‘Work Is Done’ – On-the-Rise IU Wrestling Ready for Postseason Challenge
Pete DiPrimio | IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Angel Escobedo instructs on the move, coaching all his wrestlers even while engaged in takedown drills with standout 125-pounder Jacob Moran.
“Move your feet!” Escobedo shouts. “Good position.”
Escobedo emphasizes the importance of wrestling in space, of closing distance, of changing angles and directions, of hand fighting and progression and creating openings to exploit.
“Be creative with your footwork.”
Above a wall in the Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall wrestling room is a red banner signifying Indiana’s 1932 national team championship, a daily reminder of what’s possible for this on-the-rise program.
“I want to win a national title here,” Escobedo says. “I didn’t come here just to coach and get by. I want to win.” He points to the banner. “That’s why I put it up there. That’s what I’m shooting for.”
Escobedo and assistant coaches Mike Dixon, Riley Lefever and C.J. Red spent the last couple of hours fine tuning the No. 20 Hoosiers in preparation for the Big Ten championships, set for March 7-8 at Penn State. After that is the March 19-21 NCAA Championships in Cleveland.
The top-ranked and four-time defending national champion Nittany Lions -- 12 national titles since 2011 -- are the biggest obstacles to Escobedo’s goals, but there are many more in a loaded Big Ten that also includes No. 2 Ohio State, No. 5 Nebraska, No. 7 Iowa, No. 9 Minnesota, No. 10 Illinois, No. 11 Rutgers, No. 12 Michigan and No. 19 Wisconsin.
“We just need to do what we’ve been doing all season -- wrestle hard for seven minutes,” Escobedo says about the postseason. “We’ve been scoring points. When we’re down, we’re chasing after scores. When we’re up, we’re trying to solidify and get another score. We’re not trying to protect anything, we’re trying to earn everything.”
This reflects Escobedo’s vision and belief, an approach personified by IU’s national title winning football team.
“You have to go in stages,” Escobedo says. “We’ve built the foundation where you can say Indiana is a consistent top-25 program. Now it’s like, we have to break through and get to the top 15, then the top 10 and then looking for a national title.”
IU is 9-5 this season, 4-4 in the Big Ten, with victories over three ranked teams, highlighted by a dominating 30-9 performance at then-No. 15 Wisconsin. Seven Hoosiers are ranked, led by No. 11 Moran (14-3), No. 16 Sam Goin (10-6 at 184 pounds), No. 17 Tyler Lillard (11-6 at 165), No. 27 Derek Gilcher (13-7 at 174) and No. 24 Gabe Sollars (11-8 at 197).
“For this season,” Escobedo says, “I don’t see why we can’t be a top-15 team (in the upcoming NCAA Championships). Get three guys on the podium and you’re looking at a top-15 finish. That’s what we’re working toward.”
Moran, who has won 88 matches in his six-year Hoosier career, is all in.
“We wrestle our best in March,” he says. “That’s the way we train. I’m excited. It’s been a good year, and the best is yet to come.”
Football’s unprecedented success under head coach Curt Cignetti -- turning the nation’s losingest program into a 16-0 national champion in just two years -- offers inspiration.
“We saw what football was able to do,” Escobedo says. “That was cool. I think we’re doing the same here. We’re inching toward that.”
Cignetti’s approach offers a blueprint for any coach in America. Escobedo hopes to tap into it.
“I’m always looking for ways to get better. I want to figure out what kind of systems and implementations they have. I want to talk to some of their staff. I want to talk to Coach Cignetti after the season and see what can I take from him and implement it in this program.”
Cignetti’s success includes exceptional recruiting, talent evaluation (both with players and assistant coaches), player development, discipline, efficient hard work (no unnecessarily long practices), game planning and in-game adjustments.
“Obviously, he has it figured out and has a blueprint,” Escobedo says. “I want to keep creating mine. You can learn from the best. That’s what I want to do.”
Football’s success has helped IU’s recruiting, and likely the coaches in every other Hoosier sport.
“The (IU) brand is bigger now,” Escobedo says. “If you think about Ohio State and Michigan, they are big brands because of their football programs. With us being on ESPN all the time (during football season), now you’re getting in homes maybe you didn’t before. People will hear ‘Indiana’ and go, ‘I recognize that name.’
“The other thing it does is success breeds success. It sprinkles over to other sports. We want to ride their momentum and build our own.”
It's been a slow build under Escobedo, a former Hoosier national champion at 125 pounds and four-time All-American who took over the program in April of 2018.
In the last four seasons, IU has gone 32-20 and been ranked in the top 25 each season, with a best of No. 16 in 2024. While the Hoosiers don’t dominate the recruiting rankings in the manner of, say, Penn State, they recruit well and develop better.
“We’re showing people we’re getting the most out of our recruits,” Escobedo says. “Maybe they’re not the highest blue chip recruits, but they’re developing into top-25 guys, top-15 guys. We keep showing them that blueprint that we’re going to keep churning them out and developing people.”
Moran says the program’s improvement is “a testament to the coaches and the guys.”
“These coaches are showing us world-class technique, but more than that, they are world-class people, fathers and husbands. The way they carry themselves in the room and the type of leaders they are, they’re the same way in their households. That shows.
“They bring their families around. We’re all a family. They have us over to their houses. We watch duals together, we go to shows, we go on the road and crack jokes and hang out.
“It’s a testament to the coaches and the values they instill in us. It’s the way they treat each other and their families and the way their families treat us, and the way we treat them. It all shows on the mat. You only see the seven minutes on the mat, but it’s also all that goes into it Monday through Saturday. That show up on Sundays when we compete.”
A defining moment came against Wisconsin. The Hoosiers beat five ranked opponents in building a 30-0 lead. It was their first win over the Badgers since 2004.
“This team has come together and built momentum that I’ve never seen before,” Escobedo says. “We go on the road to Wisconsin and just go on a roll. We didn’t give up a takedown until 197. That’s nine matches in. That’s impressive. It was all based on momentum. That’s what this group has done well this year.”
Like Moran, Gilcher is in his sixth Hoosier season. He, too, has been critical to the program’s rise.
“When I first got here, IU was in kind of rough shape,” he says. “We were at the bottom of the Big Ten. We started bringing in a lot of talented kids, but it wasn’t just their talent, it was the fact they were buying into the system and really listening to the coaches. They wanted to be here and compete. That was the difference.”
It certainly was for Gilcher. A former three-time state champion from Michigan, he’s won 73 matches as a Hoosier, qualifying for one NCAA tourney.
“We all have the conditioning and some of the best technicians in the country,” Gilcher says. “The No. 1 thing is the belief to compete the way we know we should -- relentless, fearless, knowing that we belong on the podium.”
He pauses. Smiles.
“The work is already done. We just have to do it.”