Humboldt native Tony Ersland excited about future of Purdue wrestling


Humboldt native Tony Ersland (right) shouts instructions during a Purdue University wrestling meet earlier in the season.

To put it mildly, Purdue University head wrestling coach Tony Ersland is driven.

Coming off an NCAA tournament where his team had three qualifiers with no all-Americans and a 50th place finish, the results aren’t anything to brag about.
But the Humboldt native, who completed his third season rebuilding the Boilermaker program, says it is all part of process and he is excited about the program’s future as he brings in strong recruiting classes.

“Incremental growth is how I would describe our past season. There was progress,” Ersland said of his team that went 9-7 overall in duals, including a 3-6 Big Ten Conference record.
“All season long you set your sights on being on the podium at nationals. You strive for national titles and being all-Americans. We didn’t have any of those, but I see incremental progress,” Ersland said.

“We finished in the top 25 rankings, which is great. We were able to finish on a strong note to the dual season,” Ersland said. “There was growth. I was happy about the progress of our kids and some of the things we accomplished.”
“I’m definitely not satisfied. I said earlier this year that I had to be patient. I really find myself saying that now after I take the emotion out of it, I can look back and see that our kids got better. We competed better in key situations. Yes, there is growth and it will serve us well in the future,” Ersland said.

“I’m just as excited now as I was the day I took this job. I’m that excited because I can see where we are going. If anything, we have more guys in the room who have been recruited under my expectations and they are on the same page,” Ersland said.

See full story in the March 30 issue of the Humboldt Independent Newspaper. Subscribe today for print/digital access to the Independent by selecting the link on this page to get started!

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