Athletor Podcast with Mike Mal

Ep 187 - TJ Sebolt

J Sebolt went 207-1 in high school, won four Iowa state titles, and then built one of the best youth wrestling programs in the country from scratch — starting with 4 kids

Ep. 186 — Jeff Buxton

Jeff Buxton built Blair Academy into a 30-time consecutive National Prep champion, produced 10 NCAA individual champs, and earned the National Wrestling Hall of Fame's Li

Ep. 185 – Matt Ciampa

Mike wears two hats, dad and coach. Matt Ciampa texted him to say that's wrong, and then came on to explain why. Thirty-five years into coaching, he's never found the sea

Ep 184 - Nelson Brands

Nelson Brands wrestled at Iowa for his dad and his uncle, and says neither coached him until college. Now on staff at Cal Poly, he makes a specific case that beginners sh

Ep 183 — Coleman Scott

Coleman Scott won an NCAA title, an Olympic medal, and ran a D1 program. He'd rather do what he's doing now. Inside the Farm in Stillwater, and a blunt read on what NIL m

Ep 182 - Barry Davis

Barry Davis has three NCAA titles, an Olympic silver, and 24 years as a Big Ten head coach. He just took a club job, and this is his case for why the RTC seat is the best

Ep. 181 - Doug Schwab

We brought Doug Schwab the data on his own program: 13 of UNI's 19 NCAA qualifiers since 2021 were completely unranked high school recruits, and Parker Keckeisen carried

Ep 180 - Scott Green

Scott Green built Wyoming Seminary into the most feared prep program in the country, then helped put Army wrestling back on the map. Now he's rebuilding New York Military

Why Wrestling's #1 Recruiting Pipeline Refuses NIL Deals | Athletor Podcast Ep 179

Wyoming Seminary sent 26 ranked recruits to D1 in six years and put 4.5% of this year's NCAA tournament field on the mat, all without handing out a single NIL deal. Head

"I Care About the 22,000 Kids, Not the 141 D1 Recruits" | Athletor Podcast Ep 178

Shane Sparks, the voice of Big Ten wrestling, joins Mike for the argument they've been having over drinks for years: should California's 22,000 wrestlers really compete f

"It's just a fist fight for 7 minutes": Tommy Gantt on Wrestling to the UFC

NC State All-American Tommy Gantt left wrestling for one amateur fight and never looked back. Now an undefeated UFC lightweight training with Daniel Cormier, he breaks do

Navy's Blaize Cabell on Camps, Coaching Feel, and the Rise of Danny Wass | Athletor Podcast Ep 176

Navy assistant coach Blaize Cabell breaks down how the Midshipmen train, from SEAL-run summer camps to teaching the "feel" that turns good scramblers into great ones, and

Stop Cutting Weight: Damion Hahn's Case for Wrestling Up | Athletor Podcast Ep 175

Damion Hahn helped pull five programs into a rebuilt Pac-12, and he is rebuilding South Dakota State at the same time. He sits down with Mike Malinconico to get into the

How Air Force Builds NCAA All-Americans Without NIL or the Portal | Sam Barber | Athletor Podcast Ep 174

Air Force wrestling doesn't buy transfers and doesn't play the NIL game — yet they're keeping pace with the top 5 programs in the country. Head coach Sam Barber sits down

"I Couldn't Ride for 30 Seconds to Win a Title. That Made Me Obsessed" | Athletor Podcast Ep 173

Coach Bryan Snyder, associate head coach at Nebraska and the winningest wrestler in Husker history, joins Mike to go deep on the numbers behind Nebraska's riding game, ho

Half a Million or Olympic Dreams — That's the Choice These Kids Face" | Athletor Podcast Ep 172

UPenn assistant coach Darian Cruz sits down with Mike to talk about what the data says about Ivy League wrestling at the NCAA tournament, why coaching at Penn means compe

"I Just Don't Care What Other Programs Are Doing" — Chris Ayres | Athletor Podcast Ep 171

Stanford just had its best NCAA tournament ever — and then half the lineup walked into the transfer portal. Coach Chris Ayres breaks down how he kept his team together, w

"Pressure Is Fabricated" — Mike Macchiavello on What Really Wins Matches | Athletor Podcast Ep 170

Mike Macchiavello just took his second US Open title at 92kg and punched his ticket to Final X — but the 2018 NCAA champ says pressure on the mat is "purely fabricated."

What Brent Metcalf Told Iowa State's AD About One-Year Transfers | Athletor Podcast Ep 169

Iowa State's new head coach Brent Metcalf joins the show just four days into the job. He lays out his vision for building the Cyclone program the right way — no shortcuts

Gabe Arnold On Making All-American At The Wrong Weight And Chasing A Title At 174 | Athletor Podcast Ep 168

Iowa's Gabe Arnold made All-American at 197 — a weight class two above his natural size — after stepping up when a teammate went down. Now he's going back to 174 with one