With a 5-10 record and low finishes in the Big 12 and NCAA championships, last season certainly wasn’t typical Tiger Style at Missouri and it definitely wasn’t coach Brian Smith’s style.

The Tigers under Smith hadn’t had a losing season since the turn of the century, and despite a built-in excuse because of an incredibly lengthy list of season-ending injuries to starters, the whole thing left a bad taste.

Missouri is a lot healthier now, Smith said, but noted that healthiness wasn’t the problem’s sole answer.

“I also feel like the guys were driven through the summer to be better, and they took it upon themselves to, say, ‘Coach, we don't want that to happen again. What can we do?’ Smith said.

“And so we met every week. The leadership was about seven guys, and every week at my house, we were reading a book talking about things: How do we get better? What are things we have to do? How do you hold people to standards … and that type of thing. 

“I don't think we had big problems. I just felt like we needed to refocus a little. And then they brought the team once a week off campus, and they would meet and do things together as a team, growing closer, doing things, doing some hard things, and kind of just enjoying each other too while they were doing it.”

The team, Smith said, collectively felt a bit disjointed last year. 

“They weren't a very close team and that needed to change,” he said. “I said, ‘Then change it, and I'll help you, but you’ve got to take it upon yourself to do it.’ And so I would meet with the leaders, but they would meet with the team, and it became a very close team by the end of the summer and into this fall. The freshmen were here all summer and they needed to see that.”

The coaches also met to discuss issues such as staying healthier, even though many of the injuries happened in matches and not necessarily in the practice room. 

“Freak things happen so we have to look at it and say, ‘How do we keep them healthier and how do we get them to enjoy this?” Smith said.

“Change their mindsets a little so they stay healthier. I think when you're in a good mindset, you enjoy it more. When you enjoy things more, there's less problems. So that was a big part of it. But our staff committed. It was, ‘How can you commit a little bit more? What can we do to change this?’ So everybody jumped on board and did a little bit extra here and there. Definitely, you can feel the difference in our program right now.”

Missouri has jumped out to a 3-0 start against teams it should have thrashed, and followed that with four champions and a team title (146.5 points) in the Tiger Style Invite against the likes of South Dakota State, Purdue, Oklahoma and Little Rock.

“They're wrestling really hard, and that's what was the focus of this summer,” Smith said. “How do we get to our attacks and finish? And trying to score more, and they're doing that.”

Junior Zeke Seltzer won at 141 while seniors Josh Edmond and Maxx Mayfield won at 149 and 165, and redshirt frosh Aeoden Sinclair grabbed a title at 184.

A Good Freshman Class

Smith has liked the energy from his nine-man freshman class thus far.

“They just go out and wrestle hard. And sometimes they get really tired because they're doing it. And I tell them, ‘That's great. Do that, and you'll get further the next time, you'll know how to push yourself,’” Smith said. “But we're seeing some really good things.

“We were hoping for Seth Mendoza at 141, but the way it's looking right now, he’s growing. And I can't stop that as a coach. I can't stop nature. I think he's growing into a ‘49 and so we're just waiting to see if he can make it. If not, then we'll just bump him up and probably just redshirt him behind Josh (Edmond). We'll definitely get him some matches here in the future; we didn't want to take his certification away at ‘41 yet,” Smith said. 

Off To The National Duals

Missouri will compete in the National Duals Invitational on Saturday and Sunday in Tulsa and Smith is looking forward to the competition and the format itself. The Tigers have drawn #3-ranked Iowa in the first round and will face either Illinois or Little Rock after that.

“I love the duals format,” Smith said. “We just had a tournament all day, and the crowds were big in the beginning of the day, and then when you get towards the end of the day, a lot of people were leaving. Those long tournaments wear fans out, it wears wrestlers out … coaches … staff. 

“The average fan on the street wants to see a team versus team, get to know some of the matchups that can happen, and it's over in two hours. That's all that's been talked about for weeks, since the brackets came out, and people talking about this team versus that team, the matchups that could take place, and people are excited about.”

A Difficult Draw

Smith knows the opening match against Iowa will be tough.

“They have a really strong team,” he said. “But for us, we wrestle a tough schedule all the time. We're going to step on the mat and this is a challenge that we get to participate in. It's awesome. And our kids are excited about it. We haven't seen Iowa, I think since like 2017 or 2015 when we wrestled them in the National Duals. They have a solid team, and I feel like we do too.”

Two of the better matchups are Sinclair vs. Iowa’s Angelo Ferrari at 184 and Cameron Steed vs. Iowa’s Patrick Kennedy at 174. 

The Tigers’ lineup at the moment might be a bit top-heavy, with Steed and Sinclair and adding Mayfield and Evan Bates from Northwestern. But Smith said Edmond is wrestling well at 149 and team veteran Seltzer stepped up at 141 and Mack Mauger did well at 125.

Smith Still Going Strong

The Tigers’ coach at age 60 is in his 28th year at Missouri and had to slow down the running machine he was on while doing this interview “so I didn’t fall and kill myself.”

He said he’s no longer wrestling with the kids but is now teaching technique and has myriad other responsibilities, such as fundraising and recruiting, that he still enjoys. 

“I just look at it as I get to be around 18-to-22-year-olds that are really, really driven people, and I'm a driven person, so I mean, that's a great life when you get to be or be around that,” he said. “It energizes me, and hopefully I'm giving them that energy back too.”