EAST LANSING, Mich. – Michigan State Athletics Director Mark Hollis has announced a coaching succession plan for the Spartan wrestling program.

Tom Minkel, who has directed the program since 1991, will retire following his 25th season at Michigan State in 2015-16. Roger Chandler, who recently completed his 18th season on the Spartan wrestling staff and was promoted to associate head coach in 2011, has been named head coach designate and will assume the head coaching duties following Minkel’s retirement. Chandler will become the ninth coach in the history of the program, which dates back to 1886 and has generated 25 NCAA Champions, 68 Big Ten Champions, eight Big Ten Championships and one NCAA Championship.

“I’m excited about the future of Michigan State wrestling,” said Hollis. “We’re thankful for everything that Coach Minkel has given to Michigan State and we’re looking forward to celebrating his exceptional career in the sport of wrestling during his final season. It’s also a year that affords Roger Chandler an opportunity to prepare for a successful transition.

“I had the fortune of being alongside Ron Mason as athletic director designate during his final months as athletic director at Michigan State (fall 2007), and I believe that experience was invaluable and helped me grow into my current position. Our men’s soccer coach Damon Rensing also had the privilege of serving as head coach designate under Joe Baum, which has undoubtedly served Damon well as the program continues to flourish under his direction. I believe this speaks to the family atmosphere at Michigan State in preparing individuals to take over leadership roles. There are plenty of examples on campus and in the department where this model has been rewarding, including our President Lou Anna Simon.

“While they have worked together for many years, Roger and Tom are uniquely different individuals. This is Coach Minkel’s team, but once the season comes to a close, we’re going to give Roger every opportunity to be successful. We’re going to take that celebration of Tom’s career and push it into a new era of Spartan wrestling, with Roger leading the way.

“I have high expectations for Roger to lead the program for the years to come. He has positive relationships with our student-athletes and also with young wrestlers and the wrestling community. Perhaps most importantly, he has learned how to do things the right way. I believe in Roger and his goals for the program, but we also need the support and commitment of the Spartan wrestling community to compete in the best wrestling conference in the country. With nearly 20 years of coaching experience, Roger has proved his selfless dedication to Michigan State wrestling, and I think the program will continue to benefit under his leadership.”

“As we enter Coach Minkel’s 25th year as head coach of the Spartan wrestling program, we celebrate the contributions he’s made to Michigan State University and the wrestling community,” said Michigan State Deputy Athletics Director Greg Ianni. “He’s been very creative in his approach to marketing his sport, especially in terms of the use of video and presentation at home meets. Many of the things he has done have been on cutting edge. I’ve always admired his passion for the sport of wrestling and respect his distinguished and incredibly accomplished career.

“I’m also excited about the transition of Roger preparing to launch his own program. He possesses great energy and intensity, and I love his enthusiasm and the way he interacts with the student-athletes. Roger has an incredibly bright future as a head coach.”

“I absolutely love coaching and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my tenure here at Michigan State,” said Minkel. “There’s not a day I can’t wait to get into the wrestling room and I certainly still have a passion for wrestling, but there comes a time when you sit with your wife and say ‘what’s on our list that we haven’t done yet and would like to do?’ The decision to shift your life’s direction is always challenging; however, I have some things in mind that I want to do with my life besides coach. It just felt like the right time. I’m looking forward to the change because it’s going to be exciting to have more time with my family.

“The things that I’ll miss the most are the relationships with the young men on your team. You go through the ups and downs, the challenges and successes, the failures and struggles, and it’s tough, but you also get to build these great relationships through it all and have a significant impact on their lives.

“At the end of the day, it’s really about helping a young man and making them a better person, a more disciplined person, a successful person, and I think if you talk to guys in the program who come back, invariably, wrestling had a dramatic impact on them. They learned to take responsibility for themselves, to challenge themselves in ways that they never thought they could, and strive for things they initially thought were out of reach. They come back significantly changed, significantly stronger, and better young men. It’s an emphasis not only on the wrestling, but the importance of academics, the civic responsibility of being a good person, and taking ownership of your own life and not putting the blame on someone else. It’s a marvelous sport and through our program, I know we’ve had a really positive influence on a lot of young men, and I take a lot of pride in that.

“Roger Chandler has been on my staff for 18 years; we have certainly worked closely together for a long, long time. His career goal is to be a head coach, and I feel very comfortable that he’s totally ready to take over the position here. The next year will really be dedicated to making a smooth transition to Coach Chandler.

“Roger has certainly grown in the coaching profession after coming to Michigan State right after college. He has the essential qualities that you need as a head coach. He has a strong work ethic and possesses the fortitude and ability to stay motivated and focused. Secondly, he’s an outstanding wrestler himself. I don’t think at the collegiate level you can be an effective coach without being a great wrestler yourself, and he still has great technical skills in the wrestling room. Thirdly, you have to be able to teach and communicate with kids who are 18 to 23 years old. Roger is outstanding at that as well. There are also the administrative duties that come along with being a head coach, which he will no doubt handle effectively because he’s organized and very detailed. He clearly has the skill set to be a successful head coach.”

“I’d like to thank Mark Hollis and the entire executive staff for giving me the opportunity to be the next head wrestling coach at Michigan State University,” said Chandler. “I’m truly honored and excited that they have placed their confidence in me to lead the program into the future.

