As David Taylor pondered whether to leave State College and become the wrestling coach at Oklahoma State this past spring, the Cowboys’ brass flew into town to meet with Taylor at his home.
The reigning Olympic gold medalist and three-time world champion said he notified Penn State wrestling coach Cael Sanderson, Taylor’s longtime friend and coach, that he would be interviewing. Wrestling fans quickly found the flight that Oklahoma State administrators were using and started speculating that the Cowboys were trying to make one of the most notable hires in the sport all time.
Shortly after Taylor was interviewed at his home and was offered the job, he knew he needed to make a decision quickly.
“It’s the biggest move in wrestling since Cael took the job at Penn State,” Taylor said in an interview this month. “When Cael took the job, social media wasn’t as big of a thing then, but yeah, there were a lot of people that were excited about it.”
#GoPokes | @CowboyWrestling pic.twitter.com/9HSx3hODfX
— David Taylor (@magicman_osu) May 11, 2024
The vision Oklahoma State athletic director Chad Weiberg laid out to Taylor, about re-establishing one of the premier wrestling programs in the country, was ultimately too appealing to pass up. Oklahoma State signed Taylor to a six-year contract in which Taylor’s base salary this season will be $1 million, per details of the contract that were obtained by The Athletic. Taylor’s salary will increase by $30,000 each year for the duration of the contract. The contract also includes a one-time payment of $1 million. During the first three years of the contract, the buyout figure is 75 percent of the remaining contract. For years four through six, the buyout figure drops to 60 percent of the remaining contract.
While details of Sanderson’s contract at Penn State have never been made public, the contract Oklahoma State put together certainly speaks to just how significant of a hire this is for the school and the sport.
“Cael is a great leader and Penn State’s success starts at the top with the leadership of the coaches,” Taylor said. “Cael’s had a lot of impact on a lot of people, and they all had a big impact on me in various ways. … I had a different perspective with wrestling, and pairing that with what I learned at Penn State, I’m trying to create something unique here. It’s definitely not a copy-and-paste thing.”
Additional terms of Taylor’s contract include a golf course membership for Taylor, four tickets to Oklahoma State football games at Boone Pickens Stadiums, use of the luxury suite at Gallagher-Iba Arena during wrestling matches and the ability for Taylor’s wife and family to travel to away matches as space permits. Per the terms of the contract, Taylor and his agent are not allowed to seek, negotiate for or accept any other full or part-time employment without written permission from Weiberg during the six-year agreement.
Taylor’s incentives include $125,000 if Oklahoma State wins a national championship, $80,000 if it’s the national runnerup, $60,000 if it finishes third and $10,000 for each individual national champion. Taylor has the right to choose if those performance incentives are reallocated to the supplemental bonus pool for his wrestling assistant coaches.
Taylor’s departure from State College, the place where he has spent the past 15 years first following Sanderson as an Iowa State commit to Penn State and then where he has since stayed and trained with the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club, was a bit of a surprise for many in Happy Valley. In addition to his relationships here, there are also several businesses Taylor was part of. His M2 training center, which has become a valuable tool where Taylor would help develop the next wave of youth wrestlers, including many who would have wrestled for Penn State, will continue to operate under the direction of former Penn State wrestler Mark McKnight, Taylor said. Taylor’s newly launched wellness club in State College, a venture he and Olympian Kyle Dake founded, just opened this month. He flew back for the opening and then returned to Stillwater shortly after that.
“There were a lot of tough conversations,” Taylor said. “When I did accept the job, I wasn’t able to call all the people I wish I could’ve called before the news hit, but things move quick. It’s one of the highest-profile jobs in wrestling. … You make a decision like that, and there is a pretty large ripple effect with the decision that I made not only just for my family, but it extends well beyond that. Just processing all those things and the people that it effects, it was a pretty crazy time.”
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(Photo: Maddie Meyer / Getty Images)
