career and actually training to fight Chuck Liddell, but suffered an injury while training and never fought. Is that true?

Morgan: No, actually what happened was … when the UFC was just getting going, there were some agents that I was working with that asked if I wanted to fight a guy named Chuck Liddell. Nothing was signed, no contracts were written. I hadn't signed anything. I had no idea who Chuck Liddell was at the time … because he hadn't fought yet either. I never even got any further than that. I just chose not to do it because at the same time I just got hired as the head assistant at the University of Minnesota. At that time, fighting wasn't what it is now. You would have had to fight for a long time to get to the point where these guys are at now. That story is probably just getting passed on a little bit. I just thought it was interesting that I remembered that. I can't think of the agent was, but he said, 'How about fighting this guy named Chuck Liddell?' And I had no idea who he was. Now, thinking back, it would have been awfully strange. It probably would have been a situation where I would have started off 0-1.

Brock Lesnar seemed to make huge gains between his first UFC fight against Frank Mir and his second UFC fight against Heath Herring. What part of Lesnar's game do you think has he improved on the most in recent months?

Morgan: Probably striking. We're constantly working on his overall game, but probably his striking and then just his demeanor going into the fights. We slowed him down a little bit. He was coming out like gangbusters in both his first two fights … and one time it cost him the fight. The more he knows, the more control he has, the more calm he is. I think his striking game is getting better. He's also developing knees and kicks. He's lethal on his feet. The better he gets there, the more comfortable he is when he gets takedowns. I would say that's where some of his best improvements have been made.

Lesnar will face Randy Couture on November 15 in one of the most-highly anticipated fights in UFC history. What will be the key for Lesnar to come out victorious against Couture?

Morgan: Well, I think Randy's boxing skills have gotten better and better. Even at his age now, I think he's getting better with moving. I think Brock is going to have to be sharp on his feet in his striking game. When it does go to the ground, he's going to look for submissions. A lot like he did with Herring, he's going to have to control him when he has him down. But I think it's mostly working on his striking and being able to catch Randy on his feet. I think Randy is going to want to keep it on his feet as much as he can.

You made two U.S. World teams in Greco-Roman and competed while Couture was also having success on the senior level in Greco-Roman. He was one weight class above you. Did you ever train with him? Or get to know him on a personal level?

Morgan: Yeah, he was on both the U.S. World teams that I was on. So he was the guy one weight class above me. We trained together. I got to know him really well. I consider him a friend. I wrestled him three times too. I moved up a weight when my brother was still wrestling, so I wrestled Randy a couple times in Greco and one time in freestyle. Good guy, hard worker. He was a grinder back then and he still is.

Lately, there has been a trend for accomplished U.S. wrestlers to pursue MMA careers, rather than continuing to compete internationally in freestyle or Greco-Roman. Do you think this trend could have a negative effect on future U.S. World and Olympic teams?

Marty Morgan landed several top recruits during his time at Minnesota. Here he is coaching Roger Kish at the 2008 NCAA Championships (Photo/The Guillotine)

Morgan: Yeah, I do. With the way FILA has been treating wrestling … constantly dropping weight classes, the horrific rule changes. They are cutting opportunities. While opportunities are being cut, guys are getting frustrated with it and they see a money outlet in fighting. I think we're going to start losing some of the better guys. Ben Askren is considering it … and Mo Lawal, Johny Hendricks, and Jake Rosholt are fighting. I think it will definitely have an impact on wrestling in the U.S. For the fighting world, I think it's a good thing. I do think there will be so many wrestlers involved in this now because we've had some great success in fighting, but we've only had a handful of successful guys in there. Now we're getting a handful a year getting into it. Pretty soon, just like Brock vs. Randy, it's going to be wrestler vs. wrestler in a lot of these big-time fights.

You have recruited and signed many top recruits throughout your coaching career, some from Minnesota, but many from states all throughout the country. In your opinion, how does the talent pool coming out of Minnesota high schools right now stack up against other states?

Morgan: In the past, we've seen probably two or three blue chips a year … maybe less sometimes. I think in the next few years, Minnesota is going to see more and more blue chips. I think there has been a real influx of folkstyle wrestling in our state. Realistically, we've just started a full-fledged folkstyle wrestling program six or seven years ago. Now we have kids in eighth or ninth grade who have wrestled as many folkstyle matches as they have freestyle matches, which is one of the keys to states like Ohio and Pennsylvania. They've have had a great folkstyle feeder systems for years.

I think it's starting to become more and more evident that our kids are getting more matches and getting better at folkstyle. Our 14-and-under division won the dual meet nationals, Greco and freestyle. There are a lot things that my brother Gordy is doing … and Jared Lawrence and Luke Becker at Pinnacle. Those guys are all working with the kid levels, so we have some pretty high caliber guys working with young kids. I think it's going to start showing more and more. I think it's going to get harder and harder for the University of Minnesota to get those kids because you can only get so many a year. But I could see in the future having four or five legitimate Division I kids every year.

Marty Morgan's nephew, Ben Morgan, won a state high school title in Minnesota last season as an eighth-grader at 112 pounds (Photo/The Guillotine)

Your brother's son and your nephew, Ben Morgan, won a Minnesota state high school title as an eighth-grader last season at 112 pounds. What did that mean to you to see him win a state title?

Morgan: It was exciting. It surprised me. I knew Ben was good and that he was improving at a drastic rate. I couldn't believe that he was capable of keeping himself together and winning it. As far as overall career-wise, it's great, but it's also a little added extra pressure. In the long run, I hate to say it, but an eighth-grade state title hasn't meant a whole lot yet in the state of Minnesota for future collegiate stars and Olympic hopefuls. It doesn't mean a whole lot. He has to keep getting better. He can't worry about how many titles he wins, he just has to keep worrying about getting better at wrestling.

You have a history of not only recruiting and signing many of the nation's top 184 and 197-pounders, but also developing them into very successful collegiate and international wrestlers. Most recently that list includes Tim Hartung, Brandon Eggum, Damion Hahn, and Roger Kish. This season, Sonny Yohn is expected to step into the Gopher lineup as a freshman at 184 pounds. How great can he be?

Morgan: Well, he had shoulder surgery, so he has to recover from that. Prior to that, I could see some good things happening. He has a lot of things to work on technically, but he does have a couple things we saw in high school that I think are great advantages for him. He's very good on top. He's a very good scrambler. He's a fun wrestler to watch. I think his mat skills will carry him a long way. I foresee him having a good career. He still has Brandon Eggum there overseeing him. I think Sonny will still end up doing very well. I don't know how quickly he'll be in there at that level. But I know he'll be up on top before he's done.

Please Note: This story also appears in the October 17 issue of The Guillotine. The Guillotine has been covering amateur wrestling in Minnesota since 1971. Its mission is to report and promote amateur wrestling at all levels -- from youth and high school wrestling to college and international level wrestling. For information on The Guillotine, click HERE.

Sign In

One-on-One with Marty Morgan

User Feedback

Recommended Comments

Create an account or sign in to comment

Create an account

Sign in

Categories

Rankings

Browse

Activity

Support