Dylan D'Emilio has been in this position before.
The Ohio State All-American, who has been in a slump since early February after dropping three straight Big Ten games, needs only to look back to last year as a map to a late-season turnaround.
D'Emilio competed against Penn State's Beau Bartlett, Nebraska's Brock Hardy and Northwestern's Frankie Tal Shahar (all-American and NCAA qualifier) last February at 141 pounds. I lost in a row.
D'Emilio broke out of his slump and won eight of his next 11 matches, securing a podium spot at the NCAA Championships.
This time around, Michigan's Austin Gomez, Penn State's Tyler Kazak and Rutgers' Michael Setta made an early February splash for the Ohio State senior 149-pounder.
“It's tough when you put your heart and soul into something and the results fall short,” Ohio State coach Tom Ryan said.
The Buckeyes aren't hitting the panic button even though D'Emilio's recent fall from grace has dropped them to No. 13 in the nation.
“This is all basic stuff,” Ryan said. “It's the basic stuff. The first thing every wrestler learns, the basic stuff, but for Dylan those things were a little different.
“His stance and head position were off at certain moments. His hands were reaching too far. When his opponent moved to make contact, he was leaning on the opponent more than necessary and getting caught and lowering himself. The back leg is straight rather than slightly bent under pressure. Small technical things that are really important at this level.
“It's a one-degree thing, a one-degree rule. If your flight plan is off by just one degree, if you're going from New York to Los Angeles, you'll end up in Alaska. A slight deviation at this level will do the same thing. Dylan was a little off about little things, but that's enough. We saw what happened.”
Ryan described the staff's approach when their wrestlers lost matches they felt they shouldn't have lost.
“I'm not asking for anything big when I see a team struggling to understand what happened in a game that didn't go the way I expected,” Ryan said. “That's the important thing. None of our staff is asking for big things. It's almost always the little things, always the little things.
“You have to remember these guys are really, really good. They've been wrestling for a long time. They've been successful for a long time. Dylan is an All-American. He's He's a really, really good guy. He's got great technique. He's a competitor and he's qualified. There's definitely some technical stuff, but it's really small things. It's just the basics.”
How does Ryan get his wrestlers to overcome situations like the one D'Emilio went through?
“We love them through it,” Ryan said. “We're going to continue to develop Dylan. His grades are at his 4.0 (grade point average). He's the captain of the team. This is not a matter of will. This is not a habit. lives a clean life.
“We don't think his recent performance has been disastrous. We're just looking at the truth of the matter. We break things down to the root. Is it?” I ask. What is the cause? and attack it. We look at the facts from a technical point of view and then we start a war. That's the application part.
“This means not allowing your brain to go into a spiral and just walking next to him. To make that happen, you need to systematically consider where to uplift him and logically make changes.” there is.”
Wrestling Hoosiers brings back memories of Ryan
The Buckeyes host Indiana on Sunday for their final two home games of the season.
Wrestling against the Hoosiers always brings up a bit of reflection for Ryan.
“That's where (former Indiana head coach) Duane Goldman gave me my first job,” Ryan said. I am forever grateful to him and IU's wrestling program. Bloomington is where I met my wife (Lynn) and, other than faith, is the deepest and most important relationship that has ever happened to me. Indiana is where I started coaching and first realized how much I loved it.
“When I look back now and think about how immature and unprepared I was to be a coach at the time, I'm just grateful. I can see what you had to learn.”
