Wrestling coach brings experience, teaches toughness

IU wrestling coach Duane Goldman leads by example. In practice, he prefers to use a hands-on approach when teaching his athletes the sport. But last season Goldman was reduced to almost a spectator when he broke his pelvis in three places in a car accident at the beginning of the season.\n"We're not sure why he did, but a guy crossed the center line and ran into the side of our jeep," Goldman said, "It was a pretty painful deal." \nBut even a broken pelvis couldn't keep Goldman from the team's practices for long.\n"I was laid up for a little while, and then once I got on my feet I had to use a walker for a little while. I got on my walker and came down to the room and tried to lean against the wall and kind of did what I could," Goldman said. "But it affected for most of the year what I was able to do as far as demonstration and really becoming hands-on."\nGoldman said that for most of last season, he was not as active as he would have liked to be. Now that he is back at full health, he is ready to once again prepare his wrestlers.\nGoldman's biggest contribution to the team has been teaching the wrestlers how to be mentally tough, some of his athletes said. \n"I think he's a very mental coach," freshman Joe Dubuque said. "He really helped toughen me up as an athlete." \nJunior Coyte Cooper said Goldman brings an edge to practice. \n"(He brings) mental toughness, just staying focused, shake things off and not worry so much," Cooper said.\nOne reason the team buys into Goldman's approach is because it works. His approach to the sport helped him earn a national championship in the 190-pound weight class in his senior season at Iowa in 1986. During his tenure at Iowa, Goldman was an All-American, Big Ten finalist and NCAA qualifier all four years. \nSince taking over as coach of IU in 1992-93, Goldman has a 116-67-4 record. Under his tutelage, 47 Hoosiers have been NCAA qualifiers, nine have been All-Americans and one was a Big Ten champion.\nHaving a team that understands and accepts his hands-on, mental approach could be especially important for the young Hoosier team this year. \n"We have a lot of new faces," Goldman said. "We started five freshman last weekend, and we may start as many as six."\nEven though they are young, the Hoosiers appear to be catching on pretty quickly. Dubuque won the first two matches of the year on the team's New Jersey road trip last weekend, a breakout performance that led to him earning the No. 18 ranking at 125 pounds. Cooper is ranked eighth at 141 pounds and sophomore Pat DeGain ninth at 197. \nWith the contributions of his young athletes, Goldman said he believes the future of IU wrestling is bright. But he made no secret of his desire for his team to compete now. \n"Hopefully we can get it going this year as well," Goldman said.\nGoldman's approach has been proven effective before. Now with a talented but inexperienced Hoosier team, Goldman will try to prove that it will work again.