Hall of Famer will head MSU-N wrestling program
When there's only been a handful of head coaches in
the history of your most successful program, selecting the next one is not
something to be taken lightly.
But new Montana State University-Northern athletics director Dave Gantt
believes he has found the right person for the job.
After spending Monday in Havre, touring the campus and meeting with the
school's search committee and the public,
"There aren't many opportunities as an athletic director to come in and
interview your top candidate for your flagship program on your first official
day of work," Gantt said. "We wanted the interview process to be in a
sequential manner. Dan was our No. 1 candidate from the beginning."
Coming in as the top candidate to replace David Ray, who resigned June 29,
Troupe did nothing but make his credibility stronger on Monday, particularly in
the interview process and the public forum.
"Given the feedback, both verbal and written, that I received, everyone
is comfortable and confident that Dan will be able to carry on the tradition of
success in Northern wrestling," Gantt said.
It's a task that Troupe believes he's up to.
"It's been a dream of mine to be a head coach of a college
program," Troupe said in a telephone interview today. "I know I have
some huge shoes to fill, but I wouldn't have applied if I didn't think I could
do it."
Indeed, Ray's record at Northern for the past 12 years will be tough for any
coach to live up to. Ray's teams captured the coveted and prestigious NAIA
national team title four times, most recently in 2004 in
Northern finished second in 2002 and third in 2003 and 1997. In dual
matches, Ray's teams were equally as dominant, racking up an impressive
137-39-4 record, including a 15-4 record this past season.
Troupe isn't going to try to revamp or rearrange the Lights. He's only there
to build on the foundation that Ray left, he said.
"I'm not going to try and reinvent the wheel," he said.
"David and I come from similar wrestling backgrounds. I agree with much of
his philosophy of hard pounding, hard conditioning and hard wrestling. But I
will teach maybe a little more eclectic style of wrestling, with parts of
freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling. I am going to teach a lot of different
techniques."
Troupe was a two-sport standout at
Troupe was the Cyclones' varsity team captain and was twice named NCAA
All-American at 190 pounds. He also was a two-time freestyle/Greco-Roman
national champion, in 1989 and 1995, and a member of the USA Wrestling World
Team, where he was the two-time
"Dan has immediate credibility with our current student-athletes with
his actions in the wrestling room," Gantt said. "And he has plenty of
credibility around the state and the national level."
Although he has only been a head coach for a few years, Troupe has had three
stints as a college assistant that will help, particularly in terms of
recruiting.
"Any coach that will make the transition from high school to college
will have a tremendous learning curve when it comes to recruiting," Gantt
said. "Any time you can get a coach to come in with that curve already
learned, it puts them in a stronger position."
Troupe won't have to do much recruiting for this year's team. The Lights
return several wrestlers from last year's team that finished fourth at the NAIA
national tournament. Ray also recruited a solid class for this upcoming season,
leaving Troupe in an ideal situation.
"There is going to be some transition in that first year," Troupe
said. "But David has left me with a great group of wrestlers. There is some
added pressure because of that, but it will only motivate me to work that much
harder."
