Right now, the view from Buena Vista University's wrestling program is a whole lot more beautiful than it was just a year or two ago.
This Division III program in northwest Iowa was once a force to be reckoned with among smaller colleges in the upper Midwest. For nearly a quarter-century, Al Baxter was the head coach of the Buena Vista Beavers, guiding the program to eight Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) championships in the 1980s. In fact, D3 powerhouse Wartburg's last loss to an IIAC opponent was to Buena Vista. As recently as 2002, Buena Vista placed fifth at the NCAAs, and claimed five All-Americans.
Then Al Baxter retired. And the wrestling program at this 1,200-student campus in Storm Lake, Iowa was hit hard by his absence. Because there was a long delay in hiring a new head coach, recruiting suffered. Last year, there were only eleven wrestlers on the Buena Vista roster. The team completed the 2004-05 season in a disappointing 32nd place in the nation, one of the worst finishes in the history of the program. The view from the Beavers' wrestling room was anything but beautiful.
Reversal of Fortune
But the storm clouds are lifting over Storm Lake, and things are looking up at Buena Vista. There's a new coaching staff headed up by Mark Schwab that has turned things around in the past two years. There are twenty new wrestlers on the team this year. The Beavers finished this season with a 13-10 dual meet record -- the program's best since the 14-8 mark during the 2002-03 season.
In Division III competition at the 2006 National Duals in Cedar Falls, Buena Vista went 4-1, placing fifth overall -- its highest finish in National Duals history. At the IIAC tournament, Buena Vista qualified three wrestlers for the NCAAs: Sophomore Jestin Hulegaard at 133 pounds, freshman Kyle Forness at 149, and Ben Strandberg at 197, a two-time Division II national qualifier who transferred from University of Nebraska at Omaha. All three had been ranked in the top eight in their respective weight classes in Division III for much of the season.
The Coaching Staff Gets a New Look
Since Al Baxter's retirement a couple years ago, the wrestling program at Buena Vista has welcomed a new-look coaching staff, led by Mark Schwab, just finishing his second season as the Beavers' head coach.
Mark SchwabPrior to working at the Big Ten mat powerhouse to the north, Schwab served as an assistant coach at Purdue, and, before that, at his college alma mater, the University of Northern Iowa.
Equally impressive is Schwab's actual wrestling resume. A native of Osage, Iowa, Schwab was a four-time high school state champion, earned a sparkling 106-1 record. As a wrestler for the UNI Panthers, Schwab went 115-18, and was a two-time All-American. A serious knee injury involving multiple surgeries and a lingering staph infection put Schwab out of action for much of his junior and senior seasons.
As head coach at Buena Vista, Schwab has assembled a solid team of assistants. Pat Wilsbacher wrestled at Buena Vista from 2000 through 2004, where he was a three-time national qualifier, a two-time NCAA All-American, and Iowa Conference champ at 165 pounds in 2003. Justin McClintock is a graduate of BV rival Wartburg, where he earned All-American honors two separate seasons. Before attending Wartburg, McClintock wrestled for Iowa Central Community College's 2002 NJCAA championship team. Yet another assistant with two-time All-American credentials is Sevond Cole, who wrestled for Buena Vista, winning the 174 lb. championship in the Iowa Conference in 1999. Cole has been an assistant coach at BV since 2000. Serving as a volunteer assistant coach is Jamie Taxted, a two-time All-American for Buena Vista who won the national title in 2002.
From Land of 10,000 Lakes … to Storm Lake
What made Mark Schwab leave the relative comfort of an assistant coaching job at Minnesota -- of one of the top Division I wrestling programs -- for the challenge of heading up a once-proud D3 program?
"I loved Minnesota," says Schwab. "But I always dreamed of being a head coach at some point in my career. I had in my mind a short list of schools that I would be interested in coaching if the opportunity ever arose. Buena Vista was on that list."
"In the summer of 2004, a friend of mine who had wrestled for Buena Vista had contacted me about the head coaching position. I expressed an interest in the job, and, within a few days, the school contacted me for an interview. Within a week, I got the job."
