How Cael Sanderson and Penn State continue to lap the rest of the Big Ten
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Sanderson and staff forged Penn State’s dynasty via culture and leadership.
- Program develops talent, draws top recruits, and posts record Big Ten success.
- Team prioritizes personal improvement over trophies while eyeing NCAA titles.
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2026 Big Ten Wrestling Championships
Penn State wrestling has claimed another Big Ten Championship, and this time Cael Sanderson’s squad did so at home. Below is a look at all of our coverage from the March 7-8 Big Ten Wrestling Championships at the Bryce Jordan Center.
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Cael Sanderson nodded his head as Mitchell Mesenbrink spoke. The Penn State head coach listened intently as his 165-pounder explained part of what makes the school’s wrestling program special.
“Our coaches have set a foundation at Penn State that doesn’t change,” Mesenbrink said in a press conference following the 2026 Big Ten Wrestling Championships. “It’s grounded in things that are intangible and not so futile as money or even wins. It’s a lot more important than that. It’s being the best person, striving for excellence not just on the mat.”
Mesenbrink was one of a team record seven conference champions and a part of a program record team score of 184 points at Big Tens, further establishing Penn State as the preeminent dynasty in all of college athletics.
This weekend’s Big Ten championship is its fourth in a row and 10th under Sanderson. And the head coach is the reason this program has taken off and continues to accelerate beyond what it’s already done, while continuing to lap the rest of the Big Ten — the best wrestling conference in the country.
There are plenty of smaller reasons Sanderson has found this level of success. It’s helpful that he did it as a wrestler too, going 159-0 at Iowa State and winning an Olympic gold medal. And that he now has an elite track record that makes Penn State a desirable landing spot for the best high school and transfer wrestlers in the country.
But there’s something else that is at the core of his program’s dominance. It’s not necessarily what he does, but how he does it.
“[He’s] just your friend, and [he’s] just trying to help you out,” Mesenbrink told the CDT. “... I do feel that love from Coach Cael. I do love Coach Cael, and I love our other coaches too, because they do the same exact thing. I do feel like they love me for who I am, not what I am, and I love that.”
That is part of who Sanderson is, and what he believes in. And his success did not start recently. He was an elite coach when he got to Penn State and immediately started building with his core tenets.
Quentin Wright, who won two individual national titles under Sanderson’s guidance and now coaches at Tyrone High School, was here when the head coach arrived in 2009. He’s seen the program grown from its infancy into the juggernaut it is now — and has seen Sanderson stay true to who he is while making the necessary changes as college athletics evolve.
“This goes back to, culture wins over money every time,” Wright told the CDT. “Family will win over money. Loyalty will win over money. And in college, there’s a lot of money right now. So Coach Cael, he understands that. He’s not afraid of it, and you have to change with the times. And he says it best that if you’re not constantly changing, you lose to somebody who will.
“So Cael has changed a little bit. ... Those are the things that you have to do to continue on winning. And he’s not afraid of change. And he’s encouraged it. And Coach Cael looks at it as another challenge. And he loves challenges.”
That’s why, year in and year out, each team is seemingly better than the last. Sanderson doesn’t like to compare teams — though he conceded that this one is “really good” — but his teams continue to break records that his previous ones set.
Because it’s no longer about competing with the rest of the country. It’s about Penn State, and being the best version of itself, and each wrestler becoming the best version of themselves.
That’s why, without fail, each iteration is an improvement on the last. And wrestlers from every era of Sanderson at Penn State have seen it, including Zain Retherford, who was at PSU from 2013-2018 and won three Big Ten titles and three NCAA titles under the head coach.
“The expectation really is just to do your best as an individual wrestler,” Retherford told the CDT. “And I think that’s what they’re focused on is just like being better than the version of themselves last year, each and every single guy up and down the lineup, and I think that’s what you’re seeing.”
And now Penn State will turn its attention to two weeks from now when it competes at NCAAs. It will, undoubtedly, win another team national title. And several wrestlers will likely win individual titles.
But that’s not really what they’re after. Those victories are short-lived, Mesenbrink noted, before everyone is already on to what comes next. And that’s another reason why Sanderson and his program are so special. They want to win, yes, but they want to improve more than anything. And when it comes to competing at those big events, there isn’t anyone better than Sanderson to describe what they have to do to get the job done.
“Just gotta be ourselves. That’s what we do.”
This story was originally published March 8, 2026 at 9:48 PM.
