In the 2024 NCAA Wrestling Championships, Penn State Wrestling accomplished an almost impossible feat of both setting a new team score record and margin of victory record.
So obviously the next thing to do is talk about how they accomplished this, start turning the page to next season, see what happens in the transfer portal, and piece together the Nittany Lion’s starting lineup for next season.
Nope. I’m not going to do any of that. At least for now.
Like the Nittany Lions, we are also going to try to do the impossible. And that is to put together who should be on the Mount Rushmore of Penn State Wrestling.
Wait, how did this even come up in the first place?
Well, I’ll have to admit, there is this, and then this.
And also this.
What’s Penn State’s Mt. Rushmore look like now?
— Jordan Burroughs (@alliseeisgold) March 24, 2024
Now, before we dive into it, I would like to say there is a big caveat with my list. As the question is a bit ambiguous and it doesn’t specify if it’s wrestlers only or if it includes coaches, etc.
For Nittany Central’s Mount Rushmore, this is only going to be wrestlers.
So here we go!
Penn State Mount Rushmore Candidates
John Johnston
Years: 1956-1958
Record: 43-4
Conference titles: 3 (1956-1958)
NCAA titles: 1
NCAA finish: 1st (1957) & 3rd (1958)
Penn State Accolades
No. 16 in career win percentage (91.5%)
Andy Matter
Years: 1970-1972
Record: 58-2
Conference titles: 3 (1970-1972)
NCAA titles: 2
NCAA finish: 1st (1971) & 1st (1972)
Penn State Accolades
No. 7 in career win percentage (96.7%)
Jim Martin
Years: 1986-1989
Record: 155-9-4
Conference titles: 2 (1988 & 1989)
NCAA titles: 1
NCAA finish: 4th (1986), 2nd (1987), 1st (1988), 3rd (1989)
Penn State Accolades
No. 1 in career wins (155)
No. 14 in career win percentage (92.3%)
No. 6 in career bonus point wins (92)
No. 16 in career bonus point win percentage (56.1%)
2nd Nittany Lion to become a four-time All-American
Sanshiro Abe
Years: 1993-1996
Record: 125-15
Conference titles: 3 (1993, 1994, & 1996)
NCAA titles: 1
NCAA finish: 4th (1993), 3rd (1994), 2nd (1995), 1st (1996)
Penn State Accolades
8th in career wins (125)
11th in career bonus wins (72)
19th in career bonus win percentage (52.6%)
Kerry McCoy
Years: 1993-1997
Record: 150-18
Conference titles: 3 (1994, 1995, & 1997)
NCAA titles: 2
NCAA finish: 1st (1994), 3rd (1995), 1st (1997)
Penn State Accolades
2nd in career wins (150)
25th in career win percentage (89.3%)
10th in career falls (34)
13th in career bonus wins (64)
1997 Hodge Trophy Winner
Quentin Wright
Years: 2009-2013
Record: 116-23
Conference titles: 2 (2011 & 2013)
NCAA titles: 2
NCAA finish: 6th (2009), 1st (2010), 2nd (2011), 1st (2013)
Penn State Accolades
18th in career wins (116)
8th in career falls (38)
14th in career bonus wins (63)
Ed Ruth
Years: 2011-2014
Record: 136-3
Conference titles: 4 (2011-2014)
NCAA titles: 3
NCAA finish: 3rd (2011), 1st (2012), 1st (2013), 1st (2014)
Penn State Accolades
5th in career wins (136)
1st in career win percentage (97.8%)
6th in career falls (46)
22nd in career fall percentage (33.6%)
2nd in career bonus wins (104)
4th in career bonus win percentage (75.9%)
David Taylor
Years: 2011-2014
Record: 134-3
Conference titles: 4 (2011-2014)
NCAA titles: 2
NCAA finish: 2nd (2011), 1st (2012), 2nd (2013), 1st (2014)
Penn State Accolades
No. 6 in career wins (134)
No. 2 in career win percentage (97.8%)
No. 3 in career falls (53)
No. 14 in career fall percentage (38.7%)
No. 1 in career bonus wins (125)