In a press release announcing his hiring that's posted at the school's website, Schwab is quoted as saying, "I'm excited to be returning to my home state and coaching in the Iowa Conference, which is one of the most competitive of any in the country for wrestling. I want to uphold the quality that the legendary Al Baxter brought to the wrestling program at Buena Vista, and maybe take it up a notch or two."
What Works for the Golden Gophers … Now at Work for the Beavers
Mark Schwab's early enthusiasm came up against reality right away. He had come to Storm Lake just as a new school year was starting. It was too late to recruit. There were less than a dozen wrestlers in the program.
However, by using the coaching knowledge and experience gained at Minnesota, Schwab is already achieving a major reversal in the fortunes of the Buena Vista Beavers.
"I learned so much from being part of the Minnesota coaching staff," says Schwab. "For starters, we had amazing continuity. For nine years, he had a core group of coaches -- J Robinson, Marty Morgan, Joe Russell. That kind of consistency makes a huge difference in the success of the program. We were a well-oiled machine."
Al Baxter Wrestling RoomBuena Vista also provides opportunities for its wrestlers to learn from the best in the business. "(Dan) Gable headlined our camp last fall," according to assistant coach Pat Wilsbacher. "Mark Ironside, Jared Lawrence, Jake Volkmann and Doug Schwab have all come to our room this year."
What's more, with Schwab at the helm, the Buena Vista program makes the most of learning and growth opportunities from actual wrestling matches. As Wilsbacher puts it, "We wrestle a tough schedule. We participate in the UNO Open, the Harold Nichols Open where our guys go up against tough D1 and D2 guys. And we do battle with the best programs in the Iowa Conference -- teams like Wartburg, Luther, Loras."
When asked about the level of competition the Beavers face, coach Schwab says, "It may have an impact on our overall won-loss record, but it ultimately helps make us better."
The Recruiting Picture
In their first season, Mark Schwab and his coaching staff concentrated on recruiting… and their efforts have paid off, with twenty new recruits on campus for the 2005-06 season. And the future looks bright, with nearly 100 potential Buena Vista wrestlers visiting the campus this past year.
"We're actively recruiting all over the area," according to assistant coach Wilsbacher. "We go over to Cedar Rapids, up to the Twin Cities, down to Centerville (Iowa). Justin (McClintock) and I worked at J Robinson's camps so we met a lot of kids up there. We keep in touch with the kids and their parents."
The Buena Vista staff goes to its share of high school tournaments to watch wrestlers who may end up on the BVU roster some day. In fact, during the course of this interview, Mark Schwab was returning from the Iowa high school state tournament, where he had been scouting out the top talent in one of the hotbeds of amateur wrestling in the nation.
When asked what he looks for in a recruit, Schwab immediately said, "On-the-mat performance. Guys who hustle, battle -- even if they're behind, they don't give up. I'd like to think I work well with guys who keep wrestling no matter what."
Schwab then adds, "When we meet with kids and their parents, we also try to emphasize the strengths and uniqueness of BV -- our 98% placement rate of graduates, our 1:13 faculty/student ratio, the fact we were the first totally wireless campus. We have a brand-new, multi-million dollar science center, and a highly-respected business program, too."
Pat Wilsbacher mentions some of the pluses of the Buena Vista wrestling program: "We have state-of-the-art facilities, including a wrestling room built just six years ago, and a new weight room. I talk about our emphasis on year 'round training -- a concept that's rare in D3. I also talk about Mark Schwab -- his emphasis on technical skills, and his excellent motivational abilities."
A View of the Future
The Buena Vista wrestling program has achieved a considerable turnaround in the past two seasons. But the wrestlers and coaching staff are not content to sit on their recent accomplishments.
Buena Vista placed fifth at the 2006 NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals"At the (2006) National Duals, we were firing on all ten cylinders at once," says Schwab. "If we could always be that fired up, it would be great."
"We're always seeking ways to improve," concludes Schwab. "We're always putting ideas into practice."
Based on recent accomplishments and forward-thinking vision, it would appear the view into the future of the Buena Vista program looks beautiful indeed.
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