“I have been fortunate enough to be alongside Coach Minkel for the past 18 years. He has also given me the opportunity to observe and engage with other coaches from the Big Ten and across the country, which has provided valuable insight on how to lead a Division I wrestling program. I look forward to celebrating his final year as we honor all of his accomplishments that he has achieved during his tenure at MSU.”

 

A LOOK AT MINKEL’S CAREER
Minkel has dedicated himself to producing quality student-athletes in conjunction with upholding the prestigious Spartan wrestling tradition. During his tenure, Minkel has produced 38 All-Americans, 13 Big Ten Champions and two NCAA Champions. His direction has also led to team success as his squads have placed in the Top 25 at the NCAA Championships 13 times.

Minkel will retire as the second-longest tenured coach in program history (Fendley Collins, 32 seasons from 1930-62) and also with the second-most wins (currently with 171) at MSU (Grady Peninger, 213). Minkel’s student-athletes have also shined in the classroom, as his teams have earned National Wrestling Coaches Association All-Academic Team honors 11 times. He recently completed a four-year appointment on the NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee.

Minkel led the Spartans to a third-place finish at the 1995 NCAA Championships, the highest place of any MSU team since 1972, and Kelvin Jackson claimed the 118-pound title, the first Spartan to win a national title in 21 years. The following year, Minkel guided MSU to a seventh-place NCAA finish. The back-to-back top eight finishes at the NCAA Championships hadn't been accomplished at Michigan State since the 1971-72 seasons, when the Spartans placed in the top five for six consecutive years. Minkel coached his second National Champion in 2009 as Franklin Gomez, a three-time All-American, won the 133-pound title.

Minkel's resume is one of the most impressive in the country, highlighted by numerous international coaching experiences. After serving as head coach for three U.S. World Teams and one U.S. Pan-American team, Minkel was named the head coach for the U.S. Team at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain. Minkel made the most of his opportunity while creating U.S. wrestling history – he led the USA to a bronze medal, the highest finish ever by a U.S. team in Greco-Roman competition. Overall, Minkel's travels have taken him to more than 40 countries and have cemented his reputation as one of the top coaches in the sport.

For all of Minkel's coaching credentials, his career as a wrestler is just as impressive. His vast knowledge of the sport stems from his own career as a world-class wrestler. Minkel, a three-time U.S. National Greco-Roman Champion at 149 pounds, was a member of the 1980 Olympic Team and wrestled for seven U.S. teams that competed internationally.

As a collegiate wrestler at Central Michigan, Minkel was a three-time All-American – twice in Division II and once in Division I – and is the only wrestler in school history to go through an entire career undefeated in dual meets (35-0-1). He was the conference champion in 1969 and 1970, and earned the conference's Outstanding Wrestler Award in 1970. His overall career mark was 73-13-1, and his accomplishments landed him in Central Michigan's Hall of Fame in 1985. Minkel was also a Michigan High School State Champion at Williamston High School in 1967.

 

A LOOK AT CHANDLER’S CAREER
Chandler has helped produce 10 different All-Americans and six Big Ten Champions for a total of 22 All-America selections and nine Big Ten individual titles during his time at Michigan State. He also coached three-time All-American Franklin Gomez, who won a national title in 2009 at 133 pounds. In addition, he handles a variety of administrative duties for the program. Chandler, who began his coaching career as an assistant at MSU in 1997, was promoted to associate head coach in 2011.

Outside of his work at Michigan State, Chandler also has been instrumental in establishing and growing youth folkstyle wrestling in the state of Michigan and throughout the entire United States. Chandler serves as the president of the Michigan Youth Wrestling Association (MYWAY) and also the associate executive director of the National United Wrestling Association for Youth (NUWAY). Started in 1998 with 750 members, MYWAY now has more than 9,000 members, while NUWAY – modeling the MYWAY system – has expanded with organizations in 15 states.

Chandler also has international coaching experience, as he coached former Spartan assistant Alex Dolly, who represented Ireland, at the 2011 Freestyle World Championships in Istanbul, Turkey. A three-time All-American at Indiana, Chandler was inducted into the Indiana University Athletics Hall of Fame in 2008. The IU Male Athlete of the Year in 1996-97, Chandler finished eighth at the NCAA Championships in 1995, third in 1996 and second in 1997. His only loss at the 1997 NCAA Championships came against Cary Kolat of Lock Haven, a two-time NCAA Champion and 1997 World Championship runner-up. The Big Ten Champion at 142 pounds in 1997, Chandler finished his Indiana career with a 134-25 record. He graduated from Indiana in 1997 with a degree in sport management. While he was at St. Edward High School in Cleveland, Chandler was the 1992 Ohio state champion, wrestling on a team that produced 12 state champions and eight national champions. He ended his prep career with a 112-12 mark.

Chandler, whose first season at Michigan State was in 1997-98, also served as head coach of the Ohio Junior National Freestyle team in 1998 and 1999.

Chandler is a native of Sheffield Lake, Ohio. His wife, Mandy, is an associate director in Student-Athlete Support Services (SASS) at Michigan State. The couple has two daughters, Kira and Kylee.