The Binghamton University wrestling team had its best season in program history last year. Under the guidance of former head coach Pat Popolizio, the Bearcats rewrote the record book on a weekly basis, boasted a season record of 29-9 in duals and ultimately earned a 13th-place finish in the NCAA Championship with two All-America honors.
Since then, Popolizio and last season’s heavyweight All-American Nick Gwiazdowski bolted to North Carolina State University. The stage was set for a tough transition period for the BU wrestling team, and whoever would succeed Popolizio would have big shoes to fill. The pressure was on even before the season had officially begun.
Matt Dernlan, formerly the head coach of Clarion University of Pennsylvania, signed up for the challenge in May. He said he is not fazed by the pressure and expectations he faces. Instead, he welcomes the tall task with open arms.
“There are expectations,” he said. “There are standards. There are goals that not only myself but the administration would like to see this program obtain. As a coach, we are like our athletes; we are competitors. I want to have that responsibility. I want the administrators and presidents saying, ‘We expect to be one of the top programs in the country.’ I don’t really see pressure. I see opportunities. And I am excited about that and I embrace that.”
Dernlan explained that his decision to come to Binghamton was a result of the coinciding visions of himself and the University on what a successful wrestling institution should be.
“Institutionally and academically, [Binghamton University] is in line with what my philosophy on sports is — creating an attitude of excellence in all areas: academic excellence combined with the opportunity to achieve athletic excellence,” he said. “That made it a very appealing choice.”
To say that Dernlan is no stranger to wrestling would be a huge understatement. He has been involved in the sport for over 30 years now and said that no matter how hard he tried, he just could not separate himself from wrestling.
“I started as a youngster with my four brothers,” he said. “I wrestled through college, tried a number of things after college but kept getting pulled back into wrestling. At times I thought this is what I have known, and this is what I want to be. I have tried to step out of it, but it kept pulling me back in. [I] finally came to the realization that wrestling is my true passion in life.”
For every fan, player or coach of any sport, at least one unique factor separates their sport from the pack. When asked about his views on wrestling, Dernlan said that his sport is special in the ability of every single match to act as a life lesson for the athletes.
“One of the great aspects about our sport is you are out there on your own — a man on an island,” he said. “You get a seven-minute test on what life is truly about. If you can figure out how to master those seven minutes, you’re going to master your life. If we view it and approach it with the proper perspective, those 420 seconds is one of the greatest learning experiences you can go through.”
Dernlan is now in the 10th year of his coaching career, which began in 1997 as an assistant at St. Paris Graham High School in Ohio, his home state. But he made his name at Pennsylvania State University, where he was the assistant coach and director of recruiting for seven years. During his tenure with the Nittany Lions, the team won its first national title in 53 years and had four top-10 finishes. Dernlan reflects on his time there as a “special time of my life.”
In 2011, Clarion University gave him his first crack at head coach. In his solitary season with the Golden Eagles, he guided the team to a 14th-place finish in the NCAA Championships and a national rank of 18th — the highest national ranking in program history.
Dernlan admitted that the added responsibility that comes with the being the head coach is the main difference from his previous experiences as an assistant, and that the step up represented a major learning curve in his career.
“I have created a culture where our staff has an input in all areas, but ultimately I am the one that has to make that last decision,” he said. “For good or bad, I have to live with the result. And you’ve got to be confident.”
Dernlan’s coaching philosophy, which he said is a “hybrid of four individuals that had a big influence” on his career, is a simple one. He demands and expects 100 percent attitude and effort from his athletes at all times.
“Those are the two things that our student-athletes can control during the seven minutes that they are out there,” he said. “You can’t always control what your opponent is going to do; you can’t control what the ref is going to do or the calls he makes. But if we put our max effort and our max attitude out there and hold ourselves accountable at the highest level, we’re probably going to get the results we want.”
Dernlan also acknowledged that the team went through an uncertain transitional period after he took over as head coach. But after the summer, when he got to work with the athletes, Dernlan became convinced that he now has the support of the whole team and that the team truly believes in the visions and philosophies he has laid out.
“Initially, whenever you go through some sort of transition, and the new guys come in and the old guy that is leaving has produced some results, there are going to be some thoughts of uncertainty,” he said. “But I think over the summer, when we were really incorporating the system, the level of [buoyancy] and excitement for the guys says that they believe it. I don’t think there is any uncertainty now with our guys.”
Dernlan’s ultimate goal during his time at Binghamton is to guide the Bearcats toward a national title. While he realizes that the path toward success will be a gradual process, he believes that the team’s potential is immense and is confident that the team’s achievements this year will surpass those of last season.
“To get this program to the next level, we need to consistently produce results that we did last year,” he said. “My goal is to win a national title for Binghamton University. That is a high mark, but a mark that I believe we can achieve up here. Everything we need to win the national title, we have all those resources in place here.”