Happy Valley West: How Oklahoma State is Following Penn State's Blueprint

Looking down the roster and coaching staff of the Oklahoma State Wrestling team, a lot of them crossed paths with Cael Sanderson and the Penn State Wrestling dynasty he has built.

There’s a chance that next season, the Cowboys might be the Nittany Lions‘ biggest threat to adding to the program’s growing collection of National Championship trophies.

How Oklahoma State is Following in Penn State Wrestling’s Footsteps

The Coaching Staff

Oklahoma State head coach David Taylor wrestled for Penn State from 2010-2014 and was a two-time NCAA Champion who helped win four straight NCAA team titles.

Taylor was also very successful on the senior circuit with an Olympic Gold Medal and Multiple World Championships, most recently in 2023, and finishing 3rd at the 2024 World Championships before taking the job at Oklahoma State.

Other Members of the Cowboy coaching staff in the upcoming season include Associate Head Coach Jimmy Kennedy, who has been an assistant under Sanderson for the past three years. Kennedy wrestled collegiately at Illinois and was a three-time All-American. Bryan Pearsall is the Cowboy Recruiting Coordinator and was a PSU teammate with Head Coach Taylor and was on three straight NCAA Championship teams.

Heck, even former Penn State coach Thomas Gilman left for Stillwater last year and announced he is coming back to Penn State, maybe he can tell us what Taylor is trying to do out there.

Taylor showed a ton of success this season having the Cowboys win the Big 12 Regular Season and Big 12 Championships as well as lead two wrestlers to individual NCAA titles.

One of those was Wyatt Hendrickson taking down one of the greatest of all time in Gable Steveson in the Heavyweight Final.

Buy The Newest Penn State Gear From Fanatics | Shop Penn State Merchandise on Amazon

The Roster

Penn State Wrestling, Levi Haines — Penn State Wrestling’s Levi Haines pins Breon Phifer in Penn State’s dual meet against American, February 21, 2025.
Credit – Lloyd McCully

Okay, so David Taylor has a Penn State Coaching staff in Still“Steal”water, after the most recent transfer portal window, he also has a roster full of Penn State veterans.

Now it’s starting to look like Happy Valley West.

Alex Facundo, Gary Steen, and Zack Ryder all began their careers at Penn State and will be Cowboys next season after transferring this offseason. All three were obviously highly recruited coming out of high school and ended up inside a wrestling room full of Champions, so it makes sense to move on where there might be more opportunity.

Some might wonder why leave such a great place to learn and wrestle the best, but Sanderson has built a dynasty, and Coach Taylor is going to feed off his success even more as he continues to produce elite wrestlers and eventually Challenge Penn State for an NCAA Championship.

The Potential

Penn State Wrestling was invited to the first-ever National Dual Invitationals, but has not made the commitment and does not look to compete directly with Oklahoma State next season. There is always a chance for these matchups to happen at the NCAAs or if the teams do happen to cross paths.

Alex Facundo would face off against Levi Haines, who took third at the NCAA championships this season. Gary Steen at 133 would face Masanosuke Ono and get dominated, not that Steen is a bad wrestler, but Ono is on a different level.

Penn State Wrestling, David Taylor — Oklahoma State’s head coach David Taylor yells during an NCAA wrestling meet between Oklahoma State and Missouri at Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater, Okla., on Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025.

The most interesting matchup for me would be Sack Ryder and Rocco Welsh.

Ryder left Penn State after Welsh was recruited in the transfer portal from Ohio State. These two could face off, and it might be a grudge match for Ryder, as he was the presumptive heir to Carter Starocci.

I don’t think we have reached official “rivalry” status as there has been no direct competition, but Taylor is growing something at Oklahoma State and will be a threat to the Penn State Dynasty.

More Penn State Wrestling News from NittanyCentral:

A note to our readers; If you make a purchase through one of our affiliate links, we may receive a commission

Author
Recent Posts

Kolin Hurlbut

Penn State Wrestling Reporter at NittanyCentral

Kolin Hurlbut covers Penn State Wrestling for NittanyCentral.

New to sportswriting, Hurlbut Launched his personal blog, The Casual Fan in the past year.

He has a passion for sports, growing up in the midwest watching AFC North and Big Ten Football.

Kolin Attended THE Ohio State University and Purdue University earning a BS in Communication and MS in IT Project Management. Kolin also enjoys writing short stories based on his 12 year career in the US Army.