2008 Woodie Awards
Teaching With a Passion
With the NCAA Midwest Regional this Saturday, Robin Ersland Coaches From the Heart
Ryan Gibbs: Digitalburg.com
Issue date: 2/28/08 Section: Sports
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The humid, cramped confines symbolize the toughness required to succeed in college wrestling.
Coach Robin Ersland, 51, learned from a wrestling legend and has seen what it takes to win championships.
"I'm rather ornery at times," Ersland said. "I'm the famous 'wear your emotions on your sleeve.' I get excited, I get upset, and I get happy. That's just the way I am."
Freshman heavyweight wrestler Cody Beck has felt Ersland's emotion.
"He's very vocal," Beck said. "He expects a lot out of people. He wants the best from his wrestlers."
Mentors instill core values
Ersland grew up near the Wisconsin border in Menominee, Mich. His greatest influences were his parents and his coaches.
"I didn't begin wrestling until I was a senior," Ersland said. "In college, my wrestling coaches were very good people and very influential."
Ersland went to the University of Iowa in 1982 and spent two years as a graduate assistant for Olympic gold medalist and Hawkeyes' coach Dan Gable.
"I learned a lot about hard work," Ersland said. "It was very competitive. I was also training for the '84 Olympics at the same time. I had a dual role where I was actually coaching, but I was also competing.
"I learned that motivation sometimes has to be a little different than you'd expect.
He did some things that a lot of people would think were goofy, but they worked."
Ersland is also not afraid to use Gable's unconventional style.
"He's a good coach," said senior wrestler Jeremy Hudson. "He's the type of guy who knows what he wants.
People don't always agree with him, but at the end of the day, he knows what he's talking about as far as a match being wrestled, so I try to listen to him."
In a prestigious club
Although Ersland did not reach the 1984 Summer Olympics, he managed the Hawkeye Wrestling Club for two years.
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