Retired OSU wrestling coach helps local youth at camp

John Smith, known for being head wrestling coach at Oklahoma State and being twotime Olympic gold medalist for wrestling is now retired, but still helping wrestlers.

He was invited to the Sallisaw wrestling camp to help teach them by his brother, Sallisaw boys wrestling coach Mark Smith, and he accepted it.

“I’m just really proud of him (Mark) coaching high school for the first time in his late 40s, seeing him really enjoy what he is doing and making a difference,” John Smith said. “When you see someone who is really driven and want to improve something, it is really easy to be a part of it.”

When you are spending only a couple of days with a wide variety of student athletes, you cannot spend days teaching them a technique, but instead only hours.

“Teaching some things we teach at Oklahoma State that I did for 14 days, I taught here for 2.5 hours,” John Smith said. “You just want them to hit and remember some of it. They don’t have to get it all. There are small things you can do to get better.”

As mentioned before, he is retiring. There is always a time to stop, but John Smith does not think that he will ever stop being involved with wrestling. Especially since wrestling has continued to grow, he says that we will see a continued growth of women’s wrestling.

“There comes a time when there are different challenges and a level of motivation that you need on a daily basis,” John Smith said. “You got to maintain a level of intensity, and when you see that changing, it’s time. The NCAA changes didn’t discourage me, but I think they weighed on me. I always hoped to leave it [the program] in pretty good shape. I passed it off, and I feel fortunate.”