No. 1 in career bonus win percentage (91.2%)
2012 Hodge Trophy Winner
2014 Hodge Trophy Winner
Zain Retherford
Years: 2014-2018
Record: 126-3
Conference titles: 3 (2016-2018)
NCAA titles: 3
NCAA finish: 5th (2014), 1st (2016), 1st (2017), 1st (2018)
Penn State Accolades
No. 7 in career wins (126)
No. 3 in career win percentage (97.7%)
No. 3 in career falls (53)
No. 7 in career fall percentage (42.1%)
No. 4 in career bonus wins (95)
No. 5 in career bonus win percentage (75.4%)
2017 Hodge Trophy Winner
2018 Hodge Trophy Winner
Jason Nolf
Years: 2016-2019
Record: 117-3
Conference titles: 2 (2017 & 2019)
NCAA titles: 3
NCAA finish: 2nd (2016), 1st (2017), 1st (2018), 1st (2019)
Penn State Accolades
No. 17 in career wins (117)
No. 5 in career win percentage (97.5%)
No. 1 in career falls (60)
No. 2 in career fall percentage (50.4%)
No. 3 in career bonus wins (103)
No. 2 in career bonus win percentage (86.6%)
Mark Hall
Years: 2017-2020
Record: 116-6
Conference titles: 3 (2018-2020)
NCAA titles: 1
NCAA finish: 1st (2017), 2nd (2018), 2nd (2019)
Penn State Accolades
No. 18 in career wins (116)
No. 11 in career win percentage (95.1%)
No. 7 in career falls (41)
No. 20 in career fall percentage (34.2%)
No. 9 in career bonus wins (75)
No. 10 in career bonus win percentage (62.5%)
Bo Nickal
Years: 2016-2019
Record: 120-3
Conference titles: 3 (2016, 2018 & 2019)
NCAA titles: 3
NCAA finish: 2nd (2016), 1st (2017), 1st (2018), 1st (2019)
Penn State Accolades
No. 13 in career wins (120)
No. 4 in career win percentage (97.6%)
No. 2 in career falls (59)
No. 3 in career fall percentage (48.4%)
No. 5 in career bonus wins (94)
No. 3 in career bonus win percentage (77.1%)
2019 Hodge Trophy Winner
Roman Bravo-Young
Years: 2019-2023
Record: 101-10
Conference titles: 3 (2021-2023)
NCAA titles: 2
NCAA finish: 8th (2019), 1st (2021), 1st (2022), 2nd (2023)
Penn State Accolades
No. 33 in career wins (101)
No. 17 in career win percentage (91.0%)
No. 23 in career bonus wins (52)
Aaron Brooks
Years: 2020-2024
Record: 89-3
Conference titles: 4 (2020-2021, 2023-2024)
NCAA titles: 4
NCAA finish: 1st (2021), 1st (2022), 1st (2023), 1st (2024)
Penn State Accolades
No. 44 in career wins (89)
No. 6 in career win percentage (96.7%)
No. 18 in career bonus wins (60)
No. 6 in career bonus win percentage (65.2%)
2nd Nittany Lion to ever win four NCAA titles
2024 Hodge Trophy Winner*
Carter Starocci
Years: 2020-2024
Record: 93-4
Conference titles: 2 (2022 & 2023)
NCAA titles: 4
NCAA finish: 1st (2021), 1st (2022), 1st (2023), 1st (2024)
Penn State Accolades
No. 39 in career wins (93)
No. 10 in career win percentage (95.8%)
No. 19 in career bonus win percentage (54.6%)
* – Is there any doubt Brooks won’t win the Hodge this year?
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Summary
Holy. Cow.
Pretty much every single guy listed above could be the greatest wrestler for roughly 85% of all of the wrestling schools in the nation. But as it stands, every single one has wrestled for Penn State.
And trying to pick only four is impossible. Which is why there isn’t a single combination of all-time great Nittany Lions that would be correct. Conversely, there isn’t a single combination that would be wrong.
College wrestling has seen many changes in the last 70+ years of history.
From freshman not being allowed to wrestle and much shorter wrestling seasons (1950’s to mid 1980’s), to the explosion of matches and tournaments (1980’s to late 2010’s), to guys wrestling a max of 20 to 25 matches in a season (now).
Which is why it’s very difficult to compare guys like Jack Johnston and Andy Matter to Jim Martin, Sanshiro Abe, and Kerry McCoy. Heck it’s even hard to compare Ed Ruth to Aaron Brooks.
And with the Nittany Lions now winning their 11th NCAA title in the past 13 NCAA Championships, recency bias is certainly going to be strong. Not to mention when there’s a stable of guys like David Taylor, Zain Retherford, Bo Nickal, and Jason Nolf to pick from. Three of which wrestled together on the same team for most of their careers.
Then you have to factor in a guy like Mark Hall. Yes he “only” won a single NCAA title. However he finished runner-up in the other two. Plus had the world not completely shut down in 2020 due to the pandemic, Hall was well on his way to his second individual title.
There’s also the fact the most coveted award in all of collegiate wrestling (Dan Hodge Trophy) started in 1995. With how dominant Andy Matter was in 1971-1972 and with how ridiculous Jim Martin’s 1987-1988 season was, both of these guys would be Hodge Trophy recipients.
So without beating around the bush anymore than I already am. I present to you my Mount Rushmore of Penn State Wrestling.
Penn State Wrestling Mount Rushmore
Does this mean I left guys like Ed Ruth, Jason Nolf, Jim Martin, and two-time Hodge Trophy winner Zain Retherford off this list? And a guy who only lost two career matches and was Penn State’s first two-time NCAA champion (Andy Matter)?
Yes, yes it does.
But as I said before, there are no right or wrong answers here.
David Taylor made the cut because he was pound-for-pound the most dominant grappler to ever suit up for the Nittany Lions. He won with bonus points a mind blowing 91.2% of the time in 137 career matches. That’s insane.
And if it wasn’t for the likes of Bubba Jenkins and Kyle Dake, he would have four NCAA titles.
Bo Nickal is on the mountain because the dude did some otherworldly things on the wrestling mat. Nickal finished runner-up his freshman year, won 67 straight matches to finish his career, won the team title for Penn State in the 2018 NCAA’s by pinning Ohio State’s Myles Martin, and compiled a staggering 18 pins his senior year.
It goes without saying, but Aaron Brooks makes this list because he’s a four-time Big Ten champion and four-time NCAA champion. The guys from the last handful of teams don’t exactly light record book on fire, but as I stated before, the time of wrestlers hitting the mat 35 to 40+ times per season is over.
And with what Aaron Brooks has done in the wrestling room and under the bright lights of the NCAA’s, it’s incredible. Prior to Saturday night there were only five wrestlers who were four-time champions. Aaron Brooks is now on that list. And during his career at Penn State, with the way he wrestled, with how he handled himself in a humble manner off the mat, and how he generally carried himself, Brooks is true champion inside and out.
Which brings me to the final name on the Mount Rushmore of Penn State Wrestling.
Carter Starocci will always go down as Penn State’s first four-time NCAA champion. That’s a fact.
It’s also a fact that had he not gotten injured in the dual meet against Edinboro, he would have finished his career with 71 straight victories. Starocci only had four losses in his career and two of those were the forfeits in the 2024 Big Ten’s.
There’s another fact that is simply indisputable, Carter Starocci is one of the most mentally strong and toughest competitors to have ever come through Happy Valley. Regardless of the sport. Period.
Carter won an NCAA title in 2022 with a broken hand. And he defied all of the odds on the planet when he won his fourth title this year with only one functional knee.
What both Aaron Brooks and Carter Starocci did at Penn State goes way beyond where they stack up in the record books. And it’s hard to say whether or not Nittany Lion fans will ever see guys like that ever again.
MORE: How Aaron Brooks Clinched His Fourth National Championship
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Education: Penn State University
Location: State College, PA
Even though he had no prior journalism experience, Chris has now covered Penn State Wrestling and Penn State Football for the past three years, including as the Penn State Wrestling Beat Writer for VictoryBellRings.com, part of the FanSided network.
And it's clear he also likes constant torture as he's been a PSU Basketball fan for way too long.
Several years back, Chris made the seamless transition from PGA Professional to computer programmer and thoroughly enjoys following and writing about all things related to Penn State sports during his spare